B's First Babysitter

8:21am

My stepsister gave birth to twins on Friday! So we decided to go visit them yesterday(Saturday) at the hospital. 

Like most hospitals that we have encountered, no small children are allowed in the maternity suites. Except for the babies, obviously. So Brynlee couldn't go. 

My wife is very attached to our daughter, which I assume is pretty normal for a mom and her infant. But at some point you have to let other people watch her. This was the perfect opportunity. A small amount of time, to get our feet wet with being away from her. She is going to have to do it when she goes back to work, anyways. 

So we dropped her off at my wife's sister's house. They have two dogs, which sometimes makes us nervous, but these two are so protective of Brynlee. It's actually kind of funny. I almost feel like we could leave her with just the two dogs! (Kidding)

After my wife explained where everything was in the diaper bag, and basic care instructions, we were on our way. We made it about ten minutes down the street when she said "ok, I miss her already".  She hasn't been without her since she was born. Not even for five minutes. 

When we got to the hospital, our thoughts were occupied by the new twins. They are so small compared to Brynlee. The boy is much smaller than the girl, which isn't surprising, since women seem to take men for everything they've got. They are adorable and I'm very excited for their family. 

After a couple of hours, it was time to get back to our little one. There was a missed phone call to my wife from her sister, so natural instinct made her worry. But nothing was wrong, just a simple feeding question. 

When we got there, she had just christened the couch, and her aunt with spit-up. She seems to do that a lot. We are pretty sure that she over-eats. But everyone has told us that if she is hungry, let her eat. She can down about 6-7 ounces each feeding, though some of it usually comes back up. 

All-in-all, I think she did fine being away from her mom and dad. I'm sure we will have a few people watch her here and there to get used to it. Plus, it's good to socialize her so that she isn't shy and too attached to us. 

Just another milestone in her book. 

Day 9 - Halloween Spirit

8:37pm



My day off today. We were able to get out and run some errands. However, it took Brynlee a few hours to decide that she was ready. First, she was hungry, hungry, hungry. Then of course, after we got her ready in nice fresh clothes, she decided to poop, while she was being changed. So naturally, it got all over everything. But once that was all taken care of, we ventured out.
 


We took my car today. My car is a lot smaller than my wife's. But I would say it worked out pretty good. We had a lot of driving to do, so my car is much better on gas.

We visited my Grandma, and Grandpa, because they are leaving for out-of-town tomorrow. They will be back in a few days, but they wanted to see Brynlee before they left. My Grandma made us Philly cheesesteak sandwiches for lunch, and Brynlee had breast milk. If I was her, I would be ready for something besides milk every day. How boring. At least maybe throw some chocolate in there, and mix it up a little bit? Better not. That's not in the "Newborn Handbook". (That we don't own)

Another stop at Babies-R-Us, our home away from home, because she needed a bottle warmer. We had been warming the milk in the microwave, in a glass bowl, because that was our only option. We had gone to Babies-R-Us before to get the warmer, and ended up getting home to realize that we forgot it. So now we have one, finally.

Halloween is coming up, and we think it's only appropriate to dress her up, as long as ourselves (though, I will probably have to work). We actually have an outfit or two, already, but we like to look, too. Spirit Halloween store has a ton of cool costumes, and gadgets. We didn't buy any costumes, but we did pick up a few house decorations, since we don't really have any.

 

She was really good all day, especially during the shopping. She stays pretty quiet, or asleep. But our last stop was at Carter's baby clothing store and she fussed the whole time. She is eating a lot, but seems to spit up a lot of it afterwards. I looked up online the causes, and basically they say that baby's spit up naturally. To try giving her less at a time, making sure she is burped, and to use pacifiers, too. We are thinking maybe she isn't feeling too well, either. Not really sure. She seems OK at the moment. 

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Day 2 - Guess Who's Home?!

10:55pm



We are exhausted! So much going on the last few days, it's just great to be home. Brynlee is already enjoying her little rocker/sleeper and is passed out in there as I am typing this.

We were able to leave the hospital after our Doctor released us. He wasn't able to show up until about 7pm this evening. I think the extra time waiting was good for us though, because we learned a lot of valuable tips from our helpful nurses.

