And so the adventure begins...

Our Little Turkey's Birth Story

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you.  We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Then the way you will live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.  All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.  We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need.  May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.  He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. 

Colossians 1:9-12

One might think that as crazy as the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy were, and as dramatic (and traumatic) as Big Sister's delivery was, that Will's birth story would have been crazy, too.  But it wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, your water breaking at 3:20 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning is quite dramatic, but the morning and Will's birth could NOT have gone more beautifully (except the fact that my epidural was a little crazy, but I'll get to that).

Obviously at 39 weeks pregnant, one has quite a bit of trouble sleeping, so I had already been up to the bathroom...twice, and I was still lying awake in bed TRYING to get comfortable.  "Rolling over" was quite the task with a little roasting turkey in there, but I needed a little switch, so I tried moving as I had hundreds of times in the weeks and months prior.  But this time was different.  I knew it as soon as I did it.  I felt my water break almost instantly, and shot out of bed to get to the bathroom (making NO messes until I got in to our tiled bathroom...FOR THE WIN!).

After a few minutes of my heart racing and thinking through things, I came to the realization that my water HAD broke, I was IN labor, I was delivering ON Thanksgiving Day, and my doctor would NOT be there.  As soon as I got all those straight in my head, I hollered out to my husband, who was pretty out-of-it-asleep, and he responded with a simple, but loud, "What?"

I knew I had to give him a few minutes to process all those things I had just processed in our tiny potty closet, and then it was..."What do we do next?!"  We go up front, water still leaking, Brad in his boxers, and tell my parents, of course! However, by the time we got to their room (I was worried about startling them awake...), we realized they were already awake and my mom knew exactly what was going on!! (haha, this part still makes me laugh - She had heard Brad say "what" and that was all she needed to know my water broke and I was in labor!)

I decided I would take a shower, wash my hair, and try to shave my legs since my contractions were still what I'd been used to since about week 14/15.  However, they quickly changed while I was in the shower, and by the time I was out and about halfway through drying my hair...I could barely breathe through them.  We threw on some clothes, got the last of our bags together, and loaded up in the car to head to Dallas around 4:45 am.  (Praise the Lord for NO traffic!!)

The last bump picture - 39 weeks!

The rest of the morning is a bit of a blur because everything went so quickly.  We got checked in at the front desk (where my sweet husband did all the talking and all the paperwork because HOLY CONTRACTIONS!) and our nurse Jenni took us to our room.  One of the first rooms they were going to put us in was the room I spent 36 hours in getting magnesium pumped through my body, where there are also no windows, so we opted for a different room ;)

Our sweet Resident Doctor that  had seen me several times during my hospital stays was doing rounds before she headed out for her Thanksgiving plans, and she did a quick check at 5:45 to see how dilated I was.  Convinced I'd still be at a 3.5 (and even joking that I'd be back to a 2...), I was pleasantly surprised when she said that I was a 5.

I was in quite a bit of pain, so I had already let them know that I wanted an epidural.  I knew the differences in my contractions from Bryleigh's birth, and I knew how much work I'd be doing to bring my baby in to the world, so I wanted to rest while I could.  They came in around 6:00 with the IV, and shortly after it was time for the epidural.

Because I had tested positive for an infection during my first hospital stay, I was required to get antibiotics every 4 hours to make sure it wasn't passed on to Will.  They want you to get at least 2 doses, so at 6 and 10, with the second getting fully in my system by 2 pm...delivering anytime before 2 meant Will only got one full dose, and any time before 10 meant no full doses.  If that happened (which it did) he would just be monitored up in postpartum, and he'd have a series of blood work done.  They monitor him for 48 hours, so we knew the earliest we'd be going home was Saturday.

For some reason, the epidural only took to my left side, and the 40 minutes to an hour that followed were excruciating, with serious labor pains in my right hip, feeling more and more with each contraction.  My entire body was shaking, so I got wrapped up in some warm blankets to help, and at some point I threw up...but I really don't even remember when that was ;)

A different doctor came in to take a look at my epidural and determined the placement was causing issues, so he took it out and replaced it (twice), and hung out with us a bit to make sure it was kicking in the way it needed to.

