So I Had a Baby...

Highlights of Baby Blakney #3


I would love to write the detailed story of Breelee Claire Blakney's entrance into the world, but honestly, so much has happened in the past 6 days of her life...I feel like in journaling when I haven't written for a long time and I try to play catch up...it's almost overwhelming...

So, I'm just going to write a few highlights and work on the story as I can...

1. My contractions started around 6:30 am on Thursday, November 1st...NOT Halloween...and I delivered her at 2:07 pm on Thursday, November 1st.
I am so thankful that it was a faster process than the last 2 times, but my word...it hurt.

2. I was able to deliver naturally...no medicine...no epidural. Oh my word it hurt...I screamed a whole lot more this time than I did in the last 2 deliveries combined. Lee had to help hold one of my legs while the nurse held the other. He did such a great job. He was a constant encourager and comforted me just enough during the whole process.

3. Breelee weighed 8 lbs and 8 oz and was 21 inches long. They let me hold her for a very long time before they took her over to take her measurements...and then they brought her right back. Her skin was so soft and smooth...she's perfect...and we decided her middle name at the hospital...

4. We have wonderful friends who took care of our kids. It was such a relief knowing that they were ok...they were happy and comfortable. Lara came over early Thursday to stay with Brennan while Bella was at school...and then she and Renee stayed with them that night...and Renee stayed with them at Shawn & Amy's on Friday night. It was so comforting knowing they were ok!!!

Lara and Amy brought Bella & Brennan to see Breelee at the hospital on Thursday (and they brought me & Lee Five Guys!!) The first thing both kids asked me was, "Mom, are you ok?" It was the exact time that Breelee came back to us from the initial nursery check in. Bella was interested for a few seconds...but Brennan was in love. In Love. He sat on my lap and said, "Mom, I want her..." and while I was helping him hold her, he put his hand on mine and said, "No, Mom, I want her..." Shawn & Amy brought them back on Friday, and they were just as thrilled...I'm sooo glad that my babies love each other!!!

5. My recovery was amazing. Girls, if you can go natural...do it!! I was up and walking around our hospital room within hours. (You cannot do that with an epidural...) We had a wonderful nurse, Emily, who got us all set up and spent a lot of time with us. I just felt alert...I was a little sore, but considering what I had just gone through...it was nothing! I just felt great...and I still feel great!

6. Our parenting confidence levels are out of the roof!!! Lee & I were so cool, calm, and collected. The experience of being parents of 2 has let us know that everything is going to be ok. Of course there have been a few new things with this little one, but we know that it's all going to be ok. Breelee nursed well, but not consistently. This drove me crazy with Bella...even with Brennan...but now I know that she's going to eat when she's ready...and if she's pooping and peeing...she's good! By the way...Lee changed her first poop diaper - just like he did for the other 2! He's such a great dad!!!!

7. We were able to share our story with nurses and doctors...and we feel really blessed with the doctors we have found here. They've been wonderful to us. We brought Breelee in for a routine 3 day check up. She is doing great...and there were a few concerns about mucus and gas (she's screamed for an hour every night - even in the hospital)...but the doctor put us at ease. That's priceless.

8. Lee's parents surprised us and flew in on Saturday and were here not long after we got home from the hospital. They were able to play with Bella and Brennan...hold Breelee...and Bro. Rob was able to help Lee with our new dining table project (which I will be posting about soon!) It was a great help and relief to have them here!

And thanks to technology, I was able to talk to my parents soon after the baby was born...plus we'll be able to FaceTime and Skype and keep up with us!!


9. Lee & I are referring to ourselves as Team Blakney and we are the Fantastic 5...we feel like we really are. We feel like we are blessed...we are going to have a blast raising 3 great kids to love and serve God. We know that we are going to have our challenges, but we also know that God has given us grace and responsibility to be a family of 5.

10. God has blessed us with another happy, healthy baby. She's beautiful. She's already gained 6 oz since she left the hospital. She sleeps a lot...she is nursing well...and after using the gas drops before every feeding, she had a wonderful night without crying...which means we all had a great night.

