Happy Birthday, T. Willy!!!!

T. Willy is 5 today! He woke up CRYING and went to school CRYING and, when I left him at school, he was CRYING. He made sure that I told the teacher that he didn't want them to sing to him, but we did take cupcakes for him to share with his class. They haven't called, so I'm hoping he calmed down after I left. He's never done that...not even on the first day of school. His allergies are really bothering him, the family left today, and he has been staying up late with the company. So, I think a birthday was just a little overwhelming for him.

I have been planning this post for awhile, but now that I'm actually doing it, I'm finding it daunting. I want to remember everything, but I'm finding that I am forgetting some things. I'll give it a try. Forgive me if I repeat myself and ramble, but I want to document this for the kids.

The Big Man and I had been told that we might not be able to have children "naturally." So, we sought medical help to have MK, and after we had her, we were quite content. There was always a feeling that our family wasn't complete, but we didn't take any extra measures to have another baby.

So imagine my surprise when, 9 years after MK was born, I was late. I was so late that it was calculable. MK had spent the night with a friend, so I went to Walmart and bought a test. Actually, it was a kit that had 3 tests in it. Furthermore, imagine my surprise when it was positive! I really could not believe it. It was a Sunday morning, so I went to church. I told one person. I think my exact words were, "So here's a funny story. I took a pregnancy test this morning and it was positive!" She laughed with me; she agreed not to tell anyone, and that was it. Then I went to see the Big Man at work, and told him, and he laughed. But I'd just taken one test, and there was really no reason to think it could be true. I think I took the other 2 when I got home, both positive...and I sat and waited.

The next morning, I went to work teaching high school. I took a break mid-morning and went to my doctor's office and asked for a blood test. They gave me one, and told me to stop by on the way home from work for the results. There weren't many people in the room, so the two women working there talked to me for quite awhile, and they were so sweet. I made it through the rest of the day and stopped by just as I'd said I would. They finally called for me, and the same lady handed me a piece of paper. The first word I saw was, "Negative." My heart fell a little, but I had tried very hard not to get my hopes up, and I said, "Oh, it's negative," and turned to walk away. The lady stopped me and said, "Wait..." Wait? A life-changing word. I had looked at the wrong place. She then pointed her finger down the line....POSITIVE!!! A more precious word was never read. There were hugs and tears and I just couldn't believe it.

I went home and told the Big Man. We were pretty subdued, because there was a part of it that we just couldn't believe. We agreed not to tell MK, but she wasn't home from school yet, so we called our parents. My mom wasn't home, and I couldn't reach her cell phone, so we called the Big Man's parents and my brother. When MK came home, she overheard something and thought something was wrong, so we did tell her then. She was ecstatic. She ran around the house and hugged her cat and cried. We finally got ahold of my parents in a Wendy's. It was a very happy day.

Nine months later, we had a scheduled C-section for April 22. My technical due date was May 1, I think. My parents were planning to come down to stay with MK, and my biggest stresses were my elevating blood pressure and concern that I wouldn't be able to sleep on the night of the 21st.

But, on April 17, I woke up having contractions. They weren't hard, but they were regular. MK had made plans to go to breakfast with a friend coincidentally at the Big Man's restaurant, so I sent her off, and stayed home and timed contractions. After awhile, I realized that they weren't tapering off, so I called the Big Man and the doctor. My doctor wasn't on call, but I talked to another one, and she recommended that I come in. The hospital was in Pensacola, about 45 minutes away. So, the Big Man came home from work; MK sat in the backseat and videotaped the trip; we called the grandparents, and away we went.

I prayed one thing all the way to the hospital. "Lord, please let me be a 4," because I remembered with MK, they would admit you if you'd dilated to 4 centimeters. When we got there, I was a 4! They admitted me and took me back for surgery pretty quickly. The Big Man's parents didn't even have time to make it, so MK sat in the nurses' station eating graham crackers and drinking chocolate milk.

The surgery went smoothly, and Ty William was born at 12:21 pm. He weighed 8 lb. 5 oz...the same thing MK weighed at birth. He was 21 1/2 inches long, and our lives have never been the same. When MK was able to see him, he was only about 45 minutes old. She cried, and we have video of that. It may be the most dear video we own. Enough of that...here are pictures.