Once the epidural took, our nurse checked me again to see where we were on labor progress. From 5:45 to 7:40, I went from a 5 to a 10! I could not even believe it when she told us, and I'm pretty sure I asked her at least 5 times.  I was SO not ready for the HARD part of all of this.  I knew this baby boy was a big one, and all I had to compare it to was Bryleigh's birth.  I told them all a few times that I changed my mind, and he could just stay put!!

Although Dr. Harris was off because of the holiday, we got the best back up - Dr. Gaitonde.  He was the doctor that worked with us to make sure our little guy got to cook longer, so it was super sweet that he was the one on call over Thanksgiving weekend.  He came in around 7:45 to check on things, and Jenni let him know I'd dilated to a 10, was fully effaced, and at a 0 - meaning our little guy still needed to drop a little more.  Dr. G was just starting to make rounds, so he decided he'd finish those and give me about an hour to just labor and let my body move our little guy down naturally.

That hour passed incredibly quickly, and by 8:45 we were ready to do some practice pushes with my contractions... However, those practice ones ended up being the real thing since they could see his head after the first push.  I was SO not ready for that part of all of this, but it happened so fast that I really didn't have time to freak out (or run away...) and by the third round of pushing, and about 10 minutes later, our little guy was HERE!

Holding our miracle baby for the very first time, just minutes after his birth

We are forever grateful for Dr. G...and his love for country music! ;)

To this day, 4 weeks later, I'm STILL in shock at how Will's delivery went.  It will always be one of the craziest reminders to me of how in control God is and how much I should trust Him.  I spent WEEKS making myself literally sick over fear and worry of delivering a big baby and going through what I went through with Bryleigh.  I could not comprehend that I could have a big baby (God's plans) and still have a better experience than before.

Will was born in to this world with 90's country music in the background at 9:00 am, weighing 9 pounds 7 ounces, measuring 20.9 inches long. He was absolutely perfect!

Our first moments loving on our sweet little boy!

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His spirit.  Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him.  Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  

Ephesians 3:14-19

(I shared both of these verses in Bryleigh's birth story, 3 short years ago.  These are the words I am praying over my babies as they grow in a dark, lost world.  My prayer is that they come to know and fiercely love their Creator.)

Our Little Turkey's 1st Thanksgiving

Many people have asked about who Will looks like, or make the obvious comment that "he looks JUST like Bryleigh," and although there are similarities, there are lots of differences.  Bryleigh had way more hair.  She has her daddy's mole.  She weighed more and was shorter (making her look even bigger).  She HATED to snuggle, be swaddled, or have clothes on...Will LOVES to snuggle, be swaddled as snug as possible, and ALWAYS wants his clothes on.  They definitely favor each other, but he's not quite the carbon copy I was expecting, especially after all of our sonograms.

Although there are many differences, much of his first days were spent pretty similarly to his sister's.  (You can read about her first days here.) Thankfully, I had been through it all once before, so I knew a lot of what to expect.

First Moments

We spent some time with our little guy down in the delivery room while the doctors finished up with me, the pediatrician took a good look at Will, and we worked through his first time to nurse.  My parents were also there to welcome him into the world and give him some good Mimi & Pappy loving!!

After delivering at 9, we were heading up to our postpartum room by 11:00, just in time for some Turkey and Dressing for lunch! ;)  (I learned from my days in antepartum that they serve turkey and dressing EVERY Thursday, so this was technically my FIFTH go around with "Thanksgiving Lunch" at Baylor.)  We were excited to settle in for a day of Thanksgiving Football and time with our little man!!  Thanks to our Wild Man coming so quickly, we were able to spend the whole day with him...and we were able to eat normal food!! ;)  

Glucose Protocol

Since Will was over 9 pounds, he would be required to meet the same glucose levels that Bryleigh did, ensuring they could maintain their sugar levels.  He was tested before each feeding and needed to have a 45 at least three times in a row after his initial check down in the delivery room.  Anytime the number dropped too low, we would have to start back over.  Our little guy officially passed with a 73 on his final check at 10:00 pm on his first day! This meant that he could also have his first bath!

