First Bath

This post is out of order, but here are some pictures of my baby's first bath! He hates being naked so when we first put him in there he wants to start freaking out, but as soon as he realizes the water is warm he likes it :) He is so freaking cute. I seriously can't get enough of him. 

Christmas 2012

I can't believe Christmas is over! I waited all year for this time of year and now it has passed! Riken's first Christmas was awesome. The festivities started on Friday night with our friends ugly sweater party. It was a fun night and so good to spend time with our awesome friends. We spent Christmas Eve with my mom and Ken like we always do and it was so nice to have Riken there for our Christmas traditions. On Christmas morning we went over to Mike and Amy's, then over to see my dad and Tracy. On Christmas night we went up to grandma Camille's to see everyone then we came home and finished the night off with a game night with our little family of friends. We got to see everyone we loved on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and both us and Riken got completely spoiled by everyone. It was really nice to have the boys with us all day. I don't know what I am going to do when school starts again and I don't get my sweet brothers with me all day. Christmas was a lot different with a baby, but a lot better. It's amazing how a baby can bring everyone together and make you realize what is really important. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Zack and Riken had "ugly" sweaters with Taylon's face on them :)

I LOVE it when Kenzie gets into stuff like this. He spent quite a long time hot gluing stuff on his ugly sweater for the party. It was so funny!

Me and Kenz playing hedbandz with our friends on Christmas night. One of the funnest games ever!

Love my parents <3 p="p">

Riken's First Week Home

Riken's first week at home was so great. Once we finally got to have him home for good, we were in heaven. The only bad thing about the week is that Kenzie traded so many shifts to be with us during the whole hospital stay that he had to work 4 shifts in a row once we got home :( It was so hard to have him go back. The first morning he had to leave us sucked. He looked like he was going to start crying and he just kept saying, "I don't want to leave." :( We have kept REALLY busy since we got home, and I think it has helped me recover quicker and feel better. I haven't really sat home much. We have been out and about visiting family and getting ready for Christmas. Riken is doing so great, and I am feeling awesome! I am just SO happy to not be pregnant anymore. I seriously feel almost back to normal already, and I am so thankful. Pregnancy was hard on me and I feel so free and so much more in control of my body and my emotions again. It is amazing! Riken has been such a good baby. He eats well, sleeps for several hours at a time, and is happy when he is awake. I miss him while he is asleep! I am so thankful for all our friends and family who made the transition easier. We had lots of meals brought over and lots of sweet visitors. Once again, my parents were such a huge support to us and my brothers have been staying with me and helping me get used to having a baby. They cook, clean, take care of the dogs, and help me with the baby. I could NOT have done this without their help. I have a wonderful family, an amazing husband, and an adorable baby. How did I get so lucky?! Here are some pictures of Riken since we've been home. 

Bilirubin

I HATE bilirubin levels. On Sunday night when we got to leave the hospital, we had to take the bili lights home with us because his levels were high. When we got home I tried to set up the lights in his pack n play, but he had to wear this little eye cover thing and you could tell he was just so scared. I hated it so bad. I was crying my eyes out. So Kenzie wrapped him up with the lights and held him all night like that so he at least knew he wasn't alone. I fell in love with Kenzie so much more during this. It is amazing to watch your husband become a dad. We took Riken to the doctor on Monday and his level had gone up even more :( They were about to send us home to keep doing the lights, but Dr. Rosenbeck decided to have us stay at the hospital overnight and do the lights they had there. I was not happy about having to stay at the hospital AGAIN after only one night at home, but I knew it was the right thing for my baby. That night was the longest of my life. Riken hated every second of the lights and we had to wake up very often to calm him down. This stupid girl who looked like a student came in in the middle of the night to draw his blood and poked him 7 times trying to get a vein! Twice in each arm and then a couple times in the hands. She would even like dig around trying to get it. Me and Kenzie were getting SO mad. I know it's hard to do on a baby, but it was so hard to watch. I hated seeing my baby in pain and uncomfortable all night. Kenzie had to go back to work the next morning at 6am so by the time I got to take him home at 3 that afternoon, I was MORE than ready. Luckily being under the lights all night made his level drop down to a normal level and his jaundice is all gone now, but that was such a hard thing to go through with a baby who is just a couple of days old! I wouldn't wish it on anybody!

