One Month

Tafton is now a month old! He honestly doesn't look any bigger to me but I see him everyday so it's hard to tell. He has gained about two pounds and is two inches (maybe more) taller. He isn't sleeping through the night yet but he does sleep pretty well most of the time. The last few nights he has gone down at eleven and hasn't woken up until five am! It's been really nice! We've seen a couple real smiles too - we just haven't been able to catch them on camera!

Last weekend my brother, Ben and his longtime girlfriend, Sarina got married in the Ogden Temple. It was so nice to be there with them and our family to celebrate. Their sealer talked about the promises we make there and how we should go to the temple often. He told a story about a couple that got sealed there and not three weeks later were back to do sealings. Ben and I have decided that we want to do more templework and do some sealings, we never have. Anyway - their wedding was great! We got to see lots of family and friends. They had their reception at Colonial Court where we had our reception - It was really beautiful! When they left the reception we threw rose petals and some of the wedding party had rose petal rockets that they shot off creating a "photo opportunity." Ben and I laughed about that phrase but it was really cool and I'm sure when they get their pictures it will look amazing! Ben and Sarina are on their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Ben got to take a month off of work when we had Tafton and so we put that time to working in the yard. The previous owners really just let everything become overgrown, luckily we have Ben's mom Shirley to give us suggestions on what would look good and donate some of her own flowers to the cause! We ripped out a lot of the front garden and transplanted some bushes and flowers to other areas in the yard. We've bought some flowers and bulbs and have planted them all around the house. We still have a couple more gardens we need to clean out and decide what we're going to plant. I don't think much is going to grow this year but next year our gardens should be looking awesome!!

Well I see that Megan told the whole story and included all of the necessary photos, we are now proud parents of twelve days. I was able to arrange to be home for four weeks and hopefully we will be able to get the rhythm before we each have to return to work. Taft is doing great now; we will leave this morning to have a repeat CT Scan of Tafton’s brain just to be extra sure that there is nothing wrong. He is eating well and seems to be a pretty contented little baby. He rarely cries and grunts when he is hungry. The most fun so far is when he is awake and not hungry; watching him just gaze around and shake is arms. Being a father is certainly a different life style. Everything we do revolves around his eating schedule and dictates what activities we can do. I'll admit I miss the spontaneity of jumping in the car and heading down to the corner store for a drink or going to the mall, now every place we go we need a plan and a diaper bag. It’s not bad, just different. It’s a good thing that you’re started out slow with an infant with only a few needs, that way you can slowly learn to be less selfish with time and energy. I hope this sounds happy, because I feel really happy to have little Taft in our lives.

It's a good thing that Dad posted about Tafton being born last week or the e-world would not have known. I have been meaning to post for the last couple of months but with school finishing and not having the internet at home it's hard to get to. Well now I really have something to blog about! Our son Tafton Jay Passey was born April 28, 2008 at 12:29p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. at 19 inches long. I suppose I should tell the whole story and not leave out any of the scary details...
Megan was so excited to have this baby that she was trying everything she could to help him along. On Sunday, April 27th, she went to McKay Dee hospital to climb stairs; she climbed five flights of stairs THREE TIMES! And if that wasn't enough on her way home she stopped by Bonneville HS and walked the track (if I remember correctly it was a mile that she walked). I had to work Sunday morning in the ER so I didn't know my wife was trying to induce labor the weekend before finals! Fortunately, so I thought, this didn't seem to work... Megan pulled out all the tricks including the rumor of "Castor Oil" which is supposed to help the baby slick right out I guess...? She had read that it helps to start labor within a few hours and she went to bed disappointed.
Monday, April 28th, Megan went to work assuming that despite all of her ludicrous efforts she was doomed to carry this baby until its due date just as I had made her promise me. I guess as far as fate is concerned I have to share the blame; Megan told me repeatedly to notify my professors in the case that Tafton came early and I might need special arrangements for my finals during the week of the 28th of April. That’s not necessary I told her, because that just wouldn’t happen…

Tafton is Here

He definately showed up early! Which if you read my last blog, that's exactly what I wanted! The day before I was doing all I could think of to make him come. I walked up and down fifteen flights of stairs, walked around the track at the high school, bounced on a mini trampoline, I even took castor oil (which I don't recommend, it was disgusting)!

I didn't think that it had done anything because I woke up the next morning feeling the same as every other pregnant day. So I got to work and I had a company's quarterly vital factor meeting where we go over the status of the company to go to. EVERYONE in the office is included in this meeting. Since I was late I sat in the back. I had been there maybe ten minutes and I felt something like a kick and it made me gasp. Brad Willson said "is it time?" and I said back "well it should be!" (Remember I was frustrated that none of my tactics had brought on labor) Well a minute after that I feel warm and wet and I realize my water just broke! This was around 9:30 AM So I leave the meeting and the office manager drove me home - the whole time I'm calling Ben's cell phone and he's not answering, not answering. Finally I call my sister-in-law Kristen and have her go to my house and tell Ben that my water broke and I'm on my way home. I'm not sure but I think it took Ben by surprise!

Here is Ben with all the bags: Me - before:

I get home and Ben is grabbing clothes for himself, my hospital bag, and this and that. We get all packed up and to the hospital and get checked in. It was about 10:30 AM at this point. I hadn't been having really bad contractions but they were close together, maybe two minutes apart. When they first checked me I was at 3 centimeters. We explained to the nurses that I didn't want an epidural if I could help it but I wouldn't mind other types of pain meds. They gave me something in my IV that was supposed to "take off the edge" uh - yeah right! Still felt everything! Soon enough my contractions were getting stronger and I got to the point that I was literally SCREAMING for the epidural. The nurse came into check me again and I was complete, Tafton was coming - so no time for an epidural! The nurse didn't expect me to go so fast, no-one did. My doctor didn't get there until Tafton was already half out! 12:29 PM Tafton is here!

Me - After:

Unfortunately - Tafton was not breathing on his own right at first. They had to intubate him and they gave him a shot of Narcan to stimulate him. The pain medication that I did receive caused his heart rate to really low and suppressed his breathing. Normally they don't give that type of pain medication past seven centimeters because it will affect the baby negatively. When they gave it to me I was at a safe centimeter but I went so fast that it still affected him. They whisked Tafton off to the NICU to stabalize him. He was doing great after a couple of hours. He was really fussy the first day though. He ended up having to stay in the NICU for four days. I got discharged on Wednesday morning but Tafton stayed until Thursday. We basically camped out in the hospital for a day or so waiting for Tafton's "care times" when we could change his diaper, feed, and hold him.

Tafton in the NICU:

Ben & Tafton

We've been home for a week now. Tafton and parents are doing great! He is a really good sleeper and a good eater most of the time. It's been so much fun taking care of him and just holding him is heaven. It'll be really sad when Ben has to go back to work. It's been really nice having our little family at home together. We're so happy!