He's HERE!!!

STRIDER STAPP GAGE

Strider Stapp Gage is finally here. He weighed in at 9 lbs 8 oz and was 20 inches long. He took the long, hard way to get here. This is how his story begins...

Krista was scheduled for a c-section on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. However, Saturday morning at 1:30 a.m. Krista's water broke, but it wasn't until she was in Ryan's car that the dam broke and got everywhere. whew!!! Anyways, when we got to the hospital she was dilated to a 3 and they confirmed that yes, her water had broken. She was having pretty consistent contractions and so at 3:00 a.m. they gave her an epidural. She continued to gradually progress (at no pain, thanks to the epidural). By 11:00 a.m. she was dilated to an 8 and the Dr. said she would probably start pushing around 1:00 p.m. So 1:00 came with a dilation to a 10 and the pushing began. Trooper Krista pushed for 2 hours and then the Dr. came in because his head was coming. But no....not that easy! He was face up instead of face down, which is no good. They tried to turn him but couldn't so they got the "vacuum" out. They tried to vacuum him for 9 pushes to no avail and then said if they couldn't get him this time we would have to do an emergency c-section. Krista pushed her guts but no Strider out. So she swore, cried and had her c-section. Of course, they had to stitch the episiotomy up first. Then the c-section came. Krista could feel everything they were doing and No, it wasn't just pressure she was feeling (stupid anesthesiologist). You think the story would end there but it doesn't. Strider was so far in the birth canal that they couldn't get him out. They had three people on top of Krista pushing and pulling to get his little body out. They had to vacuum him again in order to FINALLY at 4:16 p.m. on October 25th he was born. First things first, Ryan confirmed to Krista that he did not look like he had Down Syndrome. Yeah for the first time of the day! It then took a long time to sew Krista back up because her incision in her uterus tore while they were trying to get him out. So, needless to say, Krista was hesitant to bond with a child who put her through this and the child aka Strider, was equally as hesitant to bond with her. However, we have let bygones be bygones and now we love each other a whole lot. Poor Strider's head is really bruised and blistered from all the vacuuming and trauma. He is a big boy and super, super cute and we are so glad to finally have him here. All the Gage boys with Grandma Stapp.

Little Strider
Chunky mama with chunky baby.

Hot daddy with super cute baby

Grandma Stapp with her 3rd grandchild.

What a good big brother Taegen is.

Doesn't Ryan look so young in this pic? (Ernst and Young that is...)