Kai is Born

May 10th at the Lake Forest Illinois Hospital.

I labored at home from 1:00am to 11:00am
When we got to the hospital I was only dilated to a 2 1/2. My contractions were not doing their job and I was not progressing very fast. I was then given the choice of having a heavenly epidural early on so that my body could relax. After that, everything went pretty darn fast. They broke my water and I began to dilate immediately. Four hours later I was at an 8 and Kai had found himself stuck on a bone which shifted him out of the range of the epidural. For about an hour we struggled together but finally gave into changing the place of the epidural so that it would actually reach that area. Soon after, Kai's head could be seen! I'm not sure how long I pushed but he was out of that canal fast enough to surprise the doctor. (Who's name by the way was appropriately Dr. Oshin)

Kailer Jarett Richardson was born at 6:56pm, a beautiful blond haired boy. His facial expression says it all. (I apologize if this picture above is a little gruesome for some of you but it's one of my favorite).

Kai weighed 8 lbs 7oz! He was healthy and strong just like his dad :D

I must admit I was a little overwhelmed at first, but it didn't take long before I fell in love

How could you not love this child? All he does is eat, burp, poop and deprive me of my sleep...but I just can't get enough of him!

Jarett is a natural! Kai is lucky to have such a loving daddy...

I don't know what we would've done without my mom there. She was a perfect support for me and cooked lots of good food. Mom and Jarett were awesome at coaching me through my contractions. We worked like a team! I never thought breathing would be so difficult. Thank you mom for being there!

Bringing Kai home for the first time was so fun. He is nine days old now and I have never been more tired. The love he brings to our little family is very well worth its price.

Eat, burp, poop, eat, poop, sleep, repeat!