Tate Albert Waters

The baby is sleeping and I really should be trying to as well, but I keep thinking to myself that I really need to document the past couple of days. There are so many details that I never ever want to forget. So... here is the story:

Tuesday, September 4, 2012:

Cory works at 7 and I don't have to be to work until 8. So this morning I woke up to Cory giving me a kiss before he walked out the door. He has been so excited to have this baby and when the doctor told us he didn't think we'd go until our due date, it just amped his excitement. But on this morning Cory whispered in my ear, "lets have a baby today," as he left I called out to him, "Sorry Cor, it isn't going to happen." My due date was September 11, still a week away. But on the plus side to having to wait another week, Dr. Thackeray, my amazing doctor, would be back from his vacation by September 10, just in time. Or so I thought.
I got up and got going. I knew that it would be a busy day because its always busy after a holiday. I got to work by 8 and  did my normal routine. No problems whatsoever. Around 4 we found out that there was a document, that was actually extremely important that had never gotten to our expert witness. Our deadline for that report was in a week! So I had to hand deliver that information to him. I left work around 4:30 to drop off the documents. As I was driving I felt a pain, almost like a menstrual cramp, but it brought tears to my eyes. Just one.
When I got home I decided that I needed to find a place to get a rock chip repaired on my car. Cory got home from school early. I popped to chicken pot pies into the oven and we ran down to the Jiffy Lube. While we were there we decided to get the oil changed too. But the pot pies were only going to be 20 more minutes and the car was going to take about 30 to 40 more. We weren't far from home so Cory took off on foot to take care of dinner. 10 minutes later I got a call from Cory, he had given his keys to the mechanic, and I had my keys in my purse, so he had no way to get in to the house. I went to the mechanic who, luckily, let us know that he was finished and I raced for home. Lucky for us, dinner wasn't burned. We hung out together and watched TV. I started to feel my normal end of the day yucky and decided that I wanted to try and go to bed a little early. Cory decided to come and lay by me for a minute.
The pains started at about 11:30 and were pretty constant. They felt a lot like the one pain that I had had earlier. Menstrual pains times a million. So it couldn't be labor. I did not want to go in and have them tell me it was false labor. Pretty quickly though the pains were every five minutes and about 40-60 seconds long. I threw up. We googled signs of false labor...everything seemed the same, except these girls were saying that they were in false labor for days at a time... I wanted to kill myself. Then I realized, these girls were only 32 weeks to 34 weeks along. Maybe this was different. I decided to call the hospital, which I was told to do if I had any questions, day or night. I got a automated system that said they would not give any advice over the phone and if I had any questions to come in. AWESOME! Some of the reason that I didn't want to go in was because I live in Orem and I was delivering in Murray, and I also because I didn't want to look like a fool when they sent me home for false labor. I decided to try and take a bath to ease some of the pain. As soon as I sat down I HAD to get back out, for some reason that just made is worse ( I found out later that I hot bath is great to help ease pain, but if you are in labor it can accelerate it). I really didn't want to call my mom and wake her up for nothing. But Cory talked me in to it. She is a no nonsense kind of lady, but she's also a tough it out kind of lady as well. When she told me that I should just go in, I finally was okay with it. She wouldn't tell me to unless she thought that I should. I threw up again.
Cory packed a bag super fast as I grabbed what I had already packed and slowly made my way outside. I remembered that I should grab a puke bucket... and then had a contraction and forgot again. Cory remembered to grab a towel. He was so worried that my water would break on the car ride up. We started driving, got on the freeway. We made it Pleasant Grove when I remembered that I had forgotten a puke bucket. Cory swerved from the car pool lane clear over to the side of the road and somehow I made it out of the car and threw up over the barrier. A bunch of jerks honked their horns at me as they drove by. I was scared to death that someone might veer off the road and hit us and kill us both.
By the time we got to the hospital it was about 2:30 am. Contractions were still constant at one every five minutes. We parked in the parking lot instead of using valet services. We didn't want to hold anyone else up, since this was false labor and all. We went in and got the look that I was afraid of, "Oh here comes a first time mom thinking she's in labor" from just about every nurse. The got me in a room and told me to change into a gown and they'd send someone in. I went to change and threw up in a puke bag that they had given me, and also passed my mucus plug and there was a lot of blood. I thought my water had broke and this was the first time that I thought, "hmm... maybe we'll be staying after all."
The triage nurse, Nancy, came in and checked me out. I told her that at my appointment on Friday I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. Then she got serious and said, "Girl, you're dilated to a 7 and totally ready to have this baby. Lets get you started." I got SUPER nervous! I wasn't ready! Then she asked me if I had tested positive for the group B Strept test and I let her know that we had. She went in to high speed and let me know that they had to get the IV and antibiotic going for this as soon as possible. She said that they wanted to have that antibiotic in my system for at least 4 hours, and she didn't know if we had the time. They also called for the epidural and was told there were 3 girls in front of me. My nurse petitioned for me and found that I was much further along than any of the other girls and got the affirmative that I would get mine first. She was hilarious and yelled out loud, "I WON!!!" ha ha ha. I was all hooked up and ready to go within 15 minutes. Cory was really nervous that he might get sick and that he would pass out, so he was very cautious and made sure just to look at me the entire time. However I was the one who got sick. They brought out the catheter and the mere sight of the thing sent me in to an instant throw up. I don't know why? After all of that good stuff was taken care of I was told to try to just lay there as long as I could. They didn't want me to push until the four hours was up. I was totally fine with that. I still cannot believe how nervous I was. Cory went to the vending machines and got himself some snacks and I was given some grape flavored ice to suck on. Cory slept like a rock. I slept on and off (thank you epidural!) and would wake up every now and then really really nervous, not so much for the labor part of it, but for the baby part of it.
Nancy, my nurse, came in around 5 and said she wanted me to try and push so she could see how fast the head would come. I pushed once and she told me to stop because I still had one more hour and that head was coming fast. I really liked this way because I basically just let my body get to that point by itself, so when the time came everything happened really easily. Dr. Froerer came in around 6 took a little peek and said that it was time. Every time I had a contraction he would tell me to push 3 times for 10 seconds each. It wasn't hard at all. I was so nervous that the baby was coming that time seemed to go by really really fast. My baby was born at 6:55 am. Only about four and a half hours after we got to the hospital. When they laid him on my chest I was seriously surprised that he was so big. I don't know if I ever really understood what was inside of me. How did all 7 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches of him fit inside of me? He cried and I have really never ever heard a cuter cry. I know all parents must think that, but everyone who heard him cry after that commented on that cute little squeak! Cory cut the umbilical cord, the gave him a quick clean up and then gave him back to me. He snuggled right up to me, and I was in shock! I was told HORROR stories! I was told that I could and probably would be in labor for days! And now, in a blink of an eye it was over!
Once I was up in my room, so about 10 minutes later I was seriously more tired than I ever had been. I tried to stay awake and talk to Cory's parents and grandma. I tried to respond to all the texts that were coming in, but in the end just laid there wiggling my toes, feeling the numbness go away. Once Cory and the baby came back from the nursery and being checked I fell in love. I couldn't even believe how happy I was staring at that little boy. He is seriously amazing. You know who else is amazing? My husband. I was so worried about him because he was never really around babies, but he is seriously a natural. He seems to know more often than I do what Tate needs. I love watching Cory hold him! Not as much as I love staring at my baby, but its up there.

From the first day that I got sick in my pregnancy, every single day I hoped that in the end I would feel like it was worth it. And of course it is. But I'm so happy that I finally FEEL that! I finally understand what it is to be a mother! And to all of you who are wondering... it is more worth it than you can ever imagine!