Oh, happy day.

One year ago today, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise...
...and just knew it was going to be a good day.

A happy day.
One of the best days ever...
And here we are... one year later.

As a family of four.
I'm so lucky.

You can read the story of how we found out we were pregnant with Brynn including videos of how we told our families here!

Have you voted today? =)

Y3W: Birth in Pictures

My Birth Story

Leading up to the big day:
I guess the best place to start is from my 35 week appointment. I had a growth ultrasound which showed that baby girl was measuring at about 7lbs 12oz {98-100%tile} with 5 weeks to go until my due date.

After already delivering a big baby, this was not surprising to any of us. My belly had been measuring 5 weeks ahead almost the entire 3rd trimester, so this is exactly what we expected.

I also had my first internal at this appointment as well and we were shocked to find out that I was 4cm and 70% effaced already. Due to my progress, the baby's size, my fluctuating blood pressure, and some hemorrhaging that occurred after the birth of Carter, we decided that it was best to induce at 39 weeks.

But who would think I would make it that far?

I continued to progress at a shocking rate, and by my 37 week appointment, I was around 6cm and 80% effaced. I honestly still can not believe I walked around like that for weeks.

Although I fully expected to make it to my 39 week induction, I was hoping that I would go on my own.

But, at my last doctors appointment at 38w6d, I was given my Induction Orders which literally turned out to be Brynn's eviction notice.

She was being forced out... just like her big brother.

Brynn's Birthday:
My doctor told me that we would be receiving a call from the hospital between 4am-8am on the morning of May 24th to let us know when a bed was ready. However, as I was reading through some of the paperwork she gave me, the hospital sheet clearly said I'd get a call between 5am-8am. After seeing that, I decided to set my alarm for 4:44am {yes, I set my alarm for random times} so that I had time to shower before waiting by the phone.

I barely slept that night. I kept holding my belly and feeling my baby move, knowing that it would all be over soon. I was so excited to meet her but also a little nervous about going through labor and delivery again. My alarm went off at 4:44am and I laid there for a minute before starting the day.

And then my phone rang. At 4:45am.

The hospital had a bed ready for me and wanted me there at 5:30am. That gave us 45 minutes to shower, get ready, wait for my mother-in-law to arrive to watch Carter, and then drive the 15 minutes to the hospital. I didn't expect for it to happen so fast, but now I'm actually glad it did. I had no time to be nervous... we were just really excited to meet our baby girl!

Right before we left, I asked Bob to take one {or two} last belly pics of me...

With the induction orders...
...and the standard belly shot.
Wow, I look tired.

We got to the hospital around 5:40am, filled out some paperwork, and then waited in the induction area waiting room until my bed was ready. I knew this waiting area well... I was there right before I had Carter.

I wasn't nervous at all. I was ready.

The nurse came out and got us at about 6:15am to take us to our room. I got changed into the hospital gown, answered a ton of admission questions, got my IV, and started the Pitocin all before 7am. My doctor came in around 7:30am to check on me. I was still at 6cm and 80% effaced to start. She then broke my water and told me I'd be holding my baby by lunchtime.

She came back at around 8:30am and I was 7cm and 100%.

Though I wasn't in a ton of pain yet, I knew it was time to request the epidural. I didn't want to jump from 7cm to 10cm in no time at all and then have it be "too late" for the epi.

The anesthesiologist arrived at around 9am to give me the epi, but was then paged for an emergency {by my doc!} and had to quickly run off to assist with someone else. He returned to my room around 9:30am to finally administer the epidural for me. It was just in time, because the contractions were definitely painful.

I'm not going to lie... the epi hurt. But it was so worth it. They should warn you that one of the side effects of getting an epidural is wanting to marry the anesthesiologist.

Heaven.

As soon as I got my epi, my nurse {who was amazing... I just loved her!} made me lay down until it started working. She came back at 10am and told me that my doctor got called in for an emergency c-section, so they wanted to keep me laying on my side so that I didn't progress even further and deliver without my doctor present!

