Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma Hodgson visit

On the 17th, the Hodgson clan was able to make it out to see our little darling. She was having a pretty difficult day.... one of her most fussy ones to date unfortunately! We did have a nice visit, but I hope the next one has a baby who is smiling a bit more! We were able to take pictures of the four generations... with Great Grandma, Grandpa, Rob, and Brianna! How cool is that!

A few pictures, just 'cause

Our little cutie!

My first wedding....

My friend Wendy got married on 8/8/08 and we've been invited since before Brianna was conceived! We had to go! And we did; Rob wasn't too thrilled about taking her at her age, but all went well. She was relatively well behaved, had to be nursed a few times, but otherwise was just adorable!! We had a chance to use our new stroller and everything..... And she had an excuse to get all dressed up-- I love dressing up- now I get to dress up my baby too! FUN!!!!

My first bottle!

Last week, "auntie" Kris came by to rescue me from my first 2 day rotation without Rob since Brianna's arrival!! I learned how to use my breast pump, then Kris gave her her first bottle! All went well..... "Auntie" Kris also taught her how to use a pacifier, which has come in VERY handy on a few occasions!! Rob has given her a bottle a few times as well... all preparation for my surgery next week... when I will have to be gone for a while! ( It's an outpatient procedure.)

Daddy's girl.......

Tummy time with Daddy!

Uncle Will and Alex visit

Uncle Will and Alex came for a visit last weekend to see our little girl. I think that she charmed Will with her beauty! She was of course in her camo..... Major Cutie!!

Brianna's first doctor's visit

Her first outing was to the doctor's office! She will not be an exibitionist, since as soon as her clothes were off she began screaming!! Now, remember, this was the first time that I had ever packed a diaper bag-- so I was missing important things like a pacifier.... and a blanket --so I was holding my screaming naked baby with a burp cloth trying to cover her body!! Poor little girl. Our pediatrician was really nice.... very soft spoken, didn't care at all that she was screaming through the whole exam. She had only lost 2 ounces since her birth which was great...... When we returned yesterday for her second visit she was 8 pounds 13 oz!! A porker!!! There's no problem with my breast milk I guess! On the initial exam, his only comment was WOW!! Look at those feet!- see Ali's blog for pictures of her feet! Our growing little girl! She's got the cutest chubby cheeks! But I'm not biased at all.......

First Bath

I think that Brianna can tell you in this picture that she's not too fond of her bath!! Mimi showed us how to do it and the little bear sponge helped a ton. Daddy saved the day afterwards!

Preparing for Brianna

Does it surprise anyone that my mom was panicked that I wouldn't have the place ready for Brianna? She was frantickly cleaning before I returned home with my little one...... I have a cat named Goat who lives inside. He's been going through a horrible shed cycle.... Mom couldn't stand it!!! She was introduced to the FURMINATOR, an expensive hair brush for animals and Goat was at her mercy.... I caught her attacking him ( he loved it!) with the FURMINATOR over and over..... and she even attacked a cat she thought was Goat... She got Trouble too.... but he loved it as well. I have to let you know, normally Goat runs from people who stay here.... not with my mom, he liked her firm style!
Once Dad came, he joined in.... I caught the two of them rinsing my screens after cleaning off my porch and entryway!! Thanks Mom ( and Dad!) The place looks wonderful!

Brianna's thoughts

Our little girl has many opinions.... she is very talented and already signs what her thoughts are.... she has been know to say "peace to all", "hang loose", and even has been seen to communicate a word we don't say around here!! The picture above is her comment when she was asked how her first week of life has been.... she thinks it's "A OK"!!

THE NIGHTS........

Why did God make babies so cute? So that moms and dads could tolerate those nights!! My first night with Brianna in the hospital was so long and so difficult. She was suckling like crazy but hardly getting anything since my milk hadn't yet come in. That made her frustrated so she sucked harder and more frantically and would burst out screaming at times just to let me know what she thought of all this "life outside the womb" thing! As a brand new mom, I had no idea what to do to appease her.... change her diaper, let her nurse more, take her clothes off, put them back on? What do you want little one? It's really hard emotionally on a new mother to hear their little precious baby cry and not know what to do.... She finally dozed off at 3 am and I was afraid to move or even breath!! Lest I wake her up!! When light came around that morning I was soooooo relieved, especially when my dad arrived and I promptly handed her off to her Papa..... she then proceeded to be an angel the rest of the day! ; )

Day one..... Visitors!

