Time Flies!

Five years ago today Chad and I drove into Russellville excited about the 2 baby showers we would have on Saturday. We couldn't wait to see good friends and then make the trip back to Fayetteville to go thru all of our new things for our baby boy due on April 7th. We didn't know that God had other plans for us that weekend. After a fun night of playing Domino's and eating Taco Villa (YUM!) with my family we made our way back over the Gigi and Papa's house to rest up for our big day on Saturday. Just a few hours later I was awoken to a strange sensation and jumped out of bed as fast as I could....was that my water that just broke? No way...I wasn't due for another 5 weeks! I went to the restroom and by the volume of what was coming out of me I knew...I yelled at Chad and woke him up....he was out of it because we had only been asleep a little over an hour...he said "Are you sure you didn't just pee?" Uhm, no. When you're 9 months pregnant you go to the bathroom all the time and this was definitely not the same! After waking up Gigi and Papa and calling mom at her house I was upset....we hadn't prepared for this...we were registered at the hospital in Fayetteville, not in Russellville, this is not how it was suppose to happen! I wanted to jump in the car and drive home but nobody but me thought that was a very good idea...looking back on it now we did have plenty of time :). To the hospital we went arriving about 1am. Moms, sisters, everyone was there. After my initial check we could see it was going to be awhile so home went the sisters to get more sleep. After we got nice and cozy in our room Chad went down the hall to check on our good friend Josh who had just had his baby girl 2 days earlier and was still in the hospital. It was going to be a long night. It really wasn't though...I was not progressing so we slept most of the night...me in the bed and Chad in the comfy chair...haha, we all know how nice the pull out bed/chairs are! We started Saturday March 6 off with visitors...making lots of phone calls because we were suppose to be the guests of honor at 2 baby showers that day...oops, we weren't going to make it. Gigi went to one of the showers because it was a joint shower with friends of ours, after the shower she brought all of our things to the hospital to us and we had our own shower right there opening gifts! My contractions were not strong and I was still not progressing much so the dr started me on my pitocin...21 hours later and much abuse to my family later Jackson Mayer Bartlett was born at 10:31pm weighing 5lb 5oz...he was little so they cut the cord and got him to the nursery to make sure he was breathing okay...I was so exhausted that I passed out right there in my bed. Chad woke me up sometime later to come and meet my new baby boy...he was so tiny, so cute...no oxygen needed, just the tiniest IV in his little arm. I can remember how scared I was to hold him with the IV coming out of his arm, I was scared I might pull it out, but that didn't stop me from wanting to hold on to him for dear life! We really weren't prepared at all..we didn't even have our carseat with us! We had to call our good friends from Fayetteville to go buy our carseat for us and drive it down to us..they didn't mind though, they were one of the first to see Jackson! Our families were great and ran out to get preemie clothes for our tiny little guyWe had lots of visitors and after 2 days in the hospital we were free to go home. I can't believe my baby is 5 yrs old today! Looking back you never realize how fast it goes, although everyone warns you. No matter how big he gets or how many little brothers he has, Jackson will always be my "baby"! Happy Birthday Big Guy!