I had to lay that way for about 45 minutes to an hour because my doc then had to deliver the baby in the room next door. During that time, I hung out and talked to Bob, my mom, and my sister who were all in the room. We actually had a lot of fun! =)

By 11am, I was able to sit up so that we could let gravity to do it's job. My doctor told me to let her know when I got the "urge to push"... something I never got with Carter.

But, boy did I get it this time.

By noon, my doc came back in to check on me. I was 10cm, 100%, and the baby was "right there." They started setting everything up so that we could get ready to have this baby girl...

I started pushing at 12:13pm.

Everyone told me how wonderful I was doing, but I really didn't believe them. One of my worst fears going into labor with this baby, was having to push for hours. To me, pushing is the hardest part. But, just 5 short minutes later, my baby girl was born...

Brynn Sophia
May 24, 2010
12:18pm
9 pounds 3 ounces
20 3/4 inches

When she let out her first cry, I could not control myself.

There is no better sound in the entire world then hearing your baby cry for the first time. I got to hold her immediately and she was just perfect in every way.

I was finally meeting my daughter.

My doc continued to check me and make sure that I didn't have the hemorrhaging that occurred after the birth of Carter. Thankfully, I didn't and she also let me know that I didn't have any tearing. Wow. I had a few second degree tears with Carter, and that was one of the hardest parts of the recovery process. I was so happy that I didn't have any tearing or stitches this time.

The nurse took Brynn away to be cleaned and weighed. She looked very pale, so they checked her oxygen levels to make sure she was okay. Thankfully, she scored a 98% on the O2 test, however her sugar levels were very low. They let me hold her again before administering another sugar test. Low again. The nurse said she'd give her one more test before calling the NICU.

After about 30 minutes of cuddling with our new little girl, she had another low sugar test and was sent off to the NICU for observation. Although she only spent 4 hours there, it was so hard to watch them take her away so soon after she was born. I really feel for any family that has to have a little one in the NICU for an extended period of time. I don't know how you do it...

We continued to call for status updates in the NICU and Bob took several family members there to see her, but I never went. I didn't think I could handle seeing, not only her, but all of the babies there. I knew I would lose it, so I decided to stay in the room and await her return.

Thankfully she was back in our room sometime around 7pm and Carter was finally able to meet his little sister. What a beautiful moment.

This past week has been a crazy kind of wonderful. I feel great, which is nice because with two under two there really is no time to feel anything but great. People keep asking me if I'm taking breaks and resting. Rest? What's that?

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Due Date Brynn!

We've been counting down to this day, May 29th, since we found out we were pregnant in September.

Though I never thought this day would get here, I can't believe how fast it has come.

And today, on Brynn's due date, I have a sweet 5 day old baby girl to cuddle with.
And, oh the cuddling we've done.

Happy Due Date Brynnie girl! We love you more then you will ever know.

A letter to my daughter.

Dear Brynn,
Growing up, when I envisioned my life as a mother, it always included a daughter.

Maybe it's because I am one of three daughters myself.

Maybe it's because I've always had a wonderful relationship with my own mother.

The exact reason, I'm not sure of, but I do know that having a daughter is simply something that I've always seen in my life.

As I got older, I swore I was destined to be a mother of boys. And what a wonderful life that would have been.

But I think, deep down inside, I would have felt like something was missing.

You.

I loved you before I met you.

What the future holds for us, I have no idea. But I do know that it will be wonderful. Because it's a life with you.

Today is your birthday.

A day that I will remember forever. A day that I've envisioned since I was a little girl myself. And it's here.

Today I get to meet you. I get to hold you in my arms. I get to kiss you, and hug you, and hold your little hand.

Growing up, when I envisioned my life as a mother, it always included you.

And today our story begins. As mother and daughter.

I'll see you soon, sweet baby girl.

I love you,
Mom

39 Weeks!

Well, it's the end of the road. Brynn has officially decided to live in my uterus forever, therefore she is being forced out in the morning.

I have to admit... I'm a little nervous.

I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight. Not only is the LOST series finale going to keep me up until almost midnight, the hospital is suppose to call sometime between 4am and 8am to let me know what time to report to the hospital.

So I'm looking at 4 hours of sleep at the most. That's if I sleep.

