'No one can stop me, I'm 4!'

When I got to briefly hold T...

Four weeks old & home!

7 days old, the day he got home.

It was a wonderful day when Tyler come into our lives. We had recently sold our home in Eagle Springs (about 40 minutes away from here) and were renting a town home in Memorial from a co worker while we finished building our home in the Woodlands. It was to be completed in June, but we didn't move in until late August. So when Tyler came on Mimi's birthday, we were basically homeless! I was sleeping at Sarah's and BJ was starting a new job that day (literally his first day of work). I tip toed into Erin's room, and whispered (or so I thought) into her monitor..."Sarah, come here.' She rushed into the room asking if Erin was alright...I said 'yes, but I'm not.' We told BJ to go to work and report in and that we would go check it out at the hospital (he lasted an hour his first day). I called mom to wish her happy birthday and tell her I was in labor. The contractions came on at about 3-4 minutes apart from the beginning and continued to get stronger. I got showered, made a quick trip to the donut place, ate, and left most of it in the parking lot, since holding food down was not an option. I rushed through labor but stalled at delivery. Once I started to push, they realized just how big he was. My measurements and sonogram on Friday had said to expect about a 7 lb 2 oz baby...it was Monday and they were off by almost 2 pounds. So, after pushing for two hours, and the epidural weaning completely off, forceps being prepared, the nurse tied two knots in a sheet and had BJ and I play tug of war (no elaboration on that, except that his back was to me). Tyler came into the world at 9 lb 2 oz and almost two hours of pushing & no epidural! Our amazing doc calming said 'he's got a knot in the cord.' But it was not an issue since it was loose and most likely came from his late turn (36 weeks). However, he was spanking Tyler's bottom over and over...the nurse hit the call button, and about 9 people in scrubs came rushing in. T let out a faint cry and we thought we were in the clear. They cleaned him up and gave me him to nurse. After about 10 minutes of not nursing and slowing getting more blue, Sarah encouraged me to send him to the nursery to get checked out. They returned him twice (saying that was his 'tick,' which was him really struggling to breath), but the third time we sent him down he was admitted into the NICU for 6 days. After a spinal tap, breathing tank & nose piece, and lots of cords (ivs, etc), it was determined that he had pneumonia in addition to fluid in his lungs from not crying a 'hard' cry to get it cleared out. Through it all, it was God's strength and endurance that kept us going! We spent many sleepless nights holding him in the NICU and pumping to get my milk to come in! It's been an awesome road and we have loved every minute that God has given Tyler to us!

Sorry no pics of the NICU, they showed error every time I tried to upload them.