Mark Trotter Hodges (born 10/10/09 at 9:03am; 5 pounds 10 oz, 19.75in)

After being in and out of the hospital since Monday, October 5 with various diagnoses which included possible early labor and renal colic, our baby boy - Mark Trotter Hodges decided he couldn't wait any longer to meet us (and I guess he wanted to be here to witness a great Virginia Tech victory)! My water broke at exactly 3am after Blake and I had spent another long evening on 3West at Henrico Doctor's hospital. First, I want to thank my awesome husband for spending every night with me in the hospital and assuring me that the pain just had to get better eventually!!! Who would have thought that labor would be less painful than "renal colic" and 2 days of non-stop contractions at 2-3 minutes apart! And at least this way, going downstairs to labor and delivery was only less than 5 minutes instead of the 15 from our house. And I was able to get an epidural instead of morphine (and a constant feeling of making your baby a drug addict) so that was exciting!!

6 hours later, and with 2 great labor coaches (Blake & my mom - I think they are both seriously going to be sore from pushing so hard with me), baby boy Mark took his first breath at 9:03am. It was a really awesome experience, besides the last couple of pushes (those last couple of pictures are reserved for Discovery Health).

Mark is in the NICU for the night because he came out a little early and they wanted to check on his breathing, and he had a slight temperature. He is mainly spending the night there as a precaution and will probably move to the regular newborn nursery tomorrow morning. He is super cute and I don't know how I'm going to stop myself from spoiling him! Aunt Carrie came up this evening and brought us lunch from the Cheese Shop and dinner!!! She's also watching the other baby - Bentley for the night and is going to take a blanket of Mark's home for him!

Tory has also been a lifesaver by being on call off and on all week with Bentley! Blake and I are truly blessed by being around such great friends and family and we can't wait to introduce our son to everyone! Thanks for being a part of our lives!!!