Brynnie is here! She arrived June 16th at 6:20 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and is 19 inches long! Labor was amazing, actually--she was delivered by a midwife which was exactly what I was hoping would happen, and this lady was BRILLIANT! Anyway, here are some pics!!
Today is Christian's "Alive Day". 5 years ago today, he was injured. I am grateful for him and for his life that was spared. He is such an amazing father, husband, and person. He has a gentle spirit that many people do not know about, but I see it, and it's what drew me to him in the first place.
To see him with his son is quite an amazing thing. Although he is often tired, he never shows it...and always has energy for Noah. He is creative and loving and sensitive, and he would put up a fight in an instant for his family.
I love you honey. I am so proud of you. Thank you for your daily sacrifices and for your positive attitude and zeal for life.
Her new nickname is Brynnie Jo :) Never really liked the middle name Jo, but it sorta fits with her :)
The latest with her, by the way, is that I'm going to the doc every 4 days. Haven't heard of anyone else going this often, but all due to the abnormal AFP scores for spina bifida. They discovered last week that my amniotic fluid is lower than it should be, so they will be measuring it again this Thursday. If it gets too low, they will start giving me things to get my cervix ready, then they will induce. I have to say, I'd really like to experience natural labor, on my own. No induction, please. Obviously I want whatever is best for the baby, and would love to be done with being pregnant, but I desperately don't want to be induced. It SUCKED with Noah. The contractions were more like A contraction. One, big, long contraction. I literally didn't get a break from them til I finally got my epidural. They actually were controlling them by turning my pitocin up and down. It's just not natural folks. Please pray that I will naturally go into labor. I'd like to feel what it feels like to have natural contractions, and to have them S-L-O-W-L-Y get closer and closer and stronger and stronger. Not just all the sudden TERRIBLE. So anyway. Yes. Natural labor please. I have a good friend who just had a baby girl two days ago. She said her contractions were, at the end, two minutes apart. Good grief--I'd be happy with two minutes apart! I didn't know labor was any other way.
Anyhoo--I'm 36 weeks on Friday. Can't believe I still have a month to go. I'm definitely nesting. Weird, cause I never really nested like this with Noah. Yesterday I was sweating (like, A LOT), moving from room to room and finding an never-ending list of things that needed to be done. There is just so much, it seems. I just want to be prepared!
I had a baby shower at church on Sunday, and another one at work today, then I have one on Saturday for family and friends. Wow! What a blessing. So far we have a ton of clothes for her. Still need oodles but we'll figure it out. Not as anxious about that part as the first time around, which is pretty normal I guess.
Anyway--I'm rambling now. Just wanted to post how things are going with our baby girl. Can't wait to meet you, Brynnie!
Ahhh not much going on these days. I am 31 weeks tomorrow and was supposed to have an appointment today to check Brynnee's growth, but got cancelled. Somebody else had to go and have a baby so the doc wasn't available :( So--tomorrow it is! I will have the full ultrasound to see how she's doing. Last time they estimated she weighed 2.6 pounds, so hopefully she has grown!! I know I have. I've done a wonderful job putting on 10 pounds in the last month. I feel awesome about it. Christian thinks I can gain another 20 before she comes out--so I might just hold him to it. >:( At this point I've just decided to not worry about it. The motivation I feel to lose all this weight ALREADY makes me know that I WILL lose it. Weight Schmeight.
Anyway--just wanted to give an update. Noah is blossoming before our eyes. He is the most precious, beautiful little child. And he has such a kind little heart. The other night we had movie night with our little family, where he stays up way past his bedtime and sits in between daddy and I on the couch and munches popcorn. Like seriously, his eyes don't leave the TV and the popcorn is constantly being shoveled into his mouth. It's hilarious to watch. Anyway, so I had popped him his own little bowl of popcorn and several minutes after he had been eating it, he simply said, "Thank you for my popcorn mama". I am so amazed at the thoughtfulness of the child. Like really? I didn't even remind him to thank me.
On a totally different note, my favorite quote of the day, and possibly weeks, came from Christian today. He walked into the house (I was upstairs, he was down) and all he said was, "That garbage can smells like assholes." then walked back out. Didn't even wait for a response. The funniest part to me was that he thought it smelled like several assholes...plural. Not just one, but several. I've been chuckling to myself all day. :)
So....a little worried about our Brynne. I went in for an ultrasound today to measure her and make sure she's growing ok. Usually in pregnancy, you have 1, maybe 2 ultrasounds. I've had 5. And the doctor wants to do another one in 4 weeks.
When I had the quad screen done, they found high levels of AFP in my blood, which usually points to spinabifida. Her chances of having spinabifida were 1 in 45. So we had special testing done in Portland and a super long ultrasound, where the doctor ruled out spinabifida (thank the Lord!) but found a cyst in her brain, which he assured us is fairly normal and could "be gone tomorrow". But he said that sometimes with high AFP readings, women can go into labor early or the baby could be undernourished. So they've been checking her growth and making sure everything is ok.
Today she weighs approximately 2.6 pounds. She was breach, and still is (I can actually tell!), so that has me a little concerned, but hey--she has two months to right herself, right?
The one thing that worried me was the doctor saying, as she was doing the ultrasound, "Did you have an amniocentesis?" Now...why would she ask that? To worry us? Well, it worked. And then when she was all done, she said she wanted to do another ultrasound in 4 weeks. Finally I was like, "Hey, so why all the ultrasounds?" and she explained about the checking the growth thing. Then I asked what might happen if she's NOT growing properly. The doctor said they would induce, because that would mean that the uterus is no longer the best place for her to be; she'd do better outside the womb. So then, of course, I asked when the earliest they would induce would be. And she said, "Well, I'm expecting you'll make it to at least 32 weeks." Which is in like....5 weeks. So...that has had me thinking all day that, wow, we could maybe have a baby in a little over a month...two months premature.
If you have a moment, please say a prayer for our Brynne ("Brynnie-bear" as Noah has taken to calling her). Please pray that she grows!!
They also said her head is a little mis-shapen...please, no coneheads. I am praying for that to right itself, too.
We love you Brynnie bear :) Stay in there for a while longer...
