Welcome to Levi!

We welcomed Levi into the world on June 13, 2013. Here is my last pregnant picture! 

The little guy was slightly stubborn and I ended up being induced at 7:30 that morning. Here we are after i got all hooked up to the machines:

The labor progressed slowly at first. They checked me at about 4:00pm and i was still at only a 3.5, so i figured we were in for a really LONG night. The contractions started to get really bad around 5:00, and when they checked me again, I was a 5, so they let me get the epidural. The anesthesiologist finally came about 6. That was AMAZING. I know that some people like to do their births all natural, but the pain relief was absolutely the best thing in the world. The epidural allowed me to relax so much that within one hour, i went from a 5 to a 10 and was ready to start pushing. After about an hour and a half, maybe more, I got to meet the little one: 

He was born at 9:40 pm, and was 7 lbs 14 ounces of perfection!! Dave and I fell in love with him instantly! It was the most tender moment of our lives!

I was glad that my mom was able to be here in Indiana with me for the birth. 

First family photo (where we're all cleaned up)!

Like I said, perfection :) 

My sneaky parents pulled off the best surprise ever!! My dad had told me that he wished he could come visit me after we had the baby, but that he was too busy and couldn't make it out to see us. I figured that it was okay, and that since we were going home in August, so he would just have to see him then... to my surprise, my dad showed up in the hospital on Saturday morning!! I squealed like a school girl and may have cried just a little. I am so happy he got to be here to meet our little Levi!

That night we got to go home (I was REALLY scared about going home and taking care of a living thing without the nurses help)

But, just like all other parents, we did it!! I love how he is crossing his arms and legs in this picture :)

Daddy snuggle time. 

Mommy snuggle time. We think it's so precious how he folds his hands under his face like that.

More mommy snuggles. We slept together a lot during the day that first few weeks. 

We love our little guy so much, and are looking forward to watching him grow and learn! I am so grateful that I get to be the mom of this sweet little one!