Our Little Miracle

First time holding him






Jeffery Tanner Lines was born on October 27, 2010 at 12:41 am. I had a doctor's appointment on the 26th, which happened to be our due date. My midwife Susan stripped my membranes that morning and said "See you tonight!" She said my water would probably break before coming to the hospital. That day was spent making last minute preparations, setting up the bassinet, packing for the hospital, etc. I was having braxton hicks all day, which I'd had for months so I didn't think anything of it. Around 3 o'clock, I noticed the braxton hicks were between 3 and 5 minutes apart, but not painful. Other than that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We were shopping at Seagull bookstore when I had my first painful contraction. I told Jeff and my mom that I needed to go sit in the car and would wait for them. I couldn't tell if I was having contractions or braxton hicks, but mom convinced me to go to the hospital to be checked just in case. We stopped by the house first to grab the camera..just in case, then on to the hospital we went. The hospital is around the corner from where we live.

Timing was perfect because once I was in the hospital, the contractions got a lot stronger and I figured I wasn't leaving. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 7. I had hard contractions for about an hour and a half before getting my epidural. After I got my epidural, I wanted to call my dad. Then we skyped with Dad, Hannah, and Parley. I ended up letting them in on the fun and had them on skype during the birth (at an appropriate angle of course!) I don't know about them, but it was special for me because I got to be present during both of their births. I pushed over 3 and a half hours and finally had to have an episiotomy. I had a 2nd degree tear on top of that. Once Tanner's head was out, Jeff got to deliver the rest. Jeff placed the baby on my tummy and they took my oxygen mask and placed it in front of the baby's face. Tanner looked up at me and looked at me for what seemed like several minutes. Even my mom noticed his eyes locked in a stare at me. That was when they took Tanner to the nursery to get him on oxygen. He had a hard time breathing when he was born. A couple hours later the doctor came in and told us they were transferring Tanner to another hospital because he needed to be in the NICU and our hospital didn't have one. We went to the nursery to be with him while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Once the paramedics arrived and got him ready to go, they asked which one of us was going with him. Jeff and I looked at each other in shock as we realized I had to stay and we had to be separated. A nurse told me that I would be able to be discharged later that morning. However, my midwife insisted I stay another night because of how much I tore. That was the longest day ever!! Jeff texted me throughout the day to tell me of his progress. By the time I was discharged and able to be with them, Tanner was able to be held. After the second day, he was out of the incubator. He had a very speedy recovery, but had to stay in the NICU for a week to finish his antibiotics. It was a very stressful week as we spent every minute we could in the nicu and had to leave every night without our baby. We are so happy to be home with our little Tan man!









Meeting the family...kind of..







Talking to Daddy!

Couldn't have done it without Mom!