Brianne Elise

Our second little princess, Brianne Elise, graced this world with her beauty on August 3rd and boy was she a surprise from the beginning!!! Three days after Thanksgiving of 2014 I found out I was pregnant with her. This was definitely God's planning because it was a shock to both of us. We told our families Christmas Eve and posted a super cute picture of Lynnlee to tell our facebook friends and family.

All throughout my pregnancy she was amazed at watching my tummy grow and talking about all the things that baby sister was going to do and what she would teach her. The first time that she heard her name option she immediately started blessing her by name every night. I cried a lot as I held her thinking back on the very time I was pregnant with her and how fast she has grown up already. I cried because I just knew inside that she was going to grow up even more now that there was a baby sister coming. Boy was I right!! She amazes me everyday with the new stuff that she is learning. 

I was again lucky to not experience morning sickness or nausea. Later in the pregnancy I did suffer from some acid reflux after having late night snacks of either cereal or ice cream (lol). Now after being born, I have to watch my milk and dairy intake because it makes her gassy and constipated, go figure...guess I should have known.

 

36 Weeks

Birth Day:

 I already had an idea the night before that it could possibly happen sometime that next day. I felt different and I was talking to my mom late the night before and let her know that I was counting contractions and really felt like it was close. 3:30 AM I woke up and was really uncomfortable. I went to the restroom and noticed that I had lost my mucus plug. It was then I really knew it wasn't going to be long.   Still feeling uncomfortable, I decided to take a bath. I woke up Brad and let him know what was happening. He got up at that point and started some coffee. I laid in the bath and texted mom to let her know that I was in labor. I went back and forth from the toilet and the bath just doing what felt normal. Brad went ahead and placed a call to Amanda (a really awesome midwife btw), and she said to just keep in touch giving him her cell phone number. 

My parents showed up at the house around 5am. My dad just couldn't wait any longer. He was dressed and ready in his truck by 4am  (it was a Monday so he THOUGHT he was going to work). He was so afraid that I was going to have the baby in my own tub or toilet so he was ready to get over to us FAST so he could be with Lynnlee and we could head out to the birthing center. When they arrived I got out of the bath and went into the living room with them. We all sat on the couches and watched tv and talking during contractions. My contractions were so random that it was hard to really track them. Lynnlee woke up about 7-7:30 am and still contracting really good I honestly don't remember much about her that morning. Around 9am Brad and I decided to go back to the bedroom and relax because I was super uncomfortable at this point on the couches. Mom came in about 10 am and said they were leaving with Lynnlee and would see us later. After they left, I was confused...the contractions were random but at the same time I was feeling more and more uncomfortable. Finally the midwife told us to go ahead and head that way to the BC at about 10:30 am. Contractions were hard riding in that car all the way to downtown Fort Worth but we managed and got there a little after 11am.

We came in and she must have cleared her schedule because we were the only ones there. I went upstairs and was so ready for the tub I couldn't wait. Amanda listened to heart beat and had me sit on the toilet a little before I was able to get into the tub. The pressure was so intense it was so hard to bear. Finally she came and got me and told me to put on my swim top and get in the tub. I was on my hands and knees and at one point I remember saying "What do I do when she comes?" lol not even knowing how I was going to get her from the water. She assured me that she would catch her and slide her under to me. Whelp, it didn't work that way. My water broke like a rubber band popping and literally I pushed maybe 7 times and she was here!! Born at 11:46 am, there she was all 7 lbs 9oz of her. She came out so fast she popped up out of the water so she wasn't able retrieve her. I flipped over and she was handed to me right away. 

We cuddled in the water for a little while and everything after that is sort of a blur. I remember getting out and laying in the bed for the placenta delivery. Brad cut the cord while in the water and then Amanda took her due to her breathing. She felt that she needed to take a closer look at her while I got situated on the bed.

I remember this part was very painful, really bad cramping. I didn't remember it being this way with Lynnlee. Then I found out that this does get worse with each birth. After all of that was said and done I got to lay on the bed with little Bri on my chest for some time. This moment was so sweet...

Not long after this photo above was taken we sat up and she immediately started to nurse. Totally different than with Lynnlee. Brad made the calls to let everyone know she was here. He sent out texts to let my parents and his mom know as well as my sister and his sister. He told them they could come up to meet her since my parents would be bringing Lynnlee. He told them to leave their houses in one hour. Jamie and the girls got there first, then Pat and followed by my parents, sister and Raylan and Carlie. We had quite a group. Before they arrived we, the three of us, Brad, Brianne and myself got in the tub for our herbal bath together and she was so upset. Her little cry sounded so much like a little lamb, but you just can't help but laugh. Finally, she got used to the water and loved it...loves it ever since.

