2 Years Ago Today...

Two years ago today, Gavin Ridge Varner was born, and my whole world changed in an instant. I love to replay everything in my head and remember those hours leading up to his birth. The day before Gavin was born, Jason and I spent the WHOLE day walking around Westgate Mall and checking out the new Costco - to try to get things moving along. I was already dilated to a "loose 3", so we were just waiting around. That night, Jason grilled me a steak for dinner and mom came over to eat with us. I remember my lower back starting to ache and cramp, and I knew that these were the signs of prelabor. This is a timeline of Gavin's birth. This is mostly for me because I've never really sat down and written everything out. Forgive me if you don't care for the details. 3:30 am - My first real contraction woke me up. I stayed awake waiting on the next one, but fell back to sleep. 4:00 am - Another contraction woke me up. Waited, but fell asleep again. 4:30 am - Another contraction, but this time I got up and went into the living room to sit to wait on the next one. 5:00ish am - Another contraction. I went ahead and took a shower and put my clothes on. 5:30 am - Ate a little bowl of cereal because I knew I'd be starving to death later if I didn't. More contractions. 6:00 am - After sitting in the recliner with a few more contractions, I finally woke Jason up and told him to be getting his shower and clothes on. From 7:00-9:00 am - Jason and I sat in the living room watching TV and timing contractions. Somewhere around 9:00-10:00 am Kelli called me to see what our plans were for the day. We were supposed to go shopping. I told her that I had been having contractions all morning and that I didn't think we'd be going shopping. She must have gotten off the phone and called Mama, because about 5 minutes later, Mama was calling. She was getting off work right then and coming over. (And she said she was upset because I didn't call her the minute I started having contractions. I knew if I had've called her sooner, she would have been in a bigger tizzy than she was right then.) 9:00-11:00 am - Jason and I watched Crocodile Dundee on TV while timing contractions, also while Mom was breathing down our necks to hurry up and go to the hospital. 11:00 am - Crocodile Dundee ends and my contractions were exactly 5 minutes apart. We left for the hospital. 11:15 am - At the hospital, got admitted, and put in a triage room. 11:15 - 12:00 noon - IV, baby monitor, threw up, wanted to kick the nurse in her head for butchering my hand with the IV needle and for not believing me when I told her I was going to throw up (thanks to Jason, he believed me) 12:00 noon - Dilated to a 6, moved to my delivery room, and the epidural man was already waiting on me 12:00 - 2:00ish - Waited, waited, and waited 2:15 pm - doctor checked me, fully dilated, tried to push but Gavin's heart rate kept dropping below 100, put fetal monitor inside me on Gavin's head; doctor went to deliver all other babies and said he'd be back around 5:15 to try again Until 5:15 pm - Waited, waited, and waited 5:15 pm - doctor came back, NICU team arrived to assist, I sat up and threw up again, pushed, Gavin's heart rate dropped again, Gavin's head got stuck, doctor had to use vacuum to hurry and get him out, kept pushing for about 10 minutes NONSTOP... 5:27 pm - I heard my healthy baby boy cry. Other than a cone head from the vacuum, Gavin was perfect. I don't ever remember being nervous about anything during labor. Even when the doctor felt uneasy about Gavin's heart rate, I felt at peace - I guess it's from where I did so much praying. I prayed the whole time (even during the epidural). This is the verse I recited the whole time - "For God did not give me a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 This may sound cheesy, but having Gavin has made me look at childbirth in a whole new light. It blows me away to think about what an awesome miracle God performs everytime when a woman gives birth to a baby. How can anyone experience this and not believe there is a God? It just totally has me awe struck. Thank you, Lord, for giving me Gavin.