Haylee Marie Brown-Birth Story

I was originally due July 24th, but that day came and passed and Haylee was still perfectly content. We originally set a induction date for the Sunday after she was due, however cold feet and my determination to have her come on her own made us decide to push it back until the following Thursday (Aug 2nd) . A whopping 9 days after she was originally due.

Our doctor was for sure that she would be making her appearance before then because I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. But the days kept passing and I unfortunately felt amazing and had no change. Both of our families were in town waiting impatiently to meet this little girl but we had one problem, no baby. The day of induction crept towards us.

Thursday arrived and I was due at the hospital at 10am. We woke up early, picked up the house and headed to Denny's for a breakfast feast with Lance's Mom and Dad. I was trying to keep my mind off of what was to come. That morning was completely filled mixed emotions. I was ecstatic to meet my little girl but I was terrified for the labor process

We arrived at the hospital and Lance and I headed in while his parents parked the car. We checked in and within minuets we were escorted back and I was immediately given a gown to change into. When we came out our amazing nurse Brittney had everything ready to start the IV of pitocin. Things were happening really fast.

I was hooked up to the pitocin for about 30 min and I began having contrations. They were painless. The only way I could tell I was having one was on the monitor hooked up to my stomach.  The nurses kept turning it up but I still couldn't feel anything. After about 3 hours of it turned up to a 10 and me only dilating to a 4 and having no pain just a little pressure, the nurses came in and asked me if I wanted to break my water to speed things up. We talked about it for a bit and they offered me the epidural first but we couldn't make up our minds. I was so scared!

We finally decided to break my water, see if the contractions got worse then get the epidural when I needed it. I didn't want the epidural slowing things down.

Breaking my water was painless and it wasn't even 10 min until I felt my first contraction pain. I would describe them as extremely uncomfortable, almost like a severe menstrual cramps that slowly got worse, peaked then went away. I could breathe and move through them. I decided to go ahead and get the epidural right away. I could have gone longer without it but I decided if I was already planning on getting it, I might as well get it right then and enjoy the rest of the experience.

3 min later they were asking everyone to leave the room so they could give it to me. I got so scared and I did not want Lance to leave. That was the hardest part of the whole labor experience. The epidural didn't hurt, but the fact that Lance had to leave me when I was so scared was the hardest.

Lance finally was allowed back into the room and seeing him walk in made me break down in tears. It was the only time during labor that I actually cried. I was so relieved.

After a while of breathing through some intense contractions the epidural finally took effect. I worked everywhere except the spot where I broke my pelvis 6 years ago. Because I was so tall the epidural took a little longer to get through my body. The pressure and pain on my hip was so intense, Lance was able to put counter pressure on my back that helped relieve some of the pain. That pain only lasted a few minuets and then I was numb.

They decided to check me again after I was fully numb only about 30 min after the epidural. I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing, the pain I was feeling in my hip was the baby making her way down into the birth canal.

Because my doctor had yet to arrive I had to resist pushing for a little while. Once she got there they immediately set up and I pushed for about 20 min and our little princess was born. 

Haylee Marie Brown was born August 02, 2012 at 6:03 pm. Being 9 days late we got a little adorable chunk. She weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20 inches long.

She had a little bit of fluid in her lungs when she was born but they suctioned them out and she started crying. She was perfect in every way! 

I had an amazing and really easy labor experience. Labor only lasted about 7 hours and was for the most part painless. There is nothing in the world that can compare to seeing your child for the first time. That immediate love you have for the baby is unbelievable.

Being a mom is the best!! :)

Obsessed with this little one!

Ready to go home! :)

39 Week update!

So here we are, 4 days from our due date! We just got back from the doctor and I'm progressing fabulously. I'm now at a 2 and 70% effaced. Baby is getting lower and lower everyday and getting ready for her big entrance!

We finally have a finish line in sight! If she doesn't come next week we have tentatively set an induction date for Sunday July 29th. Our doctor says we won't need it because my body is doing everything it is supposed to do in getting ready for this little one's arrival. However, since we have family coming to Cleveland and our doctor will be out of town that following week we have made the decision to help her along if she doesn't come within 5 days of her due date. 

Little one is super healthy, I'm healthy (just uncomfortable), and Lance is extremely inpatient and wants her here now.  We are all doing great and can't wait to have our little family grow! 

Baby Shower and a Bump Picture

The amazing Cleveland 2nd branch threw me a surprise baby shower last Saturday and it was so fun! Baby showers in the branch are more like a family affair so Lance encountered his first baby shower. He participated in ALL the games and it was so funny, kind of cruel but SO funny!

