Welcome to the world our precious!

You'd think I'd be sleeping!

Last night at 9:48pm our beautiful son Toalei Siaosi Feinga was born! It was such a surreal, intimate experience, and how I am over joyed with love and gratitude to be blessed with such a perfect little soul.

My contractions started Sunday at 4pm, we were in the movie watching Pelham 123, the contractions were about 10 -15 minutes apart and stayed that way until about 3:30am and then got to 7 minutes apart and by 7am they were 5 minutes apart.

We got showered and ready and headed to Jordan Valley Hosptial and were checked in by 9am. I was dilated to a 4 by then and they admitted me. Phew, I thought they were gonna send me home. By noon I was to a 7+ and the on-call doc (of course my doc HAD to be out of town) said I should deliver by 3:30!

Wow, I thought! This wasn't that bad! YES, I was very uncomfortable and the intense contractions hurt like a MOTHER, but I have a pretty high pain threshold and I thought I could totally go natural without any meds, and  well at 3pm, I was STILL a 7+ and was getting extremely exhausted! 23 hours later both Ray and I were like  BRING ON THE EPIDURAL!!

I wish I never got the stupid epidural, my entire UPPER body was numb and I was itching everywhere. I could still move my legs though. I tried to get some sleep, and I didn't know you were supposed to push the little button for more drugs. LOL. 1st time Mom?? I'm glad I didn't though because I hated the way I felt.

By 6:00PM I was a 9+ and felt I needed to push NOW!! So we started pushing! It was a team effort..because my upper body was numb, I couldn't pull myself up to push and I could only move my head. It was seriously the ugliest thing ever. My tiny sister Kuuipo climbed behind me and was pushing my big butt up whenever I was pushing. Kamie who is 7 months pregnant was sitting at the foot of the bed freakin' eating chips and looked on the verge of crying and just kept asking if I was okay. It was pretty comical. Ray and my Mom were each at a side of me helping me.. exhausting for everyone!!

I was still pushing and making NO progress by 8:15 and was so tired AND the epidural was practically gone at that point! My doc said we had 3 options:

1. Keep pushing
2. Use a vacuum/forceps
3. C-section

I just started to cry because I was so tired and I just wanted him out. I didn't know how much longer I would have to push and the thought of vacuuming him out freaked me out and I did NOT want to get a c-section and was hell bent on pushing this baby out.. So, that's what I did. Ray was so great, he told me to keep pushing too and that he knew I could do it. Luckily the baby wasn't in any danger at all and so I continued to pushed for another hour and forty-five minutes and he finally came!! Whoa, almost FOUR hours of pushing is so not the business, but  hearing him cry was the most beautiful sound to my ears! It was a very VERY exhausting 30 hours, but every ounce of pain was worth it.

He was 11 days early,  and was due July 10th. He weighs 9lbs 6oz  and 22 1/2 inch long! BIG BOY! I'll post pictures later, but he has TONS of black hair, the BIGGEST dimples just like Ray! He doesn't even have to smile and you can see them. He has HUGE hands and feet. His footprint didn't even fit on the paperwork the nurse was doing! :-)

He's so perfect and precious! We named him after our Dad's. Toa Siaosi! 2 of the best men in our lives. My Dad's name Toalei (which is my middle name) means Warrior in Samoan, and Siaosi is George in Tongan! He is the first boy in 2 generations on my side, and the first grandchild on Ray's side!

We are so in love with this little guy, and can't imagine life without him. I think I can't sleep because I miss him so much being in the nursery!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and texts and calls today! We are so grateful to amazing family and friends!