Myles Brunson Lane

I feel awful about never writing Myles' birth story like I did for the girls, so more than a year later, here I go... :) Oh, and this is your warning, there will be post birth pictures. Nothing too graphic, but showing skin kind of like a strapless top (so more than you will ever see out of me normally).

My pregnancy with Myles was the first time I made it to a 40 week appointment. I went into labor 4 days early with EC and on my due date with AB. I remember being a little depressed at that 40 week appointment. Then right after, I saw our friends, who were due a week or so after me, had just welcomed their sweet boy into the world. As excited as I was for them, I couldn't help but be a little jealous ;) Bo immediately took me to Chow Baby for lunch to lift my spirits, and why not take advantage of the time we had together before becoming parents of three!

My mom came to town May 3rd to be with us for the birth (that was also Bo's last day of work). Mom was with us for the girls' births and there was no way I wanted her to miss Myles' birth. My sister Sandy flew in to help with the girls Monday night, May 6th. My 40 week appointment was May 7th. Finally the morning of May 8th I woke up around 4:30 contracting. They were very mild contractions, barely different from my normal Braxton Hicks contractions that start around 20 weeks for me, so I didn't want to wake anyone else for fear these contractions would fizzle out (just like the contractions I had around 36 weeks ended up fizzling out). So I sent a quick email to a couple of local friends asking for them to pray for us and to see if they would be available to watch the girls. I had several people on the babysitting list, but these two were close (Amy and Kelly M).

I remember eventually waking Bo around 6 or 7 since the contractions were continuing, but not regular and I just wanted company. So after 7AM we called Annette, my doula, to let her know and get her input. I continued to labor, but greatly feared either my labor would stop or I would labor so quickly that Myles would be born at home. At some point my doula and my midwife suggested I get in the tub at home to help me relax, thinking it would either send me into full labor or the contractions would fizzle out. Deep down I knew, if I got in a tub of nice warm water, I would never want to get out.

So for most of the morning I did my labor walk around the house and tried to eat a little to keep my energy up. I labored in bed, on the sofa, on the floor, on the medicine ball, standing at the counter... you name it, I did it. For some reason, the contractions never felt unmanageable, so I didn't believe I was very far along. Plus my contractions NEVER became consistent or regular. I would have a few minutes between contractions and then 12 minutes between contractions. It was like my body refused relax and just labor already! Thinking back, I'm sure I had myself all psyched out ;)

Around lunch we called my sister in law, Amelia, to come over. She was also pregnant and has similar birthing philosophies, so having her close was comforting. Plus being able to leave her with the girls at a moments notice put me at ease. I had decided my sister Sandy might be needed on the trip to the hospital if I ended up not making it and delivering in the car. I figured Bo would be driving and my mom would not physically be able to help me.

I became quite emotional during this labor. It was VERY different than my labor with the girls. Around 2PM, my mom finally convinced me to not get in the tub, but to call my midwife and ask if I could be checked in the office.

Talking to my midwife (Anjuli), I immediately burst into tears. I have NO idea why, other than my hormones were all crazy! Much more crazy than they were with the girls. I remember telling the midwife that I thought I was in labor, but the contractions weren't regular and they hurt, but were still manageable. So she told me to head to the office to get checked since we were quickly approaching rush hour (you know 3-8PM here in Atlanta ;)  Then a few minutes later, she called back to tell me to just head straight to the hospital and she would check me there. I think she could tell by my emotional meltdown that I was probably near transition.

As soon as we got in the van, I knew I was definitely further along than I had realized.  The ride to AMC was not as long as I had thought it would be. Before I knew it, I was stopping on the steps of the hospital to do my laboring moves :)

Inside I was met with nicest staff out of all three hospitals I have used. I was to the point in my labor that I could not fill out forms and during contractoins there was no way I could answer questions. So the nurse filled out my forms, asking me or Bo questions as needed (yes, we had also done the preregistration, but I have found there is always more paperwork). I remember the nurse checked me before starting the paperwork and we were all very surprised to hear I was almost 8cm. And yes, I was still a big old cry baby mess. Not crying from pain, but just silently crying. I remember walking from the triage room to the laboring room, I had to stop for a contraction and I was crying "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm crying!" The nurses and my midwife were so supportive. They assured me they were there to support me and I could take my sweet time walking to the room or even take a wheelchair if I liked. They were there for me and whatever I needed.

