Brielle Madison Vessels

Throughout my pregnancy I was pretty sure that Brielle would not wait until 40 weeks to be born. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I would make it to full term (37 weeks). When I hit that milestone I was so excited and just knew that any day would be the day!! 37 weeks came and went... then 38 weeks.... then 39 weeks... then I was at my due date. I could not believe that I was still pregnant! Miserable, huge, and waddling I was desperate. Sadly, I was only 1 cm dilated and 0% effeced so my midwife refused to induce me before 41 weeks.

At 40 weeks and 6 days I went in to have a foley bulb placed. Basically, this helps my cervix dilate so that I will have a better chance at having a successful induction. When it was placed I was about 1.5 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. Progress!! But still not anywhere near where I shoud be. So that was put in and fell out at about 9 pm that night which I thought meant I was dilated to at least a 4, so I was pretty stoked.

The next morning we went to the hospital for my induction. We arrived at about 5:15 am and my Pitocin got started at 5:50 am. Labor started slow, like normal. Then I started feeling it. All. In. My. Back. I felt NOTHING in my belly. It hurt so bad. Apparently Brielle was facing my belly instead of my back which is wrong and causes back labor. At 9 am I finally got a spinal block. I learned from my labor with Brenden to not let the pain get out of control. The spinal block was HORRIBLE. Yes, it relieved all of the pain but I felt like I was covered in mosquito bites. My entire body itched. I would have preferred the pain at that point. After that was going and I was feeling better I finally met Dr. Meldrum and he checked my cervix to see where I was. I was 3.5 cm (he stretched me to a 4 though) and about 75%. He was originally going to break my water to help things along but said that Brielle was still so high up (a -3 station) that he was scared of cord prolapse. This is where the umbilical cord comes through the cervix and during a contraction the blood supply could be cut off by the squeezing and seriously harm or kill the baby. We didn't want that. My goal when I went in was to have a baby around lunch time. He said that it didn't look like I'd be getting my lunchtime baby. I braced myself for another looonnng labor. I started feeling the contractions again as the spinal block wore off so they started my epidural. Let me tell you, I love those things. For 1) goodbye pain!, and 2) apparently I don't dilate without them.

Around noon I was laying in a weird position trying to get Brielle to turn her stubborn self the right way when I heard a pop and felt a gush. I called the nurse in and she rushed to check me to make sure that Brielle's cord hadn't come through when my water broke. It hadn't. She was checking me and said, "I don't feel your cervix..." As it turns out, I was fully dilated! From 4 cm to 10cm in 3 hours.... pretty impressive! The doctor was called and everything was prepared for Brielle's arrival as I labored down. At about 12:30 the nurse asked me to do a practice push. I did and she started yelling at me to stop pushing because Brielle's head was coming out! So after half a push, I stopped!! William's face was priceless, by the way! From then on out every time I had a contraction she would come check and make sure Brielle was still inside of me.

Finally the time had come for me to push her out. The nurses were taking bets as to how long it would take me to get her out. The first one said 3 pushes. Another one said that she would be born by 1:15 (20 minutes from the time she said that). They were both wrong. With one big, long push Brielle was born at 1:00 pm on the dot. No tears. She was a perfect 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long with a head full of dark brown hair.

After Brenden's 23 hour long labor I was not expecting a speedy 7 hour one. Her birth is one that I would do again any day. It was just the beginning of her perfection. She rarely cries. Only really at night when she is getting tired. She smiles and coos more than ANY baby I've ever see at this age. Oh, and she's gorgeous. I could not have dreamed up a better baby. Lucky does not begin to describe it. My family is truly blessed by our two wonderful children <3

Dr. Meldrum, Brielle, and me (11.15.11)

Where's the motivation?

At the end of a term I am usually pumped to get it over with so am fairly on top of things. Not this time. I have a paper due in 26 hours and could care less about getting it done. In fact, a bubble bath is in order.

This week has been stressful, and I think Brielle is feeling it. Or at least my body is. The past two nights have been full of Braxton-Hicks contractions. They definitely aren't painful, just annoying and it's kind of hard to breathe when I'm having one. Great, can't wait until labor and full-blown contractions.

