Tucker's Birth Story

I know this is a long time coming. So without further adieu...
TUCKER IS HERE! His birth was indescribable in words. It was the most emotional, amazing experience of my life. The biggest testament to the faithfulness of our God and a beautiful picture of what God did for us when we accept his salvation. I cannot put into words the love I feel for Tucker and the bond I have with his Birth Mom, K.
The day of his birth was surreal. It was as if time didn't really exist, at least in it's normal parameters. At times it felt like it was lasting forever and then at other points it felt like it was speeding by and I wouldn't be able to absorb all that was happening.
Thursday morning I got up and we packed for a couple of days stay in Purcell. We needed to make a few returns and get some last minute items before Tucker got here. Before going to Purcell we were going to Lawton to go to K's last weekly doctor appointment. We were about 30 minutes from our house when I got a text asking me to call her. I did, in the worst reception area of the entire drive from Sayre to Lawton, and got bits and pieces. She thought her water had broken. She was at the hospital getting checked. She'd let me know any news as soon as she knew something. Chris sped up and called a Highway Patrol friend and we began contacting family. We made the last hour and a half of the drive in about a hour. When we arrived at the hospital, around 2 p.m, we discovered her water had indeed broken and we spent the afternoon waiting and calling family and friends. I couldn't believe it was really happening.
By dinner time Team Tucker had arrived. My mom, sisters, Nana, Dad and Chris' Mom. So had our adoption coordinator, Dierdra. She suggested we all go to dinner and take our time out of the hospital. We spent about two hours away and that was all I could take. When we got back K had made little progress. She was dilating about 1/2 a centimeter an hour. She progressed this way until she reached a 7. At that point things really started picking up. Also around that time I had a kidney stone attack. I had to take a pain pill, do some walking and drinking and hugging a chair. But as things picked up that pain quickly became a non-issue.
K's foster mom was supposed to be her support in the delivery room. She was allowed to have three people in there and she had chosen Chris & I along with her mom. But when things were getting serious she couldn't get a hold of her mom. So K added my sister, who is a photographer, to the bunch. This allowed us to have documentation of the entire birth.
Also because her mom wasn't there I got to step in and be K's birth coach. I held her hand, wiped her faced, got in her face, helped her breath and even held her leg as she pushed. It was more then I ever even dared to pray for. I still can't really put into words the bond and the emotions of those hours I spent with K as we both did all we could to usher Tucker into the world safely and quickly. She was a trooper!
The nurse finally told her she could start pushing and got the doctor on call a little before 2 a.m. When she started pushing the doctor realized her cervix wasn't all the way out of the way. So she had to stop and rearrange and lay all funky to get it to move out of the way. This was the intense part. She wanted to push so bad and I had to keep her from it. After about 30 minutes she got to try again.
The team came back in and we all repositioned ourselves for Tucker's grand entrance. She pushed through one ten-count and as she started with the second ten-count the nurse said, "Look he's crowning." Before Chris could take the three steps from where he was standing to the bed Tucker was here. The doctor even looked a little startled.
This was it.
This was the moment.
We were parents. All three of us.
Immediately we all three, well four including my sister, were crying. From the moment he was here K said, "there's your son, your son is here." I leaned over and she and I hugged for a long moment as we cried in celebration of Tucker's arrival. Relishing that moment together. That accomplishment together. The love that we both felt for Tucker as his mothers, even though our roles are so different.
As soon as Tucker was clean I got to put on his very first diaper and pick him up. I was already so in love! Chris got to hold him second and then he passed him to K. She looked him over and kissed and loved on him. She then graciously turned and handed him back to me.
After a few quite moments just us, Team Tucker couldn't wait any longer. You would have never known it was 3 a.m. by seeing everyone's excitement and tears. He was passed around between our family and then our family of three made our way to the nursery. This was a part of the process I never thought about because normally the momma has just delivered a baby, but since I hadn't just birthed a child I got to be in there.
We gave him his first bath, which he didn't enjoy much, and by 5 a.m. we got to wheel our baby into our hospital room and just be a family.
Chris slept a little and I laid wide awake and just marveled at this precious baby boy.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD AND OUR FAMILY TUCKER WILLIAM GORDON!
7 lbs. 15 oz, 20 in. long born at 2:50 a.m.