Lance playing the famous candy bar diaper game!

So Nasty!

The Applesauce game.... he really almost puked multiple times!

He was a great sport and provided us with LOTS of laughs!

We were showered with SO many gifts and it was fun to see everyone from the other ward that came! 

Shelly made me this ADORABLE bag! I LOVE it!

All of our gifts from the shower! Thank you so much! This little girl is going to be one well-dressed baby and has enough bows to last her a lifetime! :)

We had a blast and it made us even more excited for our little one's arrival. A HUGE thank you to everyone who threw it and came!!

Here's some pictures before the shower of my bump. Nice and HUGE at 37 weeks 4 days, I'm ready to POP!

36 Weeks

4 weeks

or

28 days

or

672 Hours

or

40,320 Minutes

or

2,419,200 seconds

Until our little girl's expected arrival!!!

36 weeks today and I'm feeling pretty dang great! Just the normal aches and pains and not able to move around as well. However, I can still beat Lance at mini-golf so I think I'm doing pretty well!
[edit: this is Lance, no she can't, we're tied 1-1, we still need to play the tie-breaker]

Its officially my last week of work, I'll be done on Friday! 

According to my handy-dandy pregnancy app, she is now the size of a Crenshaw Melon, and because I have absolutely no idea what that is I have provided a picture below:

For some odd reason this picture makes me think of the Lion King, when Simba is held up at the beginning. 

Anyways....

We are both ecstatic and can't wait to meet her.

Lance is becoming extremely baby happy and I love seeing how excited he is. He is going to be the BEST dad! 

The doctor told us to start getting everything ready because she can come any day now. This freaked us me out so I tried convincing Lance that we needed to put the car seat in the car, we compromised for the trunk. It made me feel better and a little more prepared! 

We sure hope these 4 weeks go by fast! 

34 Weeks

34 weeks down, only 6 more to go! This is getting crazy! Only 42 more days to go till she is due. Lance and I were looking at a calendar the other day and realized she could come as early as July 3rd and be full term. I'm starting to panic a bit because I feel we are no where near ready for her!!

I'm definitely starting to tell that she is getting ready to come. The aches and pains are starting to intensify and she is getting stronger by the day, not to mention a lot larger. She loves to play in my ribs. 

Since we are down to the final 6 weeks of pregnancy we have decided we really need to start finalizing on the name we are going to give her. Lance came up with a BRILLIANT idea that we have been doing for the past couple days. Each week we pick one of the final two names and we refer to her as that and nothing else. This way we can get a feel of how it is going to be to call her that. 

This weeks name is Brooklyn. 

Next week we will call her Haylee and see how that feels. It's been so weird to actually be calling her a real name instead of baby girl, little girl, or any other nickname we have come up with. 

We can't wait to meet her! 

Most of our conversations now days are all about her. What we think she will look like, who we think she will most look like, what her personality will be like, how she will be when she grows up, what we hope she will be like, what sports she will play, etc. We are absolutely head over heels for this little girl and can't wait for her to be here! 

Goodbye to Sleep

It's official, I can no longer sleep through the entire night. I'm up at least twice a night, either running to the bathroom or so uncomfortable that I just lay there wide awake listening to Lance snore, envying him and his ability to sleep. 

It started a week ago, I thought it was a one time thing but after happening every night...it's time to tell my peaceful full nights of sleep goodbye. And with a baby arriving next month...I'm not going to have those nights return for a VERY long time. 

It was nice while it lasted. :) 

The Final 2

The final two names are decided! After 3 weeks of just staring at the the final four names we were able to come to an agreement! Lance actually told me his favorite two and they happened to be mine as well,  it was the easiest round.

The final two are.......

Brooklyn & Haylee 

We think we are going to go to the hospital with two names and see which ones fits her the best. Either name we choose, her middle name will be Marie (that's my middle name and a couple great-something grandma's). I think they both have a great ring to them: Brooklyn Marie Brown or Haylee Marie Brown. 

What do you think? 

We are officially on the down hill stretch-30 weeks down, 10 more to go! 

Highlights of the past couple weeks:

~New doctor=AMAZING!!!!

~Little girl is measuring right on track

~She is getting SO strong and I feel her almost constantly

~Lance loves watching her stretch and kick me, then guessing what body part it is. We felt her foot the other day-so little and cute!

~He gets a kick out of waking her up when she is sleeping by shaking and talking loudly or singing at my stomach. It works unfortunately.

~All 3 of us our healthy and happy! :)