Happy Halloween!

Bathing Babes

My mom was a bit surprised the other day when I mentioned that I hadn't given Brianna a bath yet. She was born with very dry skin, and the nurses recommended that I refrain from lotions that make her skin dependent on them. Also, the nurses at both hospitals that I've delivered at told me not to bathe a baby more than once or twice a week to avoid drying their skin out.

Now that just her feet are white with dryness, I decided to give her a sponge bath. SJ came over to play with Gracie, so all three girls headed to the bathroom with me. The big girls played in the tub while Bri got her first sponge bath in the sink! Richard and Brian helped control the chaos when it came to washing time!

So serious!

The big girls

Brianna is Two Weeks Old!

I can't believe it's already been two weeks since Brianna joined our family! In many ways it feels like it's been minutes, but also like she's always been a part of our lives. She's starting to sleep better-she only woke me up twice last night. We went to her two week check up today, and got nothing but great news. When we were discharged from the hospital she weighed in at 8lbs, 4oz, and at her "weight check" last week, she was at 8lbs, 6oz. I was given the goal of getting back to her birth weight (8lbs, 11oz.) by today's appointment. We waffled that goal, and she is at 8lbs 15oz! She doesn't eat a lot at each nursing session, but nurses often. She has only grown a quarter of an inch, but her height, weight, and head are all at the 75th percentile. The doctor even got her to show him her strong neck by putting her on a little bit of tummy time. He said she's doing great, and he has absolutely no concerns about her. I think the biggest change I've noticed this week is that her eyelashes are coming in long and thick, just like Daddy's and Gracie's.

My Girls

My girls are so alike so far, that I am a bit baffled at times. I must admit, it has made the transition into newborn momma again a bit easier. Here are some photos of what I see everyday. All of the first photos are of Gracie Jo, and the second ones are of Brianna Leigh.

Dancing Queen

Brianna's Birth Story

Sunday morning I woke up and went to the bathroom. Upon wiping, I discovered a lot of. . .slime. It was a very significant amount, much more than a mucus plug so I got a bit concerned. I called the hospital, and because I was already dilated to 5cm, they told me to come in right away to determine if my water was broken or not. After checking in and getting examined, they said it was not anmiotic fluid, but they couldn't figure out what it was. They were not happy with the thought of sending me home at 5cm, but also didn't think I was in labor yet.

After talking to the doctor that had scrapped my membranes on Friday, they gave me a choice; I could stay, they'd break my water and that doctor would come in to deliver Brianna, or I could go home and come back on Monday to have my regular doctor induce me. Since I have only been under my doctor's care since we moved in September, it's not like I have a big connection to him, and I really like the other doctor too so I figured why go home and wait another day?

The nurses decided to break my water. Sounds easy, right? Because of all the slime, they couldn't figure out where the sack was. It took three nurses three tries each and they still weren't sure if it was broken or not. They decided they had probably poked holes in it, and it would gush soon. They were right. Despite the broken water, I was barely feeling my contractions so they put me on Pitocin to make them stronger. At this moment, I was thinking I should ask for an Epidural, but I wasn't in pain yet and didn't want to jump the gun either. I decided to wait-BIG mistake! I wasn't expecting the Pitocin to progress so fast. In less than a half hour my pain scale went from 1 to about 8! It was torture to wait for the Epidural, but well worth the wait.

Brianna was "sunny side up" as the doc called it. I didn't find it all that sunny! Basically, most babies come out head first, facing down. This give the best flexibility in the neck to easily get the baby past the momma's pelvic bone. When a baby is "sunny side up," s/he is facing up instead of down. This makes it significantly harder to push the baby past the pelvic bone, and seriously almost killed me! I pushed about an hour and a half, but the contractions were so far apart that it seemed like a lot of my work was getting wasted between contractions. It felt like it took forever to get her to crown, and even longer to get her out! I thought she was stuck for a while. Just when I thought it was all over, the placenta got stuck. After forty minutes of trying to get it out with the help of occasional pushing, the doc had to "go in after it." The epidural had been turned off, and would have taken too long to put back on, so that was really painful. Then she had to search to make sure that no pieces of the placenta got left inside.

The biggest difference between Bri's labor and Gracie's was my audience. With Gracie, it was just the nurse and Brian with me. The doc had another woman in labor next door, so he ran in as Gracie was coming out. With Bri I told the grandmas and Carrie that they could stay as long as they were comfortable staying. At one point I had two nurses, the doctor, both grandmas, Carrie, and Brian in there! It was my own cheering section.

Big Sister Meets Little Sister