Brenden is doing great. I think he just went through a growth spurt. His 12-18 month Gymboree clothes were a little baggy on him but now fit him perfect. However, he's now in between sizes with Carter's. The 12 month stuff makes him look like a Jersey Shore castmate, while his 18 month stuff makes him look like a thug. He's still trying to cut his molars which makes me sad. Sorry I don't have more interesting news. Things have been boring.

Oh, he's learned how to give high fives and it just cracks him up to do it. That's pretty cute.

Eh, enough crap news.... William will be home sooo soooonnn!!!!! We are absolutely, crazy excited to have him back! I am excited to have him get up with Brenden and be able to sleep in as late as I want!!!! I've missed my husband tons, and I know Brenden has missed his daddy :)

Pampers Rant

Anyone that knows me knows that I cloth diaper. I love it. I have to buy disposables for Brenden to use at the CDC since they don't do cloth, and it drives me crazy. He also uses a sposie at night time since I can't see to figure out a good cloth combo to keep him dry for a 12 hour stretch. I'm going to start working on that again though.....


So what's the appeal of cloth? Sooo many things.


The most important one, to me, is that they don't contain chemicals that will be held against my baby's skin for 24 hours a day (okay, 23.5 if you count bath time and diaper changes). Dioxin, a carcinogen, is not a chemical I want my son to hang out with.


Second, the environmental factor. Disposable diapers are the third largest consumer item filling our landfills, and they take between 250-500 years to decompose. Estimates show that each year about 18 billion diapers are used and thrown away. You do the math - yikes.


Third is the cost. One cloth diaper cost between $15-25, which is about the same as 50 disposable diapers. Those are the "fancy" ones. He has some that cost less than $3 each (the "old fashioned" prefold kind that most people us as burp rags). That's the same as about 10 disposable diapers. I can guaratee you that each of Brenden's diapers will be used more than 10 times.... more than 50 times actually. We're saving lots of money, and would be saving more if the CDC didn't require sposies.


Last, is how freaking adorable they are. Seriously, have you see them? They come in really cute prints and  colors and make me smile.


So what's Pampers doing now? Coming out with Pampers Prints. Oh, vomit.

They have them hanging on a clothesline. Are they saying that you should dry your Pampers out and reuse them? Surely not, because that would decrease their profits... so what are they saying? It REALLY, REALLY drives me crazy that one of the reasons people use cloth is because of how cute they are (although I don't think that is anyone's primary reason) and now Pampers is coming in and trying to take that away. I could go on and on about how I feel about this, but I won't. All I can hope for is that this winds up backfiring and promoting cloth diapers.

End rant. For now.

The Adventures of Brenden

Brenden did the CDC Tuesday-Friday this week. Tuesday and Wednesday weren't great, but I'm chalking that up to him cutting his molars. I didn't give him and Tylenol before he went so he was probably hurting and just wanting his mommy. Thursday and Friday were really good though! He had Tylenol before he went so I guess he was feeling good and had AWESOME days. They said he didn't cry when I left and didn't cry AT ALL the entire two hours he was there on Thursday. He played inside great, played outside great, and ate his lunch great. I'm so proud.

But my proudest moment was when I walked in to pick him up on Thursday. The kids were already laying down for a nap. They don't put a cot out for Brenden since I pick him up right before nap time. He was sitting next to a little girl who was laying down. The teacher was sitting on the other side of her patting her back, and he was sitting there rubbing her hair.

Is that not the sweetest thing you've ever heard of? It melted my heart. Yeah, Brenden is as rotten as they come. He loves his mommy and wants 195% of my attention 25 hours a day. However, he's also as sweet as they come.

And we'll turn from his sweetness to his rottenness now.

Brenden has a fascination with the dogs' water bowl. It drives me bonkers. The floor is always wet, he's always wet, it's just a mess. Today he was toting around our Vonage phone, which is fine; he does that a lot. My eyes weren't glued on him which I guess, in hindsight, was a mistake. I heard him splashing in the water and didn't think much of it because it's what he does. I turn around to look at him and he's splashing in the water with the phone. The phone is obviously ruined now. We went on base to the BX to buy a new phone so we could still be in contact with people in the States. All they have is British phones. Yeah, on base. Isn't that messed up?!?!?! I guess I'll have to order a new one off of Amazon and wait a week or so for it to get here. In the meantime, we won't be able to talk to any friends or family in the US :(  I have the phone sitting in a bowl of rice hoping it will dry out and maybe work again...... I don't have high hopes!

