Brinna's Birth Story

I was scheduled for a c-section at 11:30 on Saturday, July 25. We had to be at the hospital at 9:30. I think I slept all of about 2 hours the night before. Ben and I were up and ready to go by about 8:00! He kept saying "Come on, let's just go!" I was trying to explain that even if we got there an hour early, the surgery was still going to be at 11:30! We were both a little (ok a lot) nervous and excited. It was like two little kids getting ready to go to their very first birthday party! After dropping the dog off at the neighbors, we headed out. The check in at the hospital went very very smoothly. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. In fact, I even caught about a 10 minute cat nap! At about 11:20 the nurse came in and said that Dr. Sporre was ready for us. So, we headed on back to the operating room. Not before I took this picture though.


Our surgery nurse was wonderful and did a fantastic job of keeping Ben and I fairly calm until we were ready to head into the operating room. She explained exactly what would happen. And she took this wonderful picture.

We spoke briefly with the doctor and then they took me back to the operating room. Ben had to wait to come in until I had the spinal and was laid out on the table. Apparently lots of husbands can't handle seeing the needle. We tried to explain that Ben was pro and actually held me the last time I got my spinal, but he was totally ok with waiting outside. They got me up on the table and the anesthesiologist did the spinal. The only part that was really uncomfortable was the numbing medicine. He was really gentle and let me know before he did anything. Between him and the nurse, they talked me through it and I didn't even pass out this time! Once I was numb, they laid me down and Ben came in. I can't even begin to express how wonderful Ben was through the whole surgery. I know he was extremely nervous (even though he won't admit it) but he kept me very focused on him and not on what was going on. We had a fairly mundane conversation about nothing. I can't even remember what we talked about. I'm pretty sure it was about the weather! The anesthesiologist was wonderful too. He kept me informed about what was going on with out giving me all the gory details. Just enough to let me know that everything was going just fine. It seemed like it was taking FOREVER! In the meantime, Ben took a few pictures of me on the operating table, even though I told him not too. I look terrified don't I?


Then the anesthesiolist said, "You're going to hear a lot of suction, that's them breaking your water. Yup! There's the head! Wow! Lots of hair!" Pretty cool right? Well, I thought it was! Brinna Leah was born at 11:56 AM. She came out crying and didn't stop the whole time we were in the operating room. They did suction her lungs, which is totally normal for c-section babies. As soon as they made sure she was ok, Ben was able to go look at her. He was a little torn, should he stay with his wife or go see his new daughter. I insisted that he go see her and take lots of pictures! I couldn't see her at all and wanted to know what she looked like!

The first thing he said was "She looks just like Adelae!" Then he showed me this picture.


He's right, by the way, she does look just like Adelae! At this point, they handed Brinna to Ben and he was able to hold her the entire time we were in the operating room. I was finally able to get a nice long look at her.
It took the doctor about 20 minutes to finish the surgery and I was wheeled into recovery. Brinna was able to stay with us the entire time. She was still crying away, exercising those little lungs. I decided to try to nurse her and see how she would do. Adelae was a tough one to nurse, so I was expecting to have problems. Brinna was born knowing how to nurse. She latched on like a champ and nursed for over an hour. She was a hungry little girl! Ben took a few pictures of us in the recovery room before he dashed off to make all the necessary phone calls.

I spent about an hour in the recovery room then they wheeled me back to my regular room (with little Brinna still nursing). My recover was so much smoother than with Adelae. I hardly had any bleeding at all and I was able to keep exhaustion at bay for quite some time. I did start to feel really really sick about 9:00 Saturday night. My nurse pointed out that I hadn't eaten anything in over 30 hours and I needed to get some food in me. I was only able to eat Jell-O, a popsicle, and drink some tea, but it made me feel 100x better.

Brinna didn't sleep much her first night. She constantly wanted to nurse and seemed to have her days and nights confused. She was most comfortable and calm when she was laying on my chest, but hospital policy states that you can't sleep in bed with your baby. At about 5:00 AM, I decided that rule didn't apply to me and I fell asleep with Brinna on my chest. We took a nice two hour nap and were refreshed and ready for the day! Sunday morning I was up and walking around a little bit. I was able to shower, get dressed, do my hair and put on a little makeup. I felt like a human being again!

