Bryden's first couple weeks

 I can't believe that our little man has already been here for 3 weeks!! He is perfect in every way and we all love him so much.  Sometimes it's even a fight to see who gets to hold him next.  Luckily,  just like Brennar, he is a little bit of a mama's boy already so I usually win!!

My mom and I took so many pictures of him while she was here but the weird thing is, hardly any of them even looked like him. 

 Brennar took a little tumble the night I had Bryden.  We got a call from my mom about 9 pm that night only to hear Brennar screaming on the other end of the phone.  So, Clint drove the hour back to Longmont from Denver and took Brennar into the ER.  Turned out to be he broke his collar bone.  Poor kid - but he did great.  He was even happy to wear his sling - but we told him he looked really tough, so I think that helped a little:)  Bummer part of the night really ended up being that me and Bryden had to stay at the hospital without Clint since I didn't want him to leave Brennar that night.  Oh well, we all turned out to be just fine

 Daddy and his 3 kiddos

 Bryden had blue eyes right now, but they are so dark I am sure they will turn to brown. 

 Bryden at 1 week old.  He was at the doctor that day for a weight check and he was 7lbs and 11oz, 2 oz over his birth weight!!!

 Our good friends Shann and Ericka, stayed with us one night with their little girl Lenex - she was born January 2, so not even 3 weeks older than Bryden and she looked huge compared to him, made me sad to see how much they change in just a few weeks:(

 Grampa Todd got to give Bryden his first bottle, thankfully he took it like a champ

 This pretty much is Brilee all the time - she LOVES her baby:)



This is one of the few pictures of him that I think really even looks like him - isn't he adorable!!

 

 Bryden's first bath - it was a family affair - the two people you can't see were taking pictures and videoing it:)

 Brennar has finally started to show some interest in Bryden - so cute together

 Isn't he a dapper little dude

 Brennar and Brilee got in a little sledding action with Grampa, they loved it

My sweet baby boy!

Bryden Luke Stapp

I seriously can't even describe the feelings I had when they placed him on me.  It has been such an emotional roller coaster the last year and a half, I didn't even know what to expect when I saw him.  But it was so much better than I ever could have imagined.  I had those intense love at first sight feelings, but I also felt so relieved that he was finally here and so beyond grateful that God had entrusted him to us! 

Absolute perfection!

The second they set him on me he immediately stopped crying. It was pure joy!

He was my biggest baby weighing in at 7lbs 9 oz and definitely my longest too, at 21.5"

All fresh and clean after his first bath.

Brilee holding Bryden for the first time.  She fell instantly in love with him too!

Our new family!

She honestly didn't let him go while she was at the hospital

Heading home to start our new life with our new precious little man!

Labor and Delivery

Monday night, January 20th.  About 7 pm

 We had just finished dinner and were starting to get a little anxious about leaving the kids and heading off to the hospital. I had been a little emotional the weeks leading up to this moment and all the feelings I had been having all came to a head. I was rocking Brilee before bed the previous week and just had a break down thinking I would never be able to rock her again and I would never have time to lay with Brennar and pretty much feeling like their little worlds were about to come crashing down and it was all my fault.  It was rough.  But all day Monday we kept pretty busy, wrapping up everything we needed to for while we were at the hospital and all the little things I wouldn't want to do our first few days home.  But, then we finished dinner and I didn't know what to do with myself.  I wanted to play with the kids, and I also wanted to just sit on the couch and I wanted to finish a few more little things, but I was so nervous and nauseated that pretty much the only thing I did was sit at the kitchen table.  So we waited for about an hour and then said good bye to the kids and we were off to the hospital. 

 Our last picture as a family of 4

 Brilee telling the baby she was ready to meet him!!

On our way to the hospital Clint decided he needed to eat some more, so we had to stop at McDonalds, if I already wasn't nauseous enough!

An hour later we were walking into the hospital.

