TCK

Sunday morning, May 6 started off like any other morning, except....it was the championship game for The Braves, Cash's baseball team! They made it all the way to the end. We were so excited for this game and for all the boys on the team. And it was also the day of my shower that my aunts and cousins were throwing for me! They changed the time so that I could make it to the game before the shower.
I got up, excited about the day at 6:30. As soon as I stood up I felt a huge gush. What was that? Did I pee myself?!? I laid back down, got back up, another gush. I got in the shower, got dressed...all the while water is dripping down my leg- I was in total denial. Total. Denial. It was more than two weeks before my due date. We had a busy day! And I was just starting to feel really good the last few weeks of my pregnancy and was kinda excited about being pregnant a couple more weeks while I was actually feeling good.
I finished showering, drying my hair and putting on make up, after all, if I was going to end up at the hospital I wanted to be showered anyway. I went upstairs, calmly laid out Cash's uniform for the game and said "so.....I am pretty sure my water just broke." Blaine hopped up and said "OK! What do we need to do?!?!?" I called the on-call nurse to let them know and they told me to go ahead and come into Labor and Deliver to get checked in. I had already been dilated to 3 1/2 and 75% effaced the week before. I quickly, and nervously packed a hospital bag--we were NOT prepared!!!

I drove myself to the hospital, and called all the necessary people on the way. I had my mom make arrangements for the boys for the day with Carol and Sharon.--They had a blast over there!

I got Ethan on board to take Cash to his game, Rachel, Ethan and my parents were on the way, friends were called, and Blaine got the boys ready, dropped them off and met me in my room.

Things started off a little slow, but gradually made progress. Blaine was his usual nervous, chatty self in these situations, hoping the baby would come by 12:30 so he could make the championship game! My nurse was great, super dry sense of humor, not very warm, but I really liked her. It was also her birthday! 12:30 came and went and Ethan took Cash to his game, sending us pictures throughout the game. I was so sad that I was not there, but in the end it all worked out-he loved having Ethan there and his team won the championship game!! Go Braves!

By 3 o'clock things were moving along very nicely. I was breathing through the contractions, they were getting pretty strong. Blaine was very anxious seeing me in pain, and pushing me to get the epidural, but I felt like I was handling it well, and wanted to feel the labor.
When I was finally ready to give in to the epidural, probably around 4:30 I could feel that things were progressing and it felt like it was moving quick to me. The nurse checked me and I was at an 8. We were waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in and Blaine decided he wanted Rachel to be in the room with me for that part so he left and stood outside the room and Rachel was next to me--they only let one person in the room during the epidural so everyone else was outside as well.
About 10 minutes later, the anesthesiologist came in the room and the second he stepped foot in there I told the nurse that it felt like I HAD to push. She quickly checked me and I was complete and at a 10!!!! She asked me what I wanted to do, if I still wanted to try and get the epidural. It was so, so intense at this point that I felt like I could not even open my eyes. Constant pressure. I was trying really hard to focus on my breathing to get through the pain. Rachel was so adamant about making the epidural happen! Looking back it was pretty funny. I told the nurse I could not sit up, there was just too much pressure, too much pain, I was pushing. Rachel said with so much confidence "we can do this, we will just sit up the bed and Ill help you to the side." It was wishful thinking. There was NO WAY I could do that at this point. I was already pushing naturally. So Rachel ran out of the room told Blaine there was a change of plans, no epidural and baby was coming NOW, just as she saw the doctor booking it down the hall to come to my room. I'm not going to lie- it was SO intense. So intense. I had so much pain in my left lower back and the top of my left leg. I could not tell if I was having a contraction or not, the pain was just there and not going anywhere. I am pretty sure I said some expletives that start with F a couple of times. I could hear my mom breathing and asked her to stop! I think I told Blaine to stop touching me. I just kept telling myself to focus on my breathing, the harder I pushed, the faster it would be over. The pain from pushing itself was not bad until his head started to come out--as my nurse calls it-the ring of fire. Blaine told me after wards that I yelled "get him out of me already!!!" right before he was out.  I have never experienced anything like that. It was magical. I am so happy that is the way he was born. I would do it all over again just like that if I had to. I have never been so in tune with my body, or felt anything so natural or innate--our bodies are amazing.
The relief was almost instantaneous. Of course there was some pain "down there." I held onto that ice pack they gave me for dear life. But seeing him and his sweet face when they put him on my chest was all worth it. That pain, that experience, the exhaustion was awesome. Everything about this baby from finding out that I was pregnant to him coming early and having him naturally has all been so crazy--good crazy.

This. This right here is how it all felt. I can put myself back to that moment of pure joy from meeting our baby and total exhaustion at the same time. This was labor.

We all took bets on his weight and crazy enough I guessed the right weight! Baby boy came out at 6lbs 14oz and 19 inches long. I guess 6lbs because he was making us a family of 6 and 14 because of the 4--making 4 boys.

They cleaned him up, and I was able to breastfeed right away--kid was a champion eater right away. We had not decided on a name for him, but had a short list we were going to discuss. That first night, I was on such a high from the birth that it just replayed in my head over and over again.  Blaine was so great the whole time, I'm pretty sure he had more anxiety seeing me in pain than I did experiencing it.

 On Monday, we decided that it was a good day for the boys to skip school to meet their new baby brother. Blaine had a test for work he had to take that morning so he took them all with him to the test and then headed to the hospital. They were so excited to meet him, but only Cash wanted to hold him while they were there.

