Tucker's Birth

So, after I cleaned the entire downstairs I was pooped. The Chunn's were getting into town and wanted us to meet them for dinner but it was 10:00 and I was just too tired. Lindsey (Austin's girlfriend) was coming to stay with us, since the whole family was kind of staying in different houses (with their old friends). So they dropped her off around 11:30 and we ended up staying up till about midnight watching Whale Wars. The Chunn's and mainly Lindsey was convinced that I was going to have Tucker the next day, Saturday.

I was kind of thinking I was having a few contractions when I went to bed, but nothing that hurt or anything like that. So I just figured that I was tired from cleaning.... I woke up around 2:30 feeling the contractions stronger and closer together, but still nothing that hurt. I went and got on the couch because I didn't want to wake David. He needs his sleep and if this really was the real thing I wanted him to sleep as long as possible. So around 3:00 I called my mom and told her I thought I was having contractions, but couldn't really tell, because they didn't hurt. Mom said to time them and then to call her back. I timed them for about 30 minutes and they were about 2-3 minutes apart for about 45 seconds. She said call the Dr. So I did and they said to come on in. Called mom back and she booked a flight and was in the air by 8:00. So after waiting a little while longer, I went and woke up David to tell him, this might be it. It was about 5am. He piddled around and kept laughing saying, there is no way you are in labor, are you kidding me?? He took a shower and I packed my bag. I went up and told Lindsey that we were headed to the hospital and she was in complete shock, so was so excited. I was so thankful she was there because I couldn't get a hold of Sarah, so I'm thankful I didn't have to wake Ty up and take him somewhere.

So we got to the hospital and checked in around 6:00. They checked me and I was at 1 cm. They wanted me to walk around for an hour and then come back at 7. No progress I would go home and if I did make progress, they would keep me. Well, they hour went by and every 2 minutes I was hunched over on a railing, hurting really bad. I can't say it was as bad as I had it with Tyler, but it was still really bad. David found a picture of a doctor on the wall and his name was Peter Pan. Honestly. David kept laughing and sending his pic to everyone he knew. For me it was not so funny at the time, but whatever, it kept him entertained. :) So finally, 7:00 came and they checked me and I was at 4 cm!! Thank goodness. They checked me in, got my iv started and took me to my room. My precious nurse, Kellie, took awesome care of me and even ordered my epi before a girls that was already there.. I was so grateful!! About 10 minutes later he was in there and getting me ready. David actually held me this time, which was strange because before they wouldn't even let him in the room. But he did great and at one point, the nurse did make him sit on the floor because he felt weak, but he didn't pass out.. :)

So once the epidural was in I was good to go. I was so tired cause I only had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, but I could sleep. Bill and Joyce got there first and then the visitors trickled in. I loved having everyone there. Just hated our family couldn't be there.
So pretty much for the rest of the morning, I just laid there and enjoyed my coke. :) Candace got there and Vicki and Lindsay came by before the wedding, just to check in.
The dr/nurse was trying to wait for my mom to get in town before they broke my water because they figured I would progress pretty quickly once they did that (1-2 hours), so finally around 1:30 they broke my water because mom was suppose to land in Greensboro at 2:00 and that should have been perfect timing. I was at 8 cm when they broke my water. They checked me about 10 minutes later and I was at 10cm ready to push. So they got everything ready and I pushed through one contraction and he was out at 2:07 pm. It was simple and he was perfect. 7lbs 4 oz, 20.9", head completely full of long dark hair, brownish gray eyes
Mom had landed and Shanna was there to pick her up, but they lost her luggage so she was dealing with them trying to find it.
Tucker was absolutely adorable and at first glance looked just like Tyler to me. They took him over to clean him up and were noticing that he was grunting and not really crying. So they wanted to take him to the NICU for 4 hours to be observed. So they let me hold him for just a minute. He was so sweet and did look a little like Tyler but not his nose. And that made him look totally different and also his eyes looked pretty brown unlike ty's. So they took him and we waited there until I got into my room. Mom stopped by and got me something to eat and then David took groups down to the NICU to see him. We finally got into our room around 7:00 and they said they should bring him back to my room by 7:00, but he never came. So we went down to see him and I got to hold him a 2nd time. He looked huge in there compared to all the other tiny babies. When we got back to our room, Sarah had brought Ty up there to see us. He brought me flowers and was so excited to see his baby brother. David took him back to see him. But in the meantime, Barbara, Bekah, Sarah, Jennie, Vicki and Kelly were all in my room having the best time. It was fun to laugh with them and appreciated them all coming to see us. Finally around 9:00 they brought him to me so I could try to feed him. He latched right on and did great eating.

David went back home with Tyler and mom stayed with me. Tucker did really well. Of course you don't get any sleep because the nurses are constantly coming in and out checking everything! So that's pretty annoying, but it was fine. Morning came and I got to take a shower and then me and mom pretty much just hung out all day, having a few visitors here and there.

Finally, Monday morning we got to go home. Mom went home to watch Ty and David came back up to get me. Tyler was so excited when we pulled up, it was absolutely priceless. He was so happy to have his baby brother home!!