We checked in at the ER and someone came down and took us up to labor and delivery.  As we got to the nurses station, the charge nurse tells us she has a room for us, but that there were so many people that they couldn't start my induction until some point during the night. Awesome.  So, until about 11:30 we just sat there.  When she finally came back she said my doctor had called to make sure we made it and that he wanted me to get a cytotec at 2 am. So, no harm done when they didn't get us going right away.  At 11:30 the nurse took down all of my initial information and had me get my gown on and she started my IV. They decided to monitor me for a few minutes then too.  She told me she would come back in 20 minutes or so and take the monitor off me until 2 when she gave me the medicine.  She ended up not coming back until 1 and said it turns out I was having a lot of contractions on my own so I was going to have to keep the monitor on.  I had started feeling contractions back at 22 weeks and they never really stopped throughout the next 4 months, but at about midnight I could tell that they were actual labor pains, not just BH. Yay!!! I had started labor on my own!

At about 2:15 my nurse comes in and gets the medicine ready and starts to check me.  I was at 3 cm!! So, didn't end up needing to have the cytotec.  So, there I was just having to hang out in labor for the next few hours.  Finally at 5 the nurse convinced me I could get my epidural. Don't get me wrong, I pretty much would like it from the moment I walk into the hospital, but I really didn't want it to stop my labor like I had heard it could. She checked me again, and I was at a 4, slow progression I thought. A few minutes later the doctor was in the room and  I was being hooked up to that magical medicine that makes everything all better!  And also getting my pitocin started too. When they start your epidural you can't really sit up anymore, and the laying down was giving me such bad heart burn. They gave me some pepcid through my iv, but it didn't really work.  Then I was getting sick feeling on top of that so I got some zofran. But, nothing really was helping and the throwing up started:(

At 7, my doctor came in to break my water and check me again and I was still only at a 4! I was super disappointed. The nurse came back at 9 and again I was only at a 4, maybe 4.5. She told me to get some rest because it would probably be awhile.  Rest? Seriously? I hadn't slept a minute since we had checked in. Around 11 she came back and finally I was at a 6.  Yay, slowly but surely I was making progress. She said she would be back around 1 to check me again.  Mind you, they keep giving me these 2 hour rest windows, but still come in about every 10-15 minutes to do something. At about 11:30 I started feeling pressure, and it was finally something I remembered feeling with Brennar and Brilee.  I debated for awhile on if I should call her back to check me again, seeing that it had only been about 20 minutes from my last check, but after going back and forth I decided to have her come back.  Well, it was time!!! So, in the 45 minutes since she had checked me I went from a 6 to ready, now that's what I'm talking about!! My doctor was at his office across town, so they called him right away, it took him about 30 minutes to get there.  Then once he was there they got everything ready, explained to me how to push, where to put my hands and legs, and everything else I seemed to have forgotten since Brilee was born.

Clint took one last picture of me before go time!

 He sat down at 12:40, told me that on the next contraction we would start pushing, and that's what I did.  I pushing for a full 10 count, took my breath, started counting again, got to 3 and he told me to stop pushing that his head was out. What??? I couldn't and didn't believe him, so he had me look and there he was.  At 12:43 the most perfect little man was placed on my belly!!!

Our last few weeks as a family of 4

We have spent the last few weeks trying to do some fun things before baby comes.  It has been a little difficult since I am on modified best rest, but once I hit the 37 week mark I was good to get up and do what I wanted.

The first weekend in January I was in my best friends wedding.  It was a lot of fun, but a little hard being so big:) 

 

Clint and Brennar went to the Broncos playoff game against the Patriots that sent them to the super bowl, so that was pretty neat Brennar got to experience that. 

Here I am the day I hit full term - woo who!!!

My favorite girl lounging in her pjs

Daddy and Brennar and mommy and Brilee on the weekend before the little man was set to arrive.

I was set to go in to the hospital Monday night the 20th to be induced, so that afternoon we went and got Brennar's hair cut, Brilee's hair braided, to the toy store and out for lunch.  It was the perfect last day as a family of 4.

And here I am, 39 weeks exactly and minutes from heading to the hospital.  Can't wait to meet you little man!!! You have no idea how loved you already are!!