Mr. & Mrs. Brooksby become parents

I was bored at work on Friday, September 16th, as I didn't have many client meetings and all I had to do was update some files in anticipation of maternity leave starting in a week. My phone rang . . . it was one of the midwives from the Women's Center.

Dena says, "I just saw your lab test results and they're not good."

"Oh . . . Well . . . " I start making some excuse.

Dena doesn't seem to care much for my excuses. "I'd like you to come in to the hospital for a non-stress test. If it doesn't go well, you're having a baby."

Silence.

"Okay." That's all I could think of to say.

I walk over to my team lead's desk and tell him I'm going to the hospital for a test. I leave out the part about having the baby if I fail it. I'm trying to remain level-headed. It will be fine, I think. I call David and explain.

"Should I meet you at the hospital?" he asks.

"No, this is just routine. I'll call you if they want to induce me. Ha, ha, ha." I laugh sarcastically.

Four hours later, I call David.

"Are you on your way home?" he asks.

"No, we're having a baby," I say. I'm still incredulous.

Moments later, I'm hooked up to an IV. Dena thinks I have the beginning stages of preclampsia, and "it will only get worse." Because I'm technically at full term--37 weeks and 6 days--now is as good a time as any, they say. Bummer #1--I'll be induced, which freaks me out (induced=more pain). Bummer #2--I'm seriously not mentally ready for a baby. I mean, I haven't even started practicing my breathing techniques! Bummer #3--I have to be on magnesium. I don't understand what this means, but the nurses keep telling me it will make me feel awful.

Joy.

David arrives, IV starts, I start feeling tired (magnesium), but no big contraction pain. Then Dena comes in and says, "Okay, we're going to break your water."

Um, what!?!? I know exactly what that means . . . Let the pain begin. Where's that anesthesiologist!!!???!!!

Dena breaks my water, but nothing happens. No gush or anything. Odd. But then the contractions start, and boy are they killer. I'm shaking and trying to focus entirely on breathing and really wanting David to be right next to me.

"She's feeling a lot of pain," I hear David say to a nurse. It's kind of hazy what happens next, but there aren't any complaints from me when the anesthesiologist comes in and starts working his magic. An hour after breaking my water, I'm doing just fine! The only problem--that stupid magnesium. I'm so droopy that I still don't comprehend exactly what time it is or what's going on. I tell David to put in The Princess Bride (I don't want him getting bored--I'm going to try to sleep).

Soon, a nurse comes in, and she checks my dilation.

"You're at a ten!" she exclaims.

"What?!?" say both David and I. We knew what that meant--baby time! It was only 8 o'clock or so--we'd only been at this for four hours, and I was certain that it would be 12-14 hours before we even thought about pushing.

Dena comes in and starts talking about letting gravity help push baby out for a bit, and then we'll do some pushing. But then something weird happens . . . Once again, details are hazy (magnesium), but the baby's heart rate drops in half. A cloud of uncertainty descends. Things start moving fast. They move me around, thinking the baby is on top of the umbilical cord. That doesn't work. Dena says, "We've got to get this baby out, now!" (Side note: my worst fear was that when the time came I wouldn't be able to push out the baby--I had done so much research on how to push that it was almost an obsession) . . . So we start pushing. Just as Dena's saying, "I'm going to need to do an episiotomy . .. " the baby's heart rate returns to normal. No one knows why, but everyone breaths a sigh of relief.

Things slow down. Yet, I didn't care if the heart rate returned to normal. I'm going to get that baby out now! We do more pushing, and everyone is extremely impressed with my pushes. I don't know how many it took, but it wasn't long before . . .

James comes out! Born 8:34 pm, 5 lbs, 2 ounces, 19 inches long. They put him on my stomach, and all I can see is a very bloody baby. I didn't cry, which suprised me and David (magnesium strikes again). I touch James' leg and there's a clot there. I'm waiting for that scream from James to signal he's okay. . . and there it is! Woohoo! Healthy baby . . . Then there's the report from the midwife. Something about placental abruption which caused all the blood. Then there's something else about me having a tiny placenta, causing inter uterine growth restriction. Small baby, blood in lungs & stomach . . .



Finally, I get to hold James. He's got some serious old man-like features, but I'm so proud. He's SO tiny!



Then they take him to the NICU for hypoglycemia.

Little did I know that something as simple as hypoglycemia would be the catalyst that kept us in the hospital for 12 days. I never expected to have a premie baby in the NICU, and I hope no one reading this ever has to go through that--I've never cried so much and so often as during those 12 days. However, looking back on everything, we've been extremely blessed. Things happened in the best way possible, and God was really watching out for us.

It is so great to be home with our little guy. More to come . . .

Single digit countdown . . .

Yes, that's right, folks. We're now to the single digits. 9 weeks to go!

Fourth of July Rodeo!

Rexburg had a rodeo as part of its Fourth of July celebrations, and David & I decided it would be fun to act like the locals and go. It was the first rodeo we had been to, and, boy, did we have a blast! It got pretty long, so we left before it was entirely over, but our favorite thing of the evening was seeing the little kids ride the sheep.