Brinna remained with us in our room unless she was having the necessary newborn testing done. It was such a nice change from Adelae's birth. I was able to come home 48 hours after my surgery.

Brinna is a perfect little angel. She sleeps like a champ, eats like a champ, and cries like a champ! She sleeps almost all the way through the night, only waking once between 2:00 and 3:00 AM.

Ben and I are incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful little family. We couldn't be happier or prouder of our girls. Adelae is the greatest big sister and is a big help with the baby. She likes to make sure that Brinna is happy and warm.



These are only a few of the pictures that we took during our time at the hospital. As always, you can see them all at Our Happy Family .

Brinna Leah

Here's a quick picture to tide you over until I can get the full birth story finished!

Brinna Leah was born at 11:56 AM on Saturday, July 25, 2009. She weighed a whopping 5 lbs 8.7 ozs and was and amazing 18 3/4" in length.

So far her favorite things are sleeping, nursing, being held, and her pacifier. Her dislikes are being put down, nursing for more than 10 minutes at a time, and having her diaper changed.

Adelae is doing really great. She loves her baby sister so much. Brinna is the first thing she asks for in the morning and the last person she kisses at night. If Brinna cries, Adelae immediately says "OH! Get her pacifier, get her pacifier!" and runs around looking for it.

We're trying to adjust to life with a newborn and a toddler. So far, I think we're doing remarkably well. Ben is home until Monday, so he's taking on a lot of the housework, cooking and taking care of Adelae until he goes back to work. I'm recovering well from my surgery. I'm able to climb the steps and even sleep in my own bed! I'm still fairly sore and need to limit the amount of things I do around the house. I'm not allowed to lift anything more than 10lbs and I need to limit my stretching. This recovery has gone MUCH smoother than last time. I promise to get more pictures up as soon as I can.

In less than two days...

Baby Brinna Leah Collins will be here! As I mentioned previously, I decided to go ahead and schedule a c-section. The wonderful nurses at my doctor's office convinced my OB that it would be best for everyone involved if we did the c-section ASAP. I was hoping for Thursday (today) and she was thinking Monday, so we compromised on Saturday. Brinna's official birthday will be July 25, 2009. HOORAY! Ben and I are beyond excited. I think Adelae is too. The other evening she told me "Mommy, you go hospital and have Baby Brinna now. I stay with Audrey." It is possible that she just wanted me out of the way so she could play. But, I prefer to think it's because she's excited about being a big sister. :) My surgery is scheduled for 11:30 am, but there is a real possibility that it could take place earlier in the morning. It all depends on how the surgery scheduled before mine goes. I will be in the hospital until Monday, at the earliest, and Tuesday, at the latest. Ben was able to take all of next week off work, so he'll be around to help. He's already graciously volunteered to change all the diapers! He really did! I didn't even ask! What a great daddy!

I will be internetless (is that a word?) while in the hospital. I keep trying to tell Ben that he should get me a laptop so I can Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Blog from the hospital, but he doesn't seem to think that's necessary. ;) Ben and I will both have our cell phones, so I'll make sure to call everyone as soon as I can. You can bet that if I don't call you, my dad or mom (depending on who you are) will! We'll be at Dupont Hospital in Fort Wayne, so if you're bored come and see us! We love visitors! And come see us at home too! I love visitors. I can't promise my house will be clean, that I'll be showered, or even awake, but we'd love to see you!!!!

Say a little prayer that everything goes smoothly and my recovery is quick and relatively painless. Say a little prayer for Brinna too! I don't expect any problems or complications, but it's comforting to know that God is watching over us.

Wordless Wednesday

These are two of my beautiful nieces. Jazmyne is almost 3 and Gabby is barely 3 weeks old.

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We have a plan!

