hospital snoozing.

Before I forget to share these... A couple of shots of Tatum snoozing away while we were still in the hospital. I know I might get some flack for typing this for the whole wide world to see, but our littlest is a great sleeper. With each child, we kept thinking that we were going to get the worst sleeper since each preceding child slept so well, but apparently we just make babies that sleep well? I don't know what it is, but we are beyond blessed with another one.

She completely psyched us out our third night home. We put her down at 11. At 6 we all woke up the next morning. Y'all – complete fluke. She has since slept for three-four hours at night, waking to nurse, poop and then go back to sleep. And I forget just how sleepy the newborn phase is. As I type this, she's snoozing in her rocker right beside me. It's ok though; all the sleeping means some really awesome cuddle time... And I'm trying to savor it. She makes it pretty easy though.

the allen three meet their sister.

I think Tatum joined us a lot faster than most of us were thinking the morning she was born. When I was induced with Cayden and Sawyer, it was lunch time before they showed up. I kind of presumed it'd be the same way with Tatum. I was wrong.

The Friday morning she was born, our two biggest littles had "meet the teacher" at school. I'm so thankful to my parents and sister for making sure they got where they needed to be that morning. While the boys were at school, we were at the hospital having a baby.

So while no one was at the hospital with us when Tatum was born, it was perfect! We got to have alone time with her for about two hours before my parents and sister showed up with our boys. Tatum was warming up under the lamp so all the boys were able to see her at the same time. Cayden just kept commenting on how cute she was, Sawyer couldn't wait to touch her and Graham? Well, Graham was indifferent at that point.

As soon as the nurse gave us the go-ahead and that Tatum's body temperature was regulated enough, Jeremy actually got to hold her for the first time! (I was being stingy with all the holding and skin-on-skin up until that point!) But Cayden was itching to hold his baby sister. He was so excited to hold her that we actually had a hard time making him let someone else hold her. Sawyer held her for a few minutes, commented on her cuteness and was done. Graham asked to hold her (yay!), we put her in his lap and he promptly pushed her away exclaiming, "I not want him!"

Thankfully all the boys have warmed up to her even more over the past week. Cayden can still hardly keep his hands off her. They sit next to each other in the car and I constantly catch him with a hand in her seat... either trying to hold her hand or put a paci in. It's pretty cute. Sawyer wants to hold her all the time. And y'all, when I lay her across his lap, she instantly calms down. Graham... wants to kiss "him" all the time. He can do without the holding though. And we're working with Graham to help him realize his sister is a "she." He'll get it one day. Maybe?

meet tatum rebecca.

Last Thursday morning, Jeremy and I headed off to my weekly appointment – just a day shy of 39 weeks. This is the first appointment that Jeremy had been to in a couple of months. And of course it was the most crowded I had ever seen the waiting room. Almost an hour after my appointment time we were finally called to a room. As my doctor's nurse was taking my blood pressure, she casually mentioned that Dr. Ingram would be on-call for the weekend. I had a brief thought of how cool it would be to just deliver that weekend, but after being disappointed the week before during my cervical check of NO PROGRESS, I wasn't super-hopeful.

Dr. Ingram walked in, and immediately started joking about having the baby this weekend – how it'd be convenient for her too... And I joked back about scheduling an induction... And she didn't say no. Wait, what? I could possibly schedule an induction this weekend? Oh, ok, as long as my cervix is favorable. Which it wasn't at all a week before. Cue disappointment...

But, but! You guys already know I had a baby last weekend... Cervix was favorable! Dilated to a two! Come in tonight and let's start your induction!

Tonight? Man, Jeremy has a work function so that's not going to work for us.
No worries, come in tomorrow at 5am and we'll get it started.

So y'all, I went from knowing I was going to be pregnant forever to you're going to have a baby tomorrow within a matter of minutes! So. Excited.

Friday morning we went to the hospital at 5am. Having gone natural with Graham (although not entirely by choice), I was choosing to be open about another natural delivery. Except I'd be working with pitocin this time. And I had read many, MANY things about how terrible contractions can be on pitocin.

And they were true. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Around 6am, a doctor came around, broke my water and we started the pitocin drip. I was dilated to a three at that point. My guess is, had I not be induced that morning, it wouldn't have been much longer on my own. And with a crazy fast delivery last time 'round, I'm thankful I was at the hospital.

At 8:15am I was checked again – 6cm dilated. And one last offer for an epidural. I was still managing the pain ok at that point so I denied it knowing that it would no longer be an option.

Y'all, it was maybe 15 minutes later that a contraction hit so hard that I couldn't not push. Checked again – 8cm. And told to not push until I was fully dilated because I might cause swelling that would make pushing difficult. Hahahaha... not pushing at that point was no longer an option.

I don't know if it was because I was more aware of what was going on this time or what, but dude, it hurt. My nurses and my doctor were incredible. I seriously felt like I couldn't do it... I had my eyes closed, pushing with everything I had. My nurse called my name, told me to look at her and told me that I could do it. She did that several times for me. And I think that helped me re-focus on just exactly what I was doing. And I knew that I could. I also knew that if that baby hadn't come out on the last push, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, ha!

But she did come out. And it was amazing. So amazing. I had a second degree tear. (I still don't know exactly what that means. I refuse to look it up and I refuse to check it out if you know what I mean.) I couldn't feel a single stitch though; I was on such a high with this beautiful (and super-cheesy) little girl laying on my chest.

At 8:59am (less than 45 minutes after being at 6cm), Tatum Rebecca came into this world. Super chubby cheeks, weighing in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She's the exact same size as her oldest brother, and came out with a head full of hair like her second brother.

We had skin-to-skin immediately and no lie, the tot started rooting around to nurse instantly. I just kept saying to Jeremy how amazing she was. And she is. We have a girl. WE HAVE A GIRL!

Also? I earned the nickname "Speedy" that day. Ha!
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first day of school, 2016.

Cayden and Sawyer used to get separate entries for this kind of thing. Mostly because they started back to school at two different times. Ok, only because they started back at two different times. But now? They're in the same school system and today? Today was the first day of school!

Cayden's an old pro now – started second grade this morning AND his last year at the elementary school. We'll talk more about that at the end of the year. When I'm crying and in disbelief that my oldest will be heading to intermediate school. But I digress. Second grade! There's one friend from last year in his class, but I don't think it's one of his closer friends. Perhaps it's better that way so he'll stay more focused? Who am I kidding? He'll be making friends in no time and probably, maybe being reprimanded for talking a little too much. We're looking forward to an awesome year though; I really can't wait to see what all he learns this year!

Sawyer started kindergarten this morning. He has been looking forward to the first day of school for the past month. Sawyer seems to thrive on schedules, so perhaps he knew that by starting back to school he would feel better in general? The rooms at our elementary school for kinder are super-cool and look like a fun place to learn. And the teacher he got seems so fun and bubbly – it will be perfect for Sawyer.

We dropped them off this morning and it was so cute to watch them walk in together. Cayden almost threw his arm around Sawyer's shoulders and I may have melted a little. Seeing Cayden waiting and making sure that his little brother was with him was just too much for this mama. I mean, my hormones may be a little out of control at the moment. Guess I only have this to blame. And I suppose there's another blog post in the works telling all about that...