I certainly want to shower in the morning, but because the hospital usually only gives you an hour to get there, that means I have to get up around 4am no matter what. I guess I can always shower and then lay back down until they call... {pfft, yeah right.}

Well.... we got a lot done this weekend, so I'm excited about that! Bob took it upon himself to completely redo the front garden area of our house. He put in all new stones, mulch, and flowers and it looks soooooo pretty! Seeeee:
I have to admit, I was a little nervous when Bob woke up on Saturday morning and said he wanted to take on this HUGE project. I had to remind him that, once he started, he HAD to finish it this weekend because there would be so many people coming to our house when we got home from the hospital. He said he could have it done.... and he did {with the help of our brother-in-law, Ryan!} =)

Besides that, the inside of the house is completely clean, the laundry is all caught up, there's food in the house, the dishes are done, and we're all packed up and ready for the hospital.

We went out for a nice dinner with my parents tonight. And when they left the house, they took Carter's over night bag as well as his carseat. {But they didn't take Carter... I want him here with ME tonight!}

It seems so real now. This is really happening.

I'm making sure I spend some extra cuddle time with my Carter Man tonight and I also find myself staring at my belly a lot. While it's huge and uncomfortable, I'm going to miss it when it's gone. I'm going to miss my baby girl moving around in there.

But I'd rather have her in my arms.

Pregnancy: 39 weeks {belly pics taken at 39w1d}

Weight Gain: 23 pounds total

Sleep: No more sleeping for this girl!

Gender: Girl

Name: Brynn Sophia

Feeling: Ready. Anxious. Excited. Nervous. I'm just hoping for a smooth induction with a very minimal amount of pushing, thank you very much. =)

Health: Right now I don't care about my health... I'm just praying for a healthy baby.

Movement: Just enjoying these last few hours of feeling her inside my belly.

Belly: BIG.

Next Appointment: No more appointments! Just my scheduled induction tomorrow morning. EEEEKKKKK!!! =)

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers! Again, my friend Steph will be posting updates right here on my blog, so feel free to check in if you're interested!

Catch ya on the flip side...

Y3W: Appt. Update

My appointment today went well. Weight was good... I gained that pound back from last week, bringing my total back up to 23lbs. Not too bad! My blood pressure was a little high, but certainly not awful. I was still "almost 6cm" and 80% effaced.

And I got my induction orders for Monday. That piece of paper that is literally Brynn's eviction notice.

Poor baby... doesn't even know what's coming.

My doctor told me that the hospital would call me between 4am-8am on Monday morning to let me know what time I should report to the hospital and that I'd be holding my baby girl by 10am. =)

I sure do hope she's right.

Now I just need to decide what to do this weekend. It's officially my last one as a mother of ONE!

The next time...

Here I sit. In my office. On my very last day of work before maternity leave.

The next time I sit in this office, I will be a mother of two. I will have a daughter. I will have a 2 year old son. I will have countless sleepless nights, loads of laundry, and dirty diapers under my belt.

I will also have experienced meeting my daughter for the first time. Seeing her with her daddy. Seeing her with her big brother.

My heart will grow twice as big as it is this very moment.

The next time I sit in this office, my entire world will be different.

And I can not wait.

Birth Annoucements, birthday cards, and an update, oh my!

What does a girl do when she's patiently waiting to meet her baby? While design cards, of course!

This past weekend, I worked on Brynn's birth announcement as well as Carter's 2nd birthday invitations and I wanted to share them with you!

This is the design I decided to use to announce the birth of our baby girl to family and friends. The front will include 4 pictures from our newborn session with Stephanie Glover Photography {which had to be rescheduled from this Saturday to next Saturday because we thought Brynn would be here by now!!} I'm still playing with the fonts a little bit, and the birth information is obviously made up right now =)

You can see a larger version here.
I wanted to keep the back of the card very simple. It will include just one picture and have the monogrammed "b" on the bottom. You can view it larger here.

The next order of business was getting Carter's 2nd birthday invitations done! We decided to go all out for Carter's 1st birthday, and as much fun as we all had, it was a LOT of work! With a newborn around, we decided it was best to keep it low key this year.

