Welcome Baby Brinley!

Well, now that our new addition is ten days old, I guess I can post some pictures and share the news with the world. I know that the extended family has been waiting for this. Sorry it’s taken me so long. I think that Brinley is fitting comfortably into the “third child” position, in that I haven’t taken a ton of pictures of her, and whenever I’ve had a minute to post pictures, I’ve decided to sleep instead! Better late than never, right?

I was induced with Brinley on Wednesday, July 13th. Sean, my mom, and I got to the hospital at 7:30 in the morning. This is what I looked like when I got there…

 

By about 9:00, I was hooked up to the IV and the pitocin. Getting the IV is one of the hardest parts for me. I know, that sounds ridiculous, but it’s the truth. I guess Sean thought it would be funny to get an action shot of my least favorite part of child-birth. Thanks a lot, Sean.

The contractions kicked in pretty quickly, but they weren’t very painful. At 10:40, the nurse came in and asked if I was ready to get the epidural and have my water broken. Truthfully, I wasn’t. My mom, Sean, and I were in the middle of a game of Phase 10. Yep, that was my reason for putting off the inevitable. I told her to come back in 20-30 minutes, and then I’d be ready. Well, an hour went by before we saw the nurse again. It turns out that there was an emergency which took all of my nurses and doctors away. This is how I ended up spending the next couple of hours…

 

It was about 1:15 before we got the party stared. I got the epidural (aka my best friend) and had my water broken. At 1:30 the nurse told me that I wouldn’t be checked again until 3:30. I kind of laughed to myself. Two whole hours? I knew that Brinley would be born by then. My mom told her that my other babies were born within an hour of my water being broken, but they didn’t pay much attention to the warning. By 2:15 I was in a lot of pain. The epidural had kicked in great on the left side of my body, but my right side could feel everything. I told the nurse that I felt a lot of pressure and a lot of pain. She finally asked if I felt like I needed to push. Answer…YES! They gave me another shot of the epidural, then another nurse came in to check me. To their surprise (not mine) I was nine centimeters dilated, and ready to do some “practice pushes.” Just like I had predicted, the room suddenly swarmed with people getting tables set up and instruments ready for baby Brinley’s arrival. I started actually pushing around 2:45. At 3:08, our little baby was born. She was 6 pounds, 8 oz., and was 20 inches long, and has red hair!

  

Later that night is when the real party started. Sean picked up the girls from home, along with their Aunt Keri, and came back to the hospital for a PIZZA PARTY! I think Anika and Avery were as excited about the pizza and soda pop as they were about meeting their new sister. :)

  

Daddy came to visit after school on the 14th. I think he was a little tired…

We brought Brinley home on the evening of July 15th. She’s so tiny!!!

 

We love our little Brinley and feel so blessed to have three beautiful daughters!