The Brack Family

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, my parents and Brian, Lacey, Abbey, and Madison came over to our house to celebrate Christmas with us. I was very grateful they came to us since some adorable little baby only allowed me to get a couple hours of sleep that night before :)

Lacey snatched up Olivia pretty quickly...

Madison got a little squirrel family from the Calico Critters and she was in LOVE!!! This girl loves her some squirrels!!!

Mimi eventually pried baby out of Aunt Lacey's arms ;)

Mckayla is definitely an expert present opener now, she was flying through the presents and having a blast!

Uncle Chris playing squirrels with Madison

I think this gift was the highlight for Abbey.....

....MARMADUKE!!!!!

Then Abbey wanted a turn with baby Olivia too

Another squirrel for Madison!

Madison LOVED our singing/dancing Christmas toys!

After all that fun, mommy was pooped and took a nap. But then we all lived up a little bit again, gave baby her first bath at home, which big sister was SO helpful with!!! Here they are lounging afterwards:

That night we had to set out cookies and milk for Santa!!

Then off to bed so Santa could come!!!

One day old

DECEMBER 23, 2010

I stayed that night at the hospital by myself with Olivia so Chris could take Mckayla home and they could both get some rest (he had bronchitis), so I was anxious to see them again by morning, especially considering I only got an hour or two of sleep. She wasn't fussy, I just couldn't sleep! I guess too much adrenaline still...

Mckayla was definitely excited to see her baby sister!!!

Our beautiful Olivia

Actually the first visitors to make it to the room were some excited cousins! Abbey and Madison were so cute and sweet with Olivia too.

Uncle Brian finally got his chance to hold her..with a little help from the girls :)

Thankfully the red splotchiness from the day before was going away

Her coming home outfit

After she turned 24 hours old and got her newborn screening tests done and checked for jaundice, we were discharged!!!! Not too long after we got home, Leshia, Carlie, and Summer came by for a visit. Then my parents brought over dinner!!! Thanks again mom and dad!!!

I can't get enough of these pictures of Mckayla holding her sister!!! She really does snuggle her, kiss her, "pet" her head, and ask to hold her all the time. She's such a sweetie :)

Birth Day

DECEMBER 22, 2010

A little after 9:00a.m. - I was laying in bed with a few contractions, a little lower in my abdomen and more painful than the braxton hicks I had been having, but still at least 10 minutes apart. I didn't think much of it and after an hour I figured I couldn't get more sleep so I would just get up and going for the day. Usually getting up and walking made any sort of organized contractions disappear pretty quickly. NOT THIS TIME! All I did was walk from bed to the bathroom and I could barely get through brushing my teeth...the contractions were VERY intense and now about 2-3 minutes apart. I think I got my teeth brushed and contacts in and I knew this had to be it. I nudged Chris in bed and told him to get ready, we needed to go to the hospital. We were in gear then! We all got ready and my contractions kept coming strong and fast so off we went to the hospital. I think we made it out of the house by 11:00a.m. I think my verbalization of the pain of the contractions added some heaviness to Chris's foot on the gas of the car because he was in a hurry! I think he was afraid of the baby coming in the car!!!

About 11:30a.m. - we are checked into triage and the nurse checks me and says I am dilated to a 6, 80% effaced, and a -2 position. The day before at my checkup I was 4cm dilated. We were in that room for a short time until they got me a labor room to move to. About an hour after I was admitted and checked that first time, I was sitting on the birthing ball and started to feel more pressure so I had the nurse and midwife, Barb, check me again. I was a 9!!! They decided that if they broke my water at that point we'd probably be delivering a baby so Barb broke my bag of water and told me that at that point whenever I felt the urge to push, to just go with it. A few contractions later I decided to give a few practice pushes, meaning not full force. I only did this a couple times though when I started pushing for real. I guess right away they started to see her coming because their tone changed to a more hurried tone saying to get everything ready. FOUR pushes later....OLIVIA IS HERE!!!!!! She came out crying and perfect!

The whole experience was absolutely hard to believe. I was hoping to go natural again like I did with Mckayla, with no pain medicine at all in labor, but the intensity of the contractions was making me wonder if I could do it. Thankfully labor progressed EXTREMELY quickly and I didn't have much time to be in pain before she was here! It happened so fast we were left with the feeling of "did all that really just happen???" I am so glad I was able to go naturally again. Her alertness and my ability to move so well immediately after delivery is wonderful.

Here's the excited big sister, awaiting baby's arrival