It's Mommy and Daddy now

Danica Shay Pearson was born!

Last Tuesday (July 28th), I went in for my doctor's appointment and I was dilated to a 2 and my cervix was soft. Because of my progression, my doctor told me that I could be induced the next day, if I wanted. That surprised me. I told him I'd like to talk to Tyler about it. I talked to a few friends about it, too, to get their advice.
Well, we decided to set up the induction for Monday, August 2nd.
On Saturday, August 1st, Tyler and I spent the morning sewing outfits and getting ready for a costume party taking place that night. Because it was a Disney themed birthday party, we decided to dress up like Pacha and Chicha from The Emperors New Groove. (She is the only Disney character I could think of that's pregnant.) Throughout the morning I told Tyler, "I think I might be having contractions, but I'm not sure."
That afternoon I started to curl my hair for the party and was feeling pain every couple/few minutes so I decided to go down stairs so Tyler and I could measure the time between contractions. They were varying 2 to 4 minutes apart. Since it wasn't consistent we weren't sure if we should head to the hospital. Finally, I told Tyler, "I don't think I can take it anymore. I want to go to the hospital."
When we got inside the hospital, at about 7:15pm, I couldn't walk so we got a wheel chair. Every minute (it seemed) I was having a contraction. The nurse checked me out, and this was our conversation:
"You're dilated to a 4... no wait, a 5. You're just melting away! On a scale from 1 to 10 how would you rate your pain?"
"Well, since I know it's going to get worse, I'd have to say an 8."
"At what number would you like your epidural?"
"As soon as possible."
"So already?"
"Of course already! Hello! That's what I meant when I said, 'as soon as possible,' you idiot!" (No, I didn't actually say that. I just wanted to...instead I just said, "Yeah" with the least amount of energy as possible.)
So, shortly later, in walks this Heavenly being with a needle and few other supplies.
The anesthesiologist was already at the hospital, so in no time, the epidural was working wonders! I loved it!! At that point I was at 6 cm and it was about 8:00.
I kept progressing at a good rate and by 11:30 the nurse checked me again and could feel Danica's head. I was complete and at 10 cm, so she decided to call my doctor. Because I was so close she gave me the options of pushing her out or letting my doctor use forceps to take her out. I've heard Dr. Judd is the Master At Forceps, so after consideration, we decided to go that route.
Dr. Judd arrived shortly after midnight. Because Danica was turned 90 degrees, he had to use the forceps anyway.
7-ish hours of labor and one push later Danica was born!

Here are pictures from her birth day.

By the way... this is my 100th post!