World, Meet Thatcher!

Our sweet baby boy Thatcher surprised us and made his appearance a couple of days sooner than expected! Here's his story...

Because I had a c-section with our 19-month old Tucker, I was scheduled for another c-section for our second baby. I had received a form letter in the mail - your "surgery" is scheduled for Monday, November 22. The idea of having another c-section had already upset me and this letter didn't help things. There was no drama or element of surprise with a scheduled c-section. Never would I experience the craziness of rushing around to get to the hospital or trying to calm down a freaked out husband. Or so I thought...

Thatcher's birth story begins a few days before his birth. My dear sweet grandma had unexpectedly gotten very ill (blog about this to follow) and at our final OBGYN appointment on Monday, November 15, I spoke to my doctor about possibly rescheduling my c-section. I knew my grandma wouldn't be with us much longer and there was no way I would miss her service in case we lost her before our scheduled c-section. The doctor was very empathetic as she had lost her own grandma recently and she said we could reschedule as necessary. When we left the doctor's office, my step dad called to let me know they were taking grandma off of life support. We were just leaving the parking garage at the same hospital so we drove around the block then back to the hospital. I got to say my final good-bye to my sweet grandma while Thatcher kicked away in my belly. It was such a surreal moment.

Grandma's service was held on the following Thursday and I just kept telling baby that we just had to wait till Thursday. If he could give me that, I would be forever grateful! At my grandma's service, my niece Laney kept saying she wanted me to have the baby on Saturday so I could make it to Thanksgiving dinner the next week. All I cared about was paying my final respects to my grandma. If I could make it past that, then I was ready to have the baby at anytime.

On Friday, November 21, I rushed around at work to catch up from missing work when my grandma was sick and when I took off for her service and to get somewhat prepared to take some sort of maternity leave. When we got home from work that evening, Alec's parents took us out to eat but Tucker didn't feel well so we had to call it an early night.

Saturday I woke up feeling like a not-so-great mom. Whenever anyone in my family feels sick, I immediately want to clean and sanitize my house. So I started on the kitchen and I scrubbed it from top to bottom! I pretty much wore myself out and rested the rest of the afternoon. Later that afternoon, I went upstairs to finish up some work on the computer. Alec and Tucker came up and played while I worked.

Alec and I had tickets to see Brad Paisley at the BOK Center Saturday night and we went back and forth about going. I had told him several months before - if Brad Paisley ever comes to town, I want to go see him! I'm pretty sure Alec writes the songs Brad Paisley sings...I mean - all of those songs are about me - right?

Anyway, I was tired from my crazed nesting earlier that day and I was super swollen and huge. I was still on the computer trying to figure out parking around the BOK Center. I had total pregnant brain so Alec wanted on the computer to check things out. Before I stood up, I felt something weird. Later, a nurse asked if I heard a "pop" but I think maybe I felt it instead. When I stood up, holy cow, my water had broken! Alec sat down and I just stood there - frozen.

Me: Uhm...my water just broke
Alec: No it didn't. (I had been the "girl who cried water broke" for a few weeks now and he was on to me!)
Me: (pointing to the puddle on the floor) Yes it did.
Alec: Ok...Ok...Ok...HAHAHAHA!!! Ok...Are you ok? OK!
Me: What do I do?!?! What do I do?!?!
So I waddled off to the bathroom, sat on the toilet and started making phone calls. Alec called our doctor who told him I didn't have time for a shower - she didn't want me contracting and miss out on my c-section. We needed to get to the hospital ASAP.

I thought it was a little silly I couldn't shower so...I took a shower. I'm not sure what Alec was doing while I was showering and getting my stuff together. I think he fed the dogs and loaded up all sorts of stuff in the car. Then we were off to the hospital!

Alec drove fast, but very well :-), to the hospital. We may have been on 2 wheels during the entire 6-story climb to the maternity floor at the hospital, but we got there fast and in 1 piece.

Let me tell you something about when your water breaks - which only happens with 1 in 10 pregnancies. When it breaks, there's no stopping it. So while Alec was getting Tucker out of the car and in his stroller and grabbing all sorts of bags, I did the "I gotta pee" dance in the parking garage. Of course I didn't have to pee - I just had amniotic fluid pouring out all over the place.

The distance between the parking garage and the labor and delivery area is incredibly long and I kinda power walked/ jogged the whole way while trying to hold my knees together and carry my purse and overnight bag. Pretty.

My water broke around 4:00, we checked in around 4:30 and were in surgery by 5:45 - super fast...and dramatic!

We had told everyone about missing Brad Paisley so during surgery, someone turned on the radio and just as Thatcher made his appearance at 6:17 pm, Brad's song "Little Moments" came on the radio. How very fitting. Later, after Alec took Thatcher out to meet the world and I was getting put back together, "Hillbilly Bone" came on. Not sure how that works into the story but I thought it was pretty funny.

Thatcher Rippy Davis officially joined the family at 6:17pm on Saturday, November 20, 2010 (our 2 1/2 year anniversary). He weighed 7lbs, 7 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. I was surprised at his weight because when they delivered him, the doctors and nurses were amazed at how big he was and said he'd be a football player and that I better be glad I had him by c-section.

I finally made it to recovery and after the nurse scooted everyone but Alec and my boys out of the room, we sang Happy Birthday to Thatcher and he nursed for the first time. Such a sweet moment.

And so now here we are. Alec is back at work. Tucker is back in school. And Thatcher and I are trying to figure things out. He's such a sweet baby! He squeaks and grunts a lot and I pretty much have to strip him down to wake him up to eat, but we'll get it all worked out.

After the roller coaster of emotions I've had over the past few weeks, I'm just trying to cherish every little moment.