Love that kid.

You gotta have a sense of humor....

Two stories.

First, I took Brenden to the CDC (Child Development Center... the daycare on base) yesterday for their monthly "Give Parents a Break" program. It's one Saturday a month for 5 hours and it's free. He did SO GREAT! There were only 4 kids in his age group there so the attention was a little more one-on-one I guess. The teacher said he had so much fun playing and that she would take him over the kids in her normal class any day. That made my day. I can't believe this is the same kid who screamed for 2 hours straight up there just a couple of weeks ago. He's really come a long way. Then she kept gushing about how cute he was. She said he's definitely going to be a heartbreaker with his perfect face and eyelashes. My thoughts, but her words. Well, I get a phone call saying that he fell and his tooth cut his lip. This exact same thing happened on Thursday up there. I actually didn't get to the phone because I was shampooing the carpets and didn't hear it- when I checked the message I had to listen to it twice just to make sure it wasn't an old message! Anyways, I didn't call back. I wasn't worried. He's a boy; bumps and bruises come with that. I'd be more worried if he never hurt himself because it would mean that either a) I was being way too overprotective, or b) he wasn't exploring. Anyways, I go to pick him up and they are just apologizing so much and telling me how bad they fell and yada, yada, yada. I kept reassuring them that it was okay!! They couldn't believe how cool I was about the situation. Of course I'm sad that he got hurt - that breaks my heart - but I can't help but laugh at what a little klutz he is. If I freaked out every time he got hurt I'd go crazy. You've got to laugh- you've got to have a sense of humor about things.

Next story.

Today Brenden and I had to go to base to return the Rug Doctor. By the way, my carpets look amazing. It'll probably be less than a week before they show proof that two dogs and a toddler live here, but for now they look great. We were going through the gate and Brielle was trying to escape through the front so I had my hand on my belly trying to keep her in :) The British gate guard checked my I.D. then we had this little conversation:

Him: "Not much longer now, yeah?"
Me: "I've actually still got over 3 months!"
Him: "3 months?!?! You're going to be huge!"
Me" *laughs* "You're telling me!"

At least someone said it, I guess. The looks on people's faces when I tell them I'm not due until Sepember 9 says it all, but no one's actually come out and said it (not strangers anyways!). A lot of women might have gotten offended by this, but if it's the truth then why get offended?? I've got a big belly, and I'm proud of it! I'm cooking a beautiful, healthy little girl and I love it. Again, you've GOT to have a sense of humor!

Not much else going on here. This term is getting ready to come to a close (yessssss!!) so I've been busy with schoolwork. I said this was my last term until January, but I'm addicted to school so I'm taking a speech class this summer. It's face-to-face though so I'm hoping it won't be so bad. Online classes take an insane amount of discipline since you basically have to teach yourself. I'm also taking an online resume writing class, but it's only 4 weeks long and a 1 credit course so I know it'll be pretty simple.

Hopefully I'll have my mom and sister out here to help. Then William will be home. Then my in-laws are coming out. So the journey of the single mom is about to end. Until the next time he's gone, at least.

Brielle Madison {22 weeks}

Today was our big anatomy scan!! Even though we already knew her gender and just saw her 6 weeks ago, I was still extremely excited! With good reason too-- she really hammed it up and showed us her personality which is strikingly similar to Brenden's.... oh boy

First, her adorable little profile. She's got quite a pointy nose. I'm sure it'll turn out looking oh-so-cute though.

 Here's her hand. I'm pretty sure she had her fingers bent in this picture. They look kind of short and nubby, but several times that I saw them I saw long, beautiful fingers. The ultrasound technician kept trying to get a good picture of both of her hands for the radiologist to look at... however, Brielle was being stubborn and was hiding one of them. She was also laying in a way so that we couldn't see her heart to get those measurements. I had to get up and go pee and walk around-- once I came back she had changed positions and we were able to get those measurements. We kept poking at her to get her to move but she just wouldn't do it--- stubborn, stubborn....

