Welcome to the world Aidan!

He's finally arrived! Aidan Christopher Duggan was born this past Tuesday 7/22 at 9:50 a.m. after 22 hours of labor (more on that later...trust me!) He weighed 8 lbs and 14.4 oz and is 21 inches long. The entire experience was truly amazing and Kevin and I are overjoyed. We think he's perfect, we're biased of course, but he did come out looking pretty darn cute with a full head of hair!

Monday morning I called the hospital and they told me that I should come on in to be induced. My Dr. had decided to go ahead and induce me since my blood pressure had elevated and I was 8 days past due. We arrived at the hospital and the induction began with a pill called Misoprostol that ripens the cervix. About an hour after they inserted it, I began having contractions and after three hours I had 3 contractions within 10 minutes and they decided to start me on the pitocin. The pitocin was increased very gradually and by 6 p.m. I was having strong contractions that were 3 minutes apart. We watched the sunset from our roomWe had an incredible view!

By 10 p.m. I was in pain and barely breathing through the contractions that were now about 2 minutes apart. Unfortunately I was only still 1 cm dilated so they told me to walk as much as I could. I am surprised I did not wear through the padded socks they give you at the hospital because I must have walked 4 miles around the labor and delivery ward. Apparently 18 laps around the loop is a mile and I lost count about lap 50. I walked and walked and walked. When I couldn't walk anymore I labored on the birthing ball trying to stretch and stay loose. Kevin was an angel and walked with me pushing my IV but I was relieved a bit when he finally fell asleep on his cot. I couldn't sleep because of the pain but I wanted him to conserve his energy!

At 1:30 a.m. they re-checked me and I was STILL only 1 cm. The Dr.'s were a bit surprised but nothing compared to the shock I was having when they told me this could take 3 days. When Kevin gasped and asked when they would make the call to do a c-section they said they would not unless the baby was in distress. I was re-assured that this was not abnormal and I would eventually dilate but I was in so much pain at this point and I was so exhausted, I felt like this would never end. I decided to get in the birthing tub to try to relax and breathe through the contractions there. The tub helped immensely and I was actually able to relax for a while and Kevin and I listened to some music and chatted with one of the amazing Doctor's about med school, music, and Wisconsin...random I know. It's funny how you loose all inhabitions so quickly when you are in that much pain. I was naked and lying in a tub but they could have traipsed the entire medical school through for a tour of our room at that point and I could have cared a less.

The tub eased the agony for only so long and by 3 a.m. I was having contractions a minute apart and I was writhing in pain, completely exhausted and unable to go on. I asked for the epidural and even though it hurt like hell going in and took two tries (apparently I have an incredibly strong back according to the anesthesiologist) once it was in it was SWEET RELIEF! The epidural did the trick in making me relax because about 40 minutes later my water broke and it was a tidal wave of a gush! When I was re-checked I was 3 cm dilated...yay progress!!!

I napped for about 45 minutes and I would have slept longer but all of sudden I was feeling contractions again...but only on the right side of my body. WHAT? I hit my panic button and the nurse explained that sometimes the epidural tube can move or something can just happen which causes it to stop working on one side of the body. Luckily for me the staff was incredible, the anesthesiologist was there within 10 minutes and before I could freak out I was comfortably numb again.

We watched the sunrise
The next few hours happened so fast and all of a sudden at 6 a.m. I was told I was 9 cm. HALLELUJAH! By 7 a.m. I was 10 cm and ready to push. I was so exhausted that I asked the Dr. for a half an hour to "wrap my head around" what I was about to do. I needed to give myself a pep talk and get ready. Kevin and I watched a few minutes of the Today Show to relax and by 7:30, the Dr. came back and they could already see the baby's head. I pushed so hard and I thought I couldn't go on any longer but at 9:50 a.m. Aidan flew out (literally slid out fast!) and his scream was the most amazing thing I have ever heard. Actually my scream while he came out was kind of amazing as well, I never knew I could make that kind of noise, I'm not even sure where it came from, but that moment was so incredible.


We stayed at the hospital until Thursday afternoon and the entire experience was so wonderful. We had the best care, from our Doctors to the incredible nurses, those people are all saints, they could not have been more accommodating or helpful to us. Aidan did wonderfully on all his tests and we heard time and time again how strong he is. He is holding his head up and he has a super strong grip, just ask Kevin how it felt when Aidan pulled out some chest hairs!

Aidan enjoyed a visit from his new Grandma's!

Nana
and Nana Caz

The proud papa!
I could not stop staring at our baby boy!



We Headed Home!
We are now home and after a few sleepless nights I finally have gotten a minute to update the blog. I will keep updating with pictures, we have taken so many as it never gets old looking at him! We think he currently looks more like me, but I am pretty sure he's going to have his daddy's eyes...he already has his beautiful long lashes. I see Kevin in him sometimes and sometimes I see myself, it is hard to tell. One thing we are sure of though is how in love we are, this little guy has brought us more joy in the last 4 days than I ever could have thought possible.

Lily has been so cute with Aidan and she loves to look at him and smell him...especially his diaper! Every time he cries she goes immediately to his side to see him and while she is probably very jealous, she has not acted out or once given us any cause for concern, she has truly been an amazing dog since we brought him home!

Thank you everybody for your phone calls, cards, emails! We are a little overwhelmed right now so give us a few days to get back to you if you haven't heard from us, but we do appreciate all the well wishes and we can't wait for everyone to meet our beautiful son.

Check back for pics and updates, for now I have got to get some sleep;)

Lots of love,
Kevin, Angela & Aidan