Although we had been here before, and it was a stressful part of Bryleigh's first days, things went much easier with Will.  We knew what to expect, we knew what was required, and we knew to do what was best for our little guy - which meant supplementing from the start!  Thankfully, there was a new program at Baylor that started back in May allowing us to use donor breastmilk as opposed to introducing formula from the start.

Our little guy did MUCH better at nursing (in the hospital...) than his sweet sister, so we would breastfeed for about 30 minutes, then supplement with a bottle every two to three hours.  This allowed for both his jaundice levels and his glucose levels to even out a lot quicker than had he just been breastfeeding.  Although he did better than Miss B, I still have PCOS, so that didn't change anything this go around as far as milk supply goes! ;)

Big Sister Meets Little Brother

Our big girl spent her Thanksgiving Day with my brother, sister-in-law, and the cousins.  She was in heaven and loved her whole day, but she was so excited to meet "Baby Will."  She walked right in to that room, said "Hi" to her baby brother, and she hasn't looked back since! What an incredible blessing that has been to our family!!

Holding her sweet little brother for the first time

We weren't quite sure how she would do or WHAT she would do, so we decided to do a little Big Sis gift from Will with All-Things-Dory, including some activities she could do while we were still in the hospital.  

Little Brother meets the whole crew!

One of the best parts about Will coming on Thanksgiving Day was that my brother's family was in town and they got to come up to the hospital to meet him.  That was super special to me and something I'll always be so thankful for.  Alan's kids, Tate and Olivia, were instantly in love with their new little cousin!  It was so fun to see them love on him.

And the real fun started once the whole crew was together!! How lucky were we to spend time with our sweet family on Thanksgiving Day, and introduce them to our sweet little miracle baby!

The Meet and Greet Tour continues!

Will's DeDe and Poppa B came to meet our Will Man on Thursday night after the Cowboys beat up on the Redskins, and sweet Bryleigh was still there to make the introductions.

Our Little Turkey's fun-filled Black Friday

Our second day with our little man started out with a busy morning - including his circumcision which threw our whole feeding schedule off and an attempt at his hearing screening, continuing to spend some skin-to-skin time, working on nursing, and spending some time relaxing with our newest love.  Bryleigh Girl could not wait to get back up to the hospital to see us and hold her little brother some more, so they made a visit Friday afternoon.  She also brought a present for Will - a sweet owl lovie!

Aunt Erin and Uncle Luke came with DeDe and Poppa B on Friday to get to meet our sweet little guy, and Bryleigh was definitely proud to show him off again.  Any day she gets to spend with all four grands is a good day for her, and adding little brother to the mix was the cherry on top!

Our Little Turkey is coming home!

One of the final hurdles to us getting to leave was for Will to complete his hearing test.  We had tried on Friday, but with all the excitement (his circumcision, missing feedings, meeting family), we weren't able to get him calm enough to complete it.  Thankfully, Saturday morning was the perfect time for he and his daddy to watch some college football and get his little ears screened.

We were originally told we wouldn't be able to be released until we got results back on Will's cultures, which would have been late afternoon on Saturday, BUT we got news around 11:00 that we were officially released!  They'd watch the cultures for us and give us a call if anything showed up, but we were in clear to take our sweet guy HOME!

The BumpDate - Who's In Control?

People make a lot of jokes when you are pregnant...jokes about size (yours and/or the babies, your belly, your ankles...), jokes about genders, jokes about eating habits...but one of those "jokes" is about who's in control.

Over the past two months (and probably longer), I've heard countless people talk about how WILL is in control.  It's Will's fault I was so sick in the beginning, it's Will's fault I was in/am in pain at different times, and it's Will's fault that I went in to pre-term labor (<< that's the big one...).

If we're being honest...that is NOT true.  Will is just hanging out in there, and he may or may not want to come out.  Will hasn't been causing contractions, that would be my body.  Will hasn't been causing all of the pain and discomfort, that would be my body (and a little bit of my first born...)  Will didn't cause all of the nausea and vomiting (and neither did my first born), that would be my body and it's inability to take on any extra hormones.

