SHE'S 2 MONTHS OLD!

WOW - is all I can say!!! I can't believe our Miss Bri is already 2 months old! Time has flown by so fast and she's growing like a weed. The little munchkin has turned into quite the cute little porker. But I keep telling her to live it up because this is the only time in her life where it's cute to have rolls and rolls of chub. :) She is such a sweetie and I love to kiss on those cheeks all day long! She has started to jabber a lot the past week and it has been so fun to hear. She loves to tell mom, dad and even the dogs lots of good stories. She also has found her hands - and she loves them. She's sucking on them all the time and tries to stick her whole fist in her mouth, and about half of the time she'd rather have her fingers than her pacifier. She is such a good baby - we're so very lucky. She has been sleeping an average of 6 hours a night and I am loving it! Justin got home on Thursday night and then he took Friday off from work, so he got to spend a long weekend with us. It was so fun just to hang out as a family with no other interruptions. We went to dinner one night, took Brianna grocery shopping for the first time, had a campfire in the yard (although Bri and I spent most of the time in the screen house cause the mosquitoes are MISERABLE!), and went on a scenic drive to get ice cream. Bri was such a good little girl everywhere we went. It was also so fun to have Justin there with us during the day. Brianna has rough time from about 7-10pm every night, she gets really tired and grumpy, so her dad doesn't get to see her very often when she's just happy and content. So it was really fun watching them just chill out together. Happy 2mo Day Brianna!

(She has her 2 month old well child check on Friday, so I'll post her stats then)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY JUSTIN

So it's kind of sad today because Justin is still in Texas for his first Father's Day. So Brianna and I are just hanging out here at home without him, but we wanted to tell dad that we miss him very much. Even though he just barely became a dad he has already proved himself am amazing father. He's always taking care of his girls. Whether it's changing diapers, rocking Bri to sleep, singing lullaby's, making me dinner while I feed Bri, or even just getting up with me in the middle of night to keep me company - he's been so great and supportive. Bri and I love him so much. I'm really excited to spend the future with him and see us grow and learn to be parents together.

We took these pictures today for dad. We thought he'd enjoy her cute camo pics! I think Justin's already planning their first fishing and hunting trip together. And I know he's very proud that she already has some camo in her wardrobe. :) LOVE YOU DADDY!!!

(Thanks to Chantel for the cute camo outfit and matching bow. To check out Chantel's website go to www.kidcessories.com for cute, handmade, inexpensive bows.)

BRIANNA'S BIRTH STORY

Well I'm using this blog as a kind of journal and wanted to get Brianna's birth story written down somewhere for the future. So just to warn you it will be really long because I want to get all the details, so if you've already heard it, it might be kind of boring. So feel free to skip this post if you don't want to hear it again.

Well Brianna's due date was Apr. 23rd and I happened to have a doctor's visit that day. When the doctor checked me at my appointment I was at 1-2cm and about 70-80% effaced. Up until this point I hadn't really had any preterm labor, only a random contraction here or there, but nothing at all painful. I asked the doctor how likely it was for someone to go into labor without having any false labor and she told me it was pretty unlikely, so I assumed I would be making my appointment the following week to get me scheduled to be induced. During my appointment my doctor stripped my membranes to hopefully get things going. I wasn't anticipating it helping much because I'd had them stripped the week before and nothing had happened. But this doctor did a really good job - let's just say she looked like her name should be Helga and she was about as gentle as you would imagine a Helga to be. :) (Oh by the way I had many doctors through out my pregnancy. Going to a military hospital you basically see who ever is there. You hardly ever see the same doctor at each appointment. And the one you do see more than likely won't be the one to deliver you.) So I went home a little disappointed because I was really ready to have her because I was now over due.

Well Justin and I went to bed around 11pm that night and I had barely fallen asleep when I woke up at about 12am with what felt like menstrual cramps. They were coming about every 10-12 minutes and I thought hey finally some false labor, at least things are finally progressing. Well the contractions kept getting closer and closer for the rest of the night. They weren't too painful, but just uncomfortable enough that I couldn't sleep through them, so I got no sleep that night. The next morning Justin woke up to go to work to find me in the living room in the recliner because it felt better to sit during the contractions rather than lie down in bed. He asked if he should stay home from work and I told him no because I didn't want him to sit home for nothing (I was still thinking it might just be false labor pains). But after he left the contractions started intensifying in pain and were about 3-4 minutes apart. By this time I was pretty sure this was the real thing because it had gone on so long. I got in the shower and got ready for the day and then put the final stuff in our hospital bags. At about 9:00am I called Justin at work and asked him to come home because I was thinking we should probably start getting ready to go to the hospital. He got home and we got everything in the truck and then went and dropped our dogs off at the kennel.

