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Tyler is growing whether he can see if or not...we sure do. He has been behind in height for several years but is finally catching up and has even passed a few.
What do you think?
The 1st picture was taken last December '07 and the next one was taken tonight. I wanted to see the difference and show him too.
I am so proud of Tyler...he has grown into a very responsible, Christian young man. He is a leader, giving, well-mannered, polite, considerate, family oriented, excellent student, thoughtful, friends with everyone, fun loving and handsome young man. Is it obvious...just how much we love him and how very, very proud we are of him? I hope so...because we are:)
I got to see my baby for just a minute right after he was born, then he was whisked off to the nursery and to see his awaiting family.
When I gave birth to Brandon eight years before, I was left alone in surgery while my best friend went with Brandon to see his daddy and family. I hated the feeling of being all alone while they were closing my incision. The doctor and nurses were talking to each other and no one was talking to me. I was scared and all alone.
Tyler knew his father's touch because he was screaming up a storm when his pediatrician was checking him over right after his birth. Roger reached over and started rubbing his little leg and talking to him...he stopped crying immediately.
I had told Roger this during my pregnancy and he remembered that while I was in surgery this time delivering Tyler. So, when Esther, my nurse got ready to take Tyler to the nursery...Roger told her that he was going to stay with me when she took Tyler to meet his new family. He did just that. Esther took care of the pictures, video and seeing that Tyler met his new family. She saw to it that everything got photographed and recorded for us. He was the hairiest baby that I have ever seen...plus had long sideburns that looked like Elvis.
That night after surgery, I spiked a fever of 104 and was in a great deal of pain, therefore, I was given some pain medicine and slept. Due to the fever that I was running, I was not allowed to see my baby that night or the next day. Roger would go back and forth between my room and the nursery to check on Tyler. He was allowed to just walk into the nursery to see when whenever he wanted to.
In the wee hours of Friday morning while I was going from being alert to sound asleep, Roger went to check on Tyler. When he approached the nursery window, he was his doctor and nurse surrounding him and it appeared that something was wrong. He rushed into the nursery to see what was wrong. They told him that Tyler's limbs were turning blue and he had spiked a fever as well. They began drawing blood on Tyler and trying to figure out what was wrong with him. His doctor said that his blood cultures would not be back for several days but he thought he knew what was wrong and would treat him likewise. He said that he felt that Tyler had Group B Strep and could be fatal if not treated appropriately. He immediately began Tyler on antibiotics that night.
Tyler was finally allowed to come to my room on Saturday morning before he had his nursery picture made. I dressed him in his University of South Carolina Gamecock onesie. I went to the nursery with Tyler for his pictures but he slept through the whole thing. So, his pictures are with him sound asleep. He was a beautiful baby and had a head full of black hair. He looked perfect and was absolutely gorgeous!
After his pictures were made, he went back to my room again. We loved spending time with him, holding him, loving on him, kissing him and just watching him! Our family and friends also came by to see Tyler and we made tons of pictures. Finally, things seemed to be moving in the right direction to spending time with our baby and getting to take him home with us.
On Sunday morning, Tyler's doctor came into see us and explained his findings. His condition was not improving in the manner that he had hoped for and he was not going to wait on the blood cultures to come back before starting an IV with stronger antibiotics in them. Tyler was in our room for a short while when the nurse came to take him back to the nursery because his doctor had ordered a spinal tap on him to rule out meningitis. I was sick to my stomach and just began crying thinking about what my baby was going to endure with the spinal tap. I had been present when my stepdaughter had a spinal tap years before and the pain that she endured was terrible.
I immediately began calling the church and Pastor Helms because we needed as many people praying for our baby as possible. We were able to get a message to Pastor Helms right before church started that morning.
When they were finished doing his spinal tap, they brought him back to us in my room. His doctor told us that he also heard a heart murmur that morning and had called for a pediatric cardiologist that will see Tyler on Monday morning. I just sat and held my baby tight and cried. I was so scared. I cried and cried! I prayed and prayed over my baby.
Dr. Westbrook allowed me to stay all day on Sunday to spend as much time with Tyler as I could but I had to be out of my room before midnight. We left the hospital around 7 o'clock going home empty handed. That is a terrible feeling to leave the hospital without your baby, but I had the assurance that my baby would be coming home in a couple of days.
Roger had a huge stork put in our yard announcing the birth of our baby boy. They made pictures of me and some of both of us...empty handed by the stork. My first night at home was very lonely because Brandon was at my mother's and Tyler was still in the hospital.
Monday, I got up and got ready for my friend's daughter to drive me to the hospital to see Tyler. The nurses in the nursery had made a picture of Brandon when he came to see his little brother on Saturday and put it in his crib saying...Meet My Brother.