That tongue!!

After our herbal bath she was dried, weighed, measured and dressed. As Brad dried off and and dressed I sponged myself off and dressed while Amanda did the examination. The one thing that I love about the midwife experience, not that I have anything else to compare it with but, the immediate bonding after the birth is so special and important. I love that my baby isn't whisked away a few minutes after birth. I was able to bond with both the girls before the full examination took place.

One difference this time with Brianne's birth was that we invited family to come up and see her at the birthing center. I felt that since this was to be our last baby (well that we are planning anyway), I felt it might be neat to have our immediate families come up. After everyone arrived Brad went down and got Lynnlee. My parents brought her with them. I had hoped my whole pregnancy that birth day for Brianne would come at a time when Lynnlee could be able to come up and meet her. Prayers were answered and the pictures say it all...

 Lynnlee walking in and seeing me holding her sister

 Filled with so much joy and excitement

 Sweet Kisses

 "I wanna hold her"

 "I just love her mommy"

 Checking out all her little fingers "I see her little fingers"

Getting to record Lynnlee's reaction to meeting her sister for the first time was super cool, but the other thing I didn't think of by inviting up family was the photos that would be documented of each person meeting her. It was really something special.

In closing, if I can offer one piece of advise for anyone who is bringing a little one into this world, either by birthing center or hospital, the most precious thing is those moments captured. The real and raw "love at first sight" moments.Something I never thought of with the birth of Lynnlee was the moments when our parent and siblings met her for the first time. Having those photos to look back at was really something special. With that said, thank you Aly Renee Birth Photography for capturing both births for us :) Here are a few more to see

5...6...7...and Now 8!

I know its been a few months, but you know what they say when time flies!! Well we are now entering our 8th  month with Miss LK and she is just getting bigger and bigger, smarter and smarter by they day. She has been introduced to solids now officially since the 6th month. We have decided to baby lead wean which just means that we are weaning her into solids by real food not puree. I will tell you what, that kid, can EAT!! She chews so good. I was a little nervous at first of chocking etc and even reverted back to the spoon a few times but she's got this down. She has trained herself to chew even before her little half tooth made its debut Sunday June 23rd. We started out with really soft fruits first. Then before I knew it she was eating, peas, carrots, pineapple, avocados, squash, green beans, chicken (shredded), ground turkey (with no seasoning), egg (hard boiled and scrambled), apricots, yogurt, applesauce and barley (those by spoon of course) just to name a few. She has also trained herself to eat just one at a time. If you put a handful of peas on her tray she will eat them one at a time stuffing her whole hand in her mouth too!! So fun!! She isn't picky at all. I think I am learning a thing or two from her eating. :)

At 7 months she really had the backward crawl down but by the beginning of 8 months there was no looking back. She is all over the place now. Pulling up on this and trying to stand holding on by one hand. Our newest trick is to put our feet flat on the ground and our hands flat on the ground bottom in the air...I just know that day when she learns to stand on her own will come fast!! She has also been introduced to swimming. Memorial Day we took little miss to the pool at our house and it was a bit chilly still. CRAZY right?!?!  May 27th and it was too chilly for the pool. Anyways, she got to splash around just for photo sakes and then we headed back in. Bath time is one of her favorites. She loves to splash around and chase her toys all around. Here are some pictures below from 5-8 months...

5 Months Old (Bottom Easter Sunday) DIG IN!!

Carlie, Lynnlee and Raylan Easter Sunday while Momma worked ;(

Daddy's little Ranger Fan!! Yup she loves watching the game with daddy!! Opening Day March 2013 - 5 months old

 

Passed out!! Not sure what we did this day but it was fun whatever it was :) 6 months

  6 months old trying new foods!! See I told you I was scared...spoon feeding bananas. 

 

 My Mother's Day card...you can't tell but the inside is covered in finger painted goodness. See the traces of the paint from the outside? Love it!! 7 months Old

My first mother's day was awesome! The only regret I have was not getting a picture with Lynnlee and me together. I wasn't feeling good and she was a little under the weather but we still had a nice time with my parents, Carrie and the kids cooking and hanging out. Father's day update to come!! Pictures are still on the camera!

I'm 3 Months!! How can that BE!!

January is here...again! This time last year we were celebrating Brad's 30th! Going out celebrating...this year January is quite different. Brad got to celebrate his birthday with his daughter for the first time. (She got him a tie rack by the way). Since he was just starting his new position he needed something to hang his ties on so she actually carried the gift bag in her own hands, though not sure she really knew what she was doing, and gave it to him by herself (with me holding her of course). He was tickled...pink literally. He his suggestions for our next family picture was to wear pink, having a girl has really made him appreciate the pastel. Here are some pictures from 3 months and a cute video of her laughing. We cannot get enough. This month its still kind of hard to make her laugh...you have to work really hard at it and do something pretty random and stupid but if its what makes her laugh that will do it...