Our first day was wonderful... Rob spent the night with me in the hospital in the bed next to mine since there was a very short period of calm before storm...... Brianna was the only one here when she was born but the next few days there were about 20 babies born each day! So the wards were totally full by the time we left. We were so lucky because we had a wonderful nurse named Karen who moved us to a PRIVATE room!! We didn't realize how lucky we were until later..... Thank you Karen!

Steve Campbell and Nina were Brianna's first visitors.... and she cooed them right away.....

Then Mimi and Papa and Tricia arrived...... I think that everyone agreed with us that she just adorable..... ( Of course, what else were they going to tell us!?? We were just happy that the cone headed little girl from the night before had quickly lost her severe cone head! ) The visitors kept coming.... Rachel and Kelly came the following day to visit. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family that we can share our joy with. This is a huge journey that is only just beginning.... Many thanks to all those who love us and little Brianna!

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!)

New birth.. but not mine!

Telli had baby number 4!! His name is In the S.Un's Spotlight, because as you can see he has a spotlight on his nose!! Every other birth of hers has been attended by someone, but this time she snuck it in when noone was watching.. but she was a pro, no problems. Just a surprise for me in the am!!!

Lightning is very cute and very brave. He had a severe colic episode at about 5 days of age that I think happened because of dehydration in the intense heat we were having at that time. It was about 1 month ago... but it's taken me this long to blog about it....... Anyways, that completes my equine births for the year. Two cute boys!! Now what will I have? BOY or GIRL?

Showers galore!!

Well, this baby is sure to be spoiled..... even though both of us have been "out babied" by our younger sisters, there still seems to be enough spoiling to go around!! On both sides of the family!

The showers began the first week of June and ended the last..... Mary Beth threw me a beautiful one in Davis. We had fun games like WHO could drink the most from a baby bottle? Mary was the champion there!

Then Ali had one for me in Fresno, which of course was wonderful. Tons of people were there including Joan and Aunt Ann from down south!! I got so much stuff that it barely fit in my truck! And Ali was generous in allowing me to borrow lots of her stuff. I'm very proud to now have the BASSINET that was MINE when I was a baby.... as well as just about all the babies in the O Hare family! Then, Teri at work had a party for me.... it's so nice feeling loved and supported..... Bradshaw Vet is like a family to me after over 14 years! And last but not least, Nina had a shower full of amazing food and lots of children, ranging from 2 months old to Zech, who's 6 or 7 now..... Rob and I are so blessed to have so much support!!

Aloha!! NOT!!!

Well, Hawaii was not in the stars for us this year. Our "babymoon" was quickly stopped before it even started when I started to have pain in my abdomen the night before our departure. I went to the ER and was admitted to teh hospital after it was determined that I likely had kidney stones that I was passing. They say that that pain is only second best to labor... so I guess God just wanted to give me a taste of what was to come! I was in the hospital for about 3 1/2 days. The night before I went home I had a procedure done under anesthesia where they placed a ureteral stent to allow the smaller stones to hopefully pass. There is at least one larger stone that won't be able to pass, so the plan is to do a procedure after Baby Hodgson is born. It is too risky to so right now.
Rob and I tried to make the most of our "vacation". We found a picture in the hospital that had water in it....... we took a picture together on our "babymoon", justliek we'd planned ot do in Hawaii! Not quite the same.... but our attempt to stay positive.
Rob brought his computer in the hospital so that I could spend my time productively by trying to buy concert tickets for Ali and Scott's business...... I wasn't the greatest ticket buyer; we determined that buying tickets on narcotics probably wasn't ideal! ; )
Anyways, as sad as we are to have missed our wonderful family vacation, we are blessed that this happend before we were in Hawaii.... since we had our own doctors to care for me. Hawaii will have to wait for us...... we will be back-- WITH a little one soon!

Second place!

Today I took my yearling anglo arab filly, S.Udden Megnificence; aka Suds to her first show. In fact it was the first time she had left the property.! She was very well behaved, all things considered and I was quite proud of her second place ( out of 3--so she did beat someone! ; ) My friend Kris met me there to help me out-- she took the pictures, showing off my "belly!" The judge didn't even notice that I was pregnant! I guess that black on black is really slimming!! ; )