Our Hospital Stay

Here are some pictures of Riken's first few days of his life. He was born on Friday night and we had to stay at the hospital until Sunday night because of the whole MAG thing. We could not stop taking pictures of our little guy during those first few days. We just wanted to sit and look at him all day and night. There MAY have even been a few times that we fought about who got to hold him :) He is such a sweet little guy with a special spirit and you can feel it when you hold him. Riken got to watch his first Cowboys game while we were at the hospital and we even won! My dad and Kenzie went and got pizza and drinks and we had a little party in the room to watch the game. So much fun! I was so impressed that Dr. Rosenbeck came in every day of the weekend to check on Riken and make sure he was doing okay. By Sunday night we were definitely ready to get home!The weather was awful and we had to drive home in a storm, but we were so happy to finally get home with our new baby :)

Riken's Birth

Riken J. Brown
December 14, 2012
6:18 pm
6 lb 19 1/4 inches


 It has taken me almost two weeks to get this post done. I have worked on it a little at a time and it took a while to get everyone's pictures from the weekend. But here is the story about how I got my precious little boy. Warning: It is LONG!

On Friday December 7th, I had a weekly doctor's appointment. When he checked me he told me I was already dilated to 3cm and was 50% effaced!  Awesome, right? Everyone kept telling me, "You know you're having this baby any time now right?" So of course we were overly excited. We went shopping Friday night, thinking we could walk me into labor. When that didn't work, we got up Saturday morning and started the shopping again. It didn't work either. The week went by and nothing happened. By Wednesday I thought I was going to lose my mind. I had another appointment on Thursday and when he checked me I was still at a 3! After spending ALL week trying to get things moving, I hadn't progressed at all. I was just about to give up hope, when they checked my blood pressure and it was like 150 something over 90. I have never had high blood pressure before, so my first thought was that it didn't read right, and the machine was being dumb. It read right. They did a non stress test and an ultrasound and decided I was staying to be induced. 

I felt excited that we were close, but scared that it was for an actual reason. Kenzie left work and got to the hospital right as they were getting ready to start the Pitocin. I was thinking that being induced was like a for sure thing. You make that decision and then it happens. Nope. Let me tell you, your body knows what it wants to do and that is what it does. I sat on the Pitocin for the rest of the day, having pretty frequent contractions, but no true labor. My blood pressure continued to rise, and Dr. Bailey decided that I needed to get on an IV medication for pre-eclampsia called magnesium sulfate or MAG. The nurse was nice enough to tell me how bad being on MAG sucked before I started it and boy was she right. It made me really tired, sick, kinda swollen and really miserable. I had to stay on the MAG during labor then 24 hours after labor. Then I had to stay in the hospital for another 24 hours after they took me off it.

The MAG helped my blood pressure but it slowed down labor. I was in labor all night and most of the next day. I would have strong contractions for a while, then they would slow down again. About 3 o clock on Friday Dr. Bailey finally broke my water. Once that was done things moved VERY fast. The contractions became very painful and it wasn't long before I was hugging the side of the bed and about crying. I decided to get the epidural and I am so glad I did. Once the epidural was in, I was SO much more comfortable and I started to think maybe I could actually do this. When they checked me again about an hour later, I was praying that I had dilated a little more. I was at an 8! We were totally shocked. Within an hour of that I was at a 10 and ready to push. As they were setting everything up for us to start, I started feeling the contractions again and I was freaking out! I thought the epidural was wearing off. I'm pretty sure I pushed the button as many times as it will let you. By the time I started pushing my legs were completely numb.

