Bowen Thomas Evans is here!

On October 14th, 2011 my sweet baby boy made his way into the world. Of course, we are all madly in love! Here are the details from his labor and delivery!
I had been having contractions for about 3-4 days...not just braxton hicks...but the kind where you are breathing through them and thinking "this is it!" However, they always seemed to fizzle out around 2-4 o'clock in the morning. The night I went into the hospital, I was in so much pain but I was afraid that my contractions would "fizzle out" again so I waited to go to the hospital until I couldn't take it anymore.
We went in around 2:30 am...I was so happy to find out that I was 5 cm dilated! My nurse, Paula, started my IV and monitored the baby through a few contractions. I was still debating the epidural at this point so Jon and I started walking the halls. I was starting to feel miserable and overly tired. I decided I would get the epidural with high hope of sleeping for a while. I think I was 6 cm at this point.
The epidural went flawlessly and I started to feel a lot better! I relaxed and even slept for a little bit. I was getting so excited! My nurse checked me again...unfortunately, I was only 6-7 cm. I think that was here way of nicely saying I hadn't progressed much. She told me she thought it was because my water hadn't broken. (My nurse switched to Kristy...the same nurse who delivered Harper.) Finally, around 9:00 am my doctor made it in to break my water! I thought for sure I would be pushing in less than an hour...but when they checked me again I was only 7-8 cm. Dr. Kopperud said that the babies head was face-up or turned and that was why I wasn't dilating. They started pitocin and got me up on all fours to hopefully get me to a 10!
After about an hour they checked me again...I was at 9cm! Dr. Kopperud was able to help stretch the cervix around Bowen's head. I was all set to start pushing! I was relieved to be pushing because my epidural was only working on the right side...I was feeling all those nasty contractions in my left lower back! Pushing brought relief from the contractions! He was born within 15 minutes! It was amazing! I had a mirror so I got to see him the minute he came into the world. It was such a joyous and emotional moment! I am so glad to be mommy to a sweet baby boy!