Brettley's Story

If you don't want to read the fun stories of labor and delivery, the rest of this post is not for you. If you're curious about the last few days, have a read.

I woke up at 4:45 on Friday morning to John's alarm so I decided to use the washroom before he got in there. When I turned back to flush the toilet I noticed some bright red blood in there, so we quickly threw on some day clothes and John called my dad to come and watch the boys. I got a blessing while we waited and started having contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart the whole way to the hospital. The triage at emergency sat me in a wheelchair and I was brought to assessment & induction in maternity. They put me on a monitor and my contractions kept coming harder & faster. After about 40 minutes on the monitor my back pain was so bad during contractions that I couldn't keep quiet during them anymore (which is a first for me, really). After about 15 more minutes I felt his head right in place and kind of screamed for someone to check me (no one had yet at that point). John says the nurse looked like she didn't believe things were at all that bad, but checked anyway. The next thing I knew I was being rushed into a delivery room with people yelling for a full staff and my hands and arms were tingling like mad. It was near impossible not to push at that point. There were about 8 staff members in the room with me trying to get me onto the delivery bed with me crying and trying to explain that I couldn't move. Somehow I managed to roll onto it anyway. Someone jammed an IV into my arm (I have the bruises to back up the word jammed, by the way) and about 30 seconds later my water broke (a first for me, it's always been broken for me before). About 1 minute later the baby was out (AHH!!! sweet relief @ 7:18). They let John cut his cord and took him for the typical tests. His APGARs were 9 and 9, and he was 4lbs14oz. I couldn't believe that he was that heavy already at only 33 weeks. They put Brett on my chest and let him stay there for about 10 or 15 minutes so he would get to know me before they had to take him away. I remember kissing his tiny little head and thinking that he had a lot of hair. John went with him when he went for more tests while I answered questions for paperwork and got cleaned up. John came back and stayed with me except to go up with Brett to NICU so he'd know where to find him. They put Brett on a CPAP machine because his breathing was a little hard (at about 9am).

By the time we went up to see him at 4pm he was off of the CPAP and doing very well. I was too scared to touch him again, so I just stared at him a lot and talked to the nurse who explained to us what Brett needs to be able to do before he can leave NICU and different ways that we would be helped out while he's there. I went back up there after 7pm with my mum. This time I was up to putting my hand in the incubator and rubbing his back. Mum agreed with me that Brett looks a lot like Ty. The nurse said he was still doing very well and gave me a Preemie Parent Handbook. She wanted me to hold him, but I still wasn't quite ready. It had been a VERY emotional day.

I've seen him twice so far today and am hoping to make it there once more before I go to bed. The second time I went (after I was discharged from the hospital) I held him in my arms for a while. I was so nervous before, but it went really smoothly and wasn't nearly as freaky as I thought it would be. He has had food a few times (once was with a bottle) and has only spit up once, the last I heard. He is doing very well and we are very proud of him for being so strong and fighting so hard.

So there you have the story from a mommy who is still in a half-daze and running on next to no sleep. I will keep posting about Brettley's progress as I learn more. Take care!

Brett

Sorry I don't have photos on our computer yet and I'm not up to writing the story quite yet as I'm very tired, but Brettley Eoin Bly was born on Friday, February 11th @ 7:18am. He was 4 lbs 14 oz and 33 weeks to the day. He is at NICU and doing well. I got to hold him again this afternoon. He is so precious.

What Do You Think?

So I just realized that it's 3 weeks and 1 day until I'm allowed to go to my preferred hospital if I go into labour. That being said, I'm going to start opening up the polls for when I will have the baby and how big he'll be. So make sure to put your guess in on the polls on the side and also leave a comment with your more specific guess. To give you a bit of help with your guess, here's some background info.

I hit 37 weeks on Mar 11th and am 40 weeks on Apr 1st. My weight gain with the pregnancy has been normal, according to my OB.

L was born at 39 weeks (not induced) and was 6lbs 10.75oz.
Caleb was born at 37 weeks (not induced) and was 6lbs 7oz.
Ty was born at 38 weeks (induced, but would have come in a matter of days on his own) and was 6lbs 1oz.

So go ahead and have a guess. Maybe there will be something special for whoever is closest on the date as well as the weight.

PS
I will post my guesses after the polls close on Feb 20th.

