Welcome to the World, Paul Elias!

We are so proud to announce the birth of PAUL ELIAS HAUGEN! Sorry for the delay in this entry... as the new mommy (me!) is learning to breast feed and adjust to this crazy schedule, blogging has become a lesser priority this week!

After going through a whole week past my due date of August 8th, I was finally induced. When Mark and I arrived at the hospital at 7 in the morning, I was already 2.5 cm dilated, and was ready to begin the whole labor and delivery process. At around 9:00 my water broke and they started me on the pitocin to help get the contractions going. The baby was born only eight hours later at 5:04. It was a good day's work, a nine to five labor.

My sister Lindsay, mom, and Mark were on hand to help out during the pushing process. The epidural worked wonders, and I felt good from start to finish. Mark and Lindsay kept their cool throughout the entire thing, but mom got a little light headed and had to sit down and collect herself at a couple of different points. And while Mark kept his cool during the delivery, he was so overwhelmed, overjoyed, and excited that he cried when Paul finally popped out.

When Paul was first born he had a little bit of mucous in his trachea and his breathing was weird. So just a few minutes after he was born, they had to whisk him out of the room for an x-ray. Thankfully, everything turned out well, and a day later he was able to work everything out of his system.

After nine months of praying, waiting, and getting excited, our little guy has finally arrived. We are incredibly thankful to God for what he has done, and are eager to see what the future holds for little Paul. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to introduce him to many of you over the course of the next few weeks and months.

Love,

Stephanie, Mark and Paul