Brayden Tyler Brown

Brayden Tyler Brown made grand entrance into the world on Thursday, September 9th at 11:55pm! We weren't sure what his birthday was going to be right up until the last minute! He weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long. He is already such a sweet little boy and I can't get enough of him!

Birth story: (skip to the end for pictures if you don't want the birth details) ;)

So if you had been reading my blog at all before, you know that I had been having contractions for 2 weeks on and off. Well, Wednesday night they started to get closer together, but when I laid down to go to bed they eventually slowed down again. I woke up that night several times with contractions, but none too close together. I woke up Thursday morning and went to my Dr appointment, where she checked and found out that I was 3cm and 80% effaced. I went home, took a nap, hung out with Brooke and then right around 5pm I noticed that I had a few contractions closer together so I started timing them. They were 8 min apart, then went to 6 minutes apart within 40 min, so I decided to take a shower to see if the warm water would help or slow them down. It did not. My mom had come over and brought dinner because Tim had to work, so she was watching Brooke, which worked out! After the shower they were 5-6 minutes apart so I called Tim and told him it was time! I finished getting ready and we left soon after Tim got home. Our ride to the hospital was somewhat painful and a good 45 minute drive. We got to the hospital at 7:50 and were in our room by 8:00. They monitored my contractions, which were 3 1/2-4 1/2 minutes apart and really painful, for 20-30 minutes before the Dr came in. When he finally came in and checked I was 5-6cm, 100% effaced, and baby was in station +1. So they moved us to the delivery room around 9-9:15, where my contractions started to be even more painful. I had a couple of contractions back to back without a break in between, so I asked for the epidural. It took a while for them to put the epidural in, but I was soooo happy once I started to feel it! Almost immediately after the epidural (9:45) I told them I felt a ton of pressure and the nurse checked me and said I was 9 1/2 cm (we found out later that I was fully at 10, more on that in a sec). So Tim and I had a little bit of time together and had a little visit from a friend...I didn't care, I felt pretty good. Then the nurse was stalling because she was off at 11 and another nurse was coming on...again, didn't really care thanks to the epidural...The new nurse came in and after about 15 she checked me and said that I was definitely at 10cm and reason the other nurse thought I was 9 1/2 was because there was some tissue where she thought she felt my cervix. So the nurse had me push 6 times to get the baby all the way down. She called the dr and he got there at 11:45. Tim and I were taking bets on if his birthday would be the 9th or 10th. When the Dr was finally ready I started pushing. I pushed 6 times and he was out!! He came right at 11:55!

There is just something about those first few moments, holding your child for the first time, looking at your husband knowing that you both have never been more in love with each other and knowing that God has blessed you the most precious gift in the world. It's amazing.

These first few days have been wonderful! He is such a sweet baby! Brooke does really well when we are at home together. She wasn't so sure of him when we were at the hospital. She loves to give him kisses on his head and when people visit she tells them that this is her "bwoda bwayden". I have loved having Tim home and am soking up every minute of it until he goes back to work.

Here are a few pics of our sweet Brayden.