Attitude of Gratitude Day and the Mouse

It's been a fun few days. We found a mouse in the house during the night on Monday, so the boys and I spent all of Tuesday, that night and all of yesterday until after supper at my dads house. I did discover that the sensitivity I have developed to cigarette smoke apparently bothers me more than mice though, since we're back home even though we still might have the mouse (I hate townhouses for that). Now I am semi-sick and Ty's cough is really bad again.

Anyway, moving on, it's Attitude of Gratitude Day, so here she goes...

1) I am grateful that John has tried really hard to support me through my irrational fears. He doesn't feed in to them or agree with them, but he realizes how much they bother me and tried to help me to feel better. I love having such a wonderful husband.

2) I am grateful that my contractions that I was having earlier last week are down to a minimum again and I don't have to worry quite as much anymore. I can't believe that there are only 50 days until my due date (which no one expects me to make it to anyway). It still is kind of feeling surreal.

3) I am grateful that my kids slept in until 7 this morning. Caleb has been waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 lately, and usually waking Ty up with him, so it was really nice to be able to rest a little longer this morning, especially because I didn't sleep very well last night. They may drive me bonkers some day, but I love my kids so much.

Well, that's about all for now, I suppose. Hope you have a wonderful weekend:)

Outback and Sick Kids

This weekend I have found something that helps me keep my stress level down and something that does the opposite. Yesterday John and I decided to go out for supper since it`s probably the last time that we`ll get to go out by ourselves for several months. So I called up my dad and he came and watched the boys for us. We went to the Outback and had smoothies and a Bloomin`Onion. John had steak fajitas and I had a mushroom swiss burger. Well, I had half of one, I couldn`t finish the other half. It was quite yummy, though. So that helped keep my stress level down. Anytime I get to relax away from the house and the kids for a couple of hours does wonders for me.

However, today Caleb`s cough that he`s had for a few days got worse, his fevers kept getting hotter and wouldn`t stay away for long. Ty started coughing bad again as well. So John took them to the medicentre where a doctor prescribed them both antibiotics without actually telling John what was wrong with them. Sometimes doctors just amaze me with some of the dumb things they do. Anyway, so they both started their antibiotics and Ty also has an inhaler for now. They are sleeping well and I haven`t heard any coughing, so I`m very glad that they seem to be feeling better. But anyway, having sick kids and waiting by the phone for a few hours to hear what`s wrong with them is a bit stressful. Luckily, my body didn`t react too badly to the stress.

Not too much else is really new here. I had the sacrament brought to me at home today. They will continue to do this until after Brett`s born since I can`t sit through church anymore without ending up in a LOT of pain. Well, I was actually going to try and make it through this Sunday, but that all changed when the kids got sick. I guess we`re playing it week by week right now. I`ll be glad to feel more like a normal person again.

So I guess that`s about it. An early update again, but oh well. I have a prenatal on Tuesday, so maybe I`ll have something to say after that. Have a good one:)

Attitude of Gratitude Day

Ah, it's 3 am and I'm wide awake. Heartburn is so much fun, not! At any rate, I figure I'll do this now, so here is this week's Attitude of Gratitude:

1) I am grateful for the healing that can come when we receive a priesthood blessing. It has made a huge difference to me in the last few days. (This also made me grateful for a home teacher that we can rely on to come and help give the blessing when it's needed)

2) I am grateful that the big project John's department has been doing so much overtime for is due today. That being said, I'm also grateful that he was able to do so much overtime so that we could have enough saved up for him to take a week off when the baby is born.

3) I am grateful for a wonderful husband who bought me another Booster Juice last night when he was out dropping off stuff at the library and getting milk. It seems like Booster Juice is my major craving in this new year, I can't seem to get it out of my head. I love it:)

So that's about it. Tomorrow I'll be 32 weeks along, which means I officially will have 8 weeks until my due date and that we will probably have the baby in about 6 weeks. ACK!

I'm still taking things easy here and trying not to get stressed out (HA!) so my house is kind of suffering. Caleb did help clean up a bit yesterday, though.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Fun Few Days

Here's just a quick update of what my last couple days have been like. I think I already mentioned the wicked nasty painful Braxton Hicks that I got at the church. Well, every time I would do any amount of moving around or get stressed out at all in the last couple of days they came back. So I've been doing a fat load of nothing other than occasionally getting the boys food and changing Ty. It's been very frustrating. However, I got a priesthood blessing for it last night and I'm feeling loads better. The biggest difference is that I'm able to control my stress level a lot better since then. I love the priesthood and the gospel in general. I'm still taking things super easy though.