CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Photo Shoot

Just a few pics from our photo shoot last weekend when she was 7 days old....the photographer will have the rest ready next week. We can't wait to see the full gallery!












Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Pictures ... Finally....

I've finally been able to create a web album with some pics of Brianna. I'm really missing my computer at work! lol...

Click on "slideshow" to view the pics a bit larger. Enjoy...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Luhmans/Brianna02?authkey=Gv1sRgCMfY45TEx7eUEQ&feat=directlink

Friday, July 10, 2009

She's a Firecracker!

Okay, so she's already a week old and I'm just now getting around to telling all of you! It's been a bit busy, as you can imagine.

Anyway, Brianna Marie entered the world last Saturday, July 4th at 8:44 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs., 9 oz., and was 19.5" long. She has a full head of long, black hair.

I had a relatively easy labor and delivery. I began keeping track of contractions at 5:00 the evening before on Friday. At that point they were about 10 minutes apart and by 8:30 they were 4.5 minutes apart. We headed to the hospital at 9:30 and were in a room at 10:00. They checked my cervix and I was still just 1 cm dilated, but was 100% effaced. They had us walk the halls for one hour to see if there was any change, after which there was none. My doctor was out of town, so the nurse called the on-call doctor to see if he wanted to send me home or keep me there. I really didn't want to be sent home and asked the nurse to make sure to mention I was due in 2 days. She came back and said I got to stay. That was at midnight, officially the 4th of July, and he said that if I wasn't in active labor by 3 a.m., to start pitocin. They checked at 3:00 and I was only at 2 cm, so they started pitocin through my I.V.

The contractions at that point were probably 3 minutes apart (I was no longer timing them) but I was able to breathe through them just fine for the next hour and a half. Around 4:30 they were becoming pretty painful and I had to switch up my breathing to deal with them. At 4:50 I asked for the epidural. The nurse checked me and I was at 6 cm at that point. The epidural was started shortly after 5:00 but wasn't completely in and done till 5:30. Having it administered SUCKED big time and I have no problem admitting that I had an emotional, physical meltdown. By then, the contractions were every minute and strong so I was dealing with that pain, while trying to stay as still as possible. I was bawling and cussing...I even dropped a couple of F bombs. It was not my most shining moment. ; )

Once he had it in and it took effect, it was wonderful. He came back in later to see if I was feeling contractions and I wasn't...I remember telling him I loved him. lol...

The doctor came in around 7:00 a.m. and broke my water. I was 9.5 cm and at 7:40 I was fully dilated and ready to push. I have to tell you that all during my pregnancy I was afraid of labor and delivery, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I'm soooo very proud of myself and how calm I stayed. I never once screamed, moaned, or cussed. I closed my eyes and pushed when they told me to. The nurse I had was awesome and I think that helped a lot. The baby was stuck under my pelvic bone for a bit, so she had me pull on one end of towel as I pushed and she pulled the other end. Essentially, we were playing tug-of-war. We finally got her through...I don't remember how many minutes it took though. They eventually called the doctor when I was crowning, which I didn't feel at all. He came in and after maybe 6 or 9 pushes, she was out. I pushed for right at an hour. In the end, I was left with a 2nd degree tear and needed stitches, but again, I didn't feel any of that.

As I said, she has lots of dark hair. While she was still inside, the doctor kept commenting on her hair and how it had been a while since he'd seen so much on a baby. He was playing with it and formed it into a baby mohawk of sorts! lol....

She is truly beautiful and we are very blessed to have her. The last week has been trying, stressful, and tiring....but every time I look at her I know it's worth it. Each day gets a bit better...or perhaps we're getting better at this parenting thing. =)

For my weight loss blog followers, I'll get back to WW in a month or two. Right now I don't have time to count points and be that strict with what I eat.

I hadn't stepped on my scale for months, but according to the doctor's scale I figure I gained approximately 55 pounds. Wowzer! As of today though, I'm 'only' up 37 pounds from where I was when I got pregnant. I'm breastfeeding so that will help get the pounds off.

I'll have pictures available soon. I'll be blogging from home for the next 12 weeks and my computer here always gives me fits when it comes to adding pictures. So please....be patient. I promise to get them up some how!