After we left Alan & Katy we met up with more friends, Benjamin and Samantha. She is the sweetest person, I will miss her so much. This was our last weekend here so I wanted to go dancing! :) We had a blast!  

Alan & Katy, me & Aaron. They are best friends of ours. This was our first night to go out without our new babies. We had such a good time visiting. We laughed and laughed! :) 

Here is precious little Kelly. He is growing so fast. Aunt Chris got to get some lovin' before he got fussy. :) 

Brynn's new measurements

Brynn weighed 11lbs. 11oz. at the Dr. today. She is 25 inches long. Growing so fast!! :)

With us moving it has been a little crazy around here. I only had a second to grab a quick photo of Brynn. She is 2 months old today and was on the way to the Dr. to get her first shots. She did great. My little angel is so tough. :) 

I have had so many great times with these two. I will miss Jimmieanne and her family so much when we move. I miss Jennifer and Maddax more than ever. Thank you for everything girls. I love y'all. :) 

Thank you Jeanne for being such a wonderful friend to me. You are so caring and loving. It means so much to me that you love my Brynn like your own. I guess you feel the same way about her that I do about Lainee. Thank you for always being here for me. I love you :) And I love this picture too!!  

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

I would like to thank my fabulous best friend Jeanne for making my blog so cute. I have been wanting a new look but didn't know what. I love it!
We are packing up and moving soon so I don't know how much posting I will be doing. But I will be back. :)

Relief

Brynn is allergic to cow's milk!!!!! This sucks but thank goodness we know! :)

AAAAAAHHHHHHH

We had the biggest scare of our lives the other day. (This is going to be the short version of the story because she will be waking up any minute...)
Brynn had a formula bottle...an hour later she threw it up. I breastfed her...Aaron brought her in the kitchen and said, "look at her!!!" She was covered from head to toe with a red, raised rash. Her ears were red and very swollen. Mom was here thank God and she agreed, "let's go to the ER!" We head out, grabbing stuff and headed for the door. On the way there, she threw up again. I turned my hazards on and got us there very quickly. I have never been so scared in all of my life. But I kept it together, somehow.
After spending 8 hours in the ER, we went home with a bottle of Benadryl. All the Dr. told us was, "I called her Dr. and he said to be there first thing in the morning." When the ER Dr. came in to see us the first time he thought she might have a virus. 4 hours later, he thought she might have had an allergic reaction to something. For 2 reasons. 1 the blood work and 2 her ears and rash got better on their own. This scares me to death!! My baby sat in that ER room for 8 hours and they did nothing to ease her. Her throat could have swollen up from an allergic reaction, I was so worried!!! Thank God she wasn't screaming her head off, but she was swollen, red and EMPTY!!! After 3 attempts to get blood, (and I don't mean a prick on the finger) a catheter, (for a urine specimen) and a chest/stomach x-ray my baby was exhausted. Her granny, momma and daddy were heart broken. We had to ask them to bring us some pedialyte because I couldn't feed her. She kept that down and has been fine ever since.
We had to take her to her Dr. the next morning. 3 more attempts to get more blood!!!!!!! He wanted to check to see what she is allergic to. We should find out tomorrow. I really think she is allergic to milk. But, it could have been something I ate. We will see. I have stopped eating eggs, milk, nuts and wheat. Everyone please pray for our little angel.
What makes me so mad is I used to work at that hospital and know it doesn't take that long to get those results back. I have also worked in ER at another hospital and never saw anyone stay that long. Especially someone with a 6 week old. They were very unattentive and I am very unhappy.

Here is our first family photo. She is so precious, my little angel. She did so good today. The rest of the pictures are on my flickr. :) 

We had pictures made today...just thought I would share!! :) I will post more when I have a minute. :) 

What a sweet smile! She is so happy when she wakes up! :) 

Here are some new pictures of Brynn Harper. She had enough camera flashes by this time. :) 

My how things change...

