:: Brinna's ::

:: Monday, July 18, 2005 ::
:: hallelujah! ::

Well yesterday came and went with no response, so, I've got my money back! Woohoo! It's about time...

:: Brinna 6:02 AM [+] ::
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Hello all!

I hope you're doing well, I am. So much stuff has happened lately...it's amazing. First, of course, Alice came along. She's one of the skinniest babies I've seen in awhile. Sure, she was an average weight, but she's so long! Her fingers amaze me every time she actually has her hand out of a fist. She's a bit underweight, I think, although the doctors didn't say anything...I know because if you pinch the skin on her legs, instead of being nice and plump, it wrinkles a bit and folds. I wonder if it might have to do with her legs being wrapped up in the cord? It would explain why my belly measured the same, 38cm, for the last month of pregnancy Instead of increasing a centimeter every week, it stopped. She's been gaining weight fast though, she had her first checkup yesterday and she's already back at her birth weight. That's only 4 days after birth-super fast. Most babies take a week at least, and some take 2 weeks. There's no doubting my milk supply...

Another thing that happened was, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out in theatres. Very good in my opinion, true to the book (except for adding a bit, most notably the ending) and Johnny Depp was definitely perfect for the role. That same night Kristi and I went and bought the newest Harry Potter book, which Kristi of course finished overnight. I did that with the last book, but this time I read all of the first chapter. I was going to read when I got up to nurse, but Alice did so well that night (no crying, just eating and sleeping) that I got the most sleep I'd had since birth. And I'm still sleeping well. I don't hardly feel tired most days, although I guess it'll probably change when she gets older. I can sleep when she sleeps during the night right now, and I don't feel the need to nap in the day. Although I do still have to take it easy as far as activity goes...I did just give birth, after all!

Today is the last day the crib seller has to respond to my ebay/paypal complaint. I finally got tired of waiting for what might be a scam and filed with the company I paid through...it gives them 10 days to respond to my complaint, and if they don't, I automatically get refunded. The company takes the money out of their account, puts it back in mine, and takes the matter up with them. I'm doubting that they'll respond if they haven't yet, but we'll see. It would be wonderful if getting my money back was that (relatively) hassle-free!

It's the first Sunday since being pregnant...I feel fine, so I'm going to church. I wonder how many people will bombard me and Alice? Good thing she's breastfed, it's much more likely she won't get sick. A sick baby would not be fun....

:: Brinna 6:29 AM [+] ::
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Well here I am! Back from nowhere. I'm sure everyone will love this post.

First! Here I am as big as I got.


Here's Alice:


Look at all that hair! My mom's kids were always bald. And why is it so dark? Even my hubby was blond as a kid...

Me, postpartum...


And Alice in her going home outfit, which she was too small for despite being 7 lb and the tag saying 'up to 7 lb'.


Well, here's the birth story: I was 41 weeks to the day, and they'd scheduled an induction. Turns out I was in early labor when I went in, at 8am. They still decided to use the gel, though, because the baby's heartbeat wasn't accelerating with movement. It worked to speed up my labor, and I was lucky enough to get the only room that had its own hot tub. I used that all day, but unfortunately I wasn't really progressing past 4 cm. They put me on the monitor for a bit around 9pm or so, and the contractions were a whole lot worse out of the tub. I couldn't really relax between them. Then my water broke and I dilated from 4 to 8 cm in an hour. Too much for my own body to handle...I was having series of contractions, 5 really strong ones on top of each other and then about a minute or two inbetween. They decided to use Pitocin to try and 'regulate' them, and that actually made the contractions less intense. Pretty bizarre. I still had to get an epidural though, because of how fast my labor was suddenly going, and because after the pitocin I couldn't use the hot tub. Also, my blood pressure had shot up. After the epidural it was a lot easier to deal with the contractions. I'd gotten a low dose, so I could still feel a lot. It took only about one more hour and I was fully dialated. I had to wait to push though because they were concerned that I might have this disorder? condition? where if you start pushing with high blood pressure, you get seizures. Fortunately I didn't and so at 12:45am I had my new baby. She weighed 7 lb, 11 oz, and was nearly 21 in. long. It turned out the cord was wrapped around her feet and legs twice, and I'd guess that's why she wasn't moving in me. The midwife said she'd never seen it before.

Anyway, she's doing really well, took to nursing right away...I'm feeling really well too, my only problem is swelling. I'll probably even go to church on Sunday!

:: Brinna 5:20 PM [+] ::
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Well apparently my midwife was wrong...I'm overdue. :) I don't know why the midwife wants to induce so early though, only a few days after my due date. I'm praying I go into labor on my own before then.

I better post a picture, I took one last night. It's probably the worst quality shot my whole pregnancy. So here I am at term:



Not a whole lot going on. We went to see the fireworks in Mack where they do Country Jam...quite disappointing. It wasn't a very good show this year, and there was no traffic control in leaving. It took us 2 hours to get out of the parking lot, and we got out ahead of half the ppl in the place. People were not letting each other merge. The fireworks we had at home were much better even though they were really short.

Sorry to be so boring, but life has been pretty slow lately..

:: Brinna 10:25 AM [+] ::
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