Just another profile shot.

This is never my favorite picture. Why they feel inclined to print out this angle I'll never know.... I always find it a bit creepy and skeletal/Darth Vadar-esque. But, we gotta include it.

Here's her little baby foot! Her little strong baby foot. That's the foot that I feel kicking me all day long. Love it.



And last, a body profile. I asked if she was able to get a full body profile, but unfortunately she could not. At this gestational age, the baby is too big to be able to do it. I guess we got lucky with Brenden at 20 weeks... Maybe we just barely did it in time to get that full body shot.

So those are the pictures that I got of our sweet baby girl. The ultrasound tech did check between the legs to make sure nothing "new" had developed. It hadn't. She's still a girl. My insides did a celebratory dance when I saw that! Also, she's measuring pretty much dead on for 22 weeks which is just great. Her head circumference varied from 22w1d to 22w3d. Her femur measured exactly 22 weeks. We saw the 4 chambers of her heart beating perfectly. Everything looked great. She went ahead and figured the measurements out so that she could tell me how much she was weighing.... she's a whopping 1 lb and 1 oz!!! She's still got about 7 lbs to go, but she's getting there! Unfortunately, since she couldn't get the whole body in one shot she was unable to tell me a good guess as to her length. Everything online says that at 22 weeks they are about a foot long. The entire time she was wiggling around. Luckily, she was in a pretty good position, she just wouldn't lay still. The ultrasound tech had to be super quick to take the screen shot that she needed for her measurements.... several times she was too slow and Brielle wiggled and caused her to miss the shot she needed, so she'd have to try again. I was hoping she would be laid back and chill, but if today is any indicator of her personality then we're going to have our work cut out for us!!!

Just like Brenden, I was holding my breath a little bit in the days leading up to this ultrasound... you just never know what they might find. Although I won't get the "official" results until my appointment with my midwife next week, everything seemed perfect.

Of course, how could it be any different? She is our perfect little princess after all.

Brenden's First Easter

Easter was last Sunday, and even though William was not here to celebrate with us we still made the best of it. The day started out with me making French toast for myself and Brenden. Super yummy! Brenden loves my French toast. Something about Brenden gobbling down something I make gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling. After breakfast we wandered into the living room to see what the Easter bunny left for Brenden.

His favorite was the ball. The ball is now sitting, deflated, on our porch. It was deflated within 3 days!!!! I couldn't believe it, and I'm so upset about it. Guess I'll buy a pump or a new ball. Good ole' E.B. also brough him some bubble stuff, Despicable Me on blu-ray, Baby Einstein's World of Words discovery kit, and a few little snacks. We haven't tried watching Despicable Me. Brenden isn't really a T.V. watcher at all. I guess I just buy the DVD's for when he's older.

After we were finished discovering his new stuff and playing with it, it was time to get ready for our day. I had big plans to take us to brunch on base where the Easter Bunny was making a special appearance. Brenden never got to see him due to this or that so I figured this was my last chance. Unfortunately, my car had big plans to run out of antifreeze so I did a mad dash around different stores trying to find some. Brenden was tired, which I knew, and fell asleep in the car. I took him out of the car to run into the store-- this is how he responded:

Nothing. He didn't wake up as I carried him around or put him back in the car seat. I figured brunch probably wasn't a good idea with a baby THIS tired. We went home, and he napped. Once he woke up we went to our friends' house for a big lunch followed by an Easter Egg hunt.

Brenden found 4 eggs. He would have found more, but he was happy with those four. He just popped a squat in the grass and played with them.

I finally corralled him to us, and he still just wanted to play with his eggs and other peoples'....

 He discovered a sandbox for the first time and wasn't real sure what to think. He'll probably be getting one of his own sometime in the future.

We then ate an extremely yummy lunch with some of the best ham I've ever had and a different variation of potato salad that was to die for. Yummm.  After that, Brenden played for a little while then started to get tired.....

