Riley Grace Tate

SHE'S HERE! Riley Grace Tate was born Sunday, February 27 at 9:29 p.m.

She was 22 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 14 ounces.

Last Sunday, I wasn't feeling great when I left church. I felt like I had a fever and had the chills. Around 3:30 in the afternoon I started having some contractions. They got increasingly regular and closer together, yet they were only lasting for about 20-30 seconds. We called the hospital around 6:30 and they told us to keep an eye on things for the next hour and call them back and let them know if they were starting to last longer. As the nurse was about to hang up, she mentioned to keep an eye on how much the baby moved in the next hour. When she said that, I realized that in focusing on timing contractions, I hadn't noticed that I didn't feel her moving at all for most of the afternoon. We decided that because of that, it was worth going to the hospital to just check things out, figuring they'd tell us we were in early labor and send us home.

We got to the hospital and I was hooked up to all the monitors and they noticed I was running a fever. Things were pretty calm and seemed like it really wasn't going to happen tonight. They checked and I was only a little over 2 cm. dilated. Our doctor (who was wonderful!) was watching the baby's heartbeat on the monitors in another room and came in and told us that because her heart rate was elevated (up in the 170's when it had been consistently in the 150's) that we would be having this baby tonight - either normally or via c-section, but we'd make that decision in the next hour or so once my lab work came back. About 10 minutes later he came back in and told us that we'd need to have a c-section - and quickly. Her heartbeat was dropping down to the 90's during contractions and they were worried about what kind of infection was causing my fever. As soon as he said that, things moved quick. I was immediately prepped for surgery and Kirk had just enough time to call our parents and get scrubs on before we were whisked to the operating room. I was terrified but also felt a sense of peace that the doctor we knew and trusted was on call and that we were doing what needed to be done.

I'll spare you the details of the c-section - but it all happened so fast, it felt a little like an out of body experience. We had gotten into our hospital room at 8:30 p.m. and Riley was born at 9:29 p.m. The cord was wrapped around her torso and she had breathed in a little fluid on the way out. But she was strong and healthy! She had the cutest little raspy cry.

I am so full of emotions that I'm not sure able to describe what it was like to see her for the first time and to get to hold her. She is beautiful and it's slowly sinking in that she's ours. I'm sure I'll have more to say about this - but I'm so overwhelmed by these feelings and emotions I can't get them into words yet.

We were in the hospital until Tuesday afternoon (which happened to be my b-day). The recovery from the c-section has been slow and painful. I get frustrated that it's so hard to move around and need to remind myself that it was fairly major surgery and I need to take the time to heal.

One of my favorite things is watching Kirk be a dad. He's so good at it and was meant to be a daddy. I can't get around too easily and he has been taking such good care of both me and Riley. I think I've only changed about 3 diapers so far. He brings me water and holds it for me while I'm nursing and is up in the middle of the night to make sure her feedings are going OK. I'm so impressed with him and so proud to get to parent with him.

We have enjoyed time with Kirk's parents and my mom and Mike. My dad and Jill are coming in a couple of days. People from church have started stopping by and it's been fun to show her off!

It's been an adventure so far! Her days and nights are mixed up, so she sleeps like a champ during the day but that means we have had some long nights! I just try and take night time hour by hour. And she's hungry now ... so I gotta go. More to come!