20 years ago

On this morning 20 years ago....

On the evening of December 2nd, 1988, the day before my due date with baby #2, I just KNEW that if we didn't get a Christmas tree that night, it would never happen. My husband Kevin and I loaded 15 month old Noah into the car, and drove to a nearby tree lot. It was super cold that night, and snowing heavily, but we got our tree. When we got home, Kevin insisted we let the tree stand overnight before decorating it, then promptly fell asleep on the couch.

I got Noah fed, and put to bed, and sat on the couch myself. Somewhere deep inside my being a switch was flipped, and it's called "nesting". LOL I headed up to the attic and brought down all the Christmas boxes. Up and down the stairs I went, lugging my heavy belly. I think I made 5 or 6 trips, all while Kevin lay sleeping on the couch.

On my big belly I crawled under the tree and screwed the tree stand screws into the trunk, and even got it straight! Then I decorated the tree, and within a couple hours got the entire house decorated, all while my little family slept.

Finally I was done, so I packed up the excess and lugged the boxes back up the attic. At 1:00 in the morning, when I finally sat down on the couch to admire my work, it occurred to me that I had a slight back-ache. I woke Kevin up to come to bed, and soon fell sound asleep myself.

December 3rd, 1988, 4:30 AM. I woke up with a start and sat straight up in bed. Oh MAN did my back hurt! Wow...ok...that's not really my back. THAT would be a contraction. Hmm...wow...that was pretty strong. I looked over to Kevin's spot. Wow, he's already gone to work! I didn't even hear him leave. I layed back down, and there it was again. That was awfully quick, and...umm...strong! I got up and went to the bathroom, but had to stop on the stairs for another contraction. They were about 2 minutes apart!

I called Kevin at work. Fortunately it was just a few miles away. "You need to come home, it's time to go!"

"What? I just walked in the door!" (it was probably the door slam as he walked out the door that woke me up just a few mintues before. LOL)

"Doesn't matter. Come home."

By the time Kevin got home I was dressed, and was just getting little Noah out of his crib. I think watching us would have been like watching one of those movies where one person is moving in slow motion and the rest of the world has been sped up double time. As I struggled to just tie my shoe, Kevin raced around me bringing stuff to the car. During that time we realized we'd never made arrangments for someone to watch Noah! Kevin called his mom who lived just a few minutes away. He put Noah into the car, and I waddled my way to the door, only to find....HE'D LEFT!!! I couldn't believe he left without me!

I called my mom. "Mom! He left without me! Can you believe it?" I stood in the doorway talking to my mom and watched for him to come back, having 3 contractions that I couldn't talk through.

Kevin came squealing into the driveway, got me into the car, and we were on our way. The hospital was only about 6 miles from home, but on city streets with lots of stop lights. It felt like as soon as I'd have on contraction another would start. When I had Noah, my water had broken at home, so I was waiting for it to happen in the car this time. It never did though!

When we got to the hospital they stuck a monitor on me, and my contractions were still at 2 minutes, but I was only 1 cm dialated! WHAT?? You gott be kidding me! I have an awful lot of work ahead of me yet! The doctor left my room saying, "When the contractions change, call the nurse."

I had 2 more contactions and I called the nurse back in to check me again. "We just checked you, you're fine." After some pestering she agreed to check me. I was at 5 cm's! Wow! The doctor came back in and broke my water. "When you feel the urge to push, call the nurse and we'll check you again."

I had one contraction and called the nurse back in. "I WANTED to push with that one, please check me again." Well, that nurse got cranky with me and refused to check me. We were still agruing about it when the next contraction hit. As she watched the monitor, and watched me, I started yelling "Oh my god! I'm going to PUSH!!!" as I GLARED at her. She checked me after that contractiong, "Oh my god, you're at 10! How did you get to TEN????"

She called the doctor in "Stat", and he came running just as another contraction hit me. He gave me the go ahead to push and out came Tyler's big head! I'd been at the hospital for only 1/2 hour, and here he was!

Tyler Ray was born weighing 8 lbs 8 0z, and 22 inches long. He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Tyler came out screaming....and proceded to scream for the next 3 years.

Tyler's life has held many surprises over the years, all of which have tought me things I never thought I'd need to know.

Happy birthday Tyler Ray!