8,736 hours

It was 8,736 hours ago (that's 364 days) that I was sitting in my Labor and Delivery Room at the hospital, so discouraged that my son would never come. I had been in labor for 16 hours and still wasn't dilated more than a fingertip. So many emotions were going through my head: could he stand the contractions for another 12 hours? Could I stand them for another 12 hours? I was sure the answer to both questions was no.

My doctor wasn't able to break my water until 5pm that night because I wasn't even dilated enough for the hook to fit! I was so relieved when she finally broke my water that I cried and told her "thank you!" about 1,000,000 times. The contractions picked up almost immediately and they also started me on Pitocin which made them even worse. It wasn't more than a couple hours before I asked for the epidural. After that things were marvelous... Until the middle of the night when the epidural wore off in one spot and I was in terrible pain. They call it a "window" I guess...where you lose the numbness in one area. It was as if I never got an epidural at all. The entire night I was crying in pain with every contraction, and it was even worse because I couldn't stand up to try and walk it off.

That night I prayed quite a bit! I prayed that I could endure labor without complications, and that my little boy would be healthy. I prayed that if I ended up with a C-Section that he wouldn't end up in the NICU from having fluid in his lungs. I prayed that he wouldn't be too big...or too little. But mostly I prayed that all of this would just end soon so I could hold my son in my arms after 9 long months of carrying him, singing to him, and telling him stories about his family while he was inside me. I just wanted to meet my little Cale.

Tomorrow Cale Alex turns one. It will be such an emotional day for Nate and I. We are sad about it, but also absolutely excited as well. He is turning into such a handsome, smart young man. We couldn't be more lucky.