Brynley's Labor and Delivery Story

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;" Jeremiah 1:5

September 13th, 2011 after weeks of thinking "it's time", Scot and I kept our plan to be induced at 7 am that morning. I was already 3 cm dilated and kept having off and on contractions, but never actually went on to full "active" labor. Neither Scot or I slept very well the night before, due to a combination of nerves and excitement. I started cramping again and had really bad back labor again, but knew it was all part of the pre-labor symptoms I had been having for awhile now. My mom and sister in law, Tori met us that morning at our house and it all started to sink in that we would meet Brynley in just a few hours (hopefully)! Here I am with one last "Belly Bump Shot" to remember this moment and pregnancy forever.

Upon leaving our house, we noticed the Full Moon that was still present in the sky. By the way.. it never started my labor as I really thought it would, but still wanted to remember it one day. And who knows, maybe it was part of the reason for all of my pre-labor symptoms afterall.

We arrived at the hospital by 7am and I had a look of calm on my face, which was different from the trip to the hospital the day we really thought I was in labor. We got checked in and I was already registered, but at that point I started getting emotional and excited to meet my baby girl soon!

Here Scot and I are at the Stork Landing part of the hospital, where we would soon welcome Brynley!

Checking into our room, which we thought was funny that it was our 2nd baby and room #2.

After we were settled in, I was getting nauseus from nerves, so my sweet sister in law went and got Starbucks for everyone, and got me a sparkling water for my nausea. At this point, I was only waiting for the nurses and my midwife to get me started on my Pitocin. I was hooked up to monitor mine and Brynley's heartbeat, and blood pressure taken. It was also at this point that Brynley started moving alllllll over the place and her heart rate started sky rocketing to the 170's. Little did I know this was all God's plan to keep me from getting the induction with Pitocin that I had decided I didn't want, but was going with the induction anyways. Her heart rate never got settled and so my midwife came in to break my water by 10am. This is what did the trick to get my real, NATURAL labor going! And boy did it start going! I was dilated to 4cm at this point, and started getting stronger and faster contractions.

I was progressing, but uncomfortable, so my midwife suggested I use an excercise ball to relax and help with contractions. Believe me, this was not part of my "original" Birth Plan, but I was really loving the way things were progressing naturally on their own, and wanted to help ease the pain in any way I could for as long as I could without the epidural. Next we got to walking, and I had contractions from one end of the hall to the next, intensifying by the minute it seemed. My sister in law was there, the whole way, walking me through the contractions. Mom and Scot helped to ease my mind too! By the time they got stronger and stronger, I decided I should go ahead and get the epidural if I was going to, before it was too late.

Thank goodness I made this decision because by 12pm, contractions were out of this world crazy strong! Stronger than I thought, but the whole time I was amazed at how I was able to breathe through them. At 12:40pm, I was dilated to 6cm and the epidural was on it's way! I was hurting so bad by this point that I could hardly see straight, but kept "blowing the pain away", as my midwife had been telling me. I kept praying that I would get through the pain of each contraction before my epidural got there. By 1:15pm, I was dilated to 7cm and my epidural was finally placed. The Dr who placed it was very nice, but trying to make conversation through each contraction wasn't fun! He asked me to tell where the twinge was on which side of my hip when he tried placing the epidural and I was hurting so bad I thought when I was having a contraction that it was the actual twinge of pain he had mentioned. Even with the epidural placed, I continued to have such strong pressure and pain, and I started to worry the epidural wasn't going to take effect! At 1:35pm I was given another "shot" of my epidural and waited for the strongest pains to ease up. I kept telling my nurse what pressure I was having and she checked me again and I was fully dilated. I started to worry because I wasn't easing the contractions fully! The nurses called my midwife and I couldn't believe how fast my contractions had sped up my dilation! I would say the excercise ball and all the walking I did really helped. By 1:55pm, fully dilated when the nurse checked me, my midwife came back and it was literally pushing for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and literally Brynley was born! My midwife asked if I wanted to deliver her and as freaked out as I was with Ryder, and didn't want any part of seeing what was going on "down there" and definitely couldn't believe my own ears when I said yes, will always remember this as the best moment ever! Scot cut the cord and I did get a little worried at first because she was blue when she came out and had her cord wrapped around her, but everything was fine and she returned with color in no time. Her apgar score was 8 and then 9, and I held her the whole time just taking in all of her beauty, and giving all the glory to God and just feeling insanely blessed. It was a wonderful birth story I will always cherish. The best news was hearing I hadn't torn this time, and that ended up making the HUGEST difference in recovery, believe me!

