Mark and Tiffany Blog

I know people are dieing to hear my birth story (a little sarcastic there, but i'm sure there are some out there who want to know) so here it goes...

Early Tuesday morning, around 3:30am, I woke up a little wet. I wasn't drenched so i wasn't sure that my water broke but after going to the bathroom about 10 times i was almost certain that it was broken. I was also getting a few cramps so I was sure that Labor had hit. I called some of our friends to come watch Zach while we went to the hospital (Thanks Jeremy and Giselle). We got to the hospital around 4:15. They put me on a monitor but didn't check me for an hour. After about 2 hours they checked and I was only dilated to a 2, which is about what i was 2 1/2 weeks ago. they then did a test to see if my water had really broken. The test came out neither positive nor negative. They did a second test and it was a definite positive. So once again i was left on the monitor in bed. I wasn't really having contractions at all. maybe one ever 20 or 30 minutes. Nothing regular though. At about 7am the dr. came in and checked me and I was a 4 but still hardly any contractions. He wanted to start me on petocin but decided to let me take a walk and wait to see if I started progressing at all. I had to stay in bed for a little while longer while I was giving some medicine for Beta Strep. At 7:30 the nurse came in and said that I needed to get up and walk for an hour to see if things would get going. Mark and I walked around for about 40 minutes before I couldn't handle it any more. My contractions got so bad and where really close together after walking. We got back to our room around 8:15 and I asked for an epidural. The dr. came in and checked me again and I was a 7! which meant No epidural. The nurse said that I could still get an intrathecal (no idea how to spell), but things started happening way to fast. I was starting to go crazy at this point and Mark said that I kept pushing him out the door to ask the nurse when I could get medicine for the pain. at one point I heard him and the nurse talking and that things were happening to fast and that I wouldn't be able to get anything. All the the anesthesiologists were occupied so they couldn't come give me anything. I seriously lost it at that point. It was horrible!! All of a sudden I felt the baby coming and started yelling at Mark that the baby was coming and within seconds there were about 7 people busy in the room. about 5 or so minutes later Grace was born. It was one of the most miserable experiences I have ever had. I have a lot of respect for those who give birth naturally because there is nothing pleasant about it. Afterwards I was so shaky I felt awful. it took me awhile to get over all of the trauma but the recovery has been really good. Well, that is basically what happened. All I know is that what contractions started things happened extremely fast. I was really glad my water broke and at least I was at the hospital. If It hadn't and I had waited until my contractions were about 5 minuets apart I might not have made it to the hospital. Anyway, this is a really long and lengthy story...

Grace is doing well, she has lost a lot of weight so we have to take her back to get checked out tomorrow, but she is a great baby, nurses really well ( I don't know why she isn't gaining), and is pretty good at night. I hope it keeps up.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Tiffany had our baby this morning. She was born at 8:57 am, 19 and 3/4 inches long, 7lbs 15 oz. Both Tiffany and the baby are doing well. I'll let Tiffany tell the whole story later, but we wanted to show off our beautiful little girl, named Grace Valentine Taylor.



More pictures to come ...

We had a really fun weekend. Mark's sister Becca came to visit us. Zach loved having someone else to talk to and give him their full attention. Saturday was a little rainy but still wanted to show Becca Shoshone falls and Twin falls and then that afternoon we went to the soccer complex and flew Mark's stunt kite. Above is a picture of Zach playing in a little sand spot we found on the soccer field.
Becca flying the kite.


Below is a picture of Twin falls. We hadn't seen it before so were excited to see it. We were a little disappointed to find that one of the "twin" falls was dammed up.
Shoshone falls. I love the big rainbow in the background.
This picture is so everyone can see how big I am. (less than two weeks to go) Zach is also throwing a big fit because he wants to walk. I wouldn't let him because there was a big hole by the fence and I was too paranoid that he would slip and fall under the hole and off the Canyon.