Later that evening, we went up the hill to watch fireworks and light off some huge sparklers.

Baby Brooksby Update

Yes, I am getting bigger. The following pictures are illustrations of the growth. 11 weeks to go!

Week 24:



Week 29:

Baby-this and baby-that

I am pretty sure that I'm obsessed with all things baby right now. Case-in-point: today while David and I were talking casually, I noticed that every topic I brought up had something to do with baby--for an hour. There is no end to it in my mind.

Ironically, today I finally went to some garage sales to see if I could get my hands on cheap baby clothes. When I found out one of the garage sales started around 7 am, I almost didn't go. But I rolled out of bed and made my way to the east side of town before anyone else and got my hands on an untouched box of baby boy clothes. Ten dollars later, I had 40+ pieces of clothing, ranging in all sizes. I am extremely pleased with my bounty. I hit a few other garage sales, and finished out the morning with three grocery bags full of clothes, all for around $15.

Now we have lots of cute baby boy clothes. Cross your fingers for us that it doesn't turn out to be a surprise girl!! Here are a few of my favorites . . .

This one is cute because you turn it around and check out what's on the back!

Happy Soon-To-Be-A-Mother's Day!

IT'S A BOY!!

While it might make more sense to post a picture of the evidence proving that we're having a boy, I'll just have you trust us. If I were the baby, I'd be embarrassed to have something like that posted on the internet. So, his face it is! In this photo, one hand is by his head and the other is by his cheek. I think he's the cutest baby ever. :-)

Instances when getting fatter is a good thing . . .

Baby Brooksby has been steadily growing, and, consequentially, last weekend I bought two pairs of maternity pants. Wow, do I like maternity pants! And I definitely like the second trimester better than the first. I'm starting to get back my energy and morning sickness is gone!

So, they say you should document the growth of "The Belly." Here it is:

Maybe it's not extremely noticeable yet, but it soon will be!

16 weeks down, 24 left to go!

A Few Hymns

(This is David)

So this is my first time ever writing a blog, and it's mainly so I could upload a video to show my family back home in California. We had a ward talent show last night, and I decided to create a medly of a few of my favorite hymns. It's probably not as reverent as most people are used to, but I still thought it was fun. The video above is some-what of a reinactment of last night's playing.

It's a baby!

Meet Baby Brooksby. He or she is 8 weeks, 5 days old, 2.1 centimeters long. On September 30th, you might get to meet him or her!

What do the parents think? Emily thinks September 30th is a LONG ways away, and hopes that Baby Brooksby calms down a little in a few weeks so she doesn't feel sick all day long. You'll catch her reading a lot of baby magazines these days. David thinks knowing the baby is healthy is great, and he is very excited to play with Baby Brooksby when he or she finally comes along. Both are very proud parents. They already have Baby Brooksby's picture up on their refrigerator, with more to follow.

32 weeks left to go!

Emily the Foodie: Defined

I often refer to my folks as "foodies"--they are the type of people who like cooking and going out to eat as a hobby. I love to cook and go out to eat as well, but I think of myself as a different sort of foodie.

Why? Because . . . I don't like "fusion" cuisine. I take advantage of opportunities to cut back on calories. I don't like to cook complex meals. I like eating at predictable restaurants. I don't like spending a fortune on meats (though I might find wiggle room in the budget for a new spice). Sometimes I don't measure things. I don't like baking, really--it's too exact. But what I especially love is finding recipes for things I think will be yummy and (somewhat) quick to make.

Hence my past obsession with the Madison County Library in Rexburg and checking out mounds of cookbooks. I felt like I was twelve years-old again, walking out of their with armfuls of books. Unfortunately, the obsession became an embarassment when I neglected to return a dozen of them for a couple weeks and wracked up a $20 fine. What can I say? I hadn't had a chance to make all of the meals I wanted to . . . :-) Since that time, I've been sticking to new cookbooks I received as Christmas gifts.

The one thing that hasn't changed has been how much I enjoy cooking from cooking blogs. I've become a dedicated follower of a few that I consider greats: Anissa's Kitchen and Food for the Hungry Soul. Case in point: tonight's dinner consisted of Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup, courtesy of Anissa, and Refrigerator Rolls, courtesy of Katy. Here's all that's left of the meal:

One word: delicious. If you're drooling, never fear--the recipes are easy to find by using the search tool on the respective sites.

Today I expanded my horizons, following one blog to another blog to another. Boy, did I discover some amazing things! People put a lot of time into blogging (what a novel concept!). I felt like I was traveling all over the world--going from Mississippi to Sweden in just a matter of minutes. Some of the blogs didn't make the cut--too much baking, too weird, too unrealistic for the working wife. But here's some cool ones that are within the realm of possibility. Cooking, anyone?

Baking Bites
Bake or Break
Canelle Vanille (this one is quirky, but I like it--written by a ex-pat Basque)
Cookie Madness

There of scads of others, but I haven't gotten that far into the lists of blogs I've found so far. I'll post more as I find them. For now, I'm satisfied to do lots and lots of browsing. Gratefully, I have a willing taste-tester--my husband.