The One Where Brycen was Born

Our lives changed forever last Monday!

Brycen Timothy was born at EIRMC on April 5th at 10:48 am.

It was one of the craziest yet most amazing experiences of my life.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED...

As I've mentioned before, I was having a lot of contractions every day and was so irritated. I felt like I was calling labor and delivery at the hospital every night, not sure if I should go in or not. I didn't sleep at all it seems the entire week because I was too busy timing contractions. Saturday night they got pretty bad at times, but they weren't consistent.

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I was excited for General Conference on Sunday. I felt like I needed some spiritual upliftment after everything going on. And of course, Conference was wonderful. The talks were so nice and comforting. I could feel the spirit very strongly. My biggest desire had been to simply know when to go to the hospital. I really felt comforted and knew that I would know when to head to the hospital.

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After conference we went to my parents' house for dinner. Not even halfway through my meal an overwhelming feeling came over me. All of a sudden I just knew that I would be going to the hospital and having the baby soon. It was very peaceful. The contractions had been going on and I started timing them. Eventually they were 4 1/2 minutes apart and very consistent. At about 7:30 I told the family that I needed to go to the hospital. I was surprised at how calm I felt.

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Tyson and I went right home and grabbed the bags. We had been living out of suitcases for a week since I went into preterm labor the week before. That worked out pretty conveniently when all we had to do was run in and grab the bags! We got to the hospital and I got changed into a gown. As soon as I got hooked up to the machines the pain of the contractions increased. When the nurse checked me I was at 4 cm and 95% efaced. She called Dr. Leavitt and he came right in. When he checked me himself he told there was no turning back and I'd have a baby by 6 am. It was overwhelming, yet I felt very at peace with it. I was worried about the baby being born at 35 weeks, but I knew everything would be ok. We called our families and let them know. Mom, Amber, and Amy came to the hospital and stayed in the waiting room. They're troopers!

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The nurse told us to try and get some sleep as things progressed. I received an epidural at about 9:00 (wonderful thing, that epidural) so I was somewhat relaxed. Dustin and Erika came by right after I got the epidural. Needless to say we didn't get any sleep. Dr. Leavitt came back and checked me at 6:00. But I had only progressed to a 5. So they broke my water and gave me pitocin. That got the ball rolling a little faster. In the mean time we sent my mom and sisters to our house (being only 5 minutes away) to try and get some sleep.

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By 10 am the nurse checked me and I was ready to go. I was a little freaked out, got to say! And it didn't help that I had been lying on the one side for a while and the epidural had almost worn off on one side. We had to have the baby in an operating room because the NICU is attached. They wanted to get Brycen right in there. At 10:48 am our little guy was born. Labor was intense. I had a hard time pushing. But Tyson was very supportive and did a great job. Did I mention that Tyson delivered the baby? With the help of Dr. Leavitt, of course. He was so calm and helped me out so much. He kept telling me how good of a job I was doing.

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It was a very spiritual experience when Brycen was born. When Tyson set him on my stomach I just cried. I couldn't believe he was here! And I still can't. It's all just been surreal. But the greatest experience of my life. I already can't imagine how I was living my life without this sweet little baby.

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Where Brycen was born at 35 weeks he went straight to the NICU. Everything was great with him, but he had a hard time eating. Whenever we fed him a bottle he had to have the whole thing gone in 30 minutes. Otherwise he would have to have a feeding tube put in. On Wednesday, at 2 days old and the day I was being discharged, Brycen had a feeding tube put in. When I saw him I just cried. Not only was it hard to see him with a feeding tube, but the thought of going home without him about killed me. He was also on a bili blanket for jaundice. I was a sad mama. All I wanted to do was hold my little boy close and snuggle him forever.

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Mom came up to help us get everything to the car at about 3:30. We finally left at 5:00 after the nurse checked me out one last time and we went over discharge papers. I got in my wheelchair one last time and the nurse wheeled me out the door. All I could think about was how wrong this was. I should be holding my baby, not a hospital mug full of water with a balloon tied to it. You can imagine how emotional I was. When Tyson and I got in the car to go home we both just cried. It was the worst feeling in the world to be leaving our baby at the hospital, not sure when he was coming home.

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Brycen has been in the NICU for 8 days. Since we left, he was moved up to the 2nd floor NICU because he was improving. We were so excited to hear that! We've been visiting him at least three times a day since last Thursday and it's been so wonderful to be close to him. If we can't have him home with us, the NICU five minutes away was the best place for him.

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Brycen was taken off the bili blanket this week. Woo hoo! We have high hopes for our little guy! We sure have missed having him home, but we know he's being taken care of. And we're excited about his improvements! Go Brycen!

THE BIG DAY

April 5, 2010

The only reason I posted this picture was to show how swollen I was ha ha. I had so many different fluids going through me!

Right after delivery

Brycen's first diaper

Our new baby!

The first time I got to hold him

Brycen's little NICU bed

Proud mama

Visitors on his big day:

Aunt Amy

Aunt Amber

Great Grandma Murri

Grandma Miller

Aunt Erika
We were also visited by my aunts Karin and Lee, my cousin Tyrel and his wife Vandy, Aaron and Britney, Tyson's sister Angie and her son Cooper, my mom dad, and Che'.

ONE DAY OLD

Our first family photo

Stork dinner

I just love him! Can't get enough.

What a sweetheart.

He sports the one-eye look quite often.

Thank heaven for little boys.

Visitors that day:

Grandma O'Connor

Grandma Miller

TWO DAYS OLD

Holding Brycen right after seeing his feeding tube and bili blanket. And right before being discharged.

The red face I have shows how distraught I was!

He sure makes a feeding tube look cute!

Dad changing Brycen's diaper

Feeding Brycen

We have to put his food through a feeding tube when he doesn't finish his bottle.

Our room

Tyson slept in that chair thankfully pulled out into a cot.

Propping up my feet before we had to leave

A couple of very sad but very happy parents!

Our little man all hooked up

Visitors for that day:

Grandpa Miller

THREE DAYS OLD

Life in the NICU

Our little glow worm

This picture is to show Brycen's sun-kissed skin tone against my pasty white skin tone ha ha. I'm so glad he got his dad's coloring!

Visitors that day:

Grandma O'Connor

FOUR DAYS OLD

Having lunch

I just love him in blue! And I love these little gowns babies wear. So cute! Check out those long fingers! And the one-eyed look again. ;)

We just love him!!


Visitors that day:

Aunt Amy

FIVE DAYS OLD

Bath time!

He was just loving being under the warm lights.

Relaxing in a clean pair of jammies after a warm bath

Having some dinner

Visitors that day:

Grandpa O'Connor

SIX DAYS OLD

Sunday morning we went to visit Brycen then went to sacrament meeting.

Ebony and ivory

A little grin

Visitors that day:

Aunt Amber

Uncle Che'

Grandpa Miller (Grandma Miller was there too.)

Uncle Dustin

Aunt Erika

Aunt Britney

Uncle Aaron
My uncles Lance and Blake and their wives and kids also came up to visit! It was a great day with lots of family!

ONE WEEK OLD

I came in for Brycen's 9:00 feeding and found Brycen bundled up in a little ball at the bottom of his crib. I just want to snuggle him!