Tax and TAKS

It is tax season and TAKS season. I'm in the latter of the two. I also have a 6 1/2 month old who has decided to stop sleeping through the night. I'm EXHAUSTED! Since 8 weeks old, she has slept all night...from 8:00 - 7:00. These are my two excuses, along with time, for not posting lately. I'll get back to it I promise! I have too many wonderful pictures, facts to give and stories to tell. I'll be back...

The Day Our Lives Changed Forever...

Actually, I'm going to back up to the weekend before. That Friday, I was not feeling well at all and was just very uncomfortable. TJ and I already had our Saturday planned, knowing it was our last Saturday together with just the two of us. We met our friends, the Canis', at The Bar for brunch and ran a few last minute errands. We walked and walked hoping to send me into labor. We went to a college tennis tournament our friend Scott puts on every year, which was a lot of fun. Then we came home to watch the Tech, maybe Texas game. I can't remember who they were playing. We had a couple of friends over. It was just a lot of fun. While I was getting ready for church, the next day, I got a text from one of my friends from our birthing class saying she had gone into labor. We went to church and I was exhausted so I just did a few last minute things and then rested. That night I called my sister in law, Allison to describe some pains I was having and she said chances were I was having back labor pains. I went to bed but didn't rest very well.

September 20, 2010

Now on to the day that God made our little family a family of 3. I got up and got dressed and went to school. I think most were a little surprised to see me because they thought I was going to have Sawyer that weekend. I tell you, that Friday was not pretty for me. :) My kids were so disappointed that I was there. I think each day I was at school they got more and more disappointed. Not because they didn't want me there but because they were so excited that Sawyer was going to be born soon. We went to class and I just kept have these crampy pains. I honestly had no idea they were contractions. They weren't consistent and weren't very close together. I was kind of worried, thinking something was wrong. Again, I email Allison and between her and our school nurse my dear friend, Linda, I decide to call my dr. My nurse said it sounded like I was having contractions and she had me come in just to make sure. I call TJ to let him know. He was ready for the call and told me he would meet me at home. I called my long term sub to see if she could come in and then I went to tell my principal. I knocked on her door and didn't even have to say anything. She knew and told me to go ahead and they would take care of the kids.

TJ and I met at the house and drove over to my dr's office. They hooked me up to the monitor for about 30 minutes or so. I was having contractions but nothing consistent. Dr. D came in and said we had two options. One was to wait it out and the other was to enduce. This was not something I wanted to do. I wanted to go into labor naturally, but TJ and I talked about it and decided, after talking to the dr too, that we might as well go ahead. She was coming in a couple of days, if not sooner, anyway, we could call his parents and Twylah and Tony because they wanted to be there and they could come during the day instead of maybe having leave in the middle of the night, and my long term sub was already with my class. It just made sense to go ahead. Well, I wanted to make 100% sure this was what I wanted to do AND I was starving. :) It was already lunchtime and I knew if we went ahead and admitted into the hospital I wouldn't be able to eat. So, we said we were going to talk it over some more and went to McAlister's to "think" some more about it.

After "thinking" at McAlister's we called our nurse and told her our decision, which was to go ahead. We went home to pack a few last minute things and some of my precious friends, Melissa, Michelle, Carmen and Leslee came over to pray with TJ and myself. It was the most wonderful thing. It makes me tear up now thinking about it. We are so blessed with these people, and many more, in our lives!

We left for the hospital around 1:00 or so. They broke my water around 2:30 and started pitocin. Twylah, Tony and Melonie got there around 3:00 and John and Debbie around 4:00 or so. I finally got my epidural around 6:00 after being told I wasn't going to get it until 7:00. I was already at a 5 by then and very uncomfortable. I think they saw this in my face and took pity on me. I felt much better after having it! I started pushing around 10:30 and after 2 hours they let me have a little break. Around 1:30 I started pushing again and at 2:28, Tuesday, September 21, 2010 our precious angel Sawyer Elizabeth McClure blessed us with her presence. Seeing her for the first time will be permanently etched in my mind. It was the most glorious moment! Her eyes were open and her mouth was moving (she was ready to eat! :) She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18 3/4 in. long and was beautiful...still is! :) I was in LOVE from the first time I laid eyes on her, so was her daddy! She shares her birthday with a very special person, Terra, one of my best friends.

Someone asked me a few days later if all of the waiting was worth it. My response was "what waiting?" All of that was forgotten. The waiting, hoping and disappointment month after month, gone...it's amazing what God gives us and what He takes away from us.

Sorry this post is so long. The first few may be, but they'll get shorter...maybe.

Getting cleaned up and ready to eat.

The joy I felt is indescribable!

A perfect fit!

First time Daddy got to hold her.

Sawyer Elizabeth McClure

Sawyer and Grammy

Sawyer and Nana

Going home

Hello friends! I'm back...

Since my last post, I've started a new school year and have had a baby. Did I mention having a baby? I never imagined how wonderfully busy I would be with a little one. I love every minute of it though! So, I've made a new goal, I'm going to try to update my blog at least once a month with pictures of us and Sawyer news (really that's why your really reading this! :) So, tonight I've changed my "look", I've added monthly pictures of Sawyer with Monkey (this was the first time I've seen these pictures together and it's amazing how much she's changed!), I've also changed my profile a little bit. Tomorrow, or maybe this weekend, I'll start working on getting posts up from Sawyer's first month up to now, her sixth. I'm actually excited about getting into this again!

Goodnight!

Steph.