Boy oh boy

On Sunday, January 13, 2013 at 12:46 pm, CR and I welcomed Patton Luke Patrick into the world.  Praise God he was 37 weeks and 3 days gestation.  I am so thankful to the Lord for giving us those extra 5 weeks that we weren't sure we were going to have.  Patton was a healthy 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  Almost a whole pound bigger than Kirby and 2 1/2" longer, but he seems so tiny to me.  Long and skinny and already resembling his daddy in more ways than just looks.  I loved being surprised again.  When my 2 babies have been born and CR got to tell me with loving eyes what we had, those are my favorite moments of my life ... next to marrying that wonderful, bearded man of my dreams of course.  And yes, if we are blessed with another, it will be another surprise.  Worth every.waiting.moment.  

Here is the basic story: When I went in to the doctor on Wednesday, I was 100% effaced and the baby was very, very low.  We got to see a sonogram and everything was in line to happen any day.  Since I was only 36 weeks (a day away from 37) and it was not at this point medically necessary to go in and take him early, Supnet was not able to "schedule" a C-section.  However, he told us he was on call Friday and Sunday, so to come in first thing Friday morning to do it.  The biggest concern with 2nd time C sections is rupturing, and with us living an hour away from the hospital, he really did not want to chance anything.  I of course was thrilled because the past month had been very uncomfortable and painful with all of the contractions and how low he was.  I could barely walk because he was sitting on a nerve in my leg - I looked like a penguin with a spastic leg when I tried to walk.  We left the office giddy and ready to meet our surprise in just 2 days.  

When I got home that afternoon I noticed that Kirby was coughing more than she had been at the beginning of the week.  I started her on medicine that Monday because I wanted to nip it in the bud.  I decided with baby coming we needed to check to see if it was bad, so we went to doctor on Thursday. Turned out she had RSV.  Oh goodness.  With a newborn about to be here.  Highly contagious kept running through my head.  Talked with my doctor and we decided to wait until Sunday.  I began praying immediately that Kirby would begin to heal.  I also fervently prayed that the baby would continue to progress on it's own so that when we did go in I felt like it was time and we weren't rushing into things.  Come Saturday morning contractions were about 10 minutes apart and strong.  Saturday evening they were about 8 minutes a part at times.  Sunday morning on the way to the hospital .... 2-4 minutes apart.  It was time, naturally.  Praise the Lord.

CR while they were prepping me ... he is my McBeardy. 

First time to hold Patton Luke Patrick

The whole C section experience this time was so very different than with Kirby.  With Kirby we were so rushed .... checked in, prepped and baby out of me in under 3 hours.  This time we got to the hospital about 8:45 and Patton was out 4 hours later.  Everything was so relaxed ... the nurses and I giggled a lot.  The main nurse that took care of me I actually knew through the grapevine ... well, I taught her son when he was a freshman.  Dr. Supnet promoted my photography while in surgery.  The anesthesiologist was amazing; he walked me through the entire process of what they were doing.  Kept telling me what he had to give me in my IV (blood pressure dropped pretty low at one point) and what I might be feeling.  When they were about to pull baby out he told me, "lots of pressure and its going to feel giggly, but don't get giggy with it."  They let CR stand up to see them pull out baby and he got to tell me, "We finally have a Patton!"  They closed me up and off I had to go to recovery for an hour (the part I hate the most).
Since Kirby was still in the contagious stage, she only got to see Patton through the window.  I ache that I was not there to get to see her first reactions, but a great friend of ours was there and snapped some wonderful phone pictures for me.  I am so thankful she did because these are the only ones we have:

About his name.  We have had the name Patton picked out since before we ever got pregnant with Kirby.  You see, when you start trying to have a baby, all of a sudden you start coming up with names. So for about 2 1/2 years before we even had a baby, we had this name Patton at the top of our list for a boy.  How did we decide on it?  Well, we actually saw it on the back of a Ducks Unlimited shirt that CR had ... it was the name of the hunting dog.  We thought that was a cool name, so added it to our "One day when the Lord blesses us with a boy" list.  Then when we got pregnant with Kirby, we starting thinking about it more. Turns out, both of CR's grandfathers served under General George S. Patton at different times.  How cool is that?  We went through about 20 different middle names ... narrowed it down to 3 ... then finally one.  And it was not even Luke, but every morning for the last month I would wake up coming back to Patton Luke.  Then CR told me he had a dream that he introduced our son as Patton Luke ... that settled it.  There is something about a name that keeps returning.  And we are so happy and in love with our little man.
We ended up having to stay in the hospital longer than we planned.  On Wednesday Kirby woke up with 104 fever so the doctors insisted I stay another day until her fever broke and we knew what was wrong.  Thankfully it broke and there was no flu.  Then Thursday morning when they took Patton's bilibrium levels, they were right on the border line for going under the lights.  We had to wait until later that afternoon to get some blood work back, which showed it low enough for us to go home.  Praise the Lord.  Here are some of the fun things that went on while at the hospital:

 Revisiting our favorite past time ... we decided we were going to start doing this once a week ... we shall see.

CR introducing Patton to Duck Dynasty

Kirby had western day at school on Monday ... Aunt E did her hair.

Beautiful hands that I pray grow to love, serve, and honor the Lord.  And he has long fingers to throw a change up.  

 "But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."  Luke 18:16