Baby Ty

Tyrus Lee Pinchback
born Tuesday, June 16th
6:24 pm
7lbs, 40z
19 3/4 inches long

What's in a name?
Baby's namesake is in honor of Ben's incredible grandfather who has a had a major influence on our life. You may remember me mentioning him here. It just so happens that his other grandfather is named Lee, while at the same time it's both Ben's and my middle name!

I promise to sit down later and write out his birth story and all the emotions that went along with. It all feels like a haze, right now with so many people around. We're trying to give Rebekah's family as much time with him as possible.

I will tell you...I've never known life to be so beautiful.

Baby Boy Birth Day

I have never known life to be so wonderful.

Details to come...

Getting Exciting...

Text Message Received at 8:04 PM:

"Holy moly. Her epidural came out. She had to get another one. She also had to get an internal monitor for her contractions. Mom fell, is in ER. Oh gosh, we are pushing..."

WOW!

Laura

Day 416

Rebekah here.

I'll let Laura continue giving the updates through the day, but I wanted to take a time-out to pound out some of what I feel, before the real crazy emotion begins...

We're at the hospital. I AM SO TIRED. Everything is a blur, I can't even remember what day it is.

Everything started to sink in when we said goodbye to our good friends (Dan and Laura) on Monday morning. As I clung to my last piece of familiar, the emotion just poured out of me. I, all the sudden, felt like a child that was walking in shoes three sizes too big. I looked at Laura and said, "I don't know if I'm ready for this." My sweet friend grabbed my tear-streaked face, looked me square in the eyes and said...Yes you are. You were born for this. I held her a little longer and then we waved goodbye to our last piece of home...

From there on out, it was just the two of us.

As Laura reported, an hour from destination (man, were we looking forward to a night on the town!) Rebekah called and said, "I think you better drive through the night..."

We both had a large sense of "Of course...nothing else has gone according to plan, why now??" We never gave it a second thought....we just kept on driving...and driving...and driving...and driving. 18 hours in the car. Ug.

At about hour 13 I had had enough. Every bone in my body ached and I was big time nauseous. We pull over to get dinner, I take one whiff of Ben's fried shrimp and I hurled all over the Cracker Barrel bathroom. This led to a mini meltdown in the ladies restroom and all I wanted was Ben... I gathered myself together...cleaned up my mess...and went back to the table. Ben says, "Honey, you just need to get some rest. Don't think about anything else. I'll get us there." [Enter uncontrollable emotion].

Thankfully, my stomach cleared and I was able to help keep Ben awake for most of the ride. The events did not stop there. Kansas brewed up a big old storm for us, the Wizard of Oz kind, and it was all Ben could do to stay on the road.

After being up 23 hours....driving for 18...seeing the sun set in Kansas and rise in Colorado...hearing Ben ask "Do you think we'll ever leave Kansas?" (or variations) at least 10 times...and singing Steven Curtis Chapman's This is the Great Adventure, at the top of our lungs, we collapsed in bed at 5 o'clock, this morning....Just to be up at 9:30am.

This is crazy.

But you cannot deny God's hand...We walked into Rebekah's hospital room and she burst into tears. We've had a wonderful time getting to know her family and loving Rebekah through these many hours of labor. The highlight of my day, was when Rebekah's mom looked around the room and said, "I can't believe we're all sitting here...like family. This is so cool." I have never felt so honored...Rebekah's family has embraced us warmly.

It's been a long day for sure...Rebekah is only dialated to 4 and there's been some hiccups along the way. But God is moving! I haven't processed that in a few short hours (hopefully) I'll be holding my son for the first time...

We used to take this journey one day at a time. Right now...it's minute by minute.


Thank you for standing with us...

More Updates...

Text Message Received at 4:53 PM:

"We are dilated to 4 and contractions are stronger. She does have a fever and baby is a little stressed. They did an internal monitor on the baby"

Text Message Received at 5:12 PM:

"Baby is not coming down. They are trying a ball between her legs. She is 90% effaced."

Text Message Received at 6:10 PM:

"Dad signed! R on oxygen now. Baby's heart rate keeps dropping."

More as it comes...Laura

Little Updates...

I'll just post little updates as I receive them from Rebekah here...

12:36 PM text message:

"We are on the way to hospital now. They just broke her water. I feel like I'm living in a haze. SO TIRED."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3:15 PM I spoke to Rebekah on the phone; here is the latest:

They arrived at the beautiful, brand new hospital where Rebekah is delivering, walked in the door to her room, and Rebekah/Birth Mom immediately began to cry out of relief and happiness. The room is filled with Rebekah's mom, Grandma, sister...so many family members who have all embraced Ben and Rebekah and accepted them lovingly. Bek told me everyone was crying and showering them with hugs.

Ben and Rebekah have settled in and told everyone the tale of their long road trip, gave Rebekah her gifts to open, and are now just playing the waiting game. Rebekah is only dilated to 2 cm; they have broken her water and started an epidural. Her blood pressure has continued to remain elevated, which is somewhat of a concern. Pray that her BP stabilizes and the pitocin does it's job quickly!

One of the most amazing parts of the day for Rebekah has been the way Rebekah/Birth Mom has directed all questions/information about care of the new baby to her and Ben. Whenever the nurses come in with questions or packets of paperwork for baby, Rebekah immediately asks that the nurse address Ben and Bek instead of herself. She wants Ben to cut the cord when the time comes as well. They feel so blessed by this.

In other news, once they woke up and actually saw their cottage, they fell in love with it! Apparently it is homey and sweet; Rebekah said it will be a perfect spot for their new little family to bond.

Alright, that's it for now! I'll post again as soon as I hear more...

--Laura

18 Hours Straight...

Hello Everyone!

This is Laura again, and I just received an update from a very sleepy-voiced Rebekah. She and Ben drove 18 hours STRAIGHT last night, stopping only for an hour and a half at a rest stop to try and sleep. They didn't see the point in getting a hotel room for such a short amount of time, so they attempted to sleep in their car. However, it is so packed with baby and living essentials that they couldn't recline their seats and mostly tossed and turned. They finally decided to just continue on. Bek said she was able to sleep maybe a total of 3 hours in the car while Ben was driving, but felt nervous doing so, as she needed to help him stay awake.

But now the sleepy parents-to-be are safely at the cottage they'll call home for the next few weeks. They arrived around 5 AM and didn't bother to unpack, didn't even look at their surroundings, just grabbed their pillows, used the bathroom :), and CRASHED...they had been up for 23 hours by this point. When I spoke with Rebekah, Ben was still sleeping and they are planning on heading up to the hospital in a few hours.

Rebekah (birth mom) is dilated to 1.5 cm and her pitocin was started at 8:00 AM. All is going well at this time; I will keep you posted as I know more!

Our dear friends would like everyone to know (I forgot this myself!) that they are two hours behind their normal time zone now, so plan accordingly when/if you call.

Pray for strength, adrenaline, and a good dose of grace, as well as health and an easy delivery for Rebekah and the baby. What an amazing day...and all of your love and support means so much to Ben and Rebekah during this time.

Can't wait to post more!

Love,

Laura