The formula bottle went fine. She spit up more than usual so I decided to give her the breast next feeding. I guess just talking/writing about it helped! My nipples are not sore at all. It is going so well! :) I guess we will just supplement formula if we need to.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments and advice. Like my mom told me, "this will be trial and error baby." They don't come with instruction manuals do they!!?? :)

The rest of my story...

This is my first journal entry. I thought I would post it to catch everyone up. I hope everyone is doing well. I don't have much time to keep up with you all anymore. I will get better! :) Have a great week.

Today, minutes ago we gave Brynn her first formula bottle. Breastfeeding has been okay, actually great for a while. I want only the best for my baby but it has been hard emotionally. So far she has liked formula, we will know more once it has digested…
I wanted to try to keep a journal of everything but am just starting today. Brynn Harper is 5 weeks and 2 days old. She is absolutely the most precious baby in the world. She has been smiling since she got here. She actually looks at you and smiles now. It is so adorable. Minus the few gas days and her being bored she has not cried that much at all.

I will start from the beginning now…
My induce day this dumb man put his truck in reverse and backed into mom and I. We spent 3 hours at the police station reporting him. I rushed home, got a shower and relaxed until time to go to the hospital. I had been packed for months.
We got to the hospital and they got my IV started…ouch! This was just the beginning. They came in later to put some tablet on my cervix to start the thinning. My contractions got worse through the night. I got staedol (sp) at some point and this eased them and gave us a few laughs.
They started me on the drip Friday morning. By mid day Friday contractions were coming and I was dilating more. They put a catheter in…ugh. I hate those and I knew I would. It hurt worse coming out than going in.
I got my epidural, which worked perfectly! I am so glad I got it!! It was not too painful. I “pushed” for 2 hours and Brynn Harper was here. She was not faced downward, but towards my left thigh. Causing me to rip even after two episiotomy attempts. I had no idea at the time I even had an episiotomy much less a tear. Dr. Julie Wilkie did an excellent job…she saved my life.
I lost a lot of blood and almost had to be given some. It was very scary. My hemoglobin was 4, normal is 15 I think. I felt horrible afterwards due to the blood loss. It took several weeks to start feeling better.
At some point my IV messed up and my whole arm swelled up. This hurt worse than anything. It took forever to stop hurting. The veins are still sore and weird feeling. Thank the lord Aaron had a week off work when we came home. Thank the lord my mom was here for a while too. I could not have made it without their help. I had no energy whatsoever. With the little energy I had, I did too much. I am so glad my mom was here to remind me of that. She felt like she was griping at me, but I needed it.
Breastfeeding has been something else. I have wanted to do it since I knew I was pregnant. I have always thought it was the way to go. I am still in the transition of supplementing formula but I hope it goes well. I have beat myself up about breastfeeding since Brynn Harper was born. I didn’t want to quit…I didn’t want to be a failure. My nipples are cracked and sore. I have had a consult with a lactation consultant and we also attended a breastfeeding class. I have learned all there is to learn about it. My nipples are so sore and cracked. They weren’t for a while and I don’t know why they are now.
I have finally realized, she is my baby and I can do what I want. Just because it went well for some mothers doesn’t mean it will for me. Something I didn’t truly realize until now is EVERY PERSON IS DIFFERENT, EVERY BABY IS DIFFERENT. I had been telling myself I had to do it, no matter what.
I will continue to pump and continue with the breast. We will see how it goes. She may not want the breast milk after she tastes the formula. I do know that she has had strictly breast milk for 5 weeks and that makes me happy. I am not giving up totally. The breast just need some rest!

Yesterday was the first day the weather was decent so Brynn Harper got her official stoller ride. We had a blast, she loved it. :) 

I love this picture! Aaron fishing with Ali and Abbi's help. :) 

She is growing so fast and getting the cutest chubby thighs. :) 

One of my latest favorites. :)