Tobias Gage Strech!!!

Welcome home Toby!!!!!!!!!! He came to meet us on Wednesday, August 12th at 8:41pm. He was only 37 weeks, but he weighed a whopping 7lb. 13oz!!! Thank you, Lord, for bringing him early!! The night before he came, I was having contractions coming every few minutes, but they were very mild. The pain wasn't getting any worse, and I remember with the other 2 that the pain definitely gets worse! So, we just hung out at home that night, went to bed, and woke up at 3am with more mild contractions. What was weird was this.........I was in bed, shaking uncontrollably, and freezing. I kept trying to calm myself down. I didn't know what was going on. Les finally woke up, and seriously, with a touch of his hand, my shaking almost stopped. He gave me some Tylenol since I had a headache, and that seemed to do the trick. At about 7:00, I told him to go to work since my contractions weren't getting any worse. He didn't want to leave me, but I knew we would not be going to the hospital unless they got worse. They stayed that way all morning, so I took Carter and Micah to run some errands. At that point, they finally started getting more painful, but were not consistent anymore. So annoying!!! I just kept thinking "either get on with it, or stop!!" My sister and her husband had been visiting my parents in Indiana, and were flying home that day. Come to find out, they had all been praying that Toby wouldn't come until she got here. SO.........I have Sarah to thank for all my false labor that day. :) I decided to take a nap with the kids since I had been up since 3am. When we all got up........game on! They were coming every few minutes and were really starting to hurt! I knew this was it. I called my friend, Lisa, and told her I'm dropping my kids off there. I found out later that she had to go to the ER that night for a migraine!!! Oh my gosh! I felt terrible! I just hope my kiddos didn't push her over the edge. Thank you Josh, Lisa, and Christi for watching them! Ok, so this part is so great..........this was the week that all of the Strech kids were in town, so Lauren got to drive over to Lisa's, pick the kids up, and stay with them for 2 days!!!! Thank you, Jesus, for that fun surprise!

Ok, so my contractions were painful, and I knew I couldn't wait for Les to drive all the way to our house and then take us all the way to the hospital. I called him and told him to meet me at the hospital. Y'all, I just couldn't wait. I needed to get there before they got too bad. Les was a nervous wreck! We had been talking on the phone, and at one point on my way, my phone died. Les was sure I was on the side of the road having this baby. :) We both made it to the hospital safe and sound......I got in the bed a little after 5pm, and he was out at 8:41. Whew!! Sarah basically went from the airport to the hospital, and she got to be in the room when Toby was born!! Tiffany and Kristen were right outside the door, and Melissa came to visit me that night. I have such sweet friends!!

Here's the crazy part..........when they were taking all my vitals.......they realized I had a fever of 101 something. We still have no idea why, but because of that, they had to keep Toby in the NICU for the whole 48 hours. :( Bummer!! BUT, I was able to go up and hold him whenever I wanted, and they even let me nurse him. It just felt so wrong to be in our room with no baby! I'm just so thankful that he was healthy! He is such a sweet baby, loves to cuddle (thank you, Lord), and is eating like a pro. I need to feed him soon, so I'm gonna post some pictures and write more later!!