The cardiologist came to see Tyler that morning and said that his heart murmur was completely gone and there was no reason for her to see him again. Praise The Lord!!!!!!
Sommer and Ryan had been in South Carolina and hadn't met their baby brother yet. Their mother and grandmother brought them to the hospital that afternoon to see Tyler for the first time. The nurses took the rocker into a supply room so that everyone could spend time with Tyler and no one would be excluded..including Roger's ex-wife and his former mother-in-law. Everyone was sweet and excited about our new arrival....they were all happy for us. Our relationship with his ex-wife was completely opposite from the one with my ex-husband. We made lots of pictures of this milestone too. They put a picture of Tyler's sister's in his crib as well saying....Meet My Sisters. How sweet is that? We thought it was great!
Finally, on Thursday...Tyler's actual due date, July 21st, he was discharged from the hospital. We spoke with his pediatrician who said that Tyler's blood cultures came back and were positive for Group B Strep. He was glad and we were very thankful that he took the initiative to start the antibiotics nearly a week earlier. They suspected that I was a carried of Group B Strep with no symptoms...Dr. Westbrook had treated me as well in the hospital for this condition.
We dressed Tyler in the St. Maarten onesie that we bought before we knew that we were pregnant...we thought it was very fitting for the celebration of his homecoming. Tyler would have a home health nurse come to the house once a day for 3 more days to administer his antibiotics. That was very hard to watch then stick those needles in his tiny little legs. I would home to dread that time of day for 3 long days but my baby would finally at home with us where he belongs.
Finally, home at last!!!! God is so good and He had His hand on Tyler and us the entire time. He knew what was going to happen and what we would be in need of...Dr. Westbrook, Tyler's pediatrician and his awesome nursing staff who watched Tyler very closely during his stay. They loved him and he was already spoiled before we got him home. I believe God orchestrated everyone who took part in my care and in Tyler's care the entire time we were in the hospital. We could not have gotten any better care than what we did there. God has truly blessed our family again!!!!
Pictures of our precious little man and his family who loves him very much.
Dr. Westbrook decided on Tuesday, July 12th that I was a good candidate for an induction and it was scheduled for 5:30 AM on July 14th, 1994.
I did not get much sleep the night before my induction and I had to get up at 3 AM to be showered, dressed and ready to leave for the hospital by 4 AM the next morning. I got up, took my shower, put my make-up on, fixed my hair and got dressed...then I straighten up the house and made the bed. I wanted to look my best when I saw my new son for the first time and no one ever gets to see me without my make-up...if I can help it. Roger is videoing me and acting like he was interviewing me the entire time. If it had not been such an exciting time...I might have killed him before the day was over...but it was comical to say the least.
We left for the hospital and my nerves set in...oh, dear...this is really about to happen!!!!! Oh, God...help me!!!! I was an excited, nervous wreck!!!
We get to the hospital, do all the paper work, get in my "cute" little hospital gown, go through all the other "fun" stuff that we have to go through and then I was hooked up to the "pit" drip...Pitocin...medicine used to induce labor.
All the while, Roger is interviewing me every 15 - 30 minutes. We laughed about it while he was doing it. We stayed at the hospital alone until we knew that Dr. Westbrook was going to keep me. Around 9 AM, he came in to see me, see if I was dilated and then he broke my water. He looked at me and said "well, I guess we are staying, huh?" Then I got excited because I knew that I was not going to get sent home and Dr. Westbrook was going to be delivering my baby. Our office was in the professional building adjacent to the hospital and actually on the same floor...so I was happy knowing that he could be there in a matter of minutes if they needed him.
After we had been there for awhile, we called my friend (matron of honor at wedding) to come on to the hospital because we were in for the long haul...an all day and probably all night ordeal. She came and brought her teenage daughter...they stayed with us the entire time. The girls from the office came down during lunch to check on me, which...all the visitors...kept my mind off the pain...for the most part. My mother was keeping Brandon at her house and waiting for me to get closer to time to deliver before making the 45 minute trip to the hospital.
It was early afternoon when the labor pains got more intense and I decided that I did not want to go all natural. They gave me some pain medicine in my IV until I dilated enough to get my epidural. That time could not come fast enough!!! Roger and my friend both said..."well, are you fulfilled yet?" and I said "oh, yes!"...talking about wanting to experience labor.I finally reached that magical number....3 cm dilated!!! Epi...Epi...oh, yes....Epidural!!!! It was not as bad as I had been told it would be but sitting still up on the side of the bed during contractions is not the easiest thing to do. However, it did not take my anesthesiologist very long and he was finished and I was relieved of my pain. Now, I could enjoy visiting with my friends...at last.
