Two Have Become Three

At 11:57am on Saturday the 12th of January, our world changed for ever. Little Noah Winston was born into this world. It took almost 24 hours from the first signs of labour for Maria to push the little boy out but she did it and I was so proud of her.
At around 3pm Friday we thought she was in labour because the contractions had become consistent. At 6:30pm they were 5 min apart and getting stronger. After a few phone calls, the midwife and Liza were already to meet us at the Family Birth Centre (FBC). As the contractions grew stronger we could not believe we were about to have a baby, the feeling was indescribable. A mixer of nerves, fear and excitement about meeting this person who had been curled up in Maria's tummy for 9 months was running through us both.
10pm we arrived at FBC with Maria having another contraction. Finding the best position to 'take the pain' was proving difficult. Standing up worked for a while when we were at home, but now the contractions were too strong. Laying over the fitball or the bean bag was the best bet for the next couple of hours. The contractions got closer and closer and went very quickly from 5 minutes apart to 1 min with a couple of contractions, thats when 'shit hit the fan'!
We asked for the morphine after we moved from the bath to the shower. The bath was really good for the pain but it when it got too much we had to move. The morphine took time to come and by the time Maria got the injection I think only an epidural could numb the pain. After 30 min of waiting for the Morphine to kick in, and then a check to see how dilated Maria's cervix was we opted for the Epidural. Being only 4 cm apart and having contraction every minute for a minute was not ideal, especially as it was so sudden.
Everything was packed and Maria put in a wheel chair and we started the long walk through the tunnel to the Hospital. Once in the hospital and somewhat settled we had to wait for the epidural. Luckily a doctor was available! The midwife had previously told us that the other doctor was in surgery and we had to wait over an hour, so we were lucky another doctor was around.
During the procedure Maria had to sit still for 3 contractions. I told her to look at me and breath, I've never seen her eyes like that before. She was in so much pain and all I could do was tell her to breath. It took a couple of contraction to take away the pain but when it did, it was a welcome relief.
Unfortunately it slowed down the labour. She had the epidural at 3:30am and she was 8cm dilated at 4:30am. After that we managed to rest up a little bit, with the daddy to be taking a good nap. :-)
Little Noah did not want to come out. The forceps didn't work and only managed to scratch his little face, so they had to bring out the bid guns. The suction cup was brought in and with the help of a little snip Noah came out screaming.