She's here!!!

On Sunday July 20th at 11:36 pm our life changed forever!! BRIANNA MARIE was born.

It all began at 3:30 am when my water broke at home.... I was all alone since Rob was working an overtime shift. He had been up all night fighting fires and probably was not super thrilled to hear the phone ring and his wife say "It's TIME!" But of course, he came home right away..... he rushed in the door to a wife who was finishing packing calmly and asking him to feed the horses before we left..... He was like, "are you serious?" Yes, I was. Don't argue with a woman in labor!! ; ) Actually, I hadn't yet had any contractions, so I wasn't techinically in labor and wasn't even uncomfortable. We arrived at the hospital at about 5:30 am. By 6:30 am they had begun Potocin to induce labor since they needed to have the baby out ASAP since my water had broken earlier and there was a risk of infection. Contractions began and I labored until 3:30 pm..... NOT SO FUN!! At that point I asked if I could get an epidural and boy was that appreciated!!! The epidural made life a billion times better!! All went well with the procedure and although I didn't feel painful I could feel pressure and still move my legs some, although they were really weak. So then we waited for dilation..... it was SLOW... started at 1 cm, then by 3:30 was only 2.5cm, then by about 6pm about 4.5cm... etc. The concern began when my uterus seemed to stop responding to the increasing Potocin. My contractions were not as strong, nor coming as frequently for some reason... The baby's heart rate was elevated a little which was concerning for fetal distress or infection.... The baby had not descended any further throughout the labor and was positioned head down but "sunny side up" My OBGYN was worried about the size of the baby and my pelvic size.... the concerns were mounting. After a short discussion, Rob and I decided that it would be safest for our baby if we did a C section. And I think that we made the right decision........ It didn't take long before I was prepped and we saw Brianna for the first time..... I was so surprised that she was a girl!! I guess I wholeheartedly believed that I was carrying a boy!! It was wonderful to be surprised. She was 7 pounds 12 ounces, and extremely active from the beginning... she came out screaming and very pink. We've come to know this little scream well! ; ) They bundled her up and gave her to Rob--- she just stared at him for about 20 minutes straight...... It brought tears to my eyes to see...... Rob and his baby girl. We are both very happy to be Brianna's parents. She's just perfect ( but we're not biased or anything!)