Payton's Birth!

At the time of Payton's birth we were not skilled in birthing room pictures or our new digital camera...all we took have a little too much exposure for web viewing...The rest were taken with a non-digital camera...Feel free to drop by where you will be shown his creative memory scrapbook still beautiful in its box and then shoebox after shoebox of pictures taken in the first days of his life!

Payton was due on July 4th. With the exception of our wedding date, we have never anticipated a day so much in our life...(and actually we anticipated Payton's birth much longer than we anticipated our wedding, we met and married in 7 months, we waited for Payton for 9) When July 4th came and went I felt like a huge part of me deflated...except for the fact that I was still massive. We began every other day sonograms to make sure the placenta was viable and the amniotic fluid level was still good. The song that was very popular that summer was a song whose tune stuck in my head...I don't remember a word of the song except for the chorus..."You know I'd walk a thousand miles if I could just see you, if I could just hold you, tonight...." I remember singing that to Payton over and over again as I would drive down the road...and thinking I really would...we wanted nothing more than to see our boy. After 2 trips to labor and delivery because my dr. felt on the 1st one- Payton's heart was doing weird things and 2nd- he was not moving as much as he should...only to be sent home each time I was beside myself...as in seriously, I need to get a hold of myself- beside myself. My blood pressure was up so the Dr. asked me to quit excercising and take all salt out of my diet...I did and came back the next week...She told me her concerns about inducing...I listened and then begged for that option. (I look back now and think why was I so anxious...) She said not yet. Give it another week. I was dialated to nothing and was not at all effaced.

They decided to admit me to the hospital on Sunday night, July 14th at 5. Tony and I ate at Cracker Barrel on the way. The manager came by to ask how our dinner was and Tony said great, "this is where we wanted to eat on our last meal before we became parents, is there a special discount for that?" Uhhhh-no...

We got to the hospital, got my cervidil, Sam and Emille brought Subway- I was not supposed to eat again after 6 (hence my 2 huge meals within an hour of each other) and then we hung out. The hospital said there was a good chance my body would start its labor on its own...so I waited...Tony went sound asleep on the couch bed and finally around 3 AM I went down to the lobby where my mom and Emille were waiting and told them to go on home, I bet nothing happened until tomorrow. They did and I literally sat in my bed watching the clock, praying, trying to sleep and wondering if I would ever have this baby. They checked me in the morning and the cervidel had done nothing.

My doctor said with my blood pressure up, projections on the size of Payton's head up and the fact that Tony had just explained if she sent us home we would just go wait in our car until I went into labor... she thought she would see if she could break my water. She did and they started pitosin at 7Am. I had decided, with Tony's support, to have Payton naturally. The thing I vividly remember was that I did not have any building block contractions....they were hard and fast immediately. By noon I was whipped from not having slept and not having eaten, by 2 I was exhausted...Tony, Emille and my mom where there being so encouraging the whole time...They had been checking me all morning with little result...I remember at 2:15 the nurse saying, "she is still not dialated to even a finger tip." I was crushed. The nurse explained that because my contactions were literally off the charts my body was having a hard time catching up, it was not able to relax and perhaps I needed a pain pill to take some of the edge off, my dr. came and said she highly recommended that...I said I was not sure, Tony said he was...and in the sweetest moment came over and said your exhausted, hungry and beat...let's do this and meet our son. I took the pill and went to sleep.

I was in and out of the deepest sleep the rest of the day. I remember waking up and seeing the clock read 6:45 PM and then feeling a contraction and realizing I still had not had my baby. At 8:45 they said I was ready to push. Tony later told me they had given me my epidural at 7:00 but I slept through it. I pushed on every contraction, or at least I thought I was pushing...obviously my epidural was a little strong...Tony said I was sleeping in between every contraction, (now that I have had Benjamin it is hard to imagine that is possible but I do remember him waking me up to push)...Finally after 5 minutes they decided to try to the vacuum...the first time the suction broke on Payton 's head and the dr. literally flew across the room...she then siad, we are trying this one more time, assemble the c-section team...My mom and Emille were waiting right outside the door when 5 more nurses pushed through...this time the vacuum held and out came the the most amazing baby. He screamed so loudly and then stopped suddenly and looked right at Tony and I. It was the most incredible moment. Payton James Brooks entered the world at 9PM, July 15th, 2002 weighing 7lbs, 9 ounces, 19" long.

During the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy with Payton my mom would often be the one that took me downtown for my sonograms. I remember one day in particular driving home with her and crying the whole way about how badly I wanted Pate to be born. My mom was agreeing with me and said, "I know you are ready but there is something so special about having your baby inside of you. It is wonderful when they are out, the absolute greatest joy...but there will be a part of you that misses and aches for them the rest of your life." I remember crying then, but I understand that on a different level now. There is a vulnerability to having your children exposed that brings about the greatest joy and the deepest of aches. I would not miss it for the world. The last 4 years Tony and I have laughed more, cried more, praised the Lord more, sought Him more and because He has brought us to place of realizing our children are ultimately His, we have trusted Him more. Today is a day we mark with great zeal because it is Payton's birthday, but we mark it for another reason as well. 4 years ago we became parents, when our hearts became exposed to the world in the form of our first child. What an incredible gift from the Lord!