I’m sitting here listening to the heartbeat of my baby Asher on the monitor, patiently awaiting his arrival. It’s difficult to wait. God says that “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 But it’s hard to wait!

Some of you are joining us from facebook because it appears that the hospital has blocked all access to facebook and every other social networking site, it just took my iPhone a while to figure that out I guess. Others are just tuning in and realizing that I’m having a baby today!!! That being the case, here’s an update for all of you…

We arrived at the hospital this morning around 8:00am. This induction thing is kinda strange. Even though this is our 3rd go around it still feels weird. It’s like checking into a hotel. We’ve yet to have the real deal “Oh my! My water broke! Let’s race to the hospital!” ordeal (thank God!).

After they got her all checked in, paperwork filled out and nice pajamas put on they began looking for a vein to put the IV in. I say looking because it took three attempts before they found one. Needless to say, Staci’s arms are a little sore.

They began the oxytosin drip and right away the contractions started to come on strong. It still took until about 12:00 before Staci started getting uncomfortable (labor wise).

About 12:00 they came in to do the epidural. The 1st time round (with Joshua) the epidural and I didn’t do so well. I, being the supportive husband that I am, sat in front of Staci and held her hands while they inserted the needle. Not hearing the anesthesiologist share that Staci might get a slight twitch in her leg I sat straddling sed leg. When the needle hit its mark, her leg hit its mark and sent me down for the count. There would be none of that this time around as the nurse wouldn’t even let me near her during the insertion of the epidural!

It’s painful to watch your wife go through the kind of pain that is poking a needle in your spine. To make matters worse, the nurse chose to inform us after the procedure was done that if you sit up straight you’re more likely to hit the bone! Of course, natural reaction to someone sticking a needle in your back is to… “sit up straight!”

After the epidural was in place, Staci experienced some nausea and then tried to go to sleep while I grabbed a sandwich downstairs.

At about 2:30 the doctor came in and broke her water. It’s now 3:45 and the contractions are coming on stronger now. With the epidural however, Staci is barely even feeling them. She’s trying to sleep again, but we’re hoping that baby Asher will be here within a couple of hours.

It’s hard to wait, but we will do so until his arrival. I’ll try and keep you updated as well…