Alexander Michael Hall is here, and has been for a week! Here's what may or may not be a quick update.... :)

Last friday morning I woke up to some noticeable contractions. I went to the bathroom and my water broke! The irony of it all, is that it happened almost the exact way as with Mika. I had a doctors appointment the tuesday before, had been 3cm dilated, and my water broke friday morning (3am) with her. Same deal this time, except it was 7am. Nice to get a little bit more sleep this time around. :)

We headed to the hospital, I kept having really painful contractions, and waited what felt like forever for them to get me into a room. I was told I could have my epidural at any time, but they neglected to mention they wanted 20 straight minutes of fetal heartbeat recorded before I could have it. The problem was that my contractions hurt so badly, I needed to lean forward or move around during them, which was not conducive to the heartbeat monitor. Finally they just gave in after an hour and let me have the epidural. RELIEF! Med-free childbirth is definitely not for me, I am so happy for this epidural invention. Sadly it never fully took effect on my left side, but it got me through which is the important part. By the end though, it did feel like someone was scooping out my left pelvic bone with a dull spoon, which is not a pleasant sensation. It's nice to reach the point when pushing is a relief to it all. Overall though, this labor was SO much better than with Mikayla -- only 6 hours long, including about 45 min of pushing. If that. It went by fast. I also had an AWESOME nurse, and the doctor who delivered him I absolutely loved. It was such a positive experience.

Mikayla didn't seem to know what to think now that this mysterious brother was no longer in mommy's tummy!

Alex brought Mika a pillow pet, and Mika gave one to Alex. Mika was SO excited to get her "oonicorn"

Alex is very much a cuddlebug!

Officially a mommy of two!

Alex was excited to go home and catch the ending of the Bronco game. Too bad the game had a bad ending.

Mikayla LOVED her little brother from the start

The day we came home was Halloween. Mikayla made a super cute witch!

Mikayla was very excited to go trick-or-treating with her good friend Noel

Alex loves to hold his hands near/on his face

Mikayla's very proud she can hold him all on her own

I think they're both a little sleepy.... :)

This first week home has been good, but not easy, that's for sure. The first couple days Ian was sick, and Mikayla was a bit spazzy from the transition. We were becoming more sleep deprived because we're old and can't handle anything less than a perfect nights sleep anymore. :) Then Kitty got an abscess in his lip, and after two visits to the vet and a huge chunk of change he's luckily better. Despite being good at nursing, Alex was not so good in his latch, which caused a lot of pain/etc., and developed into mastitis. After feeling like I had the flu for two days it was nice to get some antibiotics in me and start to feel better. Now that it's a new monday, I hope for a better week! I am so grateful for the family and friends that have helped out, it's definitely taken a village to take care of our newborn. :)

This is my favorite picture so far!