New Pictures

More about Brigg

I feel so overwhelmingly blessed right now that I don't even know where to begin with my thoughts...Maybe I'll start with a little background on Sadie....beginning at one week old, all she did was cry, cry, and then cry some more, and she slept only half of the time that typical newborns would sleep. The older she got the more she slept and the less she cried, but those first few months were really difficult, which is one reason why we waited so long before having our second baby. I needed Sadie to be fairly independent if we were going to have a new baby with the same issues. However, if we'd have known that Brigg would be such a wonderful baby, then maybe we wouldn't have waited so long! He's very easy going, sleeps well and we are so thankful that he is healthy! Also, Sadie is a wonderful big sister...even better then I thought she would be. Sadie's been so helpful, patient, and loving with her new little brother. Even though she's only 4, she's acting much older! I'm really, really, enjoying my time off work and being just a mother right now!

Drew took Sadie camping for the weekend (yeah!!), so I have some extra time to write down how the labor and deliver went....

My labor and delivery was very similar to Sadie's, but happened about 5 times faster! They both decided to come in the middle of the night. I've never written my story with Sadie, so I'm going to include some of the details with her delivery as well. With Brigg, my due date was February 25, and I had an induction date for Feb. 22., but Brigg had other plans. I was planning to go to work on Feb. 21 and get a few things finalized before I take off for a couple of months. I had the whole weekend and holiday to prepare my home, so I had everything planned perfectly!  Of course, that's not how it happened! I did a lot of house work on Saturday, and I'm guessing that caused the labor to ensue. I began having contractions at about 5 p.m. on Saturday, the 18th. I went to dinner with my family that night, then we went to my parents house. I started having some anxiety as my contracts were becoming closer together. I told Drew that we needed to go home, because I still had a few things I wanted to do around the house, plus I thought it would be a good idea to shower and pack my bag for the hospital. So I worked around the house and got ready to head for hospital. By the time I was ready, it was almost midnight and my contractions were much stronger and about 5 min. apart, so off we were to the hospital. My mom kept Sadie at her house, so we wouldn't have to worry about dropping her off in the middle of the night. With Sadie, I had been having contractions for about 18 hours before they got close enough and intense enough to go to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital I was only dialated to  three (same as Sadie)! So we stayed for an hour to see what would happen, and of course, my contractions slowed and weren't as strong. I think is was because I was laying down. With Sadie, after an hour, they sent me home, so when nothing happened after an hour with Brigg, I had already made up my mind that I wanted to go home and try to get some rest, but when the nurse came back in, she said that she was on the phone with my doctor and he wanted me to stay for just a little while longer because they were having a hard time getting an accurate heart rate for Brigg. He would not hold still! So I unwillingly stayed for another hour, but it's a good thing we did because by contractions started getting crazy! They were very close together and very intense. I was progressing so they decided to admit me. I was ready for the epidural, and Brigg surprised everyone by being born just 3 hours later! (Good thing we stayed. The Lehi EMTs might have delivered Brigg. Now that would have been embarrassing since I see a lot of them at work.) With Sadie, I had some issues with the epidural. The anestiologist said it's because the anatomy of my spine is different from most. With Sadie, they had a difficult time getting the epidural in the right spot, and then after an hour it stopped working, so they did a spinal block instead (another needle in the back), which makes everything completely dead from the waist down. You can't feel or move a thing, and it takes a while for it to wear off. Now becasue they had some issues with the epidural during Sadie's delivery, I ended up having a spinal headache, which is one of the most painful things I've ever had. It happens because spinal fluid leaks out of the hole from the needle, which causes the brain to sink. Lying down helps it feel better, so I didn't realize I had this until I came home from the hospital and wasn't lying down as much.  We had to go back to the hospital, where they drew some of my blood and used that to clog the hole with another shot in the back. It was not a fun experience. Based on this I was a little nervous about how things might go this time, and sure enough after about an hour with the epidural, it started to wear off, but the anesthesiologist wanted to try some different medicines before giving me a spinal block. At this point I was really starting to feel my contractions again, and when the doctor did a cervix check, I could feel everything, and then he told me I was dialated to a 9, and that's when I started to panic. I mean really panic- I basically had a nervous breakdown! I was crying and screaming because there was no way I was having a baby naturally. When I had Sadie it was such a nice experience to not feel anything, and knowing all of a sudden that I may feel everything was making me panic. My poor husband was fabulous (later he would tease me by saying that I was so dramatic), and the nurses were very kind and patient too. My doctor told the anesthesiologist to quickly give me a spinal block. At this point my contractions were so intense that I was beginning to actually push, which was a strange feeling, but they got the spinal block in and it worked very quickly and about 30 min. later we had a beautiful, healthy baby boy! And thankfully I did not have a spinal headache. The nurse that brought Brigg to me after he was all cleaned up in the nursery said that she thought he was a girl at first, because he was such a beautiful baby :)

As you can see here, Sadie wasn't 100% sure about him at first, but she quickly warmed up to her little brother! 

