Chronicle of Our New Life- Pre and One Week Post

Get settled in because it will be a long one. Parts of this might be TMI for some. We begin with a picture of the nursery as it was before we left for the hospital.

And now for the story of labor and delivery...3: 50 pm Monday, July 6th- Just a regular weekly Dr. appt. but when I got there my blood pressure was high and I was preclamptic. Dr. Norwood did not play around: Total bedrest with bathroom privileges only. 11:30 pm Monday, July 6th- Blood pressure still had not come down so, Ben calls the Dr. He said to head to L & D for observation. (Terrific...my hospital bag was not completely packed yet). 4:30 am Tuesday, July 7th-Blood pressure is perfect (of course) and I am released to come back home. Wednesday, July 8th-Blood pressure up and down, but an uneventful day. 8:00 am Thursday, July 9th- Back at Dr. Norwood's office with through the roof blood pressure and increased protein, sent directly to L & D for induction (Lovely, I always wanted Pitocin...but we were prepared and had the hospital bag with us)

Our plan was for a natural delivery. It did not include a continuous monitor and being confined to a bed with an IV of Pitocin AND Magnesium at the same time. God is in control...So, with loved ones(Ben, Mimi, Amber, and Leigh Ann) surrounding us and our doula (Melissa) assisting, we set in for 9 LONG hours of natural labor. FYI: Pitocin is supposed to increase the strength of contractions to spur labor along, but magnesium can stall labor because it keeps you a little out of it so that you will not have a seizure and cut off the oxygen supply to the baby, therefore up the Pitocin to overcome the effects of the magnesium...FUN. After 9 hours of natural labor, still dilated at a 3, Dr. Norwood (and by this time, I'm all for it after the disappointment of only 3 centimeters dilated) tells me we're doing an epidural to see if that will help. Once again, an epidural was not in our birth plan. God is in control...After several hours on the epidural and STILL no progress, Dr. Norwood says C-section is the only way. WHAT!!! That was definitely NOT in our birth plan! God is in control...Ben and Mimi scrub in and go to the OR with me and we soon become the proud parents of the most perfectly precious baby boy that God could have ever given us (not biased, of course). Now that all is said and done, we find out that my perfect little boy spent all day long trying to get through the birth canal, but I have a cupped sacrum that blocks entrance to the birth canal. Result: C-section and a conehead.

So that I do not terrify anyone, all of these pictures are post-epidural...much more tame.

Once we were moved upstairs to postpartum, we continued to feel so blessed by loved ones who cared enough about us to visit and meet our precious new bundle. Some of whom had already spent the entire night of L & D with me!

I just couldn't resist putting this one of Cam in because it was hilarious!

Pay no attention to how bad I look, still swollen from Head to Toe!

After arriving home, Mimi was waiting for us with baby boy ribbons on the mailbox and back gate and Leigh Ann had lunch ready for us, too. We are so spoiled! The next day, Mimi and Leigh Ann worked together and this precious stork arrived in our front yard.

I had to include Daddy's favorite picture. He thinks our child is so advanced that he is about to roll over and already smiling. I think it might be gas...

I also had to include this one of Jill, Cam, and Mimi. Jill really wanted Cam to hold Ethan, but he was terrified. Mimi took care of that...she just walked up and laid him in his arms. Daddy was ready with the camera!

Now, this...this is Mommy's favorite picture of my perfect little angel. I could hold him and stare at him all day long.

Ethan Brewer

July 10, 2009

6lbs 3 oz

18 inches

Do dogs have a paper deficiency?

We have been so proud of our high-energy puppy because it seems that she is beginning to calm down a bit...or so we thought. When we first got her we crate-trained her and it has worked beautifully. Here we are a year later and she's doing so well, so of course it is time to allow her some freedom when we leave. We started allowing her to stay out when we left for short periods of time to run to the store and she has worked all the way up to 4 and 5 hours at a time! We are so proud of her...she's such a good girl! She doesn't get on the furniture, she loves laying on her bed, she plays with her toys and doesn't chew things that don't belong to her! She's such a good girl!

Having said all of that, I've been working on Thank You notes and I am so excited because they are almost finished. They stay on "my" chair and every day I sit and write a few. The other day we left for an hour and a half and when we returned, Lucy had EATEN the gift log that I had recorded everything in, several of the Thank You notes, and way too many envelopes to count. I mean shredded, ripped to pieces, digested, strewn all over the floor, and tore pages clean out of the book. You don't want to know how the hormonal pregnant lady who can't remember anything and had almost gotten all of them written reacted.