A little bit about everything!

Well, it finally happened! Apparently a person doesn't stay pregnant forever.
On Wednesday morning I woke up at 8am, thinking I was more wet than normal, but decided not to get my hopes up. I was ready to take the castor oil, but figured if I was going to self induce myself, I might as well get myself ready to go to the hospital. So, I had a shower and had a nap. I woke up at 10:30 about to finish getting myself ready and take take the castor oil when a bit of a gush of water went down my leg. I got excited, got Rick up and off to the hospital we went!
After confirming my water had broken, the doctors said they weren't going to send me home, but gave me 24 hours to go into labor myself before inducing me.
In the middle of the night I started having contractions... eventually they got pretty close together. By the afternoon the next day they gave me some morphine to help me relax. It helped me relax so much I stopped contracting so much. By the evening I was induced, got my epidural and some how managed to push an 8 lb baby out of me!
There were a few things that surprised me...
First - how I didn't feel the epidural at all. I had to ask the guy if he had even put the needle in and he told me he was done.
Second - how amazing the epidural felt! Wow... the numbing that it did that helped me ease through the contractions.... for a while...
Third - how PAINFUL pushing is!!! I thought the epidural helped with that.
Fourth - the AMAZING feeling of when the baby finally comes out... wow!
Fifth - how my tummy would feel just moments after giving birth... it felt very comical. It still is squishy, but not as crazy as it was
Sixth - how much you can love a little guy that just caused you SO much pain immediately afterwards.
My mom and Rick were in the room with me the whole time. I was very thankful to both of them. The doctors didn't allow them to give me the supporting roles I wanted them to have. I wasn't pleased about that.
Cruz had to go to the NICU immediately after birth at 2:20am. I'm still a little unclear as to why exactly he had to, but it was something to do with his breathing. I wasn't able to hold him or really see him except for a glance until about an hour after I gave birth. He stayed in NICU until the next afternoon. That wasn't an easy thing to deal with. The picture you see of my mom holding him, that was in the NICU.
I could go on and on... but I will tell you that he is so much more than I could have hoped for. He's beautiful and perfect. I couldn't be happier. Rick is amazing and cute with him too. Rick is also taking great care of me while I recover. He's a wonderful father and partner. I couldn't ask for more.