He's HERE!

So... many of you probably know, but some do not. Gatlin Grant made his way into the world screaming on 9/10/10 at 7:49am. He weighed 9lbs.4 oz. and was 23 inches long!

I had been having contractions on and off for weeks. Sometimes they hurt, sometimes they didn't... but they were usually regular. And just when I thought I should call someone (like L&D) they would stop. So, it was Thursday afternoon (9th) and I had been subbing in a classroom that day. My back had hurt the whole night before and I was fairly uncomfortable, but not having contractions... just back pain. I had night class to get to that started at 4, so I left school around 2:50 and headed for Madisonville- 1 hour away. On the way, I started having contractions. They would start with back pain and work their way around to the front. They were about 5 minutes apart. So, I thought... hmm... could these be the real deal? The back pain with them was new. So when I got to night class, I told my teacher that I had decided if they were still regular at 5, I would be leaving class. They were still regular, so off to the hospital I went. the hospital was another hour drive, so I called my family to meet me there. When I got there, the contractions were about 4 minutes apart... and uncomfortable, but not too painful.

So, after being checked it was determined I was 5cm dialated. I was at a 4 the week before when I went to the doctor. They hooked me up and I was having contractions- slightly painful ones that were about 4 minutes apart. They decided to keep me there- though, I know they thought about sending me home, but since I live so far away, they didn't want me to have to be coming back later.


It was about 10pm and I was admitted- the rest of the night was borin. I stayed aound 5-6cm and my contractions were dying off. The doctor decided around 5:30am when I was 7cm dialated that she would break my water, let me get my epidural, and we would be having a baby sometime late morning, early afternoon. Apparently Gatlin had his own plan because as soon as she broke my water my contractions took off and were super painful. I, being the giant baby I was, was ready for my epi, but I still needed to take in some fluids from the IV first. This was a LONG process and about 7:00am I had taken in the fluids to get the epi. The anesthesiologist came in to do the epi and I was so relieved. My big fear had been not being able to get one. At this point, the contractions were 2-3 mins apart and I was in TONS of pain.

Unfortunately, the epi must not have been put in the right spot because it had zero relief. My legs were not heavy or anything... at this point I was 10cm dialated, so it was too late to do anything. The nurse had the anesthesiologist come back and they tried to give me pain meds, but about 5 minutes later little Gatlin was born! The nurse left the room to get the doctors because he was "high up there" and "we wouldn;t need to push yet", but as soon as she left I had my mom check because I felt like I had to push. Mom yelled for nurse because she could already see Gatlin's head. The nurse came in an held Gatlin's head in while trying to find "any doctor" to come in. A midwife came in. There was no time to set up the bed for delivery or anything, so I began to push. After one or two pushes , my doctor showed up and Gatlin was born.

My first words after seeing him were "He looks just like Max!" See the picture... he really did!

But, as he is "older", I don't see it as much. I think this is a good thing. :-) He is super precious. And no, were are not sure where that hair color came from! hehehe