Before we left, we asked the Doctor about the "newborn insert" that you can see in the car seat in the photo above. It is an extra accessory that fits into the car seat to help support newborn's heads, and bodies, because the car seat is actually too big for newborns. I posted a picture on Instagram of just the car seat with the insert in it, ready to go for when she was born, and I received a lot of criticism about it. Several people told me that they are extremely unsafe, and not covered by the car seat's warranty. But the Doctor told us that we SHOULD use it, because her little head needs to have some extra support. So for anyone wondering if they are safe or not, I'm not sure about that, but our Doctor did recommend using it.

We had great service the whole time during our hospital stay. And we would recommend it to any of our friends. So if you are in the Chicagoland area, ask me and I will fill you in. 

My wife is recovering extremely quickly, and has been an awesome mother already. As a matter of fact, I slept all through the night last night, in the hospital, and she got up a few times with Brynlee to feed her. She said that Brynlee never cried during the night, and that she actually had to wake her up to feed her. Hopefully she stays like that because that would make our lives a lot easier.

I am going to go to work tomorrow, because they are so short-handed, and because my wife insisted that she will be fine. I will probably take Thursday off to help get everything settled back in to the house. We have a couple bags packed for the hospital, that need to get put back away. And my wife's hands are going to be quite full. I will help with all of the household duties. 

Time for some much needed rest!

Do you have any questions about her delivery? Labor? Pain? Epidural? Feel free to ask, I would love to answer any questions!

Day 1 - Welcoming Baby!

10:51pm

My wife pushed for about 45 minutes. They actually turned off the epidural because they needed her to get the baby out quickly, and the epidural tends to slow down the process. The complications with preeclampsia cause the health risks to be higher, so the sooner she is out the better. 

She did great throughout the whole labor. I was able to be a part of it by holding one of her legs and keeping close to her side. I now have an incredible amount of respect for any mother after witnessing what they go through. 

Our beautiful baby girl was born at 12:46pm yesterday (Sept 15, 2013). She was 8lbs 10oz, and 19.5 inches long. My wife is recovering very quickly and the baby is doing great. 

This journey has been such an experience and I wouldn't have it any other way. Other dads always tell me that there is no other love like the love you will have for your children and I can already see what they mean. 

The best part is that the real journey has just begun. And I am really looking forward to every day from here on out. 

Introducing Brynlee Rose....

And check out the amount of hair on this girl's head! (Coming out of the back of her little hat!)

Week 39 Day 6 - Pre-Labor 3 c.m. Dilated

10:10pm



My wife was up about every hour last night. She was having pretty painful period-like cramps. I heard her a few times, but I managed to still get a decent night's sleep.

I went to work and my wife had to drop off her 24-hour urine collection at her doctor's office this morning. When she got there he wanted to do a quick exam to see if her blood pressure was now at a better level. All was normal, and her swelling had gone down, so he was very pleased with the results. While talking to her, she explained that she had been up all night with cramping, so he did an internal exam as well. He discovered that she had dilated another 1.5cm (within the last 2 days), to a total of 3cm! He said she is in "pre-labor".

image from iahealth.net

Since last night she has noticed she has been excreting a lot of discharge/mucus which she thinks is the "plug" starting to come out.  When she came home from her doctors and used the restroom, she noticed a faint streak of pink in this mucus.  Some hour or so later after more cramping she used the restroom again and noticed a lot more blood when she wiped.  She was so excited hoping this was the start of "the show" and that she'll hopefully be going into active labor within the next 24-48 hours.

We are getting pretty anxious and I hope so as I am home from work tomorrow and that would be just perfect.

We ran to Target and got some last minute necessities, for the hospital bags and to organize and store some more things in the garage... Now that baby could be making her grand debut any day we need to make sure we have as much room around here as possible.  I didn't want to run to the store at first but of course my wife spoiled me with a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, it was my first of many this season, so can't complain that I was dragged along.... How horrible!

We're watching some college football and going to be finishing up some of these never ending house chores.  Getting ready for this baby's arrival and anxiously awaiting this night out! Tomorrow could possibly be the last "pregnancy" post.....






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Week 39 Day 1 - The Final Week

10:57pm



It's the last week of the normal pregnancy cycle. We are both ready for her to be here. My wife has been in quite a bit of pain the last couple days. She hasn't got much sleep because of it. She gets a lot of sharp pains around her bladder. The doctor said that the baby can be up against the bladder, or a nerve, and everytime she shifts it causes a shooting pain. She has almost been in tears because of it. But it only happened a few times. Most of the time she is fine, just uncomfortable.


