Ace's Arrival

     The happy, tired family!

    He is here! Ace Garrett Pitcock, previously known as baby boy #2, made his arrival Friday night, March 23rd at 10:17 pm. We are so excited to have our little boy here with us, and he is already a joy. Cooper is an awesome big brother so far, and really likes his little brother. God is good!
     One great thing about Ace's arrival is that I didn't have to be induced, and I got to experience real, 'natural' labor. And boy was it real! This was a story to remember so I'm sharing it here so I don't forget (not that I would anyway).
     After going to the Dr. Tuesday and being told I'd induce the following Tuesday if no baby, I was a little nervous and really hoping that the little guy would make his appearance on his own before then. Wednesday (my due date) came and went without any changes, and Thursday was the same. It was about then that I decided I'd probably have to wait until Tuesday, so I made plans for the weekend. Our church was having a bake sale, so I planned to make items for that on Friday and told Dalton that I'd like to go out to eat and to the movies that night..I'd read the Hunger Games books and wanted to see the movie.
     When I woke up Friday morning I felt a little different and weird. I couldn't really explain it, but I thought something might be happening. Not wanting to get overexcited, I didn't change my plans, and proceeded as normal. I dropped Cooper off at Mere Mere's and headed to Bible study. Everyone asked about my 'condition' and I told them I was feeling some twinges and pains but not sure what they were. After Bible study I went to the park and walked for about 30 minutes. Mere Mere met me there with Cooper and we played at the park a little.
     Then we went to feed the ducks. We've only done this once before and it was stressful...the geese come at you and are scary! I drove around the park to find a spot with only ducks and thought I'd done just that until we were out of the car throwing bread to the nearby ducks. Then I saw the goose come out from behind a truck and head our way, honking. I tried to not get nervous, and we moved a little farther away. The goose kept heading our way so I threw some bread at him and he stopped..whew. We kept feeding the ducks, even though Cooper was more interested in some turtles on a nearby rock. They were in the goose's direction, so I didn't want to go over there. Speaking of the goose; by this time he was heading our way again...very aggresively. I tried to shoo him away but he kept at us, by this time hissing and wagging his tongue, so I threw some bread at him and hit him with my bread sack...yes he was that close. Finally he moved away. We quickly fed the rest of the bread and left. (I did let Cooper check out the turtles on our way out).
     That's the story of the duck feeding...oh yeah this post is about the birth of our baby!! Back to the real subject. That afternoon I baked some things for the bake sale and put Cooper down for a nap. By this time I was thinking that it maybe was the start of labor, but still wasn't sure. I talked to Mom that afternoon too and we determined that she would come up the next morning for sure, so that she'd have time to hang out with us before the baby came. When Dalton got home at 4 I was sure I was in labor, but had no idea how long it would take to get serious. I was having contractions...pain in my lower back and abdomen...and they were fairly regular. We were planning to go to the movies and dinner, but needed to pick up a little lumber beforehand, so we took the truck into town. Knowing something was up I suggested that we take the bags in with us, just in case. Boy am I glad I did!
     I told Dalton that I was having contractions and on the way into town I started to time them. They were about 10 min apart and very uncomfortable. Using labor stories and shows as an example, I was expecting them to be unbearable by the time it was hospital time, so I didn't get too excited. We got the lumber, dropped off Cooper at Dalton's aunt's house and then went by my friend's to drop by the baked goods. She is a nurse so I quizzed her on labor. She said to wait until my contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and strong before going to the hospital, and not to eat anything greasy or real heavy beforehand (which meant no popcorn at the movies...darn). We left there and headed to dinner. I was still timing the contractions and they were now 7 minutes apart and getting stronger. We bought our movie tickets ahead of time and wen t to eat at Neri's, right down the block. By this time I knew I should probably take this labor thing seriously, but I really wanted to see the movie so I kept my cool.
     While at dinner (6 pm) I called my parents to let them know it was time to come. Mom asked if I was having regular contractions and I told her yes, about 7 minutes apart....to which she replied "Oh my, I need to get in the car!" So at that point her and Dad headed our way. During dinner (I had a tasty grilled chicken salad) the contractions went to 6 minutes apart and Dalton began to doubt that we should go to the movies. I really wanted to see Hunger Games though, and refused to be swayed. He was really nervous by this time..even got a drink with dinner. It was really cute to see the nervous daddy. : )
     By 7 we were at the movies and my contractions were strong and close together (about 5 min). I could still handle the pain though, so with that, my desire for the movie, and the fear of getting to the hospital too early I watched the movie as long as Dr. Dalton let me. As the contractions got closer and more painful, they were starting to show. Dalton said that he would see me 'crawl up the chair' when one came, and then relax as it passed. He was really wanting me to leave and kept timing the contractions. By midway through the movie they were 3-4 minutes apart and even I couldn't deny that it was time to leave. We left the movie and headed to the hospital; while on the way I realized that it was really time and that we probably should have left earlier.
     We went in through the emergency room  at 8:30 and then walked back to labor and delivery. It was such an odd experience. I expected to be writing in pain and to be wheeled back (like the movies) but it was very calm and surreal. The contractions were pretty painful and I was ready to get moving so that I could get that epidural. We got to the back and checked in with the nurses. They gave me a gown and put the monitors on to monitor the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. When she saw the printout she said that they were pretty strong, so she'd go ahead and check me. I was hoping for a 3 or 4 (I was a close to 1 on Tuesday), but I was a 5 or 6!! Woo hoo! I'd waited long enough to see real progress before coming in. Then I asked for my epidural. I was REALLY ready for it. About 2 minutes later my water broke, and the nurse said it was meconium. I was very tempted to panic, but said a prayer that everything was ok and focused on the next contraction.
     The nurse put in my IV ( I really hate IVs) and we waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive. He took a long time to arrive (a strike against going into labor on a Friday night). We waited and waited (seemed like longer to me) and I was getting very impatient to have my epidural. The pain was pretty bad.
     Finally he got there! He took a long time setting up (or so it seemed), and even longer getting the epidural put in. If you've ever seen NCIS, this guy reminded me of Duckey, the ME. He was kind of chatty about odd things and the nurse and I were not that interested in hearing information; rather we wanted to get the epidural finished! I had some big contractions during the epidural procedure..the poor nurse was holding my hand, hope I didn't hurt her. Finally he finished, and I immediately felt some pain and pressure, not relief..meaning progress toward labor and not numbness was happening.
     I laid back down, counting the minutes until the epidural would kick in...they said it would take about 15 minutes. I was checked again and I was an 8! Uh oh...moving quickly! Dr. Cawley came in and checked things out. He told me that a couple of extra doctors would be on hand to check out our little man because of the meconium...another temptation to panic...but that was cut off by another contraction.
     A few minutes later I began to feel a little tingly in the leg and bottom. Woo hoo, I thought, the epidural is coming! Then I felt some real pain and pressure and realized that it might not make it in time. I think at this point I started to embarrass myself by letting out major groans and complaints, but I couldn't help myself. Dalton was by my side and tried to help me cope, but I wound up just grabbing his shirt and hands. It's kind of a blur now, those next minutes.
     With all of that pain and pressure...or maybe it was my groans..the nurse came over to me. I felt another contraction and couldn't help but push. She was there in an instant telling me not to push...yeah right! I did my best, but don't know that it helped. Dalton was at my side saying "Good job, Gabby, you're doing it. You were made to do this, you can do it." He had a slightly alarmed, but impressed look on his face, so I guess things were going well. At the same time that the nurse was telling me not to push, she was saying "Relax, it's ok" all the while pressing the nurse call button. I knew she was just being calm for me at that point.
     Then Dr. Cawley was there.  He had his gown partially on and the next thing I knew there was a baby.. 10:17 pm. It was so crazy and fast that I still can't believe how it happened; not one time did they tell me to push, instead it was 'don't push!' They immediately whisked the little baby away to check him out, and then they took care of me. It was the strangest thing because I went from horrible pain and craziness, to a calm and very happy awareness that it was over. The pain was gone and I was so thrilled that the baby was here and safe. They removed my epidural because I didn't need it anymore...if I'd only known I wouldn't have gotten it in the first place!

