Monday, April 16, 2007

My Birth Story

I'm going to let my Mommy tell the story.


Mike and I checked into the hospital Thursday night, Feb.22, 2007 after eating our last childless meal at Chilis. We sat in a booth and the hostesss looked at me like she was afraid I wouldn't fit. I did... with plenty of room to spare! When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse told me they would put a pill up inside me to help soften and dialate my cervix. They'd do this twice before the morning and would also give me Ambien to help me sleep.

The morning of Friday, Feb. 23 the doctor came by to check me. I hadn't changed AT ALL! My chances of having to have a c-section went up. Dr. Webster told me it was a 50/50 chance I'd be able to deliver naturally. At this point, they hadn't even started the pitocin because the pharmacist forgot to bring it. (My doctor was furious.)



Finally around 9:00 am they started the pitocin. My dad and Mike decided to go grab a bite to eat. While they were gone I was told I could get an epidural whenever I wanted. Not wanting everyone to call me a baby for getting it as soon as possible- I decided to wait until Mike got back. Well, as it turned out, by the time he returned I was dialated to a 3. Once I had the epidural, though... I was happy and enjoyed entertaining the troops waiting on our baby to arrive. (See self-portriat to the left.) At around 2:00 my wonderful nurse Lou checked my progress. To her surprise, I was dialated to an 8. She looked at me, shocked, and said, "I'm gonna call the doctor. You'll have this baby before 3:00!"


The doctor arrived relatively quickly and checked me again. It wasn't even 2:15 yet and I was fully effaced and dialated. The only problem was that every time I'd have a contraction, Thatcher's heart rate would go down. Lou explained that with each contraction, his head would get squeezed... since the labor progressed so quickly, he really didn't have time to get used to the pressure on his head and it was freaking him out, causing his heart rate to drop. The doctor decided to wait an hour or so to give him a break. They turned down the pitocin and we just waited.


About an hour or so later, Lou had to turn the pitocin back on because I had completely stopped having contractions. I had to contract in order to delivery. Once it was back on, I started having contractions again and we started pushing. Not too much later, the doctor came back in.



At 4:09 pm our beautiful son Thatcher Cade Porter was born. I kept saying, "He's so tiny! He's so tiny!" He was. Thatcher weighed in at just 7 pounds and 0 ounces and was 19 inches long. He had a big bruise on the top of his head from the birth, but other than that... he was in great shape. I always wondered what I would feel seeing my child for the first time. I can't even put into words the instant love that filled my heart. He's my world!

Waiting... Nine Months

Well, here I am looking like the grim reaper when I was 22 weeks along inside my Mommy's tummy. I scared my Mommy and Daddy because during a sonogram (on Friday the 13th) they saw some calcifications on my heart. A specialist had to take a closer look at me to make sure everything was okay. I had a higher risk for Down's Syndrome, but lots of people prayed for me and God made me perfect!


Here's my Mommy and Daddy together before I was born. Daddy doesn't really like to take pictures, so this is special. I was growing fast. Mommy was 34 weeks pregnant with me in this picture. Looking back she says the pregnancy went fast, but at the time it didn't really seem like it. I'm worth it all, though!






Well, here's my Mommy at the hospital the day before I was born. I was quite content just staying put. In fact, I was in no hurry what-so-ever. Mommy and Daddy checked into the hospital on Thursday night, Feb. 22 because I refused to make my grand entrance. I was already a week late!

To test my parents' patience even more... they THOUGHT I'd come a couple of days before I did, but the hospital didn't have any room. Boy, was my Mommy upset. I finally made my Grand entrance at 4:09 pm on Feb. 23, 2007.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Welcome to Thatcher's blog


Welcome to the blog of Mister Thatcher Cade Porter, the most handsome bald guy under 29. (Daddy's not quite 30 yet.) We have so many friends and family members all over the place who I've been flooding with pictures of Thatcher. For their sanity and the sake of their "delete" buttons, I decided to create a blog where we can keep everyone up to date- at YOUR own pace.

So here it is... the blog for Thatcher. "Thatch" the journey of his life... now in progress. :)