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With the assistance of an epidural and pitocin, I dialated nicely to 10 cm and it was time to begin pushing. Unfortunately, my epidural wore off and I couldn’t keep up with the closeness and severity of the contractions. After 90 minutes of pushing, we went to surgery for a c-section. Jack was born within the hour. Our little moose weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. Meeting him for the first time was amazing and the greatest possible gift we could ever get. Thank you for everyone for checking in on us and the wishes.

Jack Joseph Judge

• Born on 11/15/2008 at 7:50 PM at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
• 8 lbs, 9 oz
• 21 inches long
• A full head of brown hair

We checked into Prentice Women’s Hospital (part of Northwestern) last night at 10:30 pm and waited 2.5 hrs for a delivery room to be prepped (not a good first start). Once we got into our room, Erin was hooked up an IV and we spent time talking to nurse and asking lots of questions. We both feel asleep around 2 am. Erin was woken up at 3:30 am for her easy catheter and to be given pitocin to help her body start prepping for the am. At 4:30 am her water broke and she complained of being wet :) We both woke up around 8 am. Around 8:30 am Erin’s doctor came into to check everything out and reported that she was 5.5 cm, and that the baby was going to be a little smaller than we had thought (a good thing). Erin then took a shower, and we decided we should order the epidural as her contractions were 1 minute apart and really strong. I left to grab breakfast and write this. I’ll write another update as soon as the baby is born :)

Jeff and I went to our scheduled doctor’s appointment this morning for an ultrasound and fluid check. Suprisingly, our son weighed in at 9.1 lbs +/- 1.5 lbs and we learned that my amniotic fluid was on the low side of normal. Since my doctor felt he was ready to come out, she decided it would be best for all of us to be induced and deliver on his due date 11/15.  Although we were expecting him tomorrow…we were not expecting to check into the hospital tonight at 9:30 pm to “get things going”. After the initial shock…Jeff and I spent the day together and hung out with Dylan and Roscoe. We can’t wait to meet our little moose and look forward to announcing his birth stats! Stay tuned.

This shot was taken last Monday. As you can see, Erin is doing great. We’ve been talking about our future world leader and Erin thinks he is going to be a ‘peanut’ in size. That makes me laugh - I think he’ll be a hoss. Only a few more weeks to go…

I have entered the phase of weekly doctors appts! My doctor started these a tad bit early at 34 weeks because of the pressure I was experiencing. Turns out, he’s extremely low and in position. Every week that passes brings Jeff and I one step closer to meeting our little man…we can’t wait! Having a baby is definitely a miracle and its amazing reflecting on the changes my body has experienced through the course of the pregnancy.

To reflect and look ahead, the last 6 weeks and the act of giving birth have to be the most challenging. No one told me what to expect as my body prepared for delivery…That I’d be able to feel my hips widening as I prepare for child birth, that my groin would be painfully sore (almost as if I pulled every muscle in my groin area), that the pressure of the baby on my spine would start to take its toll AND that I would run out of breathe mid sentence while talking…All very normal. Yes, I was aware of the breast changes and the fact that he would move less as he ran out of room, and that I probably would not be as hungry given the fact that my stomach and the rest of my organs would be compressed. Yet for some reason, I can’t get over the groin soreness and the difficulty I’ve been having getting in and out of bed, the car, and our reclining chairs. Its pretty funny, so Jeff and I just laugh as I struggle. Not sure what I’d do without him (thank you honey!)

So, now is the time…If you have any labor and delivery advice for us, ie. what they don’t tell you in class or in the books, please post your comments or email us at all@judgefamily.org. Yes, we want to know all the gorey details…