Ty's Birth

It occurred to me that I've never written down the details of Ty's birth. Tomorrow my little man will be 4 and I can still remember every detail. I realize that when he turns 20 I may not have the best memory anymore. So, I'm going to write it now:

In 2006 our due date with Tyrus was June 9th. I decided to go ahead and start my maternity leave on June 2nd because there was NO WAY that he would be late. I was wrong. June 9th came and went and there is only so much that a pregnant woman can clean. I was REALLY bored and miserable because it was too hot to go anywhere. I even did research on the Internet and cooked Eggplant Parmesan hoping it would put me into labor. It didn't. My Doctor told me that they wouldn't let me go past two weeks before they induced me. On June 15th Neil and I had a doctors appointment in Riverdale. I remember that morning like it was yesterday. I remember that I fixed my hair and put makeup on. I remember that I had my black maternity capris on and the shirt that I had to borrow from Melissa when her newborn son peed on me. It was greenish blue and I think I wore it everyday the last week I was pregnant with Tyrus. Anyways, we were in the room with Dr. Gabriel and after she listened to Ty's heartbeat she decided to put me on the monitor. This would measure both my heartbeat and Ty's for 20 minutes. It would also measure contractions - if I was having any. After 20 minutes she came into the room and after not saying anything while she studied the graph she said, "Do you want to go today?" Without hesitation I, pretty much, yelled, "Yeah!" Then I thought about it and immediately asked if he was okay. She assured me that she believed he was okay, but that she thought he was running out of room and she was worried about the level of fluid. So, she sent us for an ultrasound. Before she sent us to the ultrasound she checked me and I was 1 centimeter. While we were in the ultrasound room (everything was fine) Dr. G wrote up the order to induce me. She met us in the hallway and told us to go home, she told Neil to eat, told me to pack, and when we got to the hospital we would be admitted immediately. I remember being worried about who was on call because there was one doctor that I DID NOT want to deliver him. She told me that Dr. R (loved him) was on call until 7:00 the next morning (June 16th) and that she was on call from 7:00 on. The last thing she said as she walked away was, "I'll see you Friday."

I remember the walk to the truck and I remember Neil calling his parents. After he called them I called Mama. She was in Newnan waiting for the call. We told her that we were going to take our time and that we would call her when we were leaving. Her plan was to be in the room until I started pushing. I wanted just Neil in there when Tyrus was actually born. When we got home I felt really nervous. So, I nested. I remember standing at the sink and washing the dishes by hand. Neil said something to the effect of, "You know you don't have to do that now." but it really helped me relax. I also remember walking into his nursery and making sure that everything was okay for when we came home. We finally left our house and headed for the hospital. I don't remember why, traffic maybe, but it took us a while to get to the hospital. My mom was already there when we arrived. We waited for about 20 minutes and then the nurse called us back. We were in the last room on the left. I know that doesn't have any meaning to anybody, but me but I'll always remember.

They started the induction process and I believe I was in full labor by 2:30. When I say labor I mean I was having contractions. I could see them on the monitor, but I couldn't feel anything. Mama and Neil were supposed to be the only ones in the room. However, my Grandmother, Mom, decided that was not going to be. She snuck past the nurses station and came into my room! I was so excited to have her there. She just makes me comfortable. After Mom, Brandi and Kelley showed up. That was my favorite part. At one point everybody left except for Brandi and Kelley and I remember Kelley sitting to the right of me and Brandi sitting at the edge of my bed rubbing my feet. We were watching the Britney Spears interview.

By this time I still wasn't feeling the contractions. I could feel them, but I hadn't asked for any medicine. By the time they left it was around 10:00. I had been in labor for about 7 1/2 hours. I was getting tired and I went ahead and got some pain medicine in my I.V. The next few hours are really cloudy. I remember waking up and having to use the restroom so Neil helped me to the toilet. While I was sitting there my water broke. Neil quickly yelled to my Mom that my water broke. We were all excited that it could be getting closer. The drug in my I.V. was really making me loopy. I told Neil that I wanted to go ahead and get the epidural because I was afraid that if I fell asleep again that I would miss the window to get one. I believe it was around 1:30 in the morning at this point. Mama left the room and the drug doctor came in. The experience with it was TERRIBLE. I was loopy, I was crying, it was the middle of the night, Neil was tired, apparently the doctor was tired because he was a grouch, and it took several attempts to get it in. At one point Neil was about to jump across the bed to attack the doctor. It was that bad. However, the epidural went in and I immediately went to sleep.

I remember sleeping the rest of the time. I remember feeling like I was going to fall off the bed because my right side was more numb then my left. Neil has video of me sound asleep, but holding onto the bed for dear life. Around 5:30 Neil walked out of the room to get some air outside. Doctor R came in right after him and I remember him leaning over me and telling me that they were going to go ahead and take me for a C-Section. They were afraid that the fluid was low and that I wouldn't be able to push when the time came. The drugs really made me tired and loopy. So, all of a sudden, about 10 people came into the room to get me ready and Dr. R left to get himself ready. I remember I started crying because I was scared and I remember Mama leaving over me telling me not to cry. It happened really fast after that. All of a sudden we were in the OR and Neil was there in his scrubs and at 6:19 Tyrus Benjamin Tingle was born!! Dr. R called him a "Super Duper Pooper" because he pooped all over him. Then he said that he must have gotten that from his Dad - Ha! I think at this point I was pretty much done and the anesthesiologist just put me out. I woke up in recovery to the nurse asking me if I needed more drugs. I was shaking like crazy and they covered me with several heated blankets. It hurt really bad to shake because of the surgery. Then Neil came into the room and I immediately asked him who was with Tyrus. He told me that Mama and Mom were with him.

After recovery they wheeled me to my room. I remember on the way there I looked over and down the hall I could see Mama and Mom looking at Tyrus through the nursery glass. I was a little upset. However, right when I got to my room they brought me my baby. It was around 8:45 and our adventure as parents had officially began.

Tyrus Benjamin Tingle

June 16, 2006

6:19 a.m.

8 lb./10 oz.

20 inches