But beyond that...beyond my body actually being at fault for those things, IT'S ALL GOD'S DOING.  He has this plan, and in His plan was preterm labor for our little guy at 31 weeks, it was for weeks in the hospital, weeks at home on bed rest, a second trip to the hospital, and a lot of close calls in between. It was His plan for us to face a possible preemie, to now facing "stalled labor."  Every bit of this has been within God's control, NOT Will's, and it has all been part of His plan.  None of this has come as one bit of a surprise to Him.

From the beginning of this pregnancy, I hoped for an "early" delivery - I was thinking 37ish weeks would be great considering Bryleigh had been such a big baby (that we were clueless about) and such a difficult delivery/recovery.  I wanted SO bad to have a little bit smaller baby so that the delivery process was a little easier and that the recovery process would be more manageable - I have a lively, lovable almost three year old that I don't want to miss out on one single second of her life (especially right here at the holidays), and I pictured myself after her birth and KNEW I wouldn't be able to do much with her if things go similarly - and it TERRIFIES me.

Although I hoped for an earlier delivery, I never hoped (or dreamed) we'd be so close to meeting our son at such a tiny size, and I will be forever grateful that God spared us from taking that journey.  Since that first day in labor & delivery, hooked up to all kinds of machines and medicines to intervene and make sure we were both healthy, it has been a constant battle of trusting God completely and clinging to every ounce of control I still could.

I have played out countless scenarios of "good" and "bad" birthdays for Will along the way, what would be convenient for us, what would be fun for us, and what would be special days (i.e. - my grandparents 75th wedding anniversary fell on November 5th of this year...and their last name just happens to be where I first got "William" from).  I am bad about that sort of thing though, playing out scenarios and planning things for God, as if I could have better plans than He does.

As I sat in the hospital room last week, angry at God that he hadn't listened to any of my plans, or apparently, any of my fears, I spent a lot of time crying, or worrying, or both.  Those were honestly some of the toughest, darkest days of this whole journey because I felt like any control I had was slipping through my hands, and I just couldn't see how all of this was going to work out.  (I'll update a little more on that in the final BumpDate blog.)  As much as I have said/can say I trust in the Lord with all of this, it's a lot harder to actually DO the trusting, the letting go, the no more planning.

For the last year, after finishing up the Kendrick Brothers', The Battle Plan for Prayer, I learned a whole new way of praying - GOD'S GLORY.  We aren't to pray for the things we want, but instead we should pray for what brings God the most glory.  I have done really well at this at some times...and other times I've fallen flat on my face and been as selfish as my precious toddler, telling God exactly what I want, and that I want it NOW. (As Bryleigh says, "I need that right now.")  And I hate to admit that the majority of this journey has been me whining and bargaining for my desires, forgetting that the goal is for what brings God the most glory.  (After finishing the book and processing all I had read, I began referring to it as "His story. His glory."  All of this life, it's ultimately for HIS story, not my own, and I want every bit of it to bring Him the most glory.)

So at this point, considering Will is still not here, and we haven't gone through the whole birth and recovery process, I don't really know the end of this story.  And honestly, I might not ever really know the point of these days since October 4th, but one thing I know is that from this point on, I am focused on praying for God's will in my life and whatever brings Him the most glory.

Bryleigh's Winter ONEderland

Well...it officially happened.  Our sweet little girl turned ONE, and it was truly such a special day.  The whole day I would replay where we had been one year before, what it took to get her here, and the memories we've made over the past year.  I was emotional leading up to the day and worried I'd be even more so the day of, but I ended up just being insanely grateful for the blessing God has given us and the precious, wonderful baby girl that Bryleigh is.

We kicked off the day with sprinkle pancakes and Bryleigh's first present - a zebra trampoline.  The girl LOVES to bounce, so it was perfect for her!!

As soon as we finished up with that, it was time to load up and head to Sulphur Springs so that we could finish setting up for the birthday party! We were so excited and so ready to celebrate our sweet girl with her friends and family.

