Cake and Ice Cream

We had a little cake n ice cream party. Nothing big, just some kid food, a little Justin Bieber, a little family, a little friends, a little dessert, a little presents, a little decorations and a BIG 6 year old Birthday!

The Birthday Girl!

Moving on up

Number 2 child had a birthday. She turned 6. Can you fricken believe it, 6!! That is crazy to me.

For her birthday we decided it was time for a big girl bike. I mean she has had a big girl bike but it was time for a nice bike, not a walmart or target special. Let me tell you there is a difference! She proved that she could take care of her bike so it was off to Cycle Works downtown.

Getting ready to give it a test drive in the parking lot.

 Dont pay any attention to the laundry mat! HA! They just happen to be next door and have a bigger parking lot.

 She chose a beach cruiser. Can you blame her. It is absolutley adorable! If they had it in my size I would be all over it. Not to mention it has a spedometer! Im pretty sure thats why she chose it. ;)

Thanks for the Schwinn BABY!!!!

The first few days....

We ended up having to stay an extra night in the hospital. Brooklyn was considered high birth weight so they make you stay 48 hours rather than 24. I was so upset when they told me that because I was so ready to go home. They want to monitor for hypoglycemia and jaundice, so another night it is. That night was rough. I was exhausted and my milk hadn't come in and Brooklyn was hungry. It seemed like every time she would fall asleep I would finally get settled and someone would come in to take vitals or bring food or run a test or something. I had only a couple hours of sleep which wasn't helping at all.

So we were sooo excited to get to go home the next day which was Saturday and our little family was happy too. Taylor didn't like Mommy staying at the hospital.

Monday morning we had her first Doctor appt. I noticed she was looking really yellow. Sure enough she had elevated biliruben. The doctor ordered what they call a Billie blanket for us to use at home to get it to go down. Not sure why they call it a blanket because it is not a blanket at all. The plan was for her levels to stay the same or start going down which would be better. The next morning we were back at the Doctors to check her levels again. Bad news, they went up so she was admitted to the NICU right away. Let me tell you there is nothing more stressful then when your children are sick and even more stressful when they are so little. It broke my heart. In the NICU EVERYTHING is measured and weighed and accounted for. So I had to pump so they knew exactly how much milk she was getting and they weighed her diapers everytime she was changed. I was very impressed with the care we received and luckily it was short lived, we only had to stay 24 hours. Her poor little heel had been pricked so many times it was sad. Her levels had dropped and we were in the clear. Thank goodness!

She likes laying on her side, so cute.

Tired Daddy feeding Brooklyn.

In the picture above you can see the yellow on her face. With jaundice it starts on the head and works its way down, she was yellow all the way down to her legs. You can see it going away in this picture.

I wasn't going to post this picture because I look AWFUL. I was soooo exhausted and well you know how beautiful we are right after we have babies! lol but I had to post because it was a very important time in the NICU, SKIN TO SKIN ;) Right before we got to go home.

Brooklyns birth

It was Thursday morning Feb 3rd. I didn't sleep much the night before and neither did Daddy. We were very excited to finally be meeting you. I was to call Labor and delivery at 5 to make sure they had room for us and we were on our way.
We got to the hospital and I was still having contractions which I noticed when I got up. We checked in and got settled in our room. When they hooked me up my contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart. LETS GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD! They got my pitosin hooked up about 9:30 and I was still at 3 cm and not totally effaced yet. Still a ways to go. At about noon they checked me and I was about 5 cm and totally effaced. I decided to hold off on the epidural. Although my nurse apparently wanted me to have this baby on her watch because she kept upping my pitosin levels, at the end she said she went up to like an 18 which apparently is crazy according to her. She said every woman has a comfort zone and mine was just higher. joy! lol My contractions got stronger and harder and about a min or so apart and I went for the epidural. As most of you know, that pain is nasty, I dont know about you but sticking that needle in your back ooo eeeee I can still feel it. I noticed I was still feeling everything on my left side so they messed with the line because I had a block so none of the medicine was going to my left side. We never really got it right. Its crazy, you think because you have done something before no problem it would be like that again. Wrong! So they checked me again around 2:45-3:00 or so and I was still at 5 cm. I was getting discouraged! Daddy was exhausted and the chair in the room was broken so he couldn't get any rest. So he was going to go down to the car to lay down for a little bit. I told him to TURN ON YOUR RINGER, I was sure we would be fine since I was only half way there and I would call him if we were getting close. Right after he left things were getting intense, I couldn't get comfortable and my left side at my ribs were killing me. I told the nurse how weird it was, it felt like the Brooklyn's feet were digging in my ribs which was weird, because through my whole pregnancy she didn't do that. Her legs were always off to the sides. So she wanted to check me again. It was almost 3:30 at this point. I told her I will give you money if you give me good news! This was sort of an inside joke because all through the day my husband was trying to pay her to do little things like get him a new chair or a bed or something. So she was checking me and shes smiling and she said your complete! Your ready to push! So I start calling Daddy since he just left and he doesn't pick up. I must have called him 15 times, I was shaking and crying. I was freaking out because I was scared he was going to miss it. We got all ready and the Dr. even came in and the nurse told her to wait because we were waiting for Daddy to come back. She kept reassuring me that we would not have this baby until he got there. At this point I look over at my Mom and Grandma and think...hhhhmmmm which one am I going to send to find him. Ya RIGHT!! LOL He finally picked up and I could have balled like a big baby I was so relieved. So he cam back up to the room out of breath because he had to run back. Little side note. The parking garage is literally across the hospital like a half a mile maybe further I dont know.
So i start pushing and all I could think was oh my goodness I dont remember it being this hard. I was even laughing in between pushes and told the Dr. how I dont know how women do it that have to push for hours. I would die! lol They asked me if I wanted the mirror which by the way, if you have the option. Do it! It helps so much to see your progress. Lifesaver. I had the best delivery doctor ever! She was soooo motivating and inspiring and all I can think of is her big smiling face encouraging me. So 18 minutes later little miss Brooklyn was born. That last push is the best feeling in the world!
You came out and you were so pink and so calm. I was getting a little worried because the nurse kept saying we need to get her to cry, we need to get her to cry but you would just look up at me with your big eyes and make these little whimpering cooing sounds. It was amazing and scary. Scary because in that moment you realized how precious life is and how fragile it is. You didnt cry until later when they were bathing you and running their tests on you. Looking back now, thats just you, you are the most calm easy going angelic baby and we are so lucky to have you in our lives. We are soooo in love.

Hello World!

Brooklyn Jade Brenner

8 pounds 9 oz.

20 inches long

February 3, 2011

4:09 pm

Sorry the pictures are out of order.

Big Brother

Tired Daddy and his angel.

Big Sister

Getting ready to go home

Stay tuned for the birth story!