Dear Bryce {Your Birth Story},

Sweet, sweet baby boy. I wanted to take a moment to write down the details about your big debut into this world. It'll be long post, but Momma wants to remember these precious moments.

Mommy and Daddy went to bed early Saturday (Jan. 5) night and I fell right to sleep. Around 1am I woke up with a painful contraction. Even that first one that woke me was different than the others I had felt the previous few days. I got up to use the bathroom and started timing the contractions on my phone. They were painful enough that I had a hard time working my phone during them.

They continued to be painful and it was hard to relax and breathe through them. Around 1:40am, I woke Daddy up so he could help me time them. They were pretty consistently 3 minutes apart. Around 2:15, we decided  it was time to call my doctor. The operator took my information and said the doctor would call me back. I texted Auntie Val and to see if she was awake and she was. A doctor who was covering for my doctor quickly called me back and said to come to the hospital. I told Auntie Val it was time and she headed over to stay at the house with Brennan. Daddy jumped in the shower while I changed clothes and added a few more things to my hospital bag. Auntie Val got here quickly and we were off!

We checked into the hospital at 3:20 and went to triage. I got changed and hooked up to the monitors and started answering the nurse's questions while trying to relax through the contractions. Then our nurse, May, checked me and I was 5-6cm dilated. I was being admitted!! We then walked to the delivery room. By 4:10 I was done with all the paperwork and hooked up to my IV. From the beginning, May was trying to talk me out of getting an epidural because I was progressing so fast and doing so well. At 4:30, I was 7-8cm dilated and she asked again if I was sure I wanted the epidural. If someone could've promised me you were coming really soon, maybe I would've gone without the drugs, but Mommy knew how nice the drugs were when your big brother was born, so I took the chicken route and got the epidural. I got it at 5am and it helped take the edge off the contractions, but I could still feel them. At 5:15, I felt a pop and my water broke on its own. There was meconium in it, so you had already pooped! They told me a NICU nurse would be during the delivery to suction you so you wouldn't ingest any. I had read about this happening and it didn't worry me at all.

With my following contractions I felt a lot of pressure and May checked me at 5:35 and I was fully dilated and ready to go. The doctor came back in (just minutes after delivering a baby across the hall) and with each contraction from then on, I pushed. The doctor was fantastic and gave great directions on how to push. He said he felt a small scar from where I had torn when Brennan was born and after the first set of pushes he did a small episiotomy. A few more pushes and you were here at 5:49am! I could immediately tell you were smaller than your brother. I didn't get to hold you right away, but the NICU nurse and other nurses took great care of you. Daddy took lots of pictures while the doctor stitched Mommy up with a single stitch and Mommy delivered the placenta. Then the nurses did your stats and you weighed 7 pounds 11 oz and were 19.5 inches long.

Daddy held you first and then I got to hold you. You were perfect. I couldn't believe I had been blessed with a second perfect little boy. Mommy got to have skin-to-skin time with you and just like a season champ, you went right for the breast and started nursing. This made Mommy happy because Brennan struggled with nursing at the hospital.

After that, it was shift change and our new nurse, Jessie, came in. She gave you your first bath. It was nice that Mommy was able to nurse you before you had your bath. I held you again after your bath and from that point on you were either eating or sleeping in your crib by Mommy.

Daddy left just before 10am to run by work and then to the house so he could meet Val and Brennan when they got home from church. Brennan wasn't able to come visit at the hospital due to visitor restrictions because of the flu. Mommy took a little one hour nap and then felt good to go! We had visitors come say hi at 2:30 and then Daddy came back to tell us goodnight around 5:30.

You did well at the hospital and passed all your tests. Mommy was up and moving and pretty much pain free quickly after your birth. I was even able to get a shower and changed into my own clothes after just a few hours. It was pretty amazing how good I felt. You got circumcised at 1:00pm the next day and we were discharged at 4:30! It all happened so fast. Checked in at the hospital at 3:20am on Sunday, you were born at 5:49am and were home by 5pm the next night! I am so thankful it all happened as easily as it did.

