Over the last 9 months I imagined what he would be like. Who would he look like? How would he act? And in the past few weeks before he was born the anticipation and anxiety started to set in. I couldn't quit thinking about when he would come and what delivery would be like and how I would feel to finally meet him. And on January 24th, it all happened!
The day before it was nasty weather; which isn't very surprising considering that this winter has been very rainy and yucky. We met up with Derek and Jenny and Casey and Berkley to watch Sherlock Holmes. After that we went to Derek and Jenny's house to hang out for a little bit. The boys went off for a while and so Jenny and Berkley came over to look at the nursery and so we could let the little dog out. When we got back we decided to go eat dinner at Johnny Carino's. The food was great but we ate way too much! I heard that eating eggplant parmigana would induce contractions and I decided to give it a try on Friday night. When it didn't work I decided that I would just give up and let it happen on its own-by this time I had already tried a pedicure, walking, and pineapple. My back had been kind of achy all week but nothing that was intense-more of uncomfortable and on Saturday night it was no different. By the time we left their house after dinner I was ready to go to bed. Trevor and I got back to the house around 11 and we got ready for bed. By midnight Trevor was snoring and I was starting to feel crampy and not very good. I decided that these just might be contractions. I still wasn't sure but it didn't take long to figure it out! I got up out of bed and walked around a little bit and then when the cramping got worse I decided to try taking a bath. I quickly realized that things were progressing and that I was probably in active labor. The pain would start out slow and felt like cramping at first and then it would radiate to my lower back and everything would tense up and was so strong. Even though it would generally last a minute it felt like forever! I had wanted to wait it out as long as possible before waking up Trevor to make sure it wasn't a false alarm. I timed the contractions and they were getting faster and more and more intense really quickly. We were told since we lived 30 minutes from the hospital that by the time the contractions were 5 minutes apart we needed to go in. Well by the time it was 2:00 am they were starting to get so fast that at times they were only 3 minutes apart. I decided it was definitely time and I woke up Trevor. When I woke him up and said "I think it's time" Trevor popped up and was said, "are you serious?!" He quickly got out of bed and jumped in to take a quick shower. Now, I said we hung out with all of our friends earlier that day and the boys did their fair share of drinking so poor guy wasn't feeling so hot when he got out of the shower. The adrenaline was pumping and the alcohol and food was not setting so well for him. On the way to the hospital I just remember thinking, "oh my, this is really happening"...that and "I really should get something to eat because they won't let me eat while I'm in labor". Funny how even though I was in crazy pain I was still thinking about food haha. Food lost the battle though-my pain was way too intense and the contractions were coming pretty fast so we decided getting there was top priority. I texted the family and luckily Courtnie was near by in Dallas visiting Ashley so she got in her car and drove down to be with us. When we got to the hospital it was a ghost town. We walked into the lobby and went up to the 2nd floor for labor and delivery.We called to the front desk from the waiting area to get admitted. Now, being that it was 2 am I think they might have had their "b" team on deck. They were slow, seemed to be confused, and weren't all that helpful. Not that they were bad by any means-just not impressive. It took quite a while to get papers signed and get into a gown for triage. At this time Trevor went down to go park the car. While I was in triage the only separation between the patients is a thin sheet. The woman next to me was giving her medical history and let me just tell you-it wasn't pretty. I was pretty much disgusted. My first nurse, May, walked in and started hooking me up to time the contractions and get my medical history. She did the internal and I was still only at 3 cm; however, the contractions were coming 4-5 minutes apart steadily and increasing. The pain was excruciating and my whole body was trembling.This is when May lost her appeal-she couldn't figure out if my water had broken or if the baby was head down. To me, this should be fairly routine and I wasn't too convinced of her skills if she couldn't figure this out. She went and got another nurse. This nurse couldn't figure it out either. This started to worry me. Had he somehow managed to flip? He had been head down for the last couple of weeks. It seemed odd for him to flip now. They called Dr. McClintock and he had me admitted and would come in as I started progressing. I got into my room and the families were on their way.
I had said that I wanted to go as natural as possible. Welp, that didn't last too long. The contractions were so close that I took them up on their offer of pain meds-I'm a sissy afterall. The second nurse who had checked me recently was putting in my IV. I was in so much pain from the contractions that her finding a vein in my wrist didn't bother me so much. She was doing a pretty poor job-there was so much blood and I have huge veins that I didn't see how she could be screwing it up so bad. The next nurse, Caroline, took over and was amazing and even she didn't know why the lady had put the IV line where she had. I got the meds and was told it was time to wait. I decided the epidural was going to be necessary so I might get some rest before it was time because who knows how long labor would last. The days leading up to this, or maybe weeks, I had not slept well so by this time, especially with the whole body trembling, I was exhausted. The anesthesiologist came in and I was surprisingly very happy to see him, even if he did have a huge needle in his hands ready to stab me in the spine! He said he was "tape happy" and he definitely was. It took days and days and scrubbing to come off. The experience of getting the epidural was surprisingly not bad. I was told to hunch over on the edge of the bed and he gave me a shot of a local anesthetic. Literally none of the pain was even noticable compared to those contractions. When the medicine started moving through my body my legs and toes started tingling and felt like dead legs. Within 5 minutes I was already relieved. My body relaxed and I was so tired I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open. I craved sleep and even dozed for a little bit but never a restful sleep.
Since I was still at 4 cm and my contractions were still coming very fast they decided they wanted to try Pitocin to speed up labor if nothing happened soon. Courtnie showed up and that was comforting. Her and Trevor decided to go grab a quick breakfast after I got checked-I was dilated to 4 cm. When they came back I got checked again and I was now at 7/8 cm! It was time to call Dr. McClintock back. So luckily they hadn't pushed the Pitocin because it probably would've made everything happen too fast. Mom was still a little ways out and I know she wanted to be in the room but I wasn't sure things were going to stall out.
