We spent Saturday at Ikea while our apartment was being shown to potential renters. I had wanted to get the foot stool to the chair I will use for nursing. We did! We had a great time looking at different things there and planning for our future home with Watson. We did a lot of walking, and it was tough for me to walk, but I didn't think much of it.

We came home, got settled, I made some ice tea and then we spent the evening with our friends Brett and Gretyl. We came home and went to sleep, all our plans in place for Father's day. I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible contractions that did indeed end up being 2-4 minutes apart. We headed to the hospital and I was not dilated at all, but they wanted to keep me there for a few hours. They rechecked and 3 hours later I was only dilated to a one, but was still having contractions. They gave me a morphine shot and sent me home.

I immediately fell asleep and slept through the next day, waking up for my contractions. The contractions never really got closer together, but they got strong and stronger and they hurt in my back and bottom. I'm sure the neighbors thought I was dying. I was quiet and sleeping and then would wake up screaming. It makes me want to cry thinking about it. I finally started crying to go to the hospital, even though the contractions weren't close enough together. Seth started to consistently time my contractions and then during one, I felt a pop and my water broke. So, off to the hospital we went... about 24 hours after we had gone the first time.

They admitted us immediately, found that I was dilated to a 7 and I went ahead and asked for an epidural. I had wanted to try to not get one, but didn't anticipate to have back labor - also, a good marker for how painful something is is this: I am typically able to hide my pain from people I don't know and even people I know well - those who usually see or hear about my pain - (physically, being sick, etc) are those who have lived with me, or know pretty much everything about me (Seth, my parents, siblings). I was able to hold and disguise how much in pain I was in while at the hospital, until we got into the labor and delivery room. Getting the epidural was the worst experience of my life. Even the midwife looked worried/sad for me.

The epidural allowed me to sleep for 3 hours. I then woke up and had to yell to wake Seth up across the room. I told him I wasn't sure if I needed to push or not, but I felt I needed to. He called the nurses, and the midwife came in and found that I was dilated at an 11. So we started pushing. I pushed for 3.5 hours. They complimented me on how well I was able to push even though I had an epidural - that was nice of them. I was pretty determined to have my baby at that point. My contractions were dying down instead of increasing, so they asked if they could give me pitocin. They were very clear in letting me know it was my decision, which I was thankful for. I didn't want to go this route, but I absolutely trust the midwives and staff I was under - which is why I chose them. I didn't think they would choose to do anything that would hurt me or the baby. So I allowed them to. It helped for awhile and the baby was low, but then they realized he was face up. They decided to call in the doctor on call and see what he thought.

He came in- asked me to push. Also was extremely impressed at how well I was pushing for being on an epidural (who knew I had this awesome talent?). He told me we needed to go one of two ways - either try to vacuum him out (which might not have worked and then he told me all the side effects that would effect Watson) or get a c-section. He asked what I thought. My mind started racing through the decisions. I looked at Seth and he said "I think you've been against getting a c-section, so maybe we should try the vacuum." I immediately said "I think I want the c-section." They let Seth and I have a few minutes alone to discuss and we didn't really discuss, I just said "I think I need the c-section."

I realized in those few minutes that one option had a lot of side effects for our sweet baby boy and the other had side effects for me. So, I chose the c-section.

They came back in and we told them our decision and things started happening so fast. The nursing staff was amazing at explaining what was going to happen. As I was being rolled to the elevator I looked up at the nurse (who my friend Mac described as a disney princess- she was really pretty!), with tears in my eyes and asked "Everything is going to be okay, right?" She assured me it would and that the staff doing the procedure was one of the absolute best. This might be what they tell everyone, but the way she said it, the way she looked at me, the way she assured me, gave me assurance that God had this all under control.

Then surgery happened. While the surgery was happening, Dr. Pollack and I started to talk and figured out we are both from the same town in Texas, graduated from the same high school and had a lot of the same teachers and know a lot of the same people. So that helped distract me.

My sweet baby boy was born at 9 days early, 9:00 a.m. on Monday, June 16 - right as the Germany vs. Portugal game was starting. He was gorgeous and they got him to me as quick as possible and I got to hold him skin to skin while they stitched me up.

After the c-section, they told me I had made the right decision. They discovered a bacteria in my uterus during the c-section that they may not have found otherwise. So my sweet baby and I were on anti-biotic the whole time we were at the hospital. I found myself sad about my body and my pain and things not going as well as I wanted to. I grieved and still grieve things not going as well as I wanted them to, but at the same time, thankful that God's plans are bigger than mine and that he protected us throughout the whole situation.

I'm so thankful for Seth, who loved us well throughout the whole process. I have fallen even more in love with him the past few days. He didn't expect to have to take care of a sweet baby and his wife at the same time, but he has done a fantastic job. It's been humbling, but good.

We now have a sweet 6 lb 13 oz boy named Watson Graeme. I love love love him. Now only if we can figure this whole nursing thing out....


Are you ready for the photo overload?

Watson's head hit my pelvic bone many times, and he came out with this beautiful bruise. It's healing quite nicely though!

Many sweet friends came to visit us while we were at the hospital. It was such a blessing that we weren't even expecting. I wish we would have gotten everyone's photo, but here are a couple of those families who came, visited and blessed us.

Seth bought that day's newspaper (June 16). The main headline made us laugh. <3

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them......"