A Birth Story

    For those of you interested in all of the gory details, here they are. Don't worry, I won't get too graphic.

  The last few days before Brianna was born, Cameron was very impatient and was taking me on long hikes in the hopes of getting labor started. Eli was born twelve days early, so in Cam's book three days early was LATE! My body had been showing signs of being ready for labor for weeks, so even the doctor was expecting her to make an appearance sooner than she did.

Just before midnight on the 22nd my water broke. Because my water had also broken with Eli, and I wasn't contracting after our rush to the hospital, causing me to need pitocin; this time, I decided to wait to go to the hospital until I was sure that labor had really started. After having very mild contractions for several hours, we arrived at the hospital at 4:30 AM.

Upon arrival, I found out that I was dilated to a four. After going through some questioning, refusing an IV, but agreeing to a capped off catheter (just in case), Cameron and I decided to try and get a little extra sleep. While I was sleeping (sort of), my contractions slowed down slightly. So, at about 7:30 AM, Cameron and I started walking the halls. We did this periodically throughout the day, but were told that I needed to be on the monitor at least twenty minutes out of every hour. At about 2:00 PM I decided to take a shower to help calm me during the contractions. The shower was WONDERFUL and made the pains considerably less.

Around 3:00 PM, I was checked again, and was told I was dilated to an eight. I was using the Bradley method, so every time I had a contraction,  I breathed deeply through my mouth as Cameron talked me through relaxing all of my muscles. My mother-in-law was there as well, and was the most wonderful foot masseuse imaginable.

Close to 6:00 PM I was checked for the last time and was told I was still at an eight. DESPAIR! At this point I was offered pitocin, which I refused, and very shortly thereafter a new nurse arrived to replace the one who had been attending me all day. The first thing she did was tell me to lay on my left side (previous to this I was on my back, propped up at about a forty-five degree angle, with my knees propped up on a pillow, and my arms at my sides). A few minutes and three contractions later I was pushing. Those last three contractions were very hard on me. Partially because I had been going through some pretty tough contractions for the last several hours, and partially because the monitor was jostled when I turned over, making it so that Cameron couldn't see that I was having a contraction, and thus I lost my coach. I felt like I was in high-panic mode, and I remember repeating, "I don't want to anymore!" several times.

I've not had to push for very long for either of my children, luckily, so Brianna was born at 6:34 PM. I think I was pushing for about 20 minutes, but it seemed like 5. I didn't have to have an episiotomy. YAAY! But I did tear just a little. BOO! But I only needed one stitch. Yaay! The nurse who had attended me all day decided to stick around long enough to watch me give birth, and everyone was talking about how they had never seen a woman be so calm during natural labor and that I should teach the Bradley classes, etc., etc. Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that one.

I was able to hold Brianna right after she was born. I wasn't able to get her to nurse right away, probably because she was a little tongue tied. We tried for about 40 minutes before my dinner arrived. I was STARVING so Brianna went to get her first bath while I ate what I had been craving all day. Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. Mmmmm....

After that, we were able to get her to nurse quite successfully. Which is a big improvement from Eli. I had to pump milk for him and give it to him because he wasn't able to latch on right for the first week or two. All in all, it was a very joyous experience for us. I was quite proud of myself for going all natural, and for feeling as if I was in total control (except where previously noted). It was definitely worth it. Go through a little pain (well, maybe a lot) and in exchange get the most beautiful daughter in the world!

A New Addition

A special welcome to Brianna Irene!

 

 Brianna was born on February 23 at 6:34 PM.

Weighing 8 lbs 12 oz (no wonder labor was so long!).

  

And we are absolutely in love with her.

Where did she get that blond hair?

She has spent almost every minute sleeping.

But, every now and then graces us with her undivided attention.

Eli likes her ok. Although, originally he told us to, "Put her back!"

  

I think they'll do just fine together.

Male Bonding

Here is just another example of the difference between little boys and little girls. I could be wrong, but I don't think that a little girl would have nearly as much fun with this activity. Granted, I don't have a little girl yet, so if some of you who do have a girl disagree, let me know.

Just some cute pictures

These are at our house site. Eli had a lot of fun playing around, throwing rocks, etc.

 

  

 

Kids say the darndest things!

The other day Cameron was very excited about a basketball game that was coming on. The Cleveland Cavaliers versus The L.A. Lakers. He was telling Eli all about it, so Eli has been going around the house talking about Lebron James. Every time he sees a basketball game on the tv, he automatically says, "Lebwon Dames!"

However, something else Cameron said in passing, Eli has also caught on to. When Cameron said, "Kobe sucks!" our little Myna bird thought it was hilarious and immediately repeated it. Unfortunately, he pronounced the first S as an F. Much to my dismay!

Sucks isn't really a word I want him to know yet either, but in my attempt to get him to stop saying the other one, I find myself teaching him the correct pronunciation. At first I just said, "Eli, don't say that!" But he looked at me with such a sad face that now when he says, "Kobe *ucks" (about 15 or 20 times a day) I say, "Eli, don't say it like that." and he replies, in a very serious voice, "sucks" and I say, "That's right."

Our House

Our house is finally underway! That's right! We decided to build! Sorry for all of the exclamation marks. I'm just a little excited. I'm going to try and keep an updated photo of the progress of our house in the sidebar, so for those of you who are interested keep checking back for the latest!

Week 1

What will be the view from our back porch.

 

 Week 2 

  

Week 3 

  

Week 4 

  

Week 5 

  

Week 6

Week 7

 

Week 8

 

Week 10 (Oops missed a week! Sorry!) 

It's a little hard to see the mountain in this picture because of the clouds.

Christmas fun!

This year for Christmas we went to visit my mom in South Carolina. If you don't know much about my family, I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters, 4 of us are married (including myself), and 3 of us have children. We were ALL home for Christmas this year, and my mom also invited my Grandparents, my aunt, and my cousins. The grand total of people sleeping under one roof was 26! Not only that, but my mom has 5 cats, 3 dogs, and 4 snakes. As you might imagine, it was a bit chaotic at times. Here are some of the highlights:

It is kind of a tradition (well, when my sister and I are home anyway) to build a gingerbread house at Christmas time. Originally, we tried to make it look as professional as possible, but in recent years it has gotten a bit silly. Last time we had King Kong climbing up a castle turret and a man doing a hand stand at the front of the castle. This year... well, here are the pictures.

 View from the side.

View from the back.

 

I designed the water wheel myself (I can't take credit for the decorations on it, I only designed the gingerbread part of it). That would be why it is a little lopsided.

 

 

View from the front.

 

Santa (or someone) lounging under an umbrella, drinking a Piña Coloda on the roof. The umbrella was originally going to be a spaceship, but somewhere along the way it transformed.

 

An alien sitting in a chair on the front porch.

 

Opening his very favorite gift...

 

Thomas the train!!!

 

One of the funniest things was listening to Eli and Natalie sitting in the back seat of the car together. Eli would say something like "Derby Pie" and Natalie would laugh hysterically like it was the funniest joke she had ever heard. Natalie is the cousin that is closest to Eli's age, so he played with her the most. He did make her cry sometimes, but it was usually when all of the adult's back's were turned, so it was hard to tell if he actually did anything wrong. We have some video of them playing together, but I have to wait to get it from my sister before I can post it.

We also went out to the movies to watch "Blind Side." If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

All in all we had a great time! Eli is still talking about his cousins and grandma (sorry aunts and uncles, but he hasn't mentioned you).