Beach Trips and Brittany's Wedding

Sunday, May 23, we had a great Sunday at church for our graduating seniors. After church we had a luncheon for them and David did a slideshow for each of the 6 kids. They turned out great, as usual. The families loved them and it was so neat to see these kids grow up. I really made me think how fast they truely do grow up!! After the luncheon, we piled in the van and headed towards Florida. We were actually only going to Opelika/Auburn, to stay the night with Daniel, Katie, and Maddox, so we could break up the trip. It was successful! :) Tyler did great and it was so fun to stay with Katie and catch up, if only for a night. Maddox is absolutely adorable and I'm so glad we got to meet him!! So, Monday morning we got up and headed to Destin, FL for our mini-vacation. The hotel was very nice. We got to our room and discovered there was no air. Ty and I were hot and slightly irritable, so we headed to the pool and left David to sort out all the details. He joined us about an hour later and said we had be upgraded slightly and it had air, so we were happy! Then Ty and I left the pool so that he could take a nap and David stayed a while longer relaxing at the pool. When we got back up to our room he noticed that it was burning up. I guess I didn't realize it since we had been in there for a while. So once again they moved us. We packed all our stuff and headed to yet another room, slightly upgraded again. :) This room did have air, so we were thrilled. David went to a seafood restaurant and got take out. It was so yummy!! Then Tuesday we got up and had to go to one of those timeshare deals. It was pure torture. We KNEW we were NOT going to buy anything, but yet we had to go through 4 different people with their own speaches, and then a tour. Ty was tired and we were hungry. At one point Ty was running around the room (that had about 10 other couples in there), the lady asked me if I wanted a coloring book for ty (of course to settle him down), I politely declined because I wanted them to kick us out of there! :) Sadly it didn't work. :( But we did manage to get out of there without spending a dime. We went and got lunch at Whataburger and then headed to the hotel for naps. Afterwards, we headed to the pool and to the beach. Ty wasn't too sure about the beach at first, but there was a wade pool thing where high tide had left water, so Ty had a blast playing in that. Me (the beached whale) just sat and enjoyed our family vacation together. That night we went to a fun beachside restaurant. It was good and then afterwards we stopped and got some yummy icecream. Wednesday morning we got up, packed up and headed to Milton. It is only about an hour away, so that was super nice. We met everyone at GG's house, were wedding mode was in full gear. We had such a great time being able to be around and "help" out with all the festivities. Thursday we worked at the church and got it pretty much completely decorated. Brittany had great ideas that really came together. It was beautiful and so cute at the same time. That night, Mandy and I threw Britt's lingere shower at Jenny West's house. We had about 35 people come. So it was a great success and she got lots of awesome things. The food was yummy, the games were fun, and the fellowship was even better. So it was great all around. Then, Friday we headed over to Zea's house for the bridesmaid luncheon. Her house is absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time there. We sat on the back porch and enjoyed a delicious lunch. Of course being 9 months pregnant, I was a little hot, but I just went back to the screened-in porch and sat under the fan... Perfect! Brittany got us all cute beachtowels, bubbles, and earrings. For me, my sister, mom, and grandmother, she got us these beautiful purple bracelets to wear in honor of my papa. They were actually pancretic cancer bracelets but went perfect with our dresses. It was such a sweet thing to do, and I LOVE that bracelet for so many reasons! After the luncheon, we went back to the church to finish the last minute touches and then headed home to rest for a while. Thanks so much to David for being in charge while I was out and about. Friday night was the rehearsal and dinner. It all went smoothly! Dinner was at Red Barn. Yummy bar-be-que and all the fixins. David did a slideshow for them and it turned out perfectly, so they played that so we all could see it. Then everyone got up and told stories, it was very funny!! I ended up on the front porch with Ty and Madi because they were over sitting there. :)
Then we headed back to the house to visit with family and just be together. That is when Ty got a huge bump on his head, because Mandy challenged David to spin Ty around and then let him walk, of course, right after he got done spinning him and let him go he face planted on a toy. It was quite dramatic and I was so mad at him... But Ty was fine after he screamed for about 5 minutes.. :)
Saturday was the big day. We headed up to the church pretty early to get things ready and to put Ty down for a nap so he wouldn't be a beast at the 2:00 wedding.
Brittany looked absolutely beautiful and was so happy!! Misty came to do her hair and it looked so good too!! She was just a stunning bride. All the bridesmaids looked great and the kids were adorable. Pictures went well and the wedding even better. It was perfect. Ty did so good walking down the aisle and then standing right beside me. I was so proud of him.
The reception was beautiful and the food was awesome. I honestly can't say one thing bad about it. It was a perfect day!
Afterwards we cleaned up and were home by 8:00. Not to shabby! :)
I absolutely LOVED being home and it made me miss it even more. But I knew I would see my family soon because Tucker was due in about 2 1/2 weeks. :)
Sunday morning we got up and drove to Charleston, SC. Actually SeaBrooke Island. Our friends own a beach house there and we visiting from Texas, so we knew we had to go see them. Our plan was so stay there Sunday night and then leave Monday morning. But when we got there, it was so relaxing and perfect we just couldn't leave. We kept pushing our departure time further and further. We enjoyed walking on the beach, eating, swimming in the pool, and just catching up with our friends. It was so nice. We ended up leaving Tuesday night (6/1) and getting home around midnight. We would have stayed all week if I didn't have to go back to work. But I had just been gone all last week, so I knew we had to go back. We knew they were coming to Winston on Friday because they were planning on going to Brittany Mill's wedding on Saturday.
Well, I was so far behind on getting things ready for Tucker. Thursday night I came home from work and got all of Tucker's clothes washed and hung up. I put all his "items" together and basically had the whole upstairs cleaned and ready. I also packed his bag for the hospital cause I hadn't done that yet. Friday, I went to work and then came home and cleaned the entire downstairs. Looking back now I was definitely nesting, but at the time, I just thought I had a lot of energy and wanted to get it cleaned!....