In the labor and delivery room, they had the pool filling up with water and I climbed right in. It was not quite the rush of relief I had felt with AB, but I was much further along than I had been with her. After laboring another 30 min or so, I felt my body just folding inward, shoulders hunching over, as though it was beginning to push on its own. For some reason I was just not as relaxed as I had been with my other labor and deliveries. I couldn't find the right position to labor. Something just wasn't quite right.

The next thing I knew, my water finally broke, sending me into a full involuntary push, and Myles began to crown. On the next contraction, his head was almost out, but something didn't feel quite right, my body booed up with a straight back, the contraction quickly ended, and he went right back in. He had crowned more than enough for my midwife, Kimery, to see he was blue, in distress, and his cord was wrapped.

As that contraction passed, she started coaching me for the next contraction. As she physically repositioned my body and my legs, she told me that with the next contraction I was going to push out his head and then pause until she cleared me to continue pushing. Then, I would have to give it everything I had. So on the next contraction, I did just that.

I could tell with the way she spoke, she knew something wasn't right. In an instant, all the cry baby mess was over and we were down to business. On the next contraction, Myles was born with Kimery slowly rotating him as she untangled his cord from his neck and coached me through the contraction. She didn't give me time for another contraction, she told me to keep pushing and we got him completely out on that contraction.

As soon as I saw my blue little baby, I began to worry. Kimery handed him to me as she cut the cord. We all started rubbing him down to get him screaming, so he could clear his lungs. They said he looked "a little wet". Not from the water in the birthing pool, because he was pulled out as fast as he came out.

They let me keep him and told me not to worry, but they didn't know I had seen a very scary birth first hand that involved a blue little baby girl. So I sat there rubbing my sweet boy, singing to him, and just praying everything was okay. I kept telling them to take him if they needed to work on his lungs. They eventually did let the team take him and I suddenly regretted letting him go. It felt like forever until I got him back.

As soon as I was out of the water, I thought I was going to die from the postpartum contractions. Yep, the uterus continues to contract as the afterbirth is delivered and as it works to shrink down to the pre-pregnancy size. That was something I did not really feel after EC, but it was painful after AB and very painful after Myles. But the best part about Myles' birth was I did not require ANY stitches! I'm so thankful my water did not break until that first push! It allowed the force of the contraction to be evenly distributed and made such a huge difference!

Here were are later in the evening. Which leads me to how we chose his name :)

In the weeks leading up to his birth, we had narrowed down the names to Henry and Graham. We loved Henry, but felt it had been used by so many people we knew. We loved Graham and I was leaning towards that name. I did not love the meaning of either name.

So we found ourselves, finally just the three of us that evening. Bo was busy filling out the paper work to send off the cord blood and we realized they required the child's name on the paperwork. We had two hours to figure out a name. By this point I was EXHAUSTED. I had been up 17 hours and had birthed a little human, no biggie. Plus I was still overwhelmed by the postpartum cramping, so I told Bo he was going to have to talk through this one. He said our sweet boy didn't look like a Henry or a Graham to him. Then he said he really liked the name Myles, but what would be his middle name? I immediately said Brunson. I have always liked that Bo's middle name is a family name and it is definitely not one you hear often. What's funny is this was the exact name we had decided upon back in February, but then we began to second guess ourselves :) Now our sweet boy's nickname is Smyles and everyone that knows him agrees there could not be a more appropriate name for him!

My sister, Debbie, was in the delivery room and stayed with Myles (praying for him) the entire time the drs were working on his lungs. I remember her excitedly telling me from across the room that he had a dimple in his chin and one on each cheek. Little did I know, I would hear his first giggle while he slumbered in his little hospital crib just hours later!

The girls meeting Myles was pretty incredible too :) Sweet AB LOVES a good baby and even more when that baby is hers! She was the first one to kiss him and after we praised her, EC had to have a kiss too.

I'm so grateful this sweet girl has always been such a wonderful big sis. You can tell she is a pro!

Fitting everyone in mommy's arms the first time was a bit of a challenge, but I think we all enjoyed it! And here is our first picture as a family of 5!

We are filled with joy and feel so extremely blessed by these three healthy, happy littles!!

Valentine Surprises!