So when we arrived at the hospital my contractions had been 2 min apart for about 2-3 hours, while they were painful they were tolerable. This being my first child I didn't fully understand that they were not only going to get worse, they were going to get ridiculously worse. I checked into Labor and Delivery about 10am and when they checked my cervix I was still only a 2. Ugh! They told me that even though the timing on my contractions were where they were supposed to be for full labor, I wasn't dilated enough (I had to be a 4) for them to admit me. So I was sent home. Double Ugh!

I was so frustrated when we got home, and I felt so stupid for going in. The nurse at the hospital told me to try and get some sleep because I more than likely had a long night in front of me, so I went and laid down in bed. Now for women that have been through labor you will understand my irritation when I was told to get some rest - there's no sleeping when you're having contractions! I mean come on! So I laid in bed, wide awake and in pain for about an hour and then gave up. The contractions were getting really bad about this time and I tried taking a shower to see if the warm water would help. Um, nope that didn't make any difference. So I got out and sat in the living room with Justin, trying not to claw the fabric off our recliner. At about 2:30-3:00pm I just couldn't take it any more. I started crying to Justin, not solely because of the pain, but because I didn't want to go back to the hospital just to have them send me back home, but I couldn't take the pain any longer. Justin tried talking me into waiting it out a little longer, but I just couldn't. So we hopped into the truck and headed back to the hospital.

Now I had watched birthing videos in the past and had always seen those "crazy" ladies making these awful, loud, obnoxious noises, and I always thought to myself, I am never going to act like that. But I couldn't help it, these awful sounds kept escaping from my mouth, for some reason it took my mind off the contraction a little if I made this loud, throaty moan. Yes, I did become one of those "crazy" ladies at this time. We got to Labor and Delivery and they took me into the room to get checked again. I remember lying in the chair repeating to myself, "please, please, please" over and over praying that I was a 4 - which I was... thankfully!!! So they took me down the hall to get me set up in my room and prepare me for my epidural. Holy crap I don't know how people go through a natural childbirth! I now consider these women loony. I wanted my epidural and I wanted it NOW! After getting my blood work done and my IV placed it was about an hour after I was admitted that the anesthesiologist finally came in.

So it has never crossed my mind to be the tough girl that wanted to have a natural childbirth, I was always in the frame of mind to get all the drugs I could. I would totally be okay if I didn't have to feel a thing - really I would. So I was more than happy when she had me sit up to get the big needle stuck in my back. It was kind of irritating though because she kept hitting nerves in there and making my legs jump and then she would tell me, "I really need you to concentrate on not moving". Um, hello I'm not doing it, you're the one jabbing things into my nerves and making me jump, believe me I'm not moving on purpose to annoy you. But she finally got it in and I was excited for some relief. Or so I thought.

Right after I got the epidural the next couple of contractions were a little bit shorter in length, but the pain was still all there. The anesthesiologist said that they would have to gradually increase the medications so my blood pressure wouldn't drop, so just to hang in there because it might take a little bit for it to fully work. Well I waited and waited and the contractions kept getting worse and worse. After 3 more hours of intense labor, I couldn't take it any more. I was so tired and in so much pain - and I hey I wanted drugs and this sure wasn't working dang it! Justin was trying to be really supportive and tell me I was doing a good job and every time I told him I couldn't do it anymore he kept reassuring me that it was going to happen either way and I was going to get through it. At this point I broke - again I started crying and told Justin that he had to make them do something, anything to help me with the pain. So the anesthesiologist came back in to talk to me about my options. I think she thought that I was just being a baby so she did a test to see if I was numb at all. She took an alcohol pad and touched different parts of my body with it. I was supposed to tell her when I could feel wetness, not just pressure. When the epidural is working you shouldn't feel wetness on your legs clear up to your belly/chest. I could feel wetness the first time she touched me clear down on my thigh. She kept repeating herself telling me, "no not when you can feel pressure, tell me when you can feel wetness". And I'm like "No really I can feel wetness clear down there - I promise!" So at this point she said that our options were to take out the 1st epidural and try again or we could try giving me Stadol through my IV. I thought there was nothing to lose by trying another epidural so I had her do it again. So she sat me back up and went at giving me my second epidural. Finally some relief came! This time it was totally different and I could really tell this one had actually worked. The only thing that I didn't realize is there are different kinds of epidurals and one that this hospital uses doesn't take any of the pressure of labor away. Why you ask - who the heck knows! So while I wasn't dying in pain anymore, I still had to breath through every contraction because the pressure was painful in of itself. So sadly there was no rest for me for the remaining time of my labor.

