Introducing Julia Ann Hvidsten!

On June 8th, 2010 at 8am, we arrived at Altru Hospital to induce the labor of our baby.  I was nervous, wondering how things would go.  I knew there were many people praying and that did give me a sense of peace.  We were off and running by 9:15 am.  I decided to "rest"  and Jay decided to visit a friend who was in the hospital; after all it was simply time to wait.
The checks came every two hours with my water being broken at 1:45pm and contractions becoming more regular by 2pm.  However, by 3:30 pm not much had happened.  The nurse was reassuring that it could start progressing fast at anytime.  I thought, "yeah, right".  But by 4:30 things were definitely picking up pace.  I could almost feel myself progressing by the moment no matter how weird that seems.  And by 5:15pm, things were getting intense.  My dream for a delivery with no epidural or episiotomy was fading.  My contractions were tolerable at times with decent breaks in between and completely overwhelming at other times with me saying, "no, I really cannot do this anymore".  That was said at least three times until at about 5:50pm, Jay and I knew it would last much longer.  He was running out of suggestions and reassuring words and I was positive the baby was making it's way out into the world.  The nurse quickly had everyone in the room helping in every way but the Dr. Brown was On His Way... his presence wasn't needed as far as I was concerned.  After being told not to push through 2 contractions, he arrived and things were looking up.  I actually did scream during the delivery which is completely embarrassing but I think it helped me push better (at least it made me feel better).  He was ready and with the next contraction I pushed 4 times and SHE was out!  I had done it with the Lords strength.  I remember close to delivery time that Jay pray for the Lord to give me strength and that was so encouraging!  He had thought of the most helpful way to assist... pray.
My world changed the moment I saw her head and shoulders.  It was like I was back, in the world with others and not just inside myself anymore. ( I thought about Eve and Jesus a lot toward the end of my labor.  No matter how ridiculous this sounds, I was mad at Eve and then remembered that I am a sinner just like her.  Then to Jesus whose pain was nothing that I could even ever try to imagine.  I knew the Lord was with me, Jay and the baby and things would be ok.)  Once she made her appearance, I could communicated with everyone and I even cut the umbilical cord!  We didn't know she was a girl for a while as the resident just stood there with her.  It took a few asking, "what is it"  before the nurses doing the assessment made the announcement.  I thought it would be so nice for Jack to have a brother, but when they said, "it's a girl", I knew our Julia was always meant to be with us, teach us something and just enrich our lives.  She is an answer to our prayers!
The last few days have been good and hard.  She is such a blessing but does not like sleeping alone at night.  But this too shall pass.  I'm sure I will have more to say but I just wanted to share a piece of the beginning of Julia's life so you could all start to enjoy her too!