It was 5 AM when I realized my wife, Rachel, was constantly getting in and out of bed. Even the moments she tried to sleep seemed to becoming unpleasant for her. Then she made the statement, “I think I’m having contractions.”
After 40 plus weeks of pregnancy our little boy was finally making his way to the world! As the contractions kept coming they began to pick up intensity while the daddy-to-be would write down all the times and length of those contractions. An hour or so later it was time to go to the hospital.
It wasn’t long after we arrived that Rachel made a new friend, Epidural. The previous weeks Rachel had been trying to decide if she would do a natural birth all the way or have some assistance from the popular drug of choice among the moms-in-labor community. Let me tell ya, she didn’t have a problem making a choice when it was time. Before the doctor could even ask, “Would you like an epi…,” “YES!” She demanded. Almost immediately, Rachel got this smile on her face…and she was even at the peak of a contraction! Whoever invented this stuff, THANK YOU!
When it was time for our little Cade to get shoved down the home stretch, Epidural said, “goodbye.” Folks, it wasn’t pretty after that. We’ll just skip that part 🙂
After 11 hours of labor on July 17 at 4:09pm, Cade Thomas Hardin took his first breath in the world. For 40 weeks it all seemed to be so surreal. But in that moment when I heard my little boy’s first cry my heart was forever changed. I never knew this level of love could be reached, but I learned from that moment on that love only grows.
Nowell Hardin 