Well 2-3 hours after my 2nd epidural the doctor came in and wanted to break my water. Since the epidural had kicked in my contractions had slowed down a lot. But to her surprise when she checked me I was already to an 8. So she broke my water and told me that it wouldn't be much longer and she'd be back soon. After my water was broken the contractions picked back up and after 2 hours I was feeling a lot of pressure and wanting to push. The doctor came back in and checked me and I was now a full 10cm, but Bri was still sitting high in my pelvis and they wanted her to drop a little more so I wouldn't have to push as long. They sat me up in bed to try and get her to drop. The urge to push was really intense at this time and I found it rather difficult not to push. After about 1/2 hour of this I told Justin to go get the doctor because I couldn't wait any longer. She came in and checked Bri's position again, but she still wasn't where they wanted her, so they had me do some trial pushes to see if I could actually move her or if we should wait longer. But again to the doctor's surprise I was actually able to move her pretty good, so she said that we could start the pushing stage of labor.

Now Justin had always said that he really had no interest in watching the birth. He really just wanted to stay up by my head and just help me through it. Well there was only one nurse in my room to help me push, so Justin ended up having to hold one of my legs. So the poor boy got a front row seat and had to watch the whole thing. Now as I was pushing the nurse told us that she was pretty sure the umbilical cord was around the baby's neck because her heart rate would drop every time I pushed. But she said that as long as her heart rate came back up in between pushes they wouldn't worry too much about it. I had been pushing for about 1/2 hour when the doctor came back to see how things were going. She could see the head now, so she brought in 2 other nurses and prepared for the birth.

Now the pain was getting pretty bad at this point and I was so ready to have her out and be done with it. I really don't know how people push for 2-3 hours, because I was already so tired. They put an oxygen mask on me to try and help with stabilizing Bri's heart rate because it was dropping a little more now. They brought in a mirror so I could watch, which I didn't in particularly want to watch everything, but it did help me concentrate on pushing to see my progress. As I got her crowned I was in so much pain I started to panic a little bit in between contractions because it hurt so much. I was kind of oblivious to what was going on around me because the pain was so intense. At this point Bri's heart rate dropped and all I remember was the nurse that was watching the monitor's say that the heart rate's not coming back up and then she leaned over the bed and told me that I really had to concentrate and push really hard on the next contraction because we had to get her out now. The urgency in the nurse's voice struck a cord in me and I found the strength to give a really good, hard push and got her out. Justin said the the doctor grabbed the cord and hurried and slipped it off from around her neck and she was okay. A couple more pushes and I had her shoulders out and then all of a sudden I had my perfect little girl laid on my chest.

I can not express the emotions that ran through my head right then. There was this perfect angel in my arms and she was all mine. I remember looking over at Justin and just seeing the complete awe and love in his eyes - I was so overwhelmed, and started to cry. She let our her first little cry and it was the best feeling in the world. Our princess was finally here - she was gorgeous, healthy and ours forever!!! WE LOVE YOU BRIANNA!!!

Brianna Paige Walker
Born on Apr. 24th, 2008 @ 11:03pm

Weight: 7lbs 7oz

Length: 19.3 in

And 100% angel!

BOTTLES AND TEARS

So Tuesday night I gave Brianna her first bottle. Let's just say it was an adventure. No really she pretty much just hated the whole thing. At first she just kinda gummed the nipple and seemed okay with that. But then I think she thought it was like her pacifier and gave it a couple good sucks. Whoa bad idea - I don't think she was expecting milk to come out and she totally choked on it. Then she started into her blood curdling scream. I would finally get her calmed down and try again. And the next hour was spent either choking on milk or screaming every time she took a suck. After only about 3/4 of an ounce she finally gave up and feel asleep. Poor thing! :( I felt so bad. And then there was Bri's crazy mom in the situation. I know that most people are going to think I'm some kind of wacko, but I was crying part of the time too. Not because it was frustrating like you'd think. I mean the whole point of getting her take a bottle is so someone else can feed her - right? Which would make most mom's happy because this will bring a little more freedom in her life. No not my psycho head - the first time she gave the bottle a really good suck I start tearing up and cry because now "someone else can feed her". Even though it was still breast milk that she was eating I felt some kinda of loss of bonding - I know I'm weird. Man I hope this isn't an insight into the future for me being able to cut the strings later in her life. :)

Well anyways we tried the bottle again last night and things went a lot better. She did cry a couple of times, but quickly figured out the whole suck and swallow thing. And only after about 20 minutes she had her whole bottle finished. Yippee! Oh and by the way - no tears for mom this time. Ha, Ha, Ha!