 Going home...

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year with the newest member of our family. I took Brigg to church for his first time on Easter Sunday. Now I'll probably lay low from church until after his baby blessing. No need to rush back! I just got released from the primary presidency two weeks before I had Brigg. I was so sad about it. I love the Primary! I was a teacher for 2 years, and then in the presidency for 3, and it's all I've ever done in this ward. I love the kids so much, I'm really going to miss being with them on Sundays. Drew is the Elder's Quorum President, so I don't think the Bishop will be in any hurry to give me another calling. Drew really misses working with the young men (he's such a great leader to them), but the Stake President said it was time for  Drew to grow up! haha.

Sadie posing in her new Easter dress.

 My handsome little man.

 Sadie was very serious about Easter egg coloring :)

 At the Berry farm with family.

 Brigg really enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt at the Berry farm.

 Daddy helping Sadie with her new big girl bike! Ahhhh...

Welcome Baby Brigg!

Here are some long awaited pictures of our handsome little guy! Born February 19, at 5:20 a.m. He weighed 7.7, and measured 20 inches.

Disneyland & Christmas

Drew and I took Sadie and my sister Cami Jo to Disneyland the week before Christmas. We also went with our good friends, John and Lacy and their two boys.

I was out for a good chunk of the rides, because of my pregnancy. The most thrilling thing I got to do was  Soaring over California.  I expected Sadie to mostly be into the princesses and the little kid rides, but that was not the case. Big Thunder Mountain was the first roller coster type ride she went on and was hooked! It was so fun for me to see her face and excitement as she came running off the ride to meet me and tell me all about it, and that she wanted to go again! I should also say that Sadie barely passed the height requirement. (she's a little on the short side for her age.) And when I say barely passed, I mean not really, because even with thick soled shoes and stretching her neck as far as she could, she was like 39 7/8" tall, just under the 40" requirement. There are two check points before each ride that has a 40" height requirement, and everytime we held our breath as the worker would try to get an accurate measurement as Sadie kept standing on her tiptoes, trying every way to make herself taller. Eventually, the worker would say okay, you are good to go, and then Sadie would do a pump fist with her hand and shout out a big YES! However, the second day, we were not as lucky. Sadie had been saying from the beginning of the day that she wanted to ride Splash Mountain again because that was her favorite ride, so you can imagine how disappointed she was when the worker told her she couldn't go on it. It really was heartbreaking, and of course she broke down in tears, and then I thought Drew was going to get kicked out of the park because nobody makes his little girl cry! At first Drew tried his sales skills, but when that failed, he just got mad, and we'll leave out the details there, but lets just say it was not a good experience. So on our 3rd day is Disneyland we were a bit more prepared by bringing an extra pair of socks and folding them in the heals of her shoes, which made her 40 1/4" tall and a very happy girl!

Cami Jo is in front followed by my niece Cortlyn (Brad and Leslie's family came that week too), then Sadie and Drew. Sadie laughs at the picture because she says she has no bangs!

Christmas time is a great time to be in Disneyland!

We had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to baby Brigg joining us next year!

 The Polar Express! 

Preschool Christmas program

 Sadie with Grandpa Smith

 My mom reading to Sadie on Christmas Eve.

 This is actually the best picture I have. The cousins were so excited on Christmas Eve, that they wouldn't hold still for 2 seconds! 

Watch out everyone! This gift was from Grandma and Grandpa Berry.

Fall, Halloween, and Sadie's Birthday

We went to St. George for a weekend and saw The Little Mermaid. Sadie loved it. She didn't move an inch the entire time, and sang along with most of the songs. Ariel is her favorite princess right now. We also did some hiking in Snow Canyon and just had fun being with family! Here's Grandpa Smith telling Sadie how to feed the ducks.

Sadie Also had a really fun time riding her scooter..

One of Sadie's favorite movies right now is the Wizard of Oz (I thought it was kind of creepy when I was little, but she loves it), so that's why Sadie chose to be Dorothy for Halloween. We went to 4 Halloween parties in October including the Ward Halloween Party which we (the Primary Presidency) were in charge of. Sadie went to two more Halloween parties- one at her daycare and the other at preschool. We definitely celebrated Halloween this year! At least Sadie got good use out of her costume.

She loved playing in the pumpkin guts more than carving her pumpkin! 

Sadie's 4th Birthday! 

Notice the 4 fingers on each hand!

Sadie was the princess and special helper at school on her Birthday.

Drew and I took Sadie bowling.

Sadie was very happy to get a Taylor Swift DVD. Sadie can sing just about every Taylor Swift song! 

We needed to move Sadie out of the nursery before the baby gets here, and figured her Birthday would be a good time to give her a "new room", so about two weeks before her Birthday, we had her new room painted and then Drew and I worked on having it all ready for her Birthday. We kept the door locked all the time, so she had no idea. She was very surprised and I love how it turned out! 

Sadie loves helping Daddy, and I love it when Daddy lets Sadie help him! 

Of course work is no fun without a little play!