Go Team Blakney!!! Thanks for keeping up with the Fantastic Five!!!

Hurry Up and Wait

It's a waiting game now.

I don't want to be induced...at all. I really want to go completely natural with this baby - just like I did for the last 2.

For the last 2 babies...I woke up around 7 am with a contraction. I knew it was a contraction, and I knew I was in labor.

So, every night I go to bed thinking, "Is tomorrow going to be the day?"

I know that the contractions are coming soon, but it's awful not knowing when!

We are pretty much ready to bring a new baby home. The clothes are washed, the sleep & play rocker is put together and ready (and Bella & Brennan have practiced with a baby doll in it), we have bottles and nuks and diapers...just enough to get us started.

I've been told that I'm huge...and then other moms who have had babies have said that I look great...

I feel good about how I look. I mean, my belly is protruding quite a bit. But I'm at the end. Soon, I'll be at least 10 pounds lighter if not more. That's a good feeling. I mean, I don't like that my belly will still be big...and it will become like jelly instead of being firm like it is now...but I'm looking forward to moving with a little more ease than I am right now!! This is just difficult!!!

It will be interesting to have a new baby at home. Brennan and Bella will be quite excited to hold, kiss, squeeze...my role will probably be more of a bouncer to keep them from crowding in too much :)

I'll keep everyone posted on how this is all going. According to my doctors, they are telling me that I'm a pro at this and I shouldn't have any worries. I hope that they are right. I'm ready for a quick, easy labor and delivery...I'm sure the delivery part will fall under that category...so I'm just praying that the labor will be quicker.

You can be sure that I'll have it on Twitter and Facebook when I start having contractions...and definitely will put when we are on the way to the hospital. Plus, there will be pictures once Baby Blakney #3 has entered the world.

It's just for now, we have to hurry up and wait...

Anticipating Labor & Delivery

I keep wondering when I'm going to wake up to contractions.

The last 2 babies happened almost the same way. I woke up at 7 am after a major event with contractions that started in my back. I knew I was in labor. The contractions happened almost every hour and a half and just kept getting closer and closer throughout the day.

With Bella it all started after Freshmen Jumpstart at UL Chi Alpha. Michele (who was helping with it because she just knew I was going to have the baby early) had triple booked herself, and she told me I couldn't go into labor until after that last Freshmen Jumpstart...and crazy enough, I went home Wednesday night after finishing it and swiping athletes in at Athletic Bible Study. I woke up the next morning in labor and had Bella about 24 hours later. Not too many pushes - about 10 minutes worth - and she was out... I did have 12 stitches with her, but my recovery was super fast.

That was a whole crazy experience in and of itself. We were moving from a 1 bedroom apt to a 2 bedroom apartment. I was literally having contractions as I vacuumed and cleaned our old apartment. Lee was moving all kinds of stuff across the parking lot...It was just insane!

Then, 2 years later, Brennan came after one of the craziest weeks of the semester at UL Chi Alpha...Welcome Week. I started having a few contractions on Friday night at our first Chi Alpha International. And I woke up the next morning in full-on labor and had Brennan about 24 hours later. For him...I knew more of what to expect. When I felt the pressure to push - which is the most unmistakable feeling in the world - I told the doctor, who had just walked into the room. She said, "OK, push when you are ready." So I did. She and Lee both said, "I see the head..." that was enough motivation for me...and 2 more pushes and he was out - with no tear this time!! And he was huge - a whole pound plus bigger than Bella! Again, my recovery was super fast! The doctor told me that was a textbook delivery - 3 pushes in 3 minutes!

Now, I keep wondering if it's all going to happen like that. I kinda expected to wake up on Monday morning with contractions...but it didn't happen.

I definitely feel more aches and pains at the end of this pregnancy than I did with the last 2. I didn't really notice the Braxton Hicks contractions before, but I'm feeling them this time!!! They are still pretty random, but they are getting longer and stronger!! I just don't want to go to the hospital for false labor!!

I am not at all looking forward to the contractions of labor. The delivery almost doesn't worry me as much as all the pain leading up to it. I know that it is temporary, and it's totally worth it...but I'm still not looking forward to the pain.

I know I will do everything in my power to not get an epidural. I have had 2 friends who have had serious nerve damage done due to epidurals...I don't want that to happen to me.

My friend Ali told me that once you make it to 7 cm dilated...it's over and any medicine taken at that point will probably take an effect after the baby is already delivered! Well, it does take me a long time to seem to get from 1 cm to 4 cm...but once I get to 4 cm, it's downhill fast for me! So, I'm going to go in with that mentality again. I appreciate the speedy recovery of a natural delivery...and now I have stairs to go up and down...so I need to feel the best that I possibly can when I get home with a new little one!!

There are a few big events this week: our first Night of Worship for Connection Church...and then our Sunday service...so if this baby can wait until next Monday...she'll be following in the footprints of her older siblings...

But if she doesn't wait...we are prepared...and it will show us a little bit of who she is...and who she's going to be :)

What if It's Not a Girl...

I am currently doubting the ultrasound determining the gender of this baby...

I don't know why...I can't seem to accept that it is a girl. I mean...they aren't 100% when they do these things...and although it looked like a girl...I just don't know...maybe I was secretly hoping for a boy and can't get over it...

It hasn't helped that when I go for my regular check-ups now, the heart rate is considered a boy rate (which is slightly slower than a girls)...and it has been...so much so that the nurses have asked if I'm having a boy...not much of a confidence booster there!!!

One of the nurses told me that is an old wives tale...but most of my pregnancy symptoms have been similar to my pregnancy with Brennan instead of Bella, which was why we went into our ultrasound convinced that we were having a boy!!

I'm at 35 1/2 weeks. I could go into labor in a week and a half and have a full-term, healthy baby.

And, of course thanks to this wonderful preggo insomnia, I'm awake at 5 am (and have been for over an hour now)...and this "feeling" of uncertainty is driving me crazy! And I really have no one to talk to about this paranoia! :)

I'm even looking into the imaging centers in Denver to have another ultrasound done!!! (OK, so I'm not really going to get one...but I'm thinking about it!)

And part of...ok, all of the pressure I'm feeling is brought upon myself...I am in control of how I respond to these feelings...and I shouldn't let anyone else be the determining factor of how I feel...

Getting things ready...having a name picked out...what to bring to the hospital.

Really, none of that matters. I'm not a huge fan of "gender neutral" things, but what I already have has been used by both my little girl and little boy - except for the plethora of clothes that were mostly given to us.

Either way it goes, this baby will be fed, clothed, and have a place to sleep...which is pretty much all that is required. And I am sure I'll go into labor naturally...and I have no clue whatsoever when that will be...

And I plan on bringing girl and boy clothes to the hospital with us. Last 2 times I lucked out...well, kinda...

Bella was so tiny...the clothes that I had brought for her were all too big...even the newborn dress she came home in was big on her!

So, I assumed that Brennan would be a small baby. Not at all. I just remember rolls everywhere. The first thing I said when they laid him on me was, "Oh my, that's a big baby..." And the clothes I had brought for him were too small! I had one outfit that fit him, luckily...or he would have come home naked! :)

Anyways, this baby Blakney #3 has been a surprise all the way around. God has a purpose and a plan for all of this...the pregnancy, the baby, our family...even to the point of timing...I'll be having a baby around the same time that I had a miscarriage last year...and I believe God's timing and will are perfect...

So, I know that this is not worth stressing about.

If you are thinking of sending a gift or something to us...diapers and gift cards are much appreciated!! I do plan on finishing our registry at Babies R Us this week. There will be quite a few gender neutral things on it - just in case!!

And we don't mind at all if you wait until after the baby is born to pick it out!