Grayden Lyle

Grayden Lyle Brush was born August 20 at 12:47 am. He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long.

I'd been having contractions since about 4 on Friday, but they got pretty intense while we were having dinner at my sister in law's home. After leaving Andrielle at my parent's home, we got to the hospital at about 9:00 and got checked in. I was dilated to a 5 and having contractions about every 3-5 minutes. They called my doctor, he showed up and broke my water around 11:30. About an hour and 15 minutes later, Grayden was born. I decided not to have an epidural again, and because of how quickly he came, I didn't get the pain killer through my IV this time like I did with Andrielle - so I really went completely natural. Everything went great and I was able to hold and feed him right after he was born.

Grayden is doing really well. His biliruben scores are a little high, and he's been tested 5 times now but the levels are going down and he won't need the bili-box. :)

Andrielle is a good big sister. She's still acting a little confused about who this new little addition to the family is but for the most part has been really good.

Grandma and Grandpa Brush brought her dry erase crayons while they were here and she has loved playing with them. Lucky for us, they clean up really well.

35/36 weeks

Last week I started having lots of contractions and major back pain, so even though I wasn't scheduled to see my doctor for another week, I made an appointment. We were supposed to leave for my grandparent's cabin to spend the weekend with my family Friday, and I didn't want to risk anything. So I went to the doctor Thursday evening, he told me I was dilated to a 2 and put me on bed rest - no cabin trip for us (though we did sneak up to spend the day there on Saturday). 5 weeks early is just a little too early to be going into labor. My mom was kind enough to take Andrielle every morning for a few hours and then picked me up and took me back to her house. It was nice having the extra help with Andrielle since I wasn't able to pick her up, and really do anything else, for that matter. However, it was super frustrating to not be able to do anything. I feel like I still have a huge to-do list before the baby comes, and I haven't been able to get any of it done.

I had another appointment last night (36 weeks). I am now dilated to a 3. Contractions still haven't stopped, I'm even more uncomfortable, and the back pain has only gotten worse. I'm now on a modified bed rest, I'm allowed to get up and move, go on short shopping trips, do a little cleaning - but still not supposed to pick up Andrielle (or any other heavy things), go running/jogging/swimming or basically do any excercise. My doctor said as of today, if I were to go into labor, he wouldn't stop anything - but it would be best if this little guy could wait at least one more week to make his entrance. He did basically guarantee that I won't be going full term. Kind of exciting - a little bit scary. I'm still not sure if I'm ready to be a mom of 2! Ready or not, I guess, huh?