Taylor Made by God's Hands: April 2010

My contractions started the night before Easter Sunday. Sunday morning we went to church then headed out to Brownfield for Easter with the family. While in Brownfield, I put a call into the on-call nurse to ask her about some of my symptoms, at which point we were told we were probably in the early stages of labor that could last a couple of hours to a couple of days. Cas and I told our parents and siblings what was happening and that we were going to head home and enjoy our last hours (or days) of relaxation.

Once home I decided to go on a walk and see if that would speed things up ... oh did it! I kept texting Cas every time I had a contraction, and it got to the point where he was telling me to come home. Cas wanted to go to the hospital just to get checked out. I was in agreement but going at a slower pace ... first a shower, then packing the bags a little more. Once we were finally ready to head to the hospital we went out to the truck to get loaded and NOTHING. Cas' lift decided at that opportune time to NOT WORK. We actually started laughing, thinking "are you kidding me?" Brother out of town - check! Dad 25 minutes away in Meadow - check! Husband and pregnant wife unable to find the source of the problem - check, check!

I headed back inside to lay on the couch, watch the clock and notice the contractions getting stronger while Cas made phone calls and rallied the family together. Reinforcements arrived and threw Cas in the truck just so we could get to the hospital. At this point we were taking the bags and feeling a little more certain that we weren't going just to "get things checked out."
Once at the hospital, my first exam indicated I was only about 3cm dialated but 80% effaced and with a lot of bloody show. The staff decided to wait and check on me in an hour to see if there was any progress. Not 10 minutes later, my water broke ...

Leaving out all of the intricate details of labor and delivery, we'll just say thank heavens for epidurals, Mom and Tiffany made it from Dallas by 3AM without a speeding ticket, and beautiful Gracyn Brae was born Monday, April 5 at 6:42AM weighing 6lbs 11 oz and 19 1/2 inches long!