WARNING: This post contains a birth story. Although I have tried to refrain from providing "too much information," it is what it is, so consider yourself warned.

Now for the much-anticipated story of our latest arrival. This should have been posted last week, but I will clarify now why it has taken me a while to get back to the blogging world.

On Sunday, January 24, my mom flew in from Utah. Ben and the girls picked her up from the airport, and we were able to spend a nice afternoon and evening with her getting settled in for the week.

At 6:00 a.m. on Monday, January 25, I checked in to Western Missouri Medical Center for a scheduled induction. The nurse got me all ready and my doctor came by at about 8:15 to get things started. The pitocin started working around 9:00 a.m., and we were on our way.

I expected to have a labor much like with Zachary and welcome the baby by lunch time. However, things progressed more slowly than we anticipated and lunch came and went. Things started getting fairly painful so I got the epidural and settled back in to wait things out. Shortly before 2:00 p.m., the nurse checked me and found that I was complete and ready to push, except that my water hadn't broken. They called the doctor to come break my water and broke down the bed so I could deliver the baby. This is when things went BAD.

Once my water was broken, the doctor checked for the position of the baby's head. She told the nurse that I wasn't ready and that I couldn't be more than six centimeters dilated. Her face suddenly became very serious, and she said, "That is not a head." I was in shock. People were suddenly rushing everywhere and an ultrasound machine was brought in. The doctor quickly ran it over my belly to discover that when they had broken my water, the baby had pulled back and put his head on my left hip. The doctor was feeling his hand, which was now in the birth canal. Then she uttered that word I dreaded more than anything in this situation: c-section.

Things got even crazier. More people appeared in my room. The bed was quickly reassembled. Ben disappeared. I was on my out of my comfortable labor and delivery room to a bright and forbidding operating room. I managed to hold it together until the added medication made me numb to my armpits and they strapped my arms to the table. Finally, Ben came in dressed in scrubs. I cried through the entire process. They kept trying to get me to take deep breaths, and Ben kept reassuring me that everything was okay. All I could think about was the fact that there was now a huge hole in my belly. I couldn't even process that the sound I was hearing was my baby's cry. Although I was allowed to see the baby before he and Ben left, I didn't get to hold him. I felt completely devastated by what had happened.

Once the doctor had gotten things sewn up, it was off to recovery for two hours. I was shaking so hard I felt like I was going to fall off of the bed at times. My blood pressure was so low (80-90s over 30-40s) they wouldn't let me sit up at all. Once my blood pressure stablized, I was moved to my recovery room where Ben was waiting with the baby. I was still shaking a lot, so the nurse propped a bunch of pillows around me while I fed the baby so I wouldn't drop him.

That was my first real meeting with my son, Tyler Christopher Abshire. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. He was born at 2:30 p.m. Since he was sideways and they couldn't get him turned, the doctor had to make an extra incision perpendicular to the first one to just get him out. The initial attempts to get him out resulted in the bruising you can see on his chest in this picture.

Despite my desire to go home as quickly as possible after the baby was born, I was obligated to stay until Wednesday night. Shortly before I left the hospital, I started having some problems with anxiety. I assumed this was because I was nervous about caring for a new baby and three other small children right after having major abdominal surgery. The doctor approved a dose of anti-anxiety medication, and once that kicked in, I was on my way.

However, it quickly became clear that the anxiety was not a single episode. I started having horribly debilitating attacks that would leave me curled up on the couch for hours unable to even talk to people. My doctor ordered some medication for me, and I have been doing really well on it. I have even been able to back off it a bit at this point.

The night I left the hospital, I also started having stomachaches and nausea that kept me from eating for several days. After five days of nothing but toast, Coke, and the occasional chicken broth, I went to see my doctor. The next day, I spent seven hours in doctor's offices or at the hospital in Sedalia. My blood work indicated that there may be a problem with my pancreas. I had to have a CT scan, which meant I had to drink a lot of barium. Nasty stuff. The CT came back fine, and I started feeling better, so the theory on this is that my hormones caused a crazy reaction in my pancreas that calmed down when the hormones started regulating themselves.

On top of all of that, we discovered I had a UTI. Sure, why not. In the midst of all of this madness, my mom was scheduled to fly out on Saturday, January 30. On Friday night, we were still working to get the right medications to control my anxiety and eating next to nothing. She agreed to stay for four more days to help out and make sure I was really okay. I was finally able to eat just a few hours before she left on Wednesday. Not a moment too soon. She did so much to help me. Not only did she take care of the house and kids, she also took Tyler at night and only brought him to me when he needed to eat. The last night she was here, I wasn't allowed to nurse him because of the barium so she kept him all night. It did wonders to help me heal. I'm so glad I got a picture of her with Tyler before she left.

Ben returned to work on Friday. Since I'm still not allowed to drive or pick up the other kids, a neighbor took Sydney to school. Tomorrow will be the first time I have taken her since before Christmas break. I'm wondering if I will even remember how to drive after all this time.

The dizziness seems to have disappeared, but because I am still trying to recover from everything, I have had to continue to depend heavily on Ben. He is such an amazing and patient man. I'm really hoping to be back up to full speed next month.

The kids love the baby and are adjusting really well. They are naturally having trouble waiting for me to finish caring for Tyler before I can help them, but overall things are going well. It's nice to feel that our little family is complete. That is what helps me from getting too discouraged about the complications I have had. I know we needed Tyler to complete our family, and I am so glad he is here, healthy and happy.