You are such a cute baby and seem to look like your big brother. Your hair is lighter than his was at birth and you are more fair-skinned. You have long toes just like Brennan and Daddy and right now your eyes are blue-gray just like Brennan's were, but my guess is they will turn brown like his did. Like I said before - perfect!

I love you so much already!

Love,
Mommy

Now for the good stuff - the pictures!

The Case of the Missing Earring

I've had more than a few forgetful moments during this pregnancy that I have blamed on baby brain. For example, before Kyle left for deployment we knew his car wouldn't be driven at all during his time away. He asked me to start it once and week and let it run for five minutes. And I haven't had any problem remembering to start it once a week, but something happens in those "5 minutes" that I'm supposed to let to run and my brain shuts off. I get busy playing with Brennan, fixing dinner, eating dinner (or all of the above) and multiple times Kyle's car has been left running for an extended period of time (we're talking 45 minutes once and 2 hours another time) before I remember it. Serious baby brain right there!

Ok, now let's talk about the case of the missing earring.

Last Wednesday morning as I was brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror and realized I was missing an earring. One of the diamond studs Kyle had given me. I wear these earrings all the time and never take them out (except for cleaning once in a blue moon). I couldn't believe I had lost one; especially because the backs screw on! How could it just fall out without me noticing?!?! I immediately started scouring the house. I assumed it must've fallen out overnight, but didn't find it anywhere in or around our bed. I looked all around and didn't find it. When B and I left the house that morning, I looked all through the car with no success.

Losing this earring was really the icing on the cake of a rather crappy couple of days. The first few days after arriving home from vacation were rough. I felt like Brennan was super whiny and I was readjusting to doing everything on my own after having my family around to help for a week. The TV broke while I was away and I thought I knew how to fix it and ordered a part, only to find out that wasn't the problem after all. I was able to get the TV working again, but it was just bad timing. Not that there would be a good time to the lose a diamond earring.

I never got around to calling my OB or a local consignment store - those were the only two places I went on Tuesday other than driving B to and from school. I just assumed it HAD to be in the house somewhere and hopefully it would eventually show up. Since Kyle and I aren't able to communicate right now, I decided to send him a facebook message hoping he would read it before we talk on the phone again. I just wanted to tell him the story about the losing the earring and tell him what a crummy week it had already been hoping he'd be less angry about it.

Since then I've kept my eyes open for the earring, but have been wearing a different pair that Kyle gave me. I wore that pair to bed last night and in the middle of the night the earring in my right ear started bothering me while I slept. I decided to take it out and as I was doing that, it was like deja vu. No kidding. All of a sudden I remembered that on Tuesday night in the middle of the night my right earring was bothering me and I decided to remove it. I could remember it so vividly; unscrewing the back carefully in the dark and placing it in the drawer of my bedside table.

So the case of the missing earring was solved at 4am this morning. I had taken it out in the middle of the night and put it in the drawer and completely forgotten about it. It's even funnier because I open that drawer every single night to get out my pen to write in my journal and hadn't seen or thought it about once until last night.

I'm seriously losing it! :)

A pic from Sunday - 26 weeks 1 day

B's Lil Bro

Poor B is a little confused. He's said all along that the baby is a "girl baby" so when the ultrasound tech first announced the baby was indeed a girl, Brennan was all excited. Then we had to explain to him that it was actually a boy. I keep asking him over and over what kind of baby is in mommy's belly and he's starting to say "boy baby" more consistently. I took this video on Saturday and asked him what he's going to teach his little brother. In case can't understand, he says "play, paint, and color crayons".

It's A...

healthy baby! That's the most important part.

It also appears to be a boy.

My OB does gender checks notoriously late. I remember this from when I was pregnant with Brennan and at my last check-up in August, the midwife at the practice told me he wouldn't do it until at least 23 weeks. I have an appointment this coming Tuesday and I'll be just over 21 weeks, so no gender check until my October appointment.

