Gavin is Here!

Yes it true, Gavin is finally here! After months of carrying him around and praying for a healthy baby and an easy labor and delivery, God answered in a BIG way!

My first prayer was that he would wait for my mom to get here so I would have no stress about Kayla being taken care of while Garrett and I were at the hospital, and that he did. My mom arrived on the 6th, just in time to see Garrett off to the field where he was scheduled to be for the next week. I had been having random mild contractions for DAYS with no obvious progression and it was getting SO frustrating. On Saturday the 9th my mom and I decided to take Kayla to the mall to get out of the house and do some walking. It was a fun day and I had had no real contractions; as evening fell I figured it was another day down with no baby in my arms. At around 9:45pm I felt a usual contraction and didn't think much of it. Than about 10 minutes later, another one. hmmmm, that's interesting. 10 minutes later, one more. At this point I'm on my feet and starting to walk laps around my downstairs as I had been doing the days before, and I tell my mom I'd just had 3 contractions in the last 30 minutes. We figure it's worth getting out the watch and pen and paper to see if this was going anywhere. After about another 30 minutes of regular moderate contraction I knew it was time to call Garrett and voice those blessed words; It's Time!

It took him about an hour to get home, he quickly showered and grabbed a bite to eat. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together, but as with Kayla's birth, I didn't want an epidural so I wasn't yet feeling the need to head to the hospital. Staying in the comfort of my home and watching The Food Network in between contractions sounded much more fun. As we watched Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives for the next hour I could tell things were definitely progressing quickly and at around 1am we jumped in the car and made the 25 minute drive to the hospital.

When we got there the labor and delivery floor seemed strangely void of activity, and thankfully so because things were about to get stirred up! They ushered me into the triage room, where I was the only patient, took my vitals and said hang tight, the midwife will be in shortly to check you. By now my contractions were seriously strong and I knew from experiencing labor before it was getting close, VERY close. We must have been waiting for 20-25 minutes before a midwife finally showed up. She went to the computer to look at my vitals and calmly asked what my pain level was on a scale of 1-10. How do you answer that when you're in active labor, really?!? UMMM 10 I THINK! So I responded with "I'M GETTING THE URGE TO PUSH!" Which was VERY true. She said what, let me check you? Like I didn't know what I was talking about. She pops up and says 'OK yeah you're a 9-10! And in seconds there was a blur of activity around me. They roll me into a delivery room and it seemed like there was nurses everywhere. One of them was trying to get an IV started while I was trying NOT to push and in minutes the midwife was in front of me saying 'all right, you give me a few good pushes and this baby will be out!' And so I did, and he was out! Thank You Jesus!

Unfortunately Garrett was not able to cut the cord because the quick delivery was a little traumatic on Gavin. It appeared he wasn't breathing so they quickly snipped the cord and off he went to the other side of the room. After what seemed like FOREVER we finally heard that first cry that overwhelms you with emotions. Gavin Anton Carr, after 4.5 hours of labor was born 1-10-10 (his due date) at 2:25am, 9lb 6oz 21in. That's right folks 9lb 6oz! I prayed for a healthy baby and boy oh boy that's what we got!

Still at the hospital photos:

Coming home, Kayla was SO excited to see her little brother that she had been hearing so much about.

She's been very helpful and always wanting to know where he is and what he's doing.

Just look at those huge chubby cheeks, I could nibble on them forever.