Over a year ago...yes, before Bryleigh was even born...we purchased two boxes of silver and turquoise Christmas ornaments for Bryleigh's Winter Onederland birthday party.  We had definitely been planning for this day and the theme was perfect for our sweet little January baby.

What winter day isn't complete without stew?!  It was the perfect time to have some Hopkins County Stew (with cheese and crackers, of course) and some awesome cupcakes from our local Sulphur Springs bakery - Idzi Bitsy Bakery.  The "wedding cake" snowflake cupcakes were a big hit, and Bryleigh LOVED her smash cake...so much so that she cried when we took it away!

*If you want to see the pictures used in the 12 month banner (behind the tree) or the 52 week banner (behind the cake table), be sure to check out Bryleigh's 12th Month in Review - "12 Months and a ONEderful Year"

She might not have been in to opening presents this Christmas or her birthday, but I can assure you she has played with EVERYTHING she got.  She loves to play!!

I think it's safe to say the cake smash was definitely Bryleigh's favorite part of the party!! She loved digging in and getting dirty (mommy never lets her do that).

We were SO BLESSED by friends and family that came from near and far to celebrate our special little girl's day.  We are so thankful to those that were there, it truly meant so much to us.

Bringing Home Bryleigh

Bryleigh’s Birth Story, Part Two

I recently shared Bryleigh's Birth Story on the blog.  Those two days, and the hours of labor/delivery are definitely a blur and a whirlwind of memories and emotions.  I remember questioning if I had the strength, physically and emotionally, to give birth, but I was even more terrified of what followed.  I knew that I would expend all of my energy to get her here (already tired from the 40 weeks of pregnancy and then a long sleepless night of labor), but then the REAL work would begin.  There would be no full night of rest after what I now refer to as "the ultimate workout of my life," and honestly - there wouldn't even be a power nap!  I would immediately have to feed her, change her, bathe her, etc.  Those thoughts alone made me feel EXHAUSTED beyond what I already was, but to my surprise, once she was here...I had SO much energy (or maybe we should more accurately call it adrenaline)!  I WANTED to do all of those things, but most importantly I just wanted to HOLD her.

After briefly holding my sweet baby girl for the first time, my sweet husband took her over with the newborn nurse to get all of her stats and vitals.  They immediately began to check out her collar bones, shoulders, neck, back and arms to make sure that nothing had been injured during the birth.  Because she was a little bigger than the average baby, and because of the direction she was facing during our vaginal delivery, there was a possibility that there could be some injury or soreness in her little body.  Thankfully, all of her stats and vitals, along with her tiny body were all perfectly normal!

During the time that Bryleigh was getting "checked out," Dr. Harris was finishing up with me.  Thankfully I didn't have any major tearing on the outside, and only one place that required any stitches.  The inside took a little more work though.  I had two rather large tears, one on the right and one on the left side, which required quite a bit of stitches...and quite a bit of time.  We almost ended up in the OR, but Dr. Harris and his resident ended up taking about 45 minutes to get all of the stitching completed, and they were able to complete it in our delivery room (thankfully!!).

Once Dr. Harris was done with his part, and Bryleigh was done getting all checked out, we had an hour of "Kangaroo" or "Skin-to-Skin" time down in the delivery room before moving up to our Post-Partum room where Bryleigh would get to meet some of her family!

My first picture with my daughter. How sweet it is!!

Fighting to Feed

During this time in the delivery room, we were able to give nursing our first shot...and we failed miserably.  Miss Bryleigh would arch her back, push out her arms, and cry...you know, the cry where she loses her breath and the whole face turns a dark red, almost purply-blue?!  Because of this, they went ahead and had a lactation consultant come down to our room to meet with us.

She wanted to get a good look at Bryleigh first, and then at me to see if there were any type of issues that might cause a problem for feeding.  She was able to get Bryleigh to suck on her finger, which was definitely a promising start.  She mentioned she had a pretty high pallet, but that she should be able to do everything just fine.

The first thing she said to me was, "Now the first thing I'm seeing here are signs for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome..." As she was beginning her follow up sentence to explain what that was, I said, "Oh I have that," not expecting that to really mean anything for breast feeding.  I had no idea that PCOS could cause issues with your milk supply coming in, but she let me know very quickly that was a possibility.

