Meet Tate!

 

We are so excited to have Tate out in the world!! Here's his birth story....I had an ultrasound at 38 weeks to check the baby's size since I had been measuring ahead.  Much to our surprise, he had moved from the head down position (where he had been for many weeks) to a side lying position (transverse is the medical term).  The doctor was quite shocked as was I, especially since I didn't remember feeling any huge movements.  This was on a Wednesday and my doctor recommended that I try a version (where she would try to manually turn the baby by manipulating the outside of my stomach).  She said I could do this on Friday or Monday, I decided to give the baby until Monday to try to move on his own.  So, I spent the whole next 5 days trying anything I could possibly do to make him move, all of which the doctor told me probably wouldn't work, but I figured it was worth a shot since he had been head down.  

On Monday, Jared and I had to check in to the hospital with bags packed and I had to be prepped for a c-section in case the baby went in to distress during the turn, I would have to have an emergency c-section.  It was a little scary as I had to be in a labor and delivery room, IV in and ready to go.  The doctor showed up and did an ultrasound again before things got started and much to everyone's surprise again, he had moved back to head down!! I was so incredibly thrilled (I had heard the whole moving of the baby thing was painful and didn't necessarily work). 

The funniest part of this day was when the doctor did the ultrasound and found the head down and then announced, "Good BOY!"  We still didn't know the sex of the baby at this point and were quite shocked that she just declared it. However, she probably read the confused look on my face and then quickly corrected herself and said, "Wait..we don't know the sex, do we? Well, I always call them boys, so don't listen to me."  I was a little bummed (even though I was about 80% sure it was a boy too) but the nurse reassured me that the sex of the baby is not even in my file and that the doctor truly didn't know what it was.  My doctor then told me she recommended inducing labor as soon as she felt comfortable so the baby didn't flip again.  The earliest she was ok with inducing was 39 weeks, so 3 days later on Thursday, Feb. 28, his birthday was set. 

We arrived at the hospital around 6:30 on morning of the 28th (mind you, I was so sure this baby would be late like Tucker that I couldn't believe I would be having a February baby!).  Jared actually had to drop me off to check in on my own while he drove Tucker to his babysitter's house.  My mom was supposed to arrive the night before but a big snow storm prevented this.  She ended up arriving in the afternoon of the 28th, which worked out really well.  I got settled in to the room and met my nurse when Jared arrived. I was hooked up to good ol' pitocin once again to get things moving.  This whole morning was very similar to the day I had Tucker.  I was dialated 3 cm but the doctor told me the head wasn't quite down yet (no surprise, he was too busy flipping around).  The contractions were happening, but not very painful and I got concerned that this could be a really long day.  My doctor came in around 9 in hopes to break my water and really get things going. Unfortunately, she decided I wasn't ready yet and said she'd be back in a while.  I was bummed, I was hoping to get things going.  The nurse kept cranking up the pitocin and contractions were getting a little more painful.  My doctor came back in at 10:15 and decided I was ready to have my water broken.  So she did that and then things really started getting going.  Contractions got quite painful and as I breathed through each one, I kept thinking, why am I putting up with this pain when I could just get an epidural and relax a little? But, I decided to push though it in hopes that all the pain meant things were progressing.  The nurse checked me and I was more like 6 cm which wasn't all that encouraging. I had to keep switching sides to lay on as his heart rate was dipping a little during contractions.  Eventually, she had me go on oxygen for a little to help with this. Things picked up pace really fast and it was during this time that I got a pretty intense urge to push/throw-up/go to the bathroom, I wasn't sure which it was, but the nurse quickly let me know it was time to push.  She called another nurse in and told the doctor to get down there, "STAT!"  I heard the doctor's feet running to the door just in time.  I pushed for 1 contraction, maybe a minute, and his head was out and after 1 more push, the doctor told me to open my eyes, and there hanging upside down in front of me was my new little boy.  What an awesome moment! Jared and I were thrilled, laughing/crying and smiling a ton to see our healthy baby boy! 

We've always liked the name Tate and then chose Thurston as it is my brother, dad and grandpa's middle name as well.