"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her JOY that a child is born into the world" John 16:21

Here we are just minutes after welcoming Brynley to our family.

Scot and I with my awesome midwife who got me through the entire labor and delivery and was rooting me on through each contraction, definitely another HUGE difference between Ryder's birth with my male OB and her. I will say at the time, it was the best decision and Ryder was happy and healthy, but I can tell such a difference in my confidence and the way I feel just 3 days post pardum as I'm posting this, compared to how I felt 3 days post pardum with Ryder.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward" Psalms 127:3

My baby girl getting weighed and measured. Here are her stats again: Born at 2:16 PM, weighed 7lbs 10 oz and measuring 19 inches long. She was an oz heavier than Ryder and an inch shorter than Ryder weighed. The biggest shocker was when my midwife announced she could see a lot of blonde hair! I couldn't believe I was getting my little mini me I had prayed for, because I just knew she would come out with a head full of red hair like her Daddy haha!

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" Song Of Solomon 6:3

Daddy's girl :) Seeing this sight and my heart melted!

Proud Nana getting to hold her baby granddaughter and beaming with pride! My mom is such an awesome mom and I am so close to her, and am so excited to have a daughter now that will look up to and ask advice for like I have done with mine so many times before.

The best sister in law in the world! Beaming and holding her sweet niece for the first time. Tori helped me so much through the labor and delivery and I truly felt closer to her afterwards. I always wished for a sister and she is the sister I never had! She took great care of me, trying to do anything she could to ease my pain. I can't wait to one day repay her when the time comes for her to have babies :)

Ryder had been staying at my mom and stepdad's and my brother had spent the night to help entertain Ryder while we were all at the hospital. I will eternally be grateful for all of the help we received from all of my family, and when it was time to introduce Ryder to Brynley, I asked that I be in the room without the baby so he could see me and know I was okay without the baby. Here we are snuggling before they brought Brynley in and he was taking sips of my Ginger Ale. He asked right away where baby "Bwenley" was and so we asked for her to be brought in the room. I was so happy to see my first baby "goose" and couldn't wait to see his reaction at meeting his new baby sister!

A proud Daddy with his TWO babies!

My sweet family: my stepdad holding his sweet Brynley, me, my mom, and Ryder

It was my brothers turn to hold Brynley. He got scared when we asked if he wanted to hold her, saying he didn't want to in case she started crying. I convinced him to hold her, saying she was his sweet neice. After he got one holding of her in, I think he was addicted and realized he didn't even mind if she started to cry!

Seeing my brother and sister in law holding Brynley made me realize I hope they will be ready to have babies of their own one day soon, so I can be and Aunt and to have cousins for Ryder and Brynley.

"Consider it JOY, when you encounter various trials" James 1:2

Minutes after having my sweet girl, and just loving on her. Can you tell that I am just smitten?

The icing on the cake: getting to put sweet bows in Brynley's hair :)

PURE JOY!

This was Day 2 of having Brynley and after our first night, I was worried that Brynley wouldn't latch on. She did after she was first born, but afterwards in the recovery room put up a BIG fight! We had an Angel nurse that night that watched over me and she encouraged me in the best possible way not to give up, and by the end of the night we started to bond and get the hang of things. She even let Scot and I rest for a 3 hour interval which was the sweetest and most meaningful gift to a new mom after just laboring, that I could ever have been given. They say breast milk is "Liquid gold" but I would have to say that the uninterrupted consecutive hours the very first night after being SO.EXHAUSTED. was the "Liquid Gold" I will always remember. I was so impressed (and maybe on a high from post pregnancy and labor hormones) that I wrote a great review on the nurse, and felt like we had an instant bond from the beginning. When she came in to check on us the next morning and say goodbye, I was a little sad to be saying goodbye, but thanked her a million times over for all of the help. She said she just wanted to give the experience she had when she had her second baby, unlike the time she had when she gave birth to her first baby. It was so touching and I was so blessed to have had her as my nurse, and will always remember her.

I felt much more rested by this time, and wasn't even anxious as we finished the rest of our 24 hour hospital stay. I had SO. MUCH. ANXIETY after having Ryder, and worried each time he fussed. What a difference! I just know that I was happy to get to finally leave, and ready to get home and settled in. We finally got dismissed that afternoon and I was excited to see Ryder again. I will post about our adjustment period now that we have been home and its Day 3, but I will say there have been challenging moments, hard moments, easy moments, happy moments, happy emotional tears kind of moments, and just giving God all the glory and feeling his presence moments. I love my sweet family and am so happy to be complete!