Have I told you just how good God is? Well, He is awesome and knew everything that was going to happen that day...even before, I was born...not to mention long before you were born, my precious little Tyler! How awesome is that? I know how amazing God has always been in my life and He has never stopped amazing me to this day.
Before I knew it, the work day was over and Dr. Westbrook was in to see me. I had been there since 5:30 AM and it was now 5:30 PM and I had finally made it to 6 cm! Yeah! He said that it would be in the wee hours of the morning before we would be bringing our precious new baby boy, Tyler into this world. I was ready to see his sweet, beautiful face.
It was not too long after all that...my epidural was not working right....I had a "hot spot"...meaning that I had a place about the size of a grapefruit in my lower right abdomen that had all the feeling in it...I felt every contraction in that one spot while everything else was numb. I told my nurse and she notified the anesthesiologist of the minor problem. He came in and upped my dose that I was getting...the problem was solved.
However, we had been watching the monitors all day...helped to pass the time. We watched the contractions on the monitor because I could not feel them and watched his heart rate. It was 7 PM by now and it was shift change time. My day nurse was going off and the night nurse was coming on...they were standing inside my room...one was giving the other the update on my progress. Within 5 minutes of having my epidural doses upped...Tyler's heart rate dropped from 138 to the 36. My nurse rushed over to put the oxygen mask on me and sent for Dr. Westbrook, who came in to see what was going on. He checked me again and told me that the internal electrode had come off of Tyler's scalp and he reattached it. It was 7 PM and I was dilated to 7 cm. Dr. Westbrook said that we were in for a long night and we would proceed as planned. He joked with me to behave myself and do not do that again...like I could have helped it.
An hour later, my epidural was doing strange things again....this time...the only place that was numb was my butt! I had all the feeling in every place except my fanny. We told the nurse again and she called the anesthesiologist again. This time when he came back...he gave me a direct dose into the catheter that went directly into my spinal area. Again, within 5 minutes of him doing this and leaving...Tyler's heart rate shot up to 197 and Dr. Westbrook was standing at the foot of my bed again within a few seconds. He had been sitting at the nurse's station watching the monitor. He had me turn onto my left side and keep the oxygen mask on my face. Within a few minutes, Tyler's heart rate had settled back down. It was now 8 PM and I had dilated to 8 cm...1 cm per hour was how I was progressing...but things were still not working in our favor to have a vaginal delivery. Dr. Westbrook began to discuss me having another C-Section and said "I know you do not want another one but we have to think about what is best for you and the baby, but we will proceed on as planned for now and if we have to perform one then we will at that time." He wanted to make sure that we knew the seriousness of the situation and if the need arose again...the need for an emergency C-Section.
Now, I know you can only imagine the anxiety that I was feeling at this time. I kept telling myself to remain calm because if I got upset...then it would affect Tyler's heart rate again. Once again, Dr. Westbrook check me and I was now dilated to 8 cm. I was happy with that because I knew that I only had to make it to 10 cm and I could start to push and get this over with. I was really, really scared. Oh, my goodness...I wanted to cry so bad...it was a major fight within me to keep my emotions under control.
I waited until Dr. Westbrook left the room and I had my friend make some phone calls for me because I knew that I wanted everyone there when Tyler was born. My friends...Glenda, Wendy, Stacey, my mother and Brandon would be there soon. But I was really scared about what all was going on with my baby.
I asked Roger to call Pastor Helms (our pastor at that time and our good friends) so he could start praying. All Roger got was his answering machine at home...so he left a message.
Then, my best friend, Tamara, who was there with me in the delivery room with Brandon called to check on me. Roger had his back turned toward me while he was talking to her. I am not sure now what I was trying to tell him to tell Tamara but when I called his name, he turned to face me and he was crying....I LOST IT! He was as scared as I was but neither of us wanted to let the other one see it because we did not want to upset the other. I immediately became hysterical and started crying...the flood gates burst open.
My blood pressure shot up and Dr. Westbrook was back in my room immediately. He said that it was time to do the C-Section before we end up in an emergency situation. Roger told Dr. Westbrook..."please, don't let my wife die" and he began to cry again. I was already crying and I told Dr. Westbrook "please, don't let my baby die". He assured us that it was not an emergency situation yet but he thought it was time. I no longer care how they got Tyler into this world...I just wanted him here....NOW!!!! I had been fulfilled and then some.
Roger called Sharron, Dr. Westbrook's nurse to update her on the situation. I had worked with Sharron for years and we were good friends. She assisted Dr. Westbrook on scheduled surgeries but she did not come in on any emergencies or during the night surgeries...but she called Dr. Westbrook herself and told him to not start without her...she was on her way. Sharron lived 30 miles away and it had started pouring down rain, but she came with her teenage daughter in tow to be with me and assist with Tyler's birth.