Tis' the Season...

Well, here we are into a new year, new beginnings came before the new year, but with a new baby there is always a constant change with new things happening all the time. Miss Lynnlee K celebrated her first Christmas and New Years. We are so very blessed with family surrounding us everyday. I just know that as Lynnlee grows she will enjoy each Christmas more with each year as I do. I cannot wait for her to learn about all the joys Christmas brings. Here are some photos of her first Christmas. Though she doesn't know much about it now she will soon grow to understand the meaning and the true reason for the season too.

 

We were blessed to bring in the new year with friends and family this year. I celebrated in a way I have never celebrated the new year before. I always was the type to get dressed up and go out. This year...well it wasn't quite the same. Although it wasn't what I was use to each year before, it was still the best new years ever!! I got to spend it with my precious baby girl, my sister, niece, nephew, cousins, parents, and good friends too!!  Here are some of how we brought in the new year!!

Cheers!!!

We can toast to that!!! Alexia, Brooklyn & Carlie

 

  Don't blow your hat off Erica!!

 

Ready...Set...Here comes Lynnlee!!

I want to start off by warning you, this post is really super long and super detailed. If you aren't sure you want this much detail feel free to stop reading at any time and you will NOT hurt my feelings. I want to put my experience out there detail by detail in hopes that maybe what I say here in this post could possibly help other women who are caught between decisions to have a birth center birth vs. hospital birth as well as a support person to someone who has made that decision to take this birth decision head on!! In my previous posts you will read about my decision and how I made the switch to a midwife. So this post is purely about the birth. I believe I was super blessed with a nice easy 8 hr labor!! Here is my story....

I want to shout out to two AMAZING women who have been there for me from prenatal care to birth/labor support to postnatal care and support. In the photo below Amanda Prouty and Kim Daly with Beautiful Beginnings Midwifery (http://beautifulmidwifery.com/). They have been so amazing from day one.  From the first appointment at my 15 week mark and currently now two weeks after Lynnlee's birth, Amanda Prouty, has been someone I can text late at night with whatever it may be. My relationship with her was 100% patient/health care provider professional but at the same time 100% personal as well.  Thank you for that Amanda for all your support through my pregnancy up to now!

So the time is roughly 7:45 am, Monday October 15th. There was something about this morning. I was feeling good and ready to take on a nice breakfast of pancakes. As I tried to wake up and get my day going, I started noticing some mild menstrual type cramps that were a little more serious than I had noticed before.  As I started to prepare to make my pancake breakfast I realized the cramping was a lot more intense than I could handle, so dropped the pancake idea and settled for a pre-made blueberry muffin and hot chocolate instead. At this time its 8:00 am and I decide its time to start timing these cramps, which I have identified now as contractions. 9:13 am I sent Amanda a text  to let her know that I was counting contractions and that today may be the day. I sent her a photo screen of my tracker and her instructions were to go about my day and try not to think about them. Since I had already made plans to meet with Theresa (a friend and manager I work with) I called and let her know of the new progressions. We decided to just let her come to my house to pick up the pictures I had for her. By 11:30am I sent her a text to let her know the contractions were more serious  and harder. Basically telling her, in a round about way, she might want to hurry!! LOL...When she got to the house I didn't see much of her because my contractions were serious at this point. Once she left I got into my tub trying to do all that I could to keep relaxed and trying NOT to think about the contractions  as Amanda had instructed me to do. 12:30 pm I am now in our bath tub with Brad on the floor with my phone app timing my contractions and keeping contact with Amanda. At this point, I feel in my heart that we are moving along very fast.  By 1:45pm Amanda instructed us to go ahead and meet at the birth center in one hour. Being a first time mom, Amanda was trying to hold me off as long as she could, since my water hadn't broken yet and I still hadn't had my "bloody show" yet (which happened right before we left the house). Also after the fact, I think I might have been timing the contractions wrong. Instead of timing them from time they started until they were over I think I was timing them from time they peaked to the time they let up. So they weren't lasting long enough and Amanda was getting wrong information from us. Oops. So...I got out of the bath, Brad finished loading the car (which he started loading at 8am LOL) and we were on our way to the B.C. by 2pm.