 Checking him out

 My first good look at Ace

 Proud Daddy!

     Then they asked about the baby's name. Dalton and I looked at each other, still in shock, and both agreed that Ace Garrett would be the name. With an arrival like his, it seemed the only option. A little while later, we were visited by Cooper, Mere Mere, Popsey, Ellen Allen and Bob and Sherry. Cooper was interested in the crying baby a little, but then he was ready to run around and check out the room and hospital. We were the only patients so I didn't feel too bad having a wild child up there.

"Who does he look like?"

     Finally I was able to hold Ace and immediately realized that he looks nothing like Cooper! It was very weird because I'd assumed they'd look at least a bit alike. Ace is more 'petite' in his features, with sharper features compared to Cooper's round ones. He weighed 7 lb 2 oz (Cooper was 7lb 5 oz) and was 21 in long. We took some pictures, visited and tried to get used to the idea that the baby was here already.

     Mom and Dad arrived about 11:30. They were able to visit a little while and then they took Cooper home to get some rest. The Pitcocks left about the same time too. We were moved to a regular room with little Ace, and tried to get some sleep. I felt great...better than after having Cooper, and was a little disappointed when they told us we were having to stay until Sunday before going home.
     The next couple of days we were blessed with many visitors and received lots of congratulations. Cooper was a little stand offish at first when he came to visit, but then he started to like his little brother. He really likes holding him. Ace did wonderful nursing in the hospital...night and day difference from how Cooper did. I was so relieved at this.

 Sweet little guy!

The brothers

     Handling and getting used to the second child really was so much easier than the first. If for no other reason than we weren't scared to death of him and what to do with him. Things seemed to flow better. The hospital staff was so great too. They were very helpful but not overwhelming. It was a great experience!

 Nana and Paw meeting Ace

 The happy grandmothers! They share well. : )

 Auntie M has the magic touch

 He's starting to get used to the little fella

Popsey visited and brought breakfast

Papa John gets acquainted

     Sunday morning came and we were ready to go home. Unfortunately we had to wait for Dr. Cawley to release me, which didn't happen until about 2 pm. But once that was finished we loaded up our newest family member and headed home to Mom, Dad and Cooper. It was so nice to go home! When we arrived, Cooper came running out, ran past me straight to Ace. He was ready to have his little brother home too.

 Welcome home baby Ace!

He's mine!

     God is so good! He has really blessed us again with the safe arrival of Ace Garrett. I'm already praying that I can be a good momma to these boys...I know they are going to be a handful. : )

"Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17