MISSING DADDY :(

Well Justin left for Texas on Saturday for a school for 2 weeks, and Brianna and I have been missing him - A LOT!!! Why is it that you don't fully appreciate someone until they're gone? I am so terrible at this, and wish I could be better. Justin is such a great husband and friend that sometimes I get so used to the great guy that he is that I start taking him for granted. He is always taking care of me and giving up things so I can get something better. From staying home from a fishing trip because he doesn't want me to be left alone, to eating the slightly burnt piece of chicken at dinner so I can have the perfectly cooked one, waking up early on his day off to take my car to get registered because I procrastinated and didn't get it done, to still cooking me dinner when he gets home because I was busy tending to Brianna - even though I've been home all day. He still even wants to take me on camping trips even though I'm usually grumpy and secretly I think he sometimes would like to leave me out in the middle of the woods and let the wild animals eat me. :) Well the list could seriously go on and on and on! He always wants to make me happy and will do almost anything to just make me laugh or smile. It was really cute before he left for Texas he went grocery shopping for me. I think he thought that I was going to starve to death. He knows that I hate to cook and am always about something fast and easy when it comes to making dinner. So when he came home and I was putting things away I noticed he bought a 2 weeks supply of microwavable burritos and pizzas and a lot of tortilla chips and salsa. He cracks me up! He's also been such a good and supporting dad. He loves Brianna so much - yes, she already has him wrapped around her cute little fingers. He hates to see her mad and crying and gets frustrated when he can't calm her down. And he loves to sing her old country songs as lullaby's - it's the cutest thing ever! He's always worried about keeping her safe, happy and healthy. He would literally do anything for his girl's.

So anyways, I have to give a big thank you to my Justin Face for letting him be mine. We miss you and can't wait until you get back home. I love you for always babe! You're the BEST!!!

HELLO THERE BLOGGING WORLD

Well now that I've become a full time momma I decided that I should follow suit of my other "stay at home mom" friends and start up a blog. I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of our lives with family and friends, since we're so very far away. I don't know how much time I'll have to be update this page since little Bri consumes a lot of my time these days, but hopefully I'll find more time to get on the computer in between feedings, naps, showers and cleaning. I haven't quite figured out all the fun things to do with your page yet, so it might be a little blah for a little while until I learn how to not be a computer idiot.

Brianna is now 6 weeks old and is doing great! She's getting so big I just can't believe it. She's starting to turn into this cute little person with her own little personality and it's so fun to watch. She started to smile last week which totally melts my heart. Getting that sweet little smile makes all those middle of the night feedings, poopy diapers, and crying for no obvious reason so very worth it. She's starting to sleep better through the night and staying up more during the day (I think she might have figured out the whole night and day thing - well kind of). Instead of waking up every 2-3 hours she's going to about every 3-4 at night. And one time she went for a whole 5 - mom was so very happy! We're still working on her sleeping in her crib - but she is sleeping in her own room now. She gets really burpy when she sleeps and it wakes her up, so she's been sleeping in her car seat. But during the day I try and get her to go down in her crib, but she'll usually wake up within 10-30 min. One day we'll get there. :)

Well speaking of our "children", we had a little scare with Miss Daizy this week. We had taken the dogs to a kennel over Memorial Day weekend while we went down to the coast for a fishing trip. When we got back she was just not acting herself. She wasn't eating (which is really unusual because she'll literally eat anything she can get away with), throwing up, and peeing a lot. We just kept an eye on her thinking that she would just get better on her own. Well on Monday morning when I woke up she was having a hard time getting up and she'd stumble when walking so I called the vet immediately and got her an appointment. Well when Justin took her in for her appt. the vet took one look at her and knew she was in trouble. They did some blood work and told us that her kidney functions were basically non existent and her body was basically shutting down. With out saying "she's dying", they told us that she either had some kind of infection and wasn't going to make it or she might have a disease called Addison's disease. So even though we didn't want her to have any kind of diseases we were praying that she had this Addison's. Well after a couple hours of waiting for blood work doing xrays and hooking Daizy up to an IV for medications we found out that she did indeed have Addison's... thankfully. So we ended having to transfer her to puppy intensive care for the night, but she was doing a lot better by the end of the next day and we got to bring her back home. Basically Addison's is where her adrenal glands stop producing the hormones that help you deal with stress. The vet said that she's probably had this for awhile now because her body doesn't produce any hormone at all. She said taking her to the kennel was the straw that broke the camel's back and she went into an Addison's crisis. She told us that Daizy must have gotten really stressed out at the kennel and her body couldn't handle it and so it just started shutting down. But she said that it actually probably saved her life by going to the kennel because it brought this crisis out so we can now treat it, otherwise it would have just slowly killed her. So anyways now our cute little pup is going to be on medication and shots for the rest of her life that will cost over a $100 per month. Not to mention the vet bill for 2 days was over $900! Man what you will pay for your pets, but hey - she's family - right? No really, we love her so much it wasn't even an issue if we were willing to pay for the medications. Justin did say luckily it wasn't Alley, cause he might have not been so willing to fork over the money. :)

Well Brianna is starting to wake up so I should probably end this. Hope everyone enjoys our little family blog. More to come later.