Well, sort of a plan anyway. Let me fill you in... Just in case you don't know, or remember, I had some horrible issues with my blood pressure when I was pregnant with Adelae. It started when I was about 6 months and progressively got worse until I finally reached the pre-eclamptic and finally eclamptic stages. So, obviously, this time around, we've been keeping a very very close eye on my blood pressure. It's been great, up until the last few weeks. It's still not terribly high, but it's high enough that I've been on the rocks about what to do. My plan all along has been to attempt a VBAC, unless my blood pressure didn't cooperate. Well, now my blood pressure isn't cooperating. It's steadily on the rise and I'm feeling worse and worse. In order to avoid the horror of what happened with Adelae (emergency c-section after failed two day induction), I've opted to forget the VBAC and go with the c-section. It's been a really really hard decision for me to make. I've tossed and turned for well over a week wrestling with this decision. Part of me wants to hold out and hope that things don't get worse, and the other part of me just wants it all over with. I missed a lot of the very beginning of Adelae's life because I was so sick and on so much medicine. I don't remember the first time I held her or the first time I nursed her. In fact, I don't remember most of my time in the hospital. I just remember that I was completely and totally miserable. I'm very concerned that if I let things go, that will happen with this baby. So, I'm opting to take care of matters before they get bad. It's such a tough decision and, as I mentioned, I've wrestled with it for quite some time. The hope is to get a surgery date scheduled for as soon as possible. I'm past the 38 week mark, so baby is fully developed. I've been assured that there shouldn't be any complications on that end. In fact, if I had decided from the beginning to do a c-section, I'd most likely have a date some time this week. At this point, we're just waiting for the ok from the doctor (I've been seeing the Nurse Practitioner). I'm hoping that he will give his ok and we'll be holding our sweet little girl in a few days. In the meantime, please keep us in your prayers. Surgery is very scary and, while I know that I have fabulous doctors, there are always risks. Pray that all goes quickly and smoothly.

Rantings from a pregnant lady

Ok, I'm pregnant..I get it! Seriously! I'm huge, I feel sick all the time, my ankles have completely disappeared, I can no longer take my rings off, I have the skin of a teenager, I'm grouchy and I don't sleep. Can you imagine how much fun I'm having? I'm going to give the rest of the non-pregnant world a little advice..please take it.

#1 When you ask someone when their due date is and the date is two weeks away..Please don't say "OOOOHHHH....you're getting close now" or "I bet you're excited!" My response is "REALLY?! I haven't been counting down the days for THREE months now. I had NO IDEA that it was so close!" (Please read with the adequate amount of sarcasm.) You should also not say "I bet you're ready to be done being pregnant." If you do, be prepared to hear "NO! I LOVE being pregnant! In fact, I wish I were and elephant and I could be pregnant for TWO WHOLE YEARS! Wouldn't that be NEAT?!" (Again, dripping in sarcasm."

#2 When you see a largely pregnant woman in the summer, please don't say "Oh, I bet you're miserable huh?" My answer "NO! I'm happy as a clam! In fact, I only WISH it would get HOTTER! Especially at night! I mean, who doesn't LOVE sweating nonstop?"

#3 When said pregnant woman states that she ready to have the baby NOW, please oh please oh please, do NOT say "Well, you haven't really dropped yet. You still have a LONG way to go." This may result in above pregnant woman punching you in the face. The proper response is "Maybe you'll have the baby today! Wouldn't that be fun?!" Of course, you must say this with the proper enthusiasm or you may get punched anyway.

#4 Calling pregnant woman cute little nicknames may SEEM like a good idea at the time, but I'll assure you..it's not. I get it, I'm fat.. I know I'm as big around as I am tall. BUT, and this is just a suggestion, maybe mentioning over and over and over again ISN'T the best thing. Just a thought...

#5 Almost anything you do and say is going to be interpreted wrong at this point. Acceptable things are "Let ME take care of the kid/kids for you!" "Can I bring you anything? Candy, ice cream, ice water, anything at all?" "Why YES OF COURSE I'll rub your sore back and feet. You just tell me when to stop, I could do this for HOURS!" "You're up every three hours to use the bathroom and can't get back to sleep? Why not wake me up, I bet we could have some great conversation! Maybe I could even rub your back and feet some more for you!"

Keep in mind I'm 38 weeks pregnant and not in my right mind. I can't be held responsible for my actions at this point. It's all justifiable somehow!

Ready to POP!

I know it looks like I'm carrying high still, but I promise, she's actually dropped some! There was no progress at my check-up on Monday, but we're still a little early. On the bad side of things, my blood pressure is starting to creep into the danger zone again. We're hoping that it stays in the "safe" range (below 140) until at least 38.5 weeks. I'm really hoping to avoid a c-section this time around, so think LOW LOW LOW!

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