Pictures!

This was early Monday morning before any pain meds!

After the epidural, before the c-section

All suited up and ready to go!

Welcome to the world Bryson Robert Dorsey!

8 pounds 7 ounces 21 inches long!


Roberts first time to hold Bryson.

First family photo; man was I out of it!

My first time to hold Bryson!

First feeding.

Door decorations.

Robbie's first time to hold Bryson.

Granna's first time to hold Bryson.

Granny Goose's first time to hold Bryson.

Martha's first time to hold Bryson.

Papa's first time to hold Bryson.

Lola's first time to hold Bryson.

Dr. Byars first look at Bryson. He got an A+!

First night PJ's.

Amy's first time to hold Bryson.

Mark's first time to hold Bryson.

Day 2 and he's already cuddling up to things.

He even brought snow to Alabama!

Lisa's first time to hold Bryson.



The next pictures are a few good pictures from his third day with us!









Day Four Pictures! On our way home!

Bryson's Here!

On Sunday night, February 28 (8 days overdue) my water broke around 10pm. I really didn't know what to do because I wasn't having any contractions, so I just let Robert sleep and googled everything I could about what happens when your water breaks. After reading everything online I could find, I decided around 11 it was time to call the doctor and ask her what to do. The doctor on call told me to head on to labor and delivery. So I went to wake up Robert. Of course this would happen on the night that our dinner didn't really agree with him, so he downed some Pepto and started getting his stuff together. Mine and Bryson's bags were already packed but since we were convinced we would have a scheduled delivery, Robert didn't pack anything. So after we got everything together, we headed out the door, only to get half way out of Helena and realize that we left the insurance card at home. So we had to turn around. After all of that we finally made it to St. Vincent's shortly after midnight. I was hooked up to a monitor and was apparently having consistent contractions that I couldn't even feel. They did the test to see if my water had truly broken and since the results were inconclusive, we were told that we would be staying the night and to try to get some sleep. The nurse checked me and I was still only a fingertip dilated. She said that more than likely when Dr. Benton came to check me in the morning that she would have to start pitocin to help me dilate more and that I should just try to get some sleep before then. Robert was able to get some sleep, but I just sat up and watched tv. Sometime during the night I felt that gush of water that everybody talks about when their water breaks. The nurse came in and did the test again, and it finally showed that my water had broken. We now knew that we would be having a baby on Monday. She checked me again and at this time I was only 1cm dilated. I tried to sleep, but still couldn't. Around 6:30, Dr. Benton came in and checked me. I was still only 1cm and Bryson still had not dropped. She finished breaking my water and put an internal monitor in me to monitor my contractions a little better. This was not fun and very painful. She also started me on pitocin to help me have stronger contractions since my water had already been broken for so many hours. After I got the pitocin, I could finally feel the contractions. At first they were not too bad. Then they got a little more painful, but I wanted to wait as long as possible before getting any pain medicine. Sometime between 10 and 11 (the only reason I know that time is because we were watching The Price is Right) the contractions became unbearable! I think I had them coming very strong a minute apart but it just felt like on continuous contraction. I decided that I finally wanted some pain medicine. The nurse