.... so I cheered him up, took him outside, and made him get a picture with me before we left. He still wasn't a happy camper so getting a smile from him was out of the question, but at least we got a picture together on his very first Easter.

5 months pregnant

This picture was taken at 21 weeks 4 days pregnant (exactly 5 months) with Little Miss Brielle.... and whoever else might be hiding out in there with her!!!


Just a quick update as to how things are going..... GREAT! This pregnancy is going insanely smooth, other than the asthma issue. I've been taking Advair twice daily (in addition to my Singulair and Zyrtec) for almost two weeks, and I'm so happy to say that the asthma is finally under control. I don't even think I realized how bad it had gotten until I got on Advair. Sitting on the couch every night having to consciously focus on each and every breath and work to take it because it isn't coming naturally isn't something that a person should have to live with... especially not a pregnant woman. I am slowly getting my energy back as well. Not getting enough oxygen really wears you out! I thought it was just being pregnant and taking care of Brenden... I thought that maybe I was missing out on that "2nd trimester energy" that I got with Brenden and everyone talks about. I wouldn't say that I have loads of energy now, but I'm not fighting sleep every hour of the day.


Brielle is growing and growing which is great. She's such a strong and active little girl. Within the past few days I've started noticing that if I watch my belly when she's moving around I can see her movements. I can feel her little elbows or knees or something run across my belly. She's also gotten the hiccups a few times that I've noticed. To add to that, I can tell that she is already head down which is how I hope she stays. I don't want to go through another breech baby scare... It's such a crazy thing to be able to feel all this so soon! It's so wonderful though since I had such a hard time bonding with her at first. Now, every day I just fall more and more in love with her! I'm still hoping that it's a long while before she's here, but I am actually extremely excited now.


I have my "big" ultrasound on Friday. I'll be 22 weeks and they will take all her measurements and make sure that everything is looking good and that she is healthy. Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well for us!!!!


I'm working on an Easter post which is taking forever because of all the pictures.... but be looking out for that!

Ahhh... a moment alone

Brenden just laid down for a nap. The dogs are eating. Furthurmore, the dogs are eating THEIR food. I have a good two minutes of peace, quiet, and no smells.

Ricky is a scavenger. If something hits the ground he gobbles it up before I can even bend down to pick it up. It pisses me off SOOOO bad, but I feel horrible locking him away everytime food is around. Because let's face it, with a one year old there is always food around. But seriously, I'm about to do it because it is making me so angry. If Brenden is eating a snack on the floor (which I often let him do) and he accidentally drops a piece, Ricky snatches it up. If Brenden is walking around with a cracker or something and by chance waves it in front of Ricky's face Ricky will try to eat it out of his hands. All these table scraps are giving him horrid gas. It isn't a once or twice a day thing. No, it's a once or twice every fifteen minutes thing. And it's not just a wave of smelliness then it's gone. It lingers. Those who have witnessed it can attest to what I am saying. Being pregnant with a heightened sense of smell makes it THAT much worse. I'm read to get rid of him. Oh, if only we hadn't dished out close to $5k to get them from Okinawa to here. They are pretty much ours for life now.

End rant about dogs. Well, really just Ricky. Zeus is being awesome. No accidents in the house, not bothering me one bit. He's just being a great little dog.

Brenden is doing awesome. He's such a sweet little boy and being his mom is the best. He does act out and throw his tantrums, but I do know that they aren't meaningless. That somewhat helps me deal with them. I know that he is trying to tell me something... he wants me, he wants food, he wants sleep... something. He just can't get the words out so he screams. We're working on the words though.

Brielle is also doing awesome, as far as I can tell. She's a little mover and much like Brenden these days, hates when Mommy is sitting down. She gets kick crazy when I'm cramping her space. She's got strong little kicks which just melts my heart. I can't wait to meet her beautiful face.

Day 1

New home in England. New baby on the way. New blog. New blog that I WILL keep up with, at least while William is away. I need a place to get my thoughts out. Brenden's a GREAT listener, but sometimes I want more.

Right now, he's awake and just dumped a box of Cheerios on the floor, so I must tend to the mess! And welcome to my blog and my life!!!