On the morning of Tuesday, February 1st, 2011, I woke up just as I had the previous few. I had gotten up to pee three or four times the night before rather than my usual one or two, but other than that I had slept pretty well. (Little did I know that this was because my water had probably broken. Although I never gushed or really leaked, my water was broken when I got to the hospital.) Will woke me up at 7 am and I got in the shower. The first contraction hit while I was showering and it was WAY stronger than the ones I had over the weekend. When two more hit before I got out of the shower, I knew this was going to be the day. I found Will at the kitchen table in his shirt and tie and informed him that he needed to go change clothes--he wasn't going to be going to work today!
The contractions kept coming and were getting stronger. At 7:30, Will called his mom to let her know that she needed to come and get Anna so we could head to the hospital. I called Mom and texted Sarah to let them know. Mom was already at work, but had her bags ready in the car to hit the road from Wilmington. We got Anna up and Will got her ready for school and packed her bags to stay at Nannie and Pop's for the night. I got ready and finished packing our bags, having to stop and breathe through some of the contractions along the way. At little after 8, we were all ready and I was starting to really hurt, so Will called Erin to see if she could get there any quicker. At 8:30, we all were waiting in the driveway when Nannie and E drove up at the same time. I was leaning up against the brick wall by our house in some serious pain! We kissed Anna good-bye and raced to the hospital. Luckily a highway patrolman pulled up beside us as we got on the highway or Will probably would have gotten a speeding ticket!
We arrived about 8:45 and quickly checked in and rushed to triage. The nurse checked me and I was already a six! We walked around the corner to labor and delivery and I asked her to go ahead and sound the epidural police. I wanted some relief ASAP! The anesthesia resident came pretty quickly and I had my epidural in by 9:05. I could quickly feel the tingling rising from my feet, but the relief wasn't coming fast enough to my belly. The resident warned me that we may be playing catch-up for a while since I was dilated so much already. He was right. For the next hour, I labored away, trying to breathe through the pain as well as I could. At one point the nurse had to tell me to slow my breathing or she was going to have to get me a paper bag to breathe into. I was hyperventilating to the point my fingers were contracting and I couldn't move them! Poor Will couldn't do anything but hold my hand and tell me it was going to be OK.
Sometime in the 10 o'clock hour, the nurse checked me and I was already a 9! No wonder the epidural was having a hard time catching up! I finally started to get some relief and the contractions became bearable with some focusing and breathing through them. Will got a few pics of me before I started pushing. Notice me clinging to my epidural button for dear life!
I started pushing around 11:25 or so. After several rounds of pushing, the nurse called Dr. Ponder and they started to get the room ready. There was another mom down the hall that was also a patient of Dr. Ponder's who was getting ready to push, too. We were racing to make sure he got to me first, so the nurse had me doing some serious pushing! At 12:19 pm, Jackson Edward Hege made his way into the world. Our beautiful baby boy was here!
Jack weighed a whopping 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21 and 3/4 inches long! He was a whole two pounds bigger than his sister!
All cleaned up and ready for hugs!
Happy Mommy!
Proud Daddy!
Mimi and Sarah and Jason had all ditched school and were waiting to get their hands on baby Jack. Look at all that dark hair!
Jack, we are so glad you're finally here!
A quiet moment with Daddy
Aunt Erin came to meet you, too.
A view from the nursery window after your first bath.
Meeting your big sister for the first time.
Anna had to check out every inch of you down to your toes!
Nannie's first glimpse
Pops and Nannie with their new grandson.
A proud Pops!
Papa drove up that afternoon after work to meet baby Jack.
Our new family of four!
Anna gets to hold Jack for the very first time!
A very proud big sister!
That first night in the hospital, Daddy and Jack watched their very first Carolina basketball game together. Jack was a good luck charm because the Tar Heels won!
We feel so blessed to finally have our beautiful, healthy baby boy with us. The miracle of birth is an awesome reminder of how God works and we said huge thank-yous for our precious Jack!
These first three months have been a whirlwind, but oh-so-sweet and such a blessing. Jack is such a perfect addition to our family. He is growing so fast and we try to enjoy every moment as they go rushing past. Right now, he weighs 14.5 pounds and is pushing the limits on his 3-6 month clothes. He is finishing up the last batch of size 1 diapers that were opened (we gave several boxes to Caroline) so we can move to 2's. He is sleeping from 11 pm until 7 am and eating about every 3 hours during the day with naps in between. He DOES NOT like his car seat and hasn't from the beginning. He is getting a little better about it since he has to spend a decent amount of time there by default. We dealt with some reflux in the 3rd and 4th weeks, but ever since he started on Prevacid, he has been so much better. He is such a happy baby (when he's not in his car seat), always smiling and talking, especially right after his belly gets full. Our hearts are overflowing with love for him and we thank God every day for blessing us with such a precious miracle! 
