3 weeks post delivery

Labor:

I went into labor around 3:00am on the 24th. My induction was scheduled for later that night. I will give Cesar credit for that. We had gotten into a fight about 2 hours prior to that. I wasn't sure I was in labor for a while. I had expected a different type of pain but when I couldn't fall asleep I began counting the minutes between pangs. After running it by Cesar' sister and mom we all agreed that I was in labor and packed up our things for the hospital. The hospital wasn't as scary as I had anticipated. The contractions, however, were much stronger than I was prepared for. I was okay for a while but once they began making me involuntarily tear up I opted for an epidural. Plus, I hadn't slept at all yet and thought that it would be wise of me to do what I could in order to get some sleep before the physically demanding part of labor began.
The epidural worked really well on the right side of my body and maybe about 10% on the left side. I was able to sleep but once the contractions started to get really strong and close together I was in a lot of pain. Maybe that was God's was of letting me feel less guilty about choosing to get some pain relief. By the time I was ready to push I had been in labor for 13 hours. Most of that time was spent either sleeping, watching "I Love Lucy", and talking to April (thank God she was there). Cesar spent most of that time eating breakfast with Norman and sleeping on a chair and waiting for April to do anything I asked of him.
Pushing didn't hurt at all. Now I can't be 100% certain that it wasn't because of the epidural but I figured that if I could feel the contractions I would be able to feel the pain of the actual delivery. It really felt like there was just a (pardon my graphic description) tampon that was coming out. I could feel something was there but it wasn't painful.  I don't know exactly how long I pushed for but it felt like maybe 10 minutes (not constantly pushing). Cesar and April were wonderful cheerleaders the whole time. Then WOOSH he was out! They put him on my stomach right away and I could only say "wow". He really didn't look as disgusting as I had prepared myself for. Cesar cut his umbilical cord after that and then they cleaned him up. By the way, if you have facebook, I highly recommend you view the photo of Cesar cutting the umbilical cord. His face is priceless.
After I looked over at the little guy, quietly laying in the little bucket and being weighed by the nurses, I couldn't not cry. It hit me that I wasn't pregnant anymore, now I had a baby. This prompted me to touch my now flattened belly and I stopped crying. It felt like melty jello; I couldn't help but laugh. From then on it was just a blur of nurses and family constantly cycling through the room. I don't know what papers I signed or who told me what. I was exhausted but couldn't/didn't want to sleep.
We went home the following night and I haven't slept since. Thank goodness for concealer.