Highlights of our Past Year (or so) - BRAYDEN ARRIVES!

My pregnancy with Brayden went very smoothly-- just looooooooong. My "due date" was August 25th, but B decided to hang around the womb as long as possible. Chris started asking if I was a "dud." I really did feel like a dud...a firework that was supposed to go off at a certain time, and didn't. My doctor had a vacation scheduled the week after my due date, so I couldn't be induced until almost 2 WEEKS after August 25th. Looking back, 2 weeks isn't a big deal (okay it still kind of is, but not nearly as bad as it felt then), but for an expectant mother, it was an eternity. Chris and I tried pretty much everything we heard of to try and move things along...spicy food, walks, and all that good stuff. I was even seen by neighbors bouncing around the bumpy yard on the riding lawn mower. Didn't do a thing except get a lot of laughs out of passers by. Doh. Brayden wanted all the baking time he could get. I'm glad now...it made him extra sweet (awwww cheesy!!).

September 6th was the big day we had scheduled if the B decided not to come on his own. We were scheduled to go in at 7 am that morning, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Kind of a big event that was coming. I took a shower and started feeling contractions. By the time it was time to go to the hospital I was having some pretty good ones. Turns out it was a really good thing because it helped things go much smoother with the petocin.

We were escorted to the delivery room and I remember looking at the delivery bed, the tray of I.V. stuff, the scale, and the INCUBATOR (where OUR baby was going to be!) in terror. I was so nervous. Chris, of course, was enjoying every second of my anxiety. He just laughed. Punk. I got the last laugh though because he ended up having to lie on the floor and sip juice after seeing the nurse place my I.V. HA!

Long story short, I got my epidural when the contractions were getting stronger, then we watched Seinfeld episodes for a while and I fell asleep. Pretty soon our cute nurse (Carol was awesome!) came in and said it was pushing time. I pushed for about an hour and a half, and then our baby boy was here! He was 8 pounds and 10 ounces (ya that extra baking time did him good!), and was 19 inches long. It was amazing to finally meet the little guy who had been wiggling around inside me for so long. I felt so much love for Chris and for our new baby boy, and I felt so humbled and grateful that everything went so smoothly. It was a great day.