Happy Birthday Brandy!

I am a couple days late in this post as Brandy and I had a mom and daughter weekend to celebrate her birthday. I posted about Jessi's birth, now I will do the same for Brandy. :)

Our first little baby was due 4-5-1999. After a little disagreement with the doctor (she thought that baby 1 was due 3-28-1999, based solely on lmp... I knew when O was.) and an ultrasound, she agreed that the due date was indeed 4-5. You know, it felt like such an accomplishment to be right in the beginning of the pregnancy, but near the end, I was wishing her dates were the correct ones.

I had an easy, breezy pregnancy. Really. I had my last check up on March 31st. I guess my bp was elevated, for me... the only doc I had that paid attention to "normal for me" vs "in the normal range." She had me lay on my left side for what seemed like an eternity, but was really just 20 minutes. She said she wanted to induce me. Steve was out of town on a frac job and wasn't expected back until the 2nd. We agreed that I would go in on the 1st for some "prep." And on the 2nd I would get hooked up to the pitocin. I went in for the prep, stayed hooked up to baby monitoring machines for 4 long and boring hours and was allowed to go home. I was having some minor contractions but was told that was normal and to go rest and come back in the morning. About an hour later the contractions were on top of each other, coming about 1.5 minutes apart. Steve called the hospital. They said it was false labor and to get some rest. I was pacing the bedroom, moaning and hollering, Smokey, our cat, was sitting in the edge of the doorway watching me. He had a deer in the headlights look and you could tell he wanted to be anywhere but there, but he also didn't want to leave me. Steve was sitting in our bed - his look identical to Smoke's but without the fur. :) Steve looked helpless. I felt helpless. I guess we were a good pair. I walked and yelled, he sat looking terrified. After going to the bathroom for about the 1,000th time, Steve freaked out. Apparently, there was blood everywhere. He said he was taking me to the hospital and we weren't leaving until there was a baby in my arms. I honestly don't remember there being blood. I was in a total fog of pain. We had talked to the nurses at least 3 times and they kept telling me to get some rest. I was sure that if this wasn't real labor I was going to die the next day, and even if I didn't die, there would be no more children.

The drive to the hospital was funny. We had to drive all of about 8 blocks. The whole time I am yelling at Steve to slow down. Every bump was excruciating. He couldn't help but laugh because of all those movies and tv shows with the couple racing to the hospital.

We walked into the hospital and got the "you should be resting for tomorrow bit." Steve told them that there was blood all over the bathroom and we were staying. They took me into a labor room and checked. I had gone from nothing to 9cm in less than 2hrs. The doc was called. It took over an hour for her to get there, during which time the nurse kept telling me not to push. By the time the doc got there I was exhausted, and inexperienced. It took 2 hours of pushing to bring my beautiful, little girl into the world. She was a whopping 7 lbs, even. When you know my mom's history (smallest babe 9lbs 2 oz) you know I was surprised to have such a little baby. I was moved to a recovery room and Steve went home. Yah, even with no other little ones to care for, he went home to sleep. No company for me in the hospital.

I'd love to say that nursing started off great. But, we had an inexperienced mommy and an inexperienced baby. We eventually got it figured out, but it took weeks before we were easy and comfortable with it.

This is kind of a special year as Brandy was born on Good Friday. This is the first year since that her birthday has fallen on Good Friday again. We just figured out when her birthday falls on Easter... if the calculator we were using is correct, it will be the year she turns 57. It seems that her birthday and Easter being the same day will be a once in a lifetime event. LOL.