Over the next three days (during day-time shift hours), each time we were ready for a feeding (every two hours), we would have a lactation consultant in our room (some times two AND a nurse) for about an hour trying to get Bryleigh to breastfeed.  But she WASN'T having it...the arched back, pushing arms, and screaming cries would come out every time.  We tried different positions, we tried the SNS (a system where a tube is set up so that she is feeding from me but also getting formula or pumped milk through a tiny tube), we tried EVERYTHING.  As discouraging as this was, I didn't let it get to me.  I wasn't going to give up yet.  So we pumped occasionally, attempted to breast feed some more, and supplemented with formula when we needed to.

Bryleigh's first bottle and her first SNS feeding.

Glucose Protocol

Because of Bryleigh's "large" size, the staff let us know that Bryleigh would need to have her glucose levels monitored.  The number we were looking to stay ABOVE was 45, and we'd have to have her levels checked at least 4 times (an initial check and then the first three times we fed her).  If the number dropped below 45, Bryleigh would need to spend some time in the NICU, and each time our number was too low, we'd have to start over.  She would need 3 glucose tests above 45 in a row.  The first test took place immediately after she was born, and we got our "benchmark" of 54.

After moving upstairs, it was time for our next feeding.  We had a lactation consultant that worked with us on this feeding, so it was one of the more "successful" ones, and her levels went up to 76.

The next feeding took place after the consultants went home and with a new night nurse on shift...she wasn't very nice, friendly, or helpful and left the room before Bryleigh even fed at all.  She came back in less than 5 minutes...apparently someone let her know that Bryleigh was under the "glucose watch" and the feeding was even more important than normal.  She was able to help me with "express feeding" where we got a little on a spoon and gave it to Bryleigh that way.  Obviously that feeding wasn't too successful, and the glucose level ended up being RIGHT at 45.

Thankfully we had more help on the third one, and I was determined to get her something on that one because I did NOT want my baby in the NICU...and from sheer determination, we got the levels back up for the final test.  We were SO thankful to have that stress behind us, and rather than focusing on numbers, we could strictly focus on FEEDING.

First Bath...and First Night!

Bryleigh wasn't able to get a bath until we were done with the Glucose testing, and even then because of her size they wanted to do the bath in the nursery, so I wasn't able to be there, but her daddy went and got it on video and took some pictures for me. :)

Two of my favorite (early) pictures of Miss Bryleigh :) THOSE. TOES!!!

Once she got back in the room, she slept right on my chest for the rest of the night...well off and on between feedings and nurses checking in and a choking scare!  At some point, we aren't sure what happened, but Bryleigh wasn't able to swallow normally and she would start to choke on the saliva that was in her mouth.  During these few hours, she would also gag anytime you put anything in her mouth (including fingers which is how we were doing the SNS feedings at that time).  We called the nurses in both times, and the second time the nurse ended up taking her back down to the nursery for them to take a closer look.  Bryleigh ended up having her stomach pumped and that seemed to do the trick! We haven't had any trouble since.

That first night will be one of my most favorite and earliest memories of being Bryleigh's mommy.  We spent a lot of her first 24 hours skin-to-skin!  I didn't do much sleeping that night.  I spent most of my time just looking at her and thanking God for such a beautiful and perfect gift!

Nights 1 and 2...they sleep the same. Every. Single. Time!

Sweet skin-to-skin time with mommy and daddy!

Checking the "Belly"rubin Levels

The other thing we had working against us as far as feedings went was Bryleigh's bilirubin levels...or as her daddy like to call them "BellyRubin".

She was jaundice, and the way to get those levels down is sunlight and Bryleigh filling her diaper.  Each time she peed or pooped, a little of the jaundice would go away.  This meant feeding was important.  The better she ate, the more she would fill up her diapers.

The nurses would check her levels with a piece of equipment that looked similar to a thermometer.  If the levels were a certain amount (too high), they would come in and prick her heel to check the levels that way.