We went to Carter's baby clothing store to find an outfit for her to come home in. They have a lot of cute baby clothes to choose from. After a little debating, I helped her pick out her little dress. You will see that when it's time!

I found some other appropriate clothes for her while I was looking around...

I told my wife that any of those three would be great for her to come home in.... She thought that a dress would be just fine. Whatever.

Oh, and the doctor also said that my wife might want to think about telling her work that Friday will be her last day. It's too close now, and most women take the last couple weeks of their pregnancy off anyways. She should be getting as much rest as she can because she will be nonstop once that baby is here. I will, too. But here in America, us dads don't get any paid time off. (Remember, Week 32 Day 1 - Americans Have Never Heard Of Paid Parental Leave) So at work, I will be.

She is still trying to decide whether or not she is going to actually end on Friday. The baby might come before then, you never know. Will she make it to next Tuesday, September 17th, the due date? I have a feeling she won't. 

Place your bets!

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Week 38 Day 5 - Passing A Pumpkin?

2:28pm



A few updates on the size of the baby. At 38 weeks, the baby is now about the size of a pumpkin!

A PUMPKIN?


When I think of a pumpkin, I think of a big old Halloween Jack-O-Lantern. Big. Large. Somewhat scary depending on who carved it. Ok, that's not the point.

A pumpkin is big. And I know that I wouldn't want one inside of me.

A little further research explains that they don't mean the Guinness Book of World Records Pumpkin. Just a small 6-8lb baby. So that's not so bad.

I have to say, I have gained a lot more respect for mothers, not that I didn't have any before, but I see what they go through to have children, and it's not always pretty. I haven't seen the actual birthing yet. And I'm not looking forward to it, but wow that is intense. Props to the mothers out there. Your quite the troopers.

My wife is always tired. I'm not sure if it's just from being big and pregnant, or if it's because of all the running around we have been doing. These last couple days we have kind of slowed down. These are the last days that we will ever have by ourselves.

Are we in for a big awakening? Is it uphill or downhill from here? I like to think that having children is going to be great! But I have seen a lot of kids cause lots of problems, too. I hope we raise her, and any future children,the right way. The real question is, what is the right way? Is there even one? I think family is wonderful, and if raised correctly, can only bring joy to you and others.


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Week 38 Day 1 - Get Out The Dreft

9:37pm

I met my wife at my parents house, after work. Some of my family was over swimming. When I got there, we started grilling out. Burgers, chicken kabobs, and sausages. They like when I cook, since I am the "culinary-inclined" one in the family. 

One of the friends of the family has a newborn, and two other small kids. So we were able to have a little taste of what we will be experiencing shortly. I didn't hold him, but my wife did for a while. She likes that kind of stuff, but I am still a little shy with babies. I'm sure it will be different with my own. 

Right now we are in the babies room sorting some more of her stuff. Also putting together a pile of her clothes, and blankets, etc, that needs to get washed. We bought a big bottle of Dreft laundry soap. I never realized that babies have different laundry detergent than us. I have learned quite a bit about newborns and being a father already, seems like something new every day. And she isn't even here yet. 

Week 37 Day 3 - Penguin Waddle

4:15pm



Now that we are in the 37th week, which I believe is considered Full Term, we are at the point where we are ready for her to come. Maybe not ready in the sense of everything being in place, but ready in the way that we have had enough of pregnancy. My poor wife is getting pretty uncomfortable. It bothers her to lay on her back, she has to walk like a penguin (kind of funny, actually) and the baby seems to like to move around a lot and cause her some awkward feelings (like sharp pain/rubbing feelings). She described her moving in there, like the feeling of hands pushing and swiping across a filled balloon. I am thankful that I was born a man, and don't have to have any children growing inside of me. Props to you ladies out there. I cannot imagine.

Her job is starting to interview temps to fill her position for while she is off of work. If you ask me, they are a little late considering she could go early, but they wanted to wait. Hopefully baby will wait a little longer so that she has a chance to train the temp, on how to do her job, otherwise her work might be in trouble! My wife is good at what she does, and they have told her that numerous times. I know they will miss her there, and will be waiting for her to hurry back!

I was able to go out for a couple rounds of golf today with my grandpa and uncle. Anyday now, my free days off, will be spent caring for the baby. No more golfing for me. Unless someone else is around to take care of her.