Welcome Marcus Riley Yates

Well I figured it was about time to give an update seeing as it has been a long time since I last blogged. My life has been completely turned upside down since that time, but I must say, it has been the best crazy time I've ever had.

It all started on October 28th, 2008. I do the church newsletter for my home church and needed to get it done no later than the 29th so that they could be folded and mailed out. I hadn't been feeling all that great that day; I wasn't having any pain, but was just having some cramping and things but I wasn't really worried about it. Jacob and I went to the church around 8:00 p.m. that night so I could get started with the printing and copying of the newsletter which takes around 3 and 1/2 to 4 hours to do. My mom came by to visit and check and me and felt that I was showing some early signs of going into labor. I wasn't convinced as it was still almost 4 weeks until I was due. However, I called the doctor to please my mom and they told me to just monitor it and if I wasn't feeling better or things got worse, to come to the office tomorrow. Jacob and I left the church around 10:30 or so, with the newsletter not being finished, and went home to get some rest. I slept pretty good that night and when I got up the next morning I was feeling some better. I went to the church around 8:00 the next morning to finish the newsletter. While I was at the church, I once again started feeling funny but finished the newsletter anyway and went over to see my mom at her office. Mom was still convinced that I was going into labor but alas I still didn't believe it. One of her co-workers then came into the office and put her hand on my belly to feel the baby move and said "Kim you're having a contraction." I didn't realize it was a contraction because I had just assumed that there would be pain with the contractions and I wasn't having any pain at all. At that point, mom convinced me that we should go to the doctor just to make sure everything was ok. I agreed, but told her that I was going home to take a shower first. Jacob was working so we had to get a hold of him at the school and get everything all packed up "just in case." At this point, I still was not convinced that I was in labor and fully expected that we would be coming back home.

When we got to the doctor's office, he checked me and said that I was dialated two and he wanted to put me on the monitor to make sure that the baby was ok and to monitor my contractions. I was on the monitor for about 45 minutes and when he came back in he told me that my contractions were about five minutes apart and consistent but the baby was doing fine. He wanted me to check into the hospital so that they could monitor me for 24 hours just to make sure. One of the reasons was that the baby was still breech and if I did go into labor, they would need to do a C-section and didn't want me to fully dialate for no reason. So we went to the hospital to check in.

By the time I got into my room it was about 5:00 or so and the nurse came in to put in my IV and all that good stuff. She told me that they were just going to monitor me and that I would probably be going home tomorrow. She left the room and then in about 5 minutes, the on-call doctor came in to check me and said to me "You're having the baby. We're going to prep you for the C-section." I was shocked and to be honestly scared to death. I wasn't sure I was ready to have the baby.(This was taken just before I was carted out the room.)

However, I had no choice. Within about 15 or 20 minutes I was in the O.R. getting my spinal block. Everything happend extremely fast. At 6:14 p.m. Marcus Riley Yates was born. He was 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.

(These picture were taken not long after he was born)

He is such a good baby and both he and I are doing well. We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.

(Mom's Baby Boy!)