I'll be honest, this was a "Daddy-Issue."  He spent a lot of time with the day nurse on Saturday and again on Sunday to get all of the information we needed for this issue.  He knew what the levels were and what they were supposed to be.  He knew what the high levels meant and what we needed to do to get them down.  Her levels were high enough at the last check that we almost had to stay for some additional time.  (I would have been dismissed, but Bryleigh would have had to stay and been checked a few more times.)  Thankfully - her very last check on Sunday was low enough that we were both able to be dismissed and go home!

Bringing Home Bryleigh

Sunday was spent seeing the Pediatrician and Dr. Heckman (he was covering Dr. Harris' patients since he was out of town), as well as working a little more with the lactation consultants and Bryleigh's very last (and best) jaundice test.  We had all of our discharge paperwork and a wealth of information to take home with us to help with our first days and weeks at home.

Daddy filling out the Birth Certificate information, changing one final diaper, and getting a last minute swaddling lesson.

We were so excited to finally be heading home with our baby girl!

Our baby girl, dressed (for the first time...) and ready to head home!

Some family pictures before heading downstairs and then HOME!

Bustin' out! Bryleigh's first car ride! And Daddy bringing in his baby girl!

*A few days after being home with Bryleigh, I was talking to my mom and she mentioned something that seemed extremely fitting to me.  

I LOVE my granddad, which is her dad.  He will always be one of my most favorite people in the world, and there have been plenty of times I've cried because he will never get to meet Brad...which has carried on to not knowing Bryleigh as well.  He would have loved them both.  

My mom let me know that she took my granddad to check in at Baylor Hospital for his surgery to remove a tumor on Wednesday, January 19, 2005.  He never left, and we told him goodbye for the last time on February 23.  And here we were on Sunday, January 19, 2014 - 9 years later - checking OUT of Baylor Hospital to take our sweet little miracle baby home with us!

At Home with Miss B

Our first full day at home with Bryleigh was Monday, January 20th - a day I'd had circled on my calendar for a very long time because I knew that it would be Bryleigh's first holiday - Martin Luther King Jr. Day :) And it meant that whether she'd been here for a few weeks, or just arrived...my momma and my hubby would be off for the day to enjoy our sweet girl with me!! We had a pretty calm relaxing day at home just getting adjusted to our new schedule.

Baby girl's FIRST bow! And first bottle of momma's milk!

This was also the first day that I spent any real time with my pump and we were honestly so excited to get about 5 ml...we had come a long way in a few short days and it was the first time I really had hope about that whole process!  After all of the talk regarding PCOS and my milk not coming in at the hospital, I was thankful for any amount we saw!!

We had our first doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning after we came home on Sunday since the offices were closed on Monday due to the holiday.  Bryleigh was NOT a fan of getting dressed and undressed, but she did great!!  Everything looked pretty good, but they were a little concerned about her drop in weight, so they asked us to come back first thing Wednesday morning for another weigh-in.  They also asked us to keep her in front of windows for the rest of the morning/afternoon to help in getting rid of any remaining jaundice.  Thankfully they did not have to do a heel prick at that appointment!

All buckled in to her car seat for the first two doctor's appointments!

We obviously spent the rest of Tuesday making sure Bryleigh ate her full two ounces every two hours, followed up by tanning sessions after each bottle.  When we went back on Wednesday, she had gained two ounces!

Suntan sessions with mom and dad

There were lots of "Firsts" for us during our first week at home, including Bryleigh's first bath.  She's not quite a fan yet...but I'm almost sure she will be before too long!!

We wrapped up Bryleigh's first week with some serious family time!! My brother and his family came to the hospital the day before/day of Bryleigh's birth, but they had to head back to Conroe before she actually blessed us with her presence.  They were able to come back to Arlington and spend part of the weekend with us!! It was so fun having Tate, Oliva, and Bryleigh all together in one place.  Alan was excited to finally meet his niece, and Mimi and Pappy were over the moon with their very own "Three Ring Circus" - as my dad has dubbed them!

Those Armstrong men LOVE babies! :)

Mimi and Pappy's Three Ring Circus!

Hardest goodbye...ever! So thankful for all of my mom's help!