When Dr. McClintock came in to check me I was still progressing and he confirmed the baby was head down, thank God. They still couldn't feel the bag of water so I guess my water had broken. I'm thinking it happened when I took a bath, because otherwise I'm pretty sure I would've remembered that. When the time came that it was time to push Mom walked in. What perfect timing. We started pushing around 9-9:15. It was one of the hardest things I've done. My muscles were not coordinated with my brain because of the epidural so it was very difficult to figure out how to get my body to do what I wanted. Trevor and my mom were by my side the whole time being very supportive. I started getting frustrated, not only was I exhausted, but I didn't feel like we were getting anywhere because my pushing didn't seem to be productive. Dr. McClintock was very patient and even tried a couple different techniques to help. He tied a sheet and had me play a sort of tug of war to help my muscles in that way. Each time a contraction was coming, I had to feel my stomach with my hands to see when it hardened to even tell when it was happening, we prepared and I took 2 deep breaths and then pushed. This lasted for about an hour and a half and finally at 10:33 am our little guy finally arrived. Because he had been in the birth canal so long he had quite a prominent cone head. But it was the cutest cone head ever.
I remember during pushing it was so hard to keep my eyes open. After he was delivered they laid him on me and he was just so precious that I couldn't keep my eyes off him. He was perfect! They took him over to the bassinet and cleaned, weighed, measured, and took care of him. He was 21.5", 7 pounds and 3 ounces. Trevor went over to check out his new son. It was very emotional and soon everyone was at the hospital to visit.
Before everyone came in they let me feed him and he did great. He latched on like a champ and has been doing great ever since. After I fed him they brought me in a tray of food. There was a plate of fruit that was amazing! I got myself a little composed and our families and friends came in to see our beautiful baby. Derek and Jenny brought us flowers and Berkley and Casey brought us some candy. While everyone took pictures and passed around our little man the nurses were preparing us to move to a new room.
When we got to the new room we had a new nurse. She was great and got my shower ready-which was not a spa but a shower was still better than nothing. While I was getting showered up the family was taking their turns with the baby. We started to discuss what we would officially name him. I had always known that I wanted to name a boy Tate. It's not only my maiden name, which I take great pride in, but it is also a tribute to the amazing people in my family. Especially my father. So I knew I wanted Tate in the name but Trevor and I didn't know if we wanted it to be Pason Tate or Tate Wayne. I liked both but in the end I really didn't think that a middle name would do justice. Plus, we really liked that Tate Wayne would be allow little one to have the same initials as his daddy. I am so glad that we decided to go with Tate Wayne. Like I said, I really wanted my little boy to have very strong ties to his family and know where he came from and the amazing people in his life who love him. Now every part of his name is just as special as he is!
Courtnie had to leave that afternoon to go back to Dallas and get Zoee and then on to home-a 5 hour drive. It was so nice to have our families there during this very special time. Luckily, Trish and Victor were able to stay a couple of days and Dad was able to stay til the end of the week and Mom was able to stay til Tuesday of the next week to help me take Tate to his appointments and allow me to get more sleep, have yummy home cooked meals, and help out around the house :)
At Tate's 2 day appointment he had lost 6% of his body weight, which the pediatrician said was completely normal and okay. This put him in the 20th percentile for weight. He measured in the 50th percentile for head measurement and 75th percentile for height. She said he looked great and we were scheduled for the next appointment at 2 weeks.
The next Tuesday we went in for his 2nd round of PKU testing-it was horrible. They pricked his heel and he made the most awful cry-they had to push on it for so long to get enough blood. I had tears in my eyes because I hated hearing him in pain. Luckily that's all over-at least no more shots until the 2 month appointment.
Our families have been so amazing, as they've always been. It's now that I realize the depths of a parent's love. Nothing is more special and amazing than bringing a baby into the world. Sometimes I stress that I'm not doing things "right" but like Trevor says-there's no "right" way. I find that I'm extremely over protective and to the point of paranoid. I just worry so much about him and want him to be as healthy as possible. We have been very blessed-a healthy delivery and even more important a very healthy baby! I can't wait to watch him grow and learn more about him.
To our families: thank you for your love and support-Tate is very blessed to have you in his life!
Tater was a little sleepy so Poppi gave him a comfy spot to nap.
First time in the Bumbo-he was a little more interested in watching tv. He loves him so Dirty Jobs! He can hold his head up for so long and turn it to watch us. 
Mama and baby about to go walkin
This is one of my favorite pictures of Tate! I love this little bear outfit.
He was trying to smile before he got blinded by the sunlight.
Daddy and his little boy
Although this week was really stressful with all the new developments with Tate's health issues, I know that we will all get through it. I pray that he gets and stays very healthy and happy!
Mama and baby about to go walkin
This is one of my favorite pictures of Tate! I love this little bear outfit.
He was trying to smile before he got blinded by the sunlight.
Daddy and his little boy
Although this week was really stressful with all the new developments with Tate's health issues, I know that we will all get through it. I pray that he gets and stays very healthy and happy!
big ol cheeks!
Here is Dr. McClintock
Our first family photo
Our little boy getting taken care of after delivery
Daddy admiring his little boy
Their first grandbaby
First nephew-what a proud auntie
Papaw's first grandbaby
Gigi holding Tate for the first time
Heading from labor and delivery over to the mother-baby room
So proud
Little bear
Daddy driving home from the hospital
First car ride-slept the whole way home!