Kyle and I went to a 3D ultrasound place to find out if B was a boy or girl before my OB would do it because we thought he wasn't going to be home for the later ultrasound. We had considered doing that this time, but then he left suddenly and we didn't have time. On Thursday morning, all of a sudden, I decided I wanted to find out before Kyle left his current port. We are able to talk for a few more days and decided it would be nice to find out and at least be able to tell him on the phone instead of in an email that he may or may not receive.

So I called up the 3D ultrasound place and today was the big day. Val was nice enough to go with me to help entertain Brennan. As soon as the tech began my ultrasound, within what seemed like seconds she said, "Are you ready to know?" Of course I was ready and she pointed to the screen and said, "It's a girl." I was completely shocked because I've thought boy all along. She proceeded to type "I'm a girl!" on the screen and printed out my picture and then said she wanted to look from all the different angles.

As she was looking around and pointing out hands and feet she said, "Wait a minute. What was that that just popped out?" She kept looking and looking and said that the umbilical cord was right between the baby's legs and it was making it difficult for her to see if she had seen something or if it had just been a shadow. She ended up having me get up and walk around to see if the cord would move and then we tried again. She kept looking and looking and the more she looked, the more she started thinking it was actually a boy.

Once she was all done, she printed me out a new picture that says, "I'm a boy!" And I have to say it looks pretty convincing to me. She said he was just hiding it well at the beginning. She also said that no matter what it is, it's gonna be a spit fire and give me a run for my money. He(?) was moving a ton and I guess because he gave her a hard time finding out she thinks he's(?) gonna be handful.

My OB will do his gender check in October and this tech told me not to tell him anything beforehand and see what he says. If he happens to say it's a girl, then she told me to come back and she'll do another ultrasound free of charge.

So for now we're going with boy. But more importantly the baby looks happy, healthy, and hyper!

The "I'm a boy!" picture!

20 Weeks!

I have been extremely quiet about this 2nd pregnancy on the blog. No real reason other than I guess I feel super busy and I feel like the pregnancy has been super boring. A real blessing as far as pregnancies go I guess. But today I am at 20 weeks and thought it was probably time to do a little update and share a baby bump picture.

This pregnancy has been identical to my pregnancy with Brennan. I have been convinced it's another boy all along and still feel that way. I haven't had any real cravings (maybe salty stuff more than sweets) and have had no real aversions either. Most nights right now I still have to get up and pee once a night. I was hoping that symptom would pass once I hit my 2nd trimester. I'm definitely having a more difficult time getting comfortable at night at this point.

So far I have been able to make through the summer wearing my regular capri pants and have only busted out one pair of maternity capris at this point. I am also wearing cotton skirts I bought at Target a lot. They're really stretchy and comfy and keep me nice and cool. I think the maternity shirts are going to have to be used soon though because my regular ones are getting pretty short.

At my last OB appointment I had only gained 2 pounds so far this pregnancy, but I am expecting a bigger jump at my appointment at the beginning of Sept. I haven't had an ultrasound since the initial one around 8 weeks, but the baby's heartbeat is always strong each month when I see my doctor. It's usually around 150-155bpm. I am now feeling flutters in my stomach, but no real strong kicks yet that I can feel on the outside. I'm definitely ready for those!

We will definitely be finding out the sex, but my doctor doesn't do it until late (at least 23 weeks) so it won't happen until my Oct. appointment unless I go to an outside place like we did with Brennan.

That's about all I can think of for now. I know I'll be as big as a house by the time Kyle comes home. I just took some pics with my phone, so I've been trying to get a one the past few days. Here's a couple from the past three days.

Thursday

Friday

Today - I only put on this shirt so I could compare it to 20 weeks with B.

20 weeks with Brennan

I feel pretty big for only being 20 weeks, but after looking at this picture from my pregnancy with Brennan, maybe I'm a little smaller than I was with him??!! About the same I guess.