SIMPLE JOYS: THE PRATT LIFE.: Our Little Guy Makes His Debut

On January 17, not even an hour after returning home from a fun baby shower some friends threw for me, I was kneeling on the floor of our baby's bedroom, trying to organize the baby shower gifts and talking on the phone with my mom, when my water broke. On our way to the hospital, Parker and I both kind of got the giggles because we were so unprepared for what could be happening and were actually unsure if this was the real thing. Surely it couldn't be--a month early? We had had plans to go disc golfing later that day, and all of a sudden, we were headed to the hospital. Quite the turn of events, I must say.

Once we arrived, they quickly confirmed that my water had broken, and I was admitted. Then we played the waiting game. The first couple of hours weren't too bad; I felt some contractions, but they were very manageable. The nurses upped my pitosin dosage to intensify the contractions so as to move things along a little, and then the pain started getting worse. I had always planned on an epidural, but my goal was to endure the contractions as long as I could on my own. It was probably a funny sight. Parker had put on "Singing in the Rain" to act as a cheerful distraction from my misery, and for the first hour of the movie, it was pleasant, but as the contractions grew worse, I finally threw in the towel: the movie was just too chipper and a little too loud. I needed to focus all my energy and attention to what my body was doing. Parker was such a sweetheart through the whole experience. He turned the movie off when I yelled that it was just too much, he stood behind me and gave me shoulder massages, he encouraged me, told me how impressed he was with how I was managing, and was just a great support. I can't imagine ever going through that without him.

After about three hours of really painful contractions, I finally gave in and decided I needed the epidural. What I didn't realize, of course, was that from the time I requested the epidural to the time I would actually receive the epidural would be a difference of about an hour. That hour was one of the longest of my life. It wasn't even the pain that made it so unbearable as much as it was the exhaustion that came because of the pain; I felt like my body just couldn't handle any more. I was in pain, yes, but I was more worried about blacking out than I was about the pain. Once the epidural was in and working, though, I started to enjoy and savor the experience. I was so excited to meet our little boy.

After only a half hour or so of pushing, Gage Parker Pratt was born at 12:02 AM on January 18, 2015. He was perfect. The first thing I noticed about him was his tiny, puckered up little mouth. They let me hold him for a few seconds before whisking him over to the NICU personnel. Born four weeks early, Gage's little lungs were underdeveloped and there were some complications with his breathing. Because of this, he had to spend a few days in the NICU (one of the most difficult experiences I've had to go through, I think), but on Wednesday, January 21, we were finally able to take him home. I cried as we drove away from the hospital with our little man in the back seat, for that's when it started to sink in: he was ours. We were a family of three. I felt so much love for my two boys and so much fear that I would not know how to adequately care for this little person, that the tears flowed freely every mile of the drive home. Of course, love is a great teacher, and our love for Gage--as well as steady direction from a loving Heavenly Father--has guided this experience. We could not be happier.

Most of these pictures speak for themselves, but I'll include a caption where necessary:

The beginnings of labor. Obviously the pain wasn't too bad yet.