A New Year's Eve Surprise!

We are so excited to announce that our new baby arrived December 31 at 1:53 PM.
Benson Thomas arrived about two weeks early (thank goodness!) weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and is 20 inches long. (We forgot the cord for the camera - so we will post pictures soon).
I started having contractions the night before about 11:00pm and the contractions started to become more intense between 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning - when I decided it was time to go to the hospital! We were observed for a few hours while they debated about sending us home because my contractions had slowed down and I wasn't in "active labor". Lucky for us, my doctor was on-call and came in and decided that I had dilated enough (to a 4) - to be considered in "active labor" and he broke my water to really get things started. The nurse checked me about 11:30 and I was a 4+ - I told her I was ready for my epidural, my contractions were starting to get pretty intense. So the doctor came and gave me an epidural about 12:30 and after he left about a half hour later - I was feeling alot of pressure and paged the nurse - she checked me and I was a 9. The nurse started rushing around getting the room ready for delivery and told me not to push - while she paged the doctor. I pushed through 5 (very painful) contractions before he came out - his head came out and his shoulder was stuck - which was really scary, but thanks to our wonderful, skilled doctor - everything was okay. Benson had a pretty bruised face from coming so quickly - and his collarbone has a hairline fracture from getting stuck. His pediatrician said that it will heal quickly and that he really won't be in much pain, unless it gets bumped. So we have his little arm safety pinned up like a sling - and he should be perfectly fine in about 3 days. We are so glad to have Benson here - he is truly a little angel and you can feel how close to heaven he really is. We are so proud and lucky to be his parents!