God knew that I needed everyone that I had there with me that night and He made a way. Sharron arrived at the hospital before the on call surgical nurse could get there and she lived closer than Sharron.
They had started moving me on my bed to the delivery surgical suite to bring my precious new baby boy into this world. I had been hoping that Pastor Helms was there with us before I went into surgery but Roger had to leave a message for him. They were just about to push my bed out of the doorway when Pastor Helms and Karen stepped in the door. He immediately asked if he could pray with me before they took me into surgery and they stopped, he prayed right in the hall and "all was well again". He also brought Tyler a teddy bear that had a red heart that said "Jesus Loves Me" on it.
At 9:41 PM on 7/14/94, our precious baby boy, Austin Tyler W. entered into this world. He weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. Brandon weighed 8 lbs. 10 1/2 oz. and was 21 inches long.
Jermiah 1:5
"Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations-- that's what I had in mind for you." (The Message)
Psalms 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. (NIV)
The pictures to help tell our precious story of God's grace, faithfulness, mercy and protection.
I am constantly amazed at how God knows what we will need long before we do. He sees over the hills and around the curves...He has been in the our yesterdays, our todays and already in our tomorrows! This time of my life as no different. I had worked for Dr. Westbrook since 1985, but had not used him as my doctor in a number of years. Instead, I started seeing his partner right after I took the insurance position in his office. Our working relationship had not always been the best as we were both very strong willed, bull headed and very driven...ok...stubborn. He could sometimes be very overbearing, demanding and hard to work for. When I quit my job in 1992 after Roger and I got married, we did not like each other very much but still had a great deal of respect for each other. I went back to work for him filling in from time to time when someone was on vacation or when they were shorthanded...those times would range from a week to several months and end the end...I was back to full time before he retired in September 2001.
I guess that since I did not have to have the job and he did not have to have me working for him again...we had a new found, great deal of respect and an awesome working relationship. We finally got along perfectly...I guess...we needed each other in a different way. However, when I decided to get pregnant with Tyler....he and his partner had gone different ways years before and I continued to see his former partner, but I knew that as a former employee that Dr. Westbrook would see me for only what my insurance would pay him. So...I decided to return to his care and use him as my OB/GYN again. He was a great doctor, very gentle, kind and I trusted him fully.
My pregnancy with Tyler was totally uneventful except for the fact that I had "all day sickness" for about 5 months. It was a very exciting time for all of us as a family. Roger's girls were excited and watched my belly grow...and did it ever grow!!! I loved being pregnant and had said many times that I would carry the baby and let someone else raise them. Brandon also had a new and different excitement about him knowing that he was going to be a big brother. Brandon would be 8, Sommer would be 16 and Ryan would be 14 when Tyler was born.
My pregnancy with Brandon was pretty much exactly the same as with Tyler. As any new pregnant mother...you have your dreams of what you want you pregnancy and delivery to be like. I wanted to take childbirth classes, have my husband in the delivery room and have a normal, natural delivery. Well, with Brandon that was not the case....I took childbirth classes with my best friend, my best friend was in the delivery room, Brandon was breech and I never felt the first labor pain and ended up with a C-Section delivery. I felt immediately like a failure after I gave birth to Brandon because I felt robbed of that joy, experience that comes with labor and delivery plus, having my husband playing a vital role in my pregnancy and delivery.
When I got pregnant with Tyler, Roger knew how much all of the things that I just mentioned meant to me and he did everything that he could to see that I lived my dreams out to the fullest.
We did not take childbirth classes this time but I knew that a team of wild horses would not be able to drag him out of the delivery room. The exciting part for me was that they had started doing the VBAC delivery (vaginal birth after Cesarean)...if you had the type incision that would allow you to go into active labor...which I did. Dr. Westbrook also knew how much it meant to be to VBAC with Tyler and he did not see any reason why I could not try.
God was allowing me to live out another dream that I had been robbed of during my first marriage, pregnancy and delivery. God is so good and He cares so much about the small things that make us happy, as well as, the big things.
Roger and I talked about whether we wanted a boy or girl...which did not matter as long as he was healthy, but I really wanted to him Roger a son since he already had two precious daughters. We found at when I was 16 weeks pregnant that...I was having a boy!!!! Austin Tyler would be his name.
My due date was July 21st, 1994 and Dr. Westbrook was scheduled to be on vacation during that week. I was sick thinking that he would not be on call to deliver my baby and care for me...so I started talking, begging and seeing what I could work out. He promised me that if he thought that I was "ripe" and ready to deliver then he would induce me the week before my due date so that he would be there with me.
Stay tune for the events of Tyler's birth!