 It was also a very emotional time for them, they were all weepy and sad to leave me. They face timed me that evening and everyone was sad and wanted me to come home. Blaine said that night that everyone was a total wreck. They usually never care if I am gone, but with all the anticipation of the arrival of the baby and it happening when we weren't expecting it, it was the perfect storm for lots of emotions.
By Monday night we still had not decided on a name and our nurse was hounding us about it. Blaine was OBSESSED with the name Clyde and called him that the entire pregnancy. It was hard to even get him to consider any other names. But by the time we went to bed, we had decided that his first name was Tripp- that had been at the top of our list and all the boys' first choice--lots of opinions this time around. The boys all gave their approval and Blaine and I both loved it. I had a middle name I wanted, and Blaine wanted Clyde (well, he really wanted that for a first name but I just could not get on board!). We slept on it and that morning, after talking to Blaine (he stayed home to get the boys to school)  it was apparent how much he just absolutely LOVED that name, it was growing on me, and I knew that Clyde was supposed to be his middle name. It made me love it when I realized how much Blaine loved it and how much it really meant to him to have Clyde be in his name.
And lo and behold, Blaine only calls him Clyde, we are 7 weeks in (totally late in posting) and he has never called him Tripp:) His name is absolutely perfect and I love all of it!

Tuesday was my birthday and the best gift I could have gotten was that we were able to go home that day.

The boys (and Maggie) were so excited to come home to see Tripp at home!

I still can not believe that he is here and that he is ours! You are so loved little guy!

Thanks To Liz!

My sweet running pal, Liz, insisted that she take pictures of me being pregnant. I resisted at first, but am so glad I gave in! It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and the boys and I met her at the park to snap a few pics. I never did any maternity pictures, and being so busy during this entire pregnancy, there are very few pictures of me pregnant, so I am so grateful for these!

Bose

A while back, I saw a post that someone I knew had posted about a casting call for a Bose commercial that they were casting in Austin. There was a pretty specific description for the type of family they were looking for. I thought it sounded just like our family. So on a whim, I sent in a pictures of us from the beach last summer. Just sent in the first one I found, it was nothing special. I did not even mention it to Blaine because it seemed so silly and seriously, what were the chances. I totally forgot that I had even done that, until I got a call that they wanted our family to come in to audition for the part! I sheepishly told Blaine what I had done, and that we were going to the audition the coming Saturday expecting total resistance. But lo and behold he was open to the idea. I know it was because we would be compensated if we got the part, but come on, what were the chances we would get it. But we were all excited just for the experience.

We seriously had no idea what we were doing for the audition, but we showed up and was surrounded by other families there for the same thing. When it was our turn, they explained that they would have us line up, and have each of us do a slow 360 turn, state our name and our age. Then we sat in a "car" and pretended like we were heading to a soccer game and had to carry on regular conversation that we would have in real life. It was awkward. And weird. But whatever, it was a great experience. We talked about who would win the game, did we remember the water bottle, and the ball.

We left, both agreed that it didn't go well, it was uncomfortable and that we were definitely not getting it!

We carried on with life, and about a week later we got a call that they wanted to cast us! We were all shocked! I had also just found out at my 36 week appointment two days earlier that I was already 3cm and 75% effaced. So I started to panic that I would go into labor before the shoot and we wouldn't be able to do it!  On April 30, we went in for a wardrobe fitting and on May 2 we were going to shoot the commercial. They had asked us how we felt about shooting at our own house. We thought it would make things easier for the boys, so we agreed to it. We sent them pictures of our house and surrounding streets and they did a drive by and checked out the front of the house and the neighborhood and agreed that it was a good fit for the commercial. We frantically got someone over to do a deep clean of our house--I was 37 weeks pregnant and there was no way I would be able to get everything done in a day! 

The night before the shoot, we were heading out to dinner and found this on our door! We all kind of nervously giggled and couldn't believe it!

The day finally came and the baby was staying put. The morning of the shoot, the boys all stayed home from school and we anxiously awaited the arrival of the crew. We really had NO idea what to expect. Or really what we would be doing. So when one giant BMW van pulled up we couldn't believe it. Then another one pulled up. And another, And another. And another. And 6 cars. And a police on a motorcycle. And before we knew it, there was like 20 people, and cameras out front. We were totally geeking out inside watching through the window!

People started coming into our house and setting up outside and before I knew it, Blaine and I were both sitting in a hair and make-up chair with our own personal make up person getting into our clothes.

They explained what we would be doing and bright and early we started shooting. Doing the same shot over and over again, and then a little bit differently and doing it that way again and again.

Sometimes it was me and two of the boys, other times it was just the boys or just Blaine. Or some other combination of us.

At one point, they had Blaine for hours driving around the neighborhood, and meticulously filming his hands and face and anything you can think of. It was a whole scene driving through the neighborhood--the car the commercial was being shot in with Blaine in the front and a camera man squished in the passenger seat filming and a lighting guy in the backseat, the camera van, our police escort, another van and then a mini van at the end with more crew members and me and the boys so we could swap out in the car if they needed a specific shot.

It was an ALL DAY ordeal, and we had plenty of breaks in between different shots. Blaine and Cash threw the baseball, Owen chilled in his Bose headphones he wore for the shoot, and they all did a little bug hunting.

Every one was so kind. There were corporate people from Bose in town from Boston, production people from Portland and Boston, and LA. We had conference calls happening in our breakfast room, people working in our dining room, and all kinds of camera work and production business happening in front of our house the entire day-it was a way bigger production that we were prepared for!  The boys did amazing! It was a very long day. We started at 9am and didn't wrap up until about 5:30 pm. But wow, what an experience! I can not wait to see the finished product! It was very cool to be a part of something so big like this.