Because Carter probably has more friends then both Bob and I combined, we decided to have a kids party at a local indoor bounce house facility the day before his birthday. We've been to this place for a few parties and the kids always have a blast. And let's not forget about the fact that you're in and out of there in 2 hours and you don't have to clean up =) Again, with a newborn to care for as well, this was the perfect choice!

We also plan to have a little family BBQ on Carter's actual birthday, which falls on a Sunday this year.

So, without further ado... Carter's birthday invitations {with fake info of course... I can't afford to invite all of you ;) } You can see a larger version here.
Bob thought they looked a little "babyish." I think he's forgetting about the fact that Carter is only turning TWO.

And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to share with you the invite I designed for Kelly, who won my Blogaversary giveaway! She decided to use her free card design for her daughter's birthday invitations. She mentioned that her daughter Madison loves baseball and has a lot of little boy friends, etc so she asked if I could make my classic baseball invitation into something fit for a girl!

This is the design I came up with and I think it turned out adorable! I don't have the pictures of Madison for the card yet {and all the info is fake, of course} but I couldn't wait to share it with you. Again, you can view a larger version here.
So that's all I have... let me know what you think of everything! I listed the Bounce House invite design in my Etsy Shoppe already, and I plan to list the birth announcement and the girl baseball invite in there once I have pictures on the designs.

As for me, I'm still hanging in there. Feeling fine, no contractions {of course!} and still working. Tomorrow is actually my last day and I honestly can't believe I made it this far.

Though this entire time I had a gut feeling I would make it to my induction date of May 24th, I guess I was hoping that I would be wrong.

I've been wrong a lot in this pregnancy:
I thought I was having another boy. Wrong.
I thought I'd deliver on May 14th. Wrong.

But making it to May 24th while I sit here at 6cm and 80%. Now THAT, I'm right about.

38 weeks and feelin' good!

You ready for this?

It's a bare belly shot of me holding a monster baby.

You've been warned.
She's SOOOOO LOW. Ouch.

And my "standard" shot...
I just realized that this is the most pregnant I've ever been. And I feel good. I really do.

I had Carter at 38w1d {which was yesterday in my pregnancy with Brynn} and, as I look down at my ginormous belly and see my baby girl moving around, I can't help but think...

Is she 9lbs 5oz right this very minute?

I have no doubt in my mind that I will make it to my induction next Monday. One week from today, I'll likely be at the hospital, hooked up to an IV and Pitocin. And honestly, being at 6cm and 80% right now, how long would it actually take before I meet my baby girl for the first time? An hour? Maybe two, tops. ;)

Ya never know though... she may just pick her own birthday. And I'd really love it if she did.

I wonder what day she'd pick? I think Thursday would be good: 5.20.10. Can I talk you into that, Miss Brynn? I'd have to call out of work that day, but I'm okay with that. Thursday is my last day anyway.

Honestly, any day she picks will be a wonderful day.

But, no matter what, she'll be here in a week. Just one more week. And I feel good. I really do.

Pregnancy: 38 weeks {belly pics taken at 38w0d and 38w1d}

Weight Gain: 22 pounds total

Sleep: Ever since I've been on the antibiotics for my sinus infection, I've been sleeping a little better. It's very much appreciated, that's for sure!

Gender: Girl

Name: Brynn Sophia

Feeling: Ready. Anxious. Excited.

Health: BP is up again. And my reflux is awful because I can't take any Zantac with the antibiotic that I'm on. :( But I still feel better than I did with my sinus infection!

Movement: She's obviously out of room, but I still feel her move quite often. And I still love it.

Belly: Stretch marks showed up at 36w {after not getting any with Carter!} Still measuring 5 weeks ahead.

Next Appointment: This Friday, May 21st at 38w6d. My last day of work is this Thursday, May 20th!!! FOUR MORE DAYS!!!

So, this week is my very last appointment. How weird is that? I will have my last internal and, while I was thinking about declining, {because really, what's the point?} I have decided to have it done in hopes that it may help jump start labor on it's own. I always feel very crampy and get contractions after each internal, so maybe one last check will do the trick!

Brynn will also literally get her eviction notice on Friday as well. My doctor will give me my induction orders and paperwork for the hospital on Monday.

Wow. This is happening. And I feel good. I really do.