Introducing Princess Brown

So I posted my last post on Monday and my water broke June 16, 2009 Tuesday morning at 7:15am and our new little princess arrived almost exactly 4 hours later at 11:12am. She weighed in at exactly 7 lbs and exactly 19 inches long. Everything went pretty smoothly. My mom was able to come watch the boys that day which was a huge blessing. Thanks mom!! We headed off to the hospital while my contractions continued to come hard. I must say that my water has broken all four times but this one took the prize. I have never been so soaked in all my life. Let's just say I had taken some precautions to try and stay somewhat dry on the way there to try and be able to walk in with some dignity. (Really I have no idea why I try!) By the time we got to the hospital, my shorts were completely soaked through and my shirt was actually getting wet. K brought me a wheelchair and I was actually dripping from that....gross!!! They got me all checked in and hooked up and the lovely epidural man came to save me. My right leg seemed to be way more numb then the left for most of the delivery which was annoying but I will take annoying over pain. My blood pressure was pretty low and they were worried about that but it went back up right after delivery so that was good. The last thing I remember is the nurse said I was at a five and to let her know if I felt any pressure down there. About 10 minutes went by and I started to feel pressure. I remember thinking...well that's just silly. I bet I feel pressure just cause she said the word pressure and got it in my head. I kept feeling it so I decided to buzz her into the room. When the nurse came in, I told her I was feeling pressure and she said "Well of course you are because her head is right and you are at a 10!" I about died! I knew I came fast but that was ridiculous! I just kept saying...no no...I'm not ready yet as the doctors and nurses ran around me preparing for delivery. I was in total shock! I pushed a couple of times and I was holding my beautiful baby girl in minutes!

She has been a dream. So cute and little. Her features actually look so little to me. She has tons of hair and it's pretty dark too. I think she cried a total of 3 times the first few days she was here. Of course that has changed now but it was almost shocking how quiet she was. In the hospital nursery, I would call to see how she was doing and hear all this crying in the background. They would say "oh she is doing great...it's all the other babies that are crying!"

Her brothers love her and want to hold her all the time. C heard her crying today and ran and got her a little bear and some of his trains and said she needs toys...that's why she is crying. All of them seem to be hanging in there with very tired parents too. We are just so excited to have her here safe and sound and now we will get to the business of slowly creating our new normal.

Dress Rehersals and Stitches

I realize now that I have been terribly spoiled in the labor and delivery department. I knew I had pretty easy labors but I didn't realize how easy. My last three children were born with basically the same scenario taking place. I woke up in the morning, stood up, my water broke, I got ready to go, some contractions started, I got to the hospital, within an hour they had me hooked up to an epidural, I'm now pain free and sipping on pina colada ice chips watching tv with the occasional nurse coming in to tell me how I'm progressing, and within a couple of hours they tell me it's time to push. I push one or two times and then the baby is born. Seriously. I know nothing of hours of pushing. I know nothing of hours of labor before my water breaks. I knew that I liked it that way.....I just didn't know how much.

All along with this pregnancy I have wondered if it would happen the same way or if I would actually have to keep track of labor pains before going to the hospital. I'm 38 weeks now and that is huge for me. This is the longest I have gone and I feel like it's been 56 weeks. This past Friday I woke up having had contractions all night long. I didn't realize how close they were until I finally got out a clock and started watching it. That's when I realized they were about 3 minutes apart and not getting any weaker. I started to freak out because I have never experienced this before and I realize I'm in labor and I better let someone know. I called my mom and had her come over to watch the kids. I had my husband stay home from work, my kids stay home from school (it's just easier that way on everybody) and we head to the hospital amazed that my water hasn't broken yet. We get there and they hook me up to the machines and I have contractions for a couple of hours. Fun. After a while though they don't seem to be progressing me in the dilating department so I say maybe I should go walk around. I have never done this but I have heard of people walking around to help things progress a long....seemed like it would do the trick. I went at it with gusto, I tell you....I walked like I was on a track, I even went so far as to find the hospital stairs to climb to help things along. I was in a lot of pain but I thought, "hey...I bet I will be a 7 when I get back!" I was totally sweating and red faced when I went back into the room to have the nurse check on me. That is when I heard the news...."sorry it hasn't progressed you at all!" I about died. Not only was I completely exhausted and in pain but it was not doing anything to help this baby come out. I knew they would send me home and I would have to do the walk of shame like so many others. I just started to cry. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to go home and curl up in a ball for a week. That is pretty much what I did the rest of the afternoon because I felt lousy. I'm dilated to a 3 and I have contractions if I get up and do anything but I'm starting to think my body only knows one way to go into labor....water must break first! I will say it's pretty much gonna have to take my water breaking to get me into that hospital again. I kind of feel like I already went through the motions.... I guess it was a dress rehearsal of sorts. Lame I tell you...just lame. Now I have much more empathy for those of you who have been sent home from the hospital.


That would have made for quite a day all by itself but when you have a crazy day you might has well make it REALLY crazy. Right? I had some family visiting my parents just for the night so even though I wasn't feeling so good, we drove over there for what we thought would be a quiet dinner and some hugs goodbye since they would be leaving for Utah the next morning. We had a nice dinner and were starting to pack up when my 3 year old in a panic to get his shoes on, accidentally ran his forehead into the corner of a wall. There was an immediate huge goose egg on his forehead with a lovely cut down the middle. We got ice, tried to clean the wound and tried to put a band aid on it. It was then that we decided it might need to be looked at by a doctor because we weren't sure the band aid would really pull the skin together. It was 9pm and we were really tired already and we were heading to an emergency care center with my 3 year old. It took 3 hours and 3 stitches later to walk out of there. They actually had to numb it for a while and then when it was time to sew his head back together with blue thread, they laid him down on this weird board and wrapped him up tight in a straight jacket so he wouldn't move. Then this very nice guy who looked like he belonged on a Harley Davidson was the nurse that had to hold his head so he wouldn't move. They put sunglasses on him too so the lights wouldn't bug him. I just kept shaking my head saying I wanted this day to end. Our little C was very brave and a very good sport for being so tired himself.



As we were finally driving home at about 1am, I just kept praying that my water wouldn't break. I knew that I wanted this baby to come soon but at that point if I had to tell my husband that my water had just broken and that we needed to head to the 3rd hospital of the day, I think both of us would have started to cry and then needed drugs to get us through. I was so glad to have some rest the rest of the weekend.

We love Family in Town!!!

I was so excited when my Aunt Debbie said that she would be coming to visit and would be bringing my Aunt Susie and Uncle Mark and my Grandma T!! We haven't seen any of them in so long and it's so much fun to have them here. They had never even met my little C and he is three years old. I'm kind of hoping too that this baby comes while they are here so they can meet our newest addition too. I guess we will have to see if she cooperates with my lovely plan....probably not but a girl can dream.









On June 6, it was the anniversary of D-day in WWII. My grandfather served in "The Air War in Europe" as a bomber pilot. On his 25th combat mission, two engines in his plane failed soon after take off from Italy. On the forced landing, the craft caught fire and some of the bombs exploded. Only his ability as a pilot prevented total loss of life of the crew. He was dragged unconscious from the bomber by his navigator. He suffered severe brain concussion, complete amnesia, loss of smell and blindness in his right eye. It would take the next several years in and out of hospitals for recovery. He received a number of decorations for his bravery including a Purple Heart Award.

We took this past Sunday evening to go down to the WW II Memorial with my Grandma at sunset. It was beautiful and much more emotional than I realized it would be.

It's times like these that I really wish we lived closer to more relatives so we could see them on a regular basis. We love you guys!!! Thanks so much for making the trip to see us!!!