Introducing...

Mr.  Taylor Michael McKown

Born August 14, 2012 at 2:29pm

Weighing 7lbs, 10oz and 19.5 inches long

We are excited to welcome our newest addition into our family and begin the journey of becoming a family of four. As I write this I'm sitting next to the pack and play watching this little man sleep away and my heart is overflowing. It seems as though Taylor has just joined seamlessly into our family.

Last Friday, our doctor went ahead and scheduled us to be induced the coming Tuesday, 8/14. We began the real anticipation knowing that we would meet our boy no later than that day. We told Matthew and he also began to count down the days, except every time we asked "How long until Taylor comes?" he always said "2 days!"...close enough. On Monday, I kept Matthew home with me and we had a day full of fun to share before Taylor arrived. We went to IHOP for breakfast, ran some errands, and went to a movie that afternoon. That night Matthew got to share quality time with Daddy by watching the first preseason Dallas Cowboy football game in their head to toe matching outfits.

Tuesday morning we were all up and ready to go by 7am. My wonderful friend Marci helped me tremendously by keeping Matthew while we delivered. She picked him up and he was anxious to go play with his friends Kinsey and Karlie. He was all decked out with his big brother outfits and was excited about meeting Taylor later that day.

David and I got to the hospital, checked in, and in our room by 7:45am. This was a much different process of checking in than when you just show up in labor, it was nice that everything was already ready to go. When we arrived in our room we saw the name "Lorraine" on our board as our nurse, as this was the phenomenal nurse that helped us deliver Matthew. The day before we had both prayed specifically for her by name that she, or someone like her, would be our nurse. I already felt a peace knowing God was providing. By about 8:30 my Pitocin had been started, my doctor had checked me and we were settling in for whatever came next and were seranaded by Taylor's heartbeat over the monitor.

At about 11am my contractions were growing and I was starting to get a little uncomfortable. I told David I would get my epidural when I felt like  I couldn't sit still when they came. Well, that came shortly after that and I got my epidural around 12. The only problem with my epidural was that it didn't work on my left side. So I was still feeing everything throughout and if they tried to turn me to get the medicine over there then Taylor's heart rate would drop so that wasn't possible. All I could think was at least I wasn't feeling it all over.

We progressed fairly quickly and at about 2pm our nurse called the doctor to say we were about to have this baby. Our doctor, Dr. Patterson, showed up and after about 3 series of pushing our little Taylor had made his arrival. He was healthy, beautiful and everything we'd been waiting for.

Later that afternoon, big brother came up to meet Taylor. At the point he showed up they were giving Taylor his first bath. They were kind enough to let Matthew help, a sweet moment to see how kind, gentle and willing he was to help with that. He has continued to show this willingness and genuine interest in his little brother.

Due to some digestive issues with Taylor having swallowed some amniotic fluid, our pediatrician wanted us to stay one more night. On Thursday we were excited to return home and begin this new journey as a complete family.

Taylor, welcome to our family! You have been anticipated and prayed over. You have filled a hole in each of our hearts that we didn't even know we had. Your daddy beams with pride for you. Your big brother cherishes you and loves to smile at you. Your mother had another piece of her heart stolen away by you. You have blessed us already with your presence and how you just already seem to fit right into our family. We look forward to being your rock and your safe place to land. Thank you for the lessons you've brought to our family but most of all, in a matter of seconds, deepening the love that is felt in and through this family.

Welcome my son, welcome.