John Tate Payne is Here!

We are excited to announce the arrival of John Tate Payne. Tate to avoid confusion. Quick details: He arrived at 10:52 PM-(details to follow) weighing in at 7 lbs 4.2 oz and 19.5 inches long. He's got a head of dark hair and a lil boyish face and the cutest lil cry.

John's gone to pick up the girls, Grandma and the carseat so we can head home this afternoon. So here I sit in my hospital room, waiting for this little boy to wake up and eat, all he wants to do is sleep. I can't say that I blame him, but in the meantime thank goodness Hospitals now have internet so I can tell what's happened.

After my Dr's appointment yesterday I started having contractions...around 2 pm. Knowing my Dr wasn't on call until today and figuring like Tyler I'd pry stop at any time I really didn't pay too much attention to the timing. Later that evening I realized I was really in labor and found them around 8 minutes apart. This is when I called John and told him he should pry come home (5:30pm). We had dinner chatted with some friends who dropped by and then got the girls ready and into bed. We then got our bags together and I called the on-call Dr who told us to come in. Well I fully expected for another long wait and so I tried to tie up a bunch of loose ends-blogging Thanksgiving, cleaning my room, gathering things to do in the hospital. By the time we left (9:30) my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. My Mom was sure we weren't going to make it to the hospital in time...she was almost right. By the time we got there I was already dilated to a 6-7 and my contractions were coming ever couple of minutes and were becoming more intense. I was finally taken to my room and this is when things started to get a little crazy. We were waiting for the anesthesiologist trying to decide if it was too late to get an epidural, after the Anes Dr came in he reassured us it would kick in before the baby came and so he started to get all prepped-Tate had other plans. Before the Dr could do anything else and right as the OB Dr- Dr Oxford came in my water broke and Tate decided to make his entrance into the world. The rest of the details are probably things I shouldn't share and you don't want to know but the outcome is our sweet little boy a few minutes later. I always wondered what it would be like to have a natural childbirth. Never thought I was strong enough to do it. Especially since I'm such a pansy when it comes to pain. Overall it's been nice to be able to walk and not have to recover from anesthesia, would I do it again? I don't know. I do know this much, I've now experiences a C-section, a nice quiet delivery with an epidural and a natural childbirth. The C-section left me feeling as though I'd adopted, Tyler's delivery was really calm and nice, and Tate well I've always liked a good rodeo.

I can't believe I have 3 kids. Such a crazy though, and probably a harsh reality but for now I'm relishing in the cuteness of this kid in all his boyness.

PS-Correction: Tate was really 20.5 inches. either that or he grew another inch by the time he went for his 3-day appointment with Dr. Grubb, his pediatrician. :)