Before that first push I remember feeling terrified. I was so excited that I would be seeing my baby, but so scared. Another contraction started and I started pushing. I only had to push a few times before his head was out. I felt so dumb because the whole time I was pushing Kenzie was staring at my face instead of watching for the baby. I was thinking STOP looking at me, I'm making an ugly pushing face! Haha. I can't even explain the feeling when he was born. When Dr. Bailey set him on me I was just totally overwhelmed with emotion. I couldn't decide if I wanted to start crying or laughing. I think I ended up just smiling and staring at him and touching him to make sure he was really real. I was so happy to hear that first cry and I was completely in love from the second I saw him. Kenzie's face was priceless. He went over with him when he was being weighed and checked out. The guy was cleaning him off and told Kenzie he could hold his hand so Kenz gave him his finger and Riken grabbed his finger and put it straight to his mouth! Kenzie was instantly in love too.

It felt like a million years while he was away from me and I was being stitched up. Dr. Rosenbeck came and looked at him and my momma came in and took some pictures of us and the baby. I was so happy when Kenzie finally brought him back to me and I could just hold him and stare at him. Life changed from that moment. I felt like a totally different person and I knew this was something I was supposed to do. After 9 long, hard months and 28 hours of labor I finally had my baby in my arms and he was healthy and gorgeous!

We had a lot of visitors come to visit the baby and I felt so blessed. My family spent the entire 28 hours waiting for me to have him and they helped me so much. My parents were awesome and my brothers were so helpful by taking care of my house and my dogs while we were gone. My aunt and cousins came down to see him and Mike and Amy rode over after he was born. Throughout the next couple of days we had so many friends and family come see him. He is one loved little baby.

The day after delivery was rough because I was still on the MAG. Once I got off it, I started to feel great. I was up cleaning the room and getting ready. I was really thankful for the two days after I had him that I got to spend with just Mackenzie and the baby in the hospital. It was a really special time for us to bond and I fell completely in love with being a little family.

I am so happy. Being a mom is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I am so much more in love with my husband after seeing him become a dad. It is so amazing and so worth everything we had to go through to get to this point. Riken is perfect and I just feel so so lucky. 

To Riken

To My Sweet Baby Riken,

This is the first letter I will ever write you. I have spent the morning bouncing on an exercise ball and trying to convince you to make your appearance in the world. Five days ago, Dr. Bailey told me I would be meeting you any day. So of course your dad and I have done everything we could to speed up the process. We spent all weekend shopping and walking around, thinking that would surely make it happen. No such luck. I have tried weird teas, tried bouncing on this ball for hours, and pretty much anything else they tell you will work. But you are still safe and snug in my belly. And I guess I just need to wait for you to be ready. I can't even tell you how excited I am to see your sweet face and hear you cry for the first time. I feel like I already know you so well, but I know it will only get better and better as time goes on. You have already changed me so much, and I am so thankful. We are so excited to have you as part of our family, and I already can't imagine what life would be like without you. My wish for you is that you will come into this world healthy and happy and SOON! And that we can give you everything you will ever want and need. We already love you so much.

Love,
Your Anxious, Excited Mom

Gingerbread Houses

Last night we decided to have "family night" with our dear friends. Matt, Kasia, and baby Kaylix came over and we started the night off with a steak dinner generously provided by the boys. Yummy! I have been wanting to start a tradition of making gingerbread houses for a while now, so we decided to do it. We watched The Voice and worked on our gingerbread houses for hours. I am extremely thankful to have the amazing friends that we do. They really are more like family than friends. We are always coming up with crazy ideas and deciding last minute to go do something. It is nice to have these two so close so we can do stuff like that. I can't wait to introduce Riken to Kaylix.. They will be the cutest little baby couple ever! Gingerbread houses are done until next year.. But I am definitely glad we started a new tradition. Christmas time is so much fun!