What seemed like the ride of a life time, only took about 20-25 minutes. Contractions cramped up in a vehicle isn't the easiest thing to do. When we arrived, being that it was a Monday there was no one there yet. I jumped out of the car and assumed the best position I could to ease the contractions, standing outside the car feet on the pavement and bent over with elbows on the seat. Within a few minutes, Kim showed up and let us in. This is when the real fun begins. I found at the house and even at the birth center, my favorite place was on the toilet just because it relieved pressure. It wasn't 15 minutes we were there, Brad was still unloading the car, I was working through a contraction, on the toilet, and  I felt a pop and a gush and later was told it was my water breaking. Good thing I was on the toilet when it happened!!!  It was shortly after that when all of a sudden I got this urge to push. My body was actually doing it for me and there was no stopping it. Amanda had not made it there yet and neither did my photographer. Kim started up the tub, at this point I'm still thinking we are having a water birth because our little princess turned the weekend before...or so we thought.  The water in the tub felt nice and helped to relax me but actually did nothing for the pain. In my mind with each contraction I pushed and I kept thinking "it's only gonna get worse...but you can do it". With each contraction and push I closed my eyes, fell deep into a state of relaxation and meditation and prayed to God to help me through the next. Amanda arrived and immediately came over to check me. When she did she told me that I was complete and that I was doing good. However, she didn't want to worry or freak me out but baby was breech.  In the heat of the moment I now was trying to prepare myself mentally for what could happen ahead, but at the same time there was no stopping this baby, she was on her way!! Being that I spent the last 10 weeks or so already trying to prepare myself for this, I had no time to really process what was going to happen or what could happen but to just go on. There was no time to pull back, she was coming whether I wanted her to come breech or not.

I was able to continue to labor in the tub until I started to begin to "crown" or whatever they call it when the baby is breech. Once the time was right I got out of the tub and found the familiar position that worked for me, feet on the floor and elbows on the bed standing. I spent an hour in the tub and an hour laboring standing up but because of my deep relaxation and meditation it only seemed like minutes. Thank GOD! That "it's only gonna get worse feeling" only got worse for a few minutes then before I knew it, she was crowed, I laid on my back and here she came.

Because I was the first of my family and many of my friends to make the decision to give birth in a birth center instead of hospital, many people tried to scare me, tried to convince me that I was crazy for wanting my birth this way. They acted shocked with disbelief when my response was "no" when asked "are you having anything for pain?" I was totally out of my  mind for not wanting a hospital and nurses, doctors etc.  The only response to these questions and comments before my birth experience was" it just wasn't what I wanted" but didnt really have a real reason or experience to base it off of.  Now I do. I would NOT have done this any other way!! And even knowing what I know now and going through what I went through I still wouldn't do it any other way! Although, my sister and several of my friends and family had successful hospital births, I could not imagine laboring in a hospital strapped to a bed with IV's and constant poking, monitoring and machines. Don't get me wrong, there are some who need that and who are at risk or have complications, I understand that, but if you have a healthy no complication pregnancy and want to have your birth your way...do it! Because my baby was breech MOST doctors wouldn't have let me deliver her naturally. I would ultimately had to have a c-section and that was NOT part of my plan!!  There was nothing like this experience. Oct. 12th I got a text from a friend who told me something very comforting and during my labor I constantly thought of her words and really think that they helped...she said "when time comes for your baby girl to arrive know that you can deliver her on your own.  Give into your body and let it work.  When you think you cant go no longer you are very close.  Take it one step at a time". Thanks Amanda Richardson for those words, I tell the truth when I say they really stuck with me during labor. The point to this last paragraph is for all the women out there reading this who are trying to decide in this choice of birth, if you decide to take this route and have a natural, non-medicated birth with a midwife at a birth center instead of hospital the most important advice I can give which was given to me is (1) do your research, if your pregnancy is a no risk normal pregnancy find a midwife you connect with and feel you are comfortable with. Research your options and really know what you are facing with natural birth (2) surround yourself with positive support. People will try give you advise about labor and it can make you second guess ability to do this, but as long as you keep a good support system in tow you will always have that positive reinforcement to back you up. Everyone's experience is their own, no two people are alike in their experience (3) Believe in yourself. Trust in your gut and trust in God to guide you and lead you throughout your pregnancy and labor. 

To conclude this very long post, here are some pictures for your enjoyment to share our birth experience and the very first moments of Lynnlee's arrival. These moments I will never forget. Thanks to Alyson with Timeless Memories( http://www.timeless-photography.net/) for making sure we never forget this day with awesome photos.

WELCOME Lynnlee!!

Bright Eyes...another advantage of natural birth, no drugs in me and no drugs to her. She was wide awake and so alert.

Proud of momma!!

The cord may have been cut but I will always be connected to this little angel more than she will ever know.

Love at first sight!!

Family time just the three of us in the herbal bath

You have made it to the end of the blog...thanks for reading and once again to those who want this birth experience...you can do what your body was made to do. Just when you feel that you cant go any further take a deep breath and let your body tell you what to do!!