So if you follow me on facebook, you may have figured out we are doing 14 days of surprises to celebrate Valentine's day this year. EC was so sad about taking our Christmas decorations down this year and she wanted to know what we were going to celebrate next. If you know me, you know I LOVE snowmen and snowflakes, but I could tell just those things were not going to cut it with EC. Plus, this "winter" has not been very cold or snowy. So we decided to get our Valentine decor out right after our Christmas decorations finally came down.

Then, when I was researching Valentine ideas on Pinterest, I saw this:

I knew what our focus would be this holiday! So I decided to go all out and include little treats that I have been picking up since Christmas. Bo and I have also written sweet reminders or words of affirmation on hearts for them to read and hang up each day.

Day 1: We came back from Aunt Debbie's and daddy came home very early that day, so we kicked off our celebration as a family! We had a good time reading their first Valentine, using their new kiss straws, and baking cookies. At one point AB ended up with a plate full of sprinkles = happiness :)

Day 2: We celebrated by making valentines as a family, which included valentine's with "hidden messages" the girls had to paint with watercolors to reveal their notes!

and the girls each received a new Valentine book!

This girl does the cutest stuff before she falls asleep... I love that she still loves her tiny doll and I kick myself for not doing her Dinosaur Train party this year. 

They even had a special date night with daddy thanks to CFA's annual Daddy/Daughter date night.

Day 3: The girls snuck in a tea party, enjoyed sweet reminders from daddy, and even got a few tattoos before church ;)

Day 4: EC's heart was full of knock knock jokes. These are her absolute favorite things right now. Every time we get in the car, stop for a second during the day, or right when we say it is time for bed, both girls break out the knock knock jokes! AB received a new book that she likes to refer to as her "Caillou" book. We also enjoyed a fun playdate with friends and then a new swim class! I think the pictures are on my phone...

Day 5: We had friends over at our house today to make valentines! Also, Grandma sent the girls a new book as their surprise today, The Day it Rained Hearts. It was very appropriate for today since the kiddos spent time working on valentines for those they love! The painting may have gotten a little out of hand ;)

But we have started some cute cards, thanks pinterest!

I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but I think these two girls love each other! Or maybe it is just AB loves "the baby". She loved when Mila was on the floor and told her daddy tonight, "I kiss the baby's head!!"

And speaking of AB's cuteness, I definitely have my hands full. We made a trip to Joann's this afternoon. While I was looking at a pattern book, AB got up, stood in the middle of the shopping isle, smiled at me, and started saying, "I'm a smart baby!" She said this over and over and over with the cutest little grin ever! Monster!!! Of course, everyone walking by had to tell me how cute she was. One older woman even brought her grown daughter back to "see how cute" the girls are... Oh heavens! I am in trouble!!

PS I will probably come back and add the missing pictures to this post, just FYI if you see an update! Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy, so it will probably take me a few days :)

20 week ultrasound pics a few weeks late and new panties

So I realized that I never posted ultrasound pictures of the little guy! In my defense, See Baby forgot to email them (they delayed them because they knew we were doing a gender reveal party and didn't want us peaking :) I did remember to call after Christmas and request them. So here they are!

You can see one foot is above his head on the left of this first picture. At the beginning of the ultrasound he grabbed his right foot with his right hand and held it the entire time :) So sweet!

Why are guys always so proud of this shot? I am glad we don't have any questions about whether he is a boy or not! The ultrasound typed only a B instead of boy because she was helping us keep it a secret and didn't want us counting key strokes. Which I did not even thinking about it. Glad she also labeled the legs so I had no clue!

And his sweet profile!

We have been super productive around here lately. Instead of dwelling on my endless to do list. I decided one night/early morning to email it to Bo. Just so he could really know what was going on in my head. Guys just don't look at things the way we girls do sometimes. Since then he has been super helpful at helping me get stuff checked off! I am oh so grateful for him and for sending that email. It was just what we needed. Plus holding bible study at our house helps motivate me to get things accomplished and not leave projects laying around.

This was the project they accomplished tonight:

And the girls received a sweet package from Grandma tonight. I'm not sure what all was in it because they opened it while I was gone, but I know there were big girl panties for AB. She promptly tried to put on all 6 pairs at once :)

Always be prepared!

PS Loved hanging out with Mary tonight and doing wedding planning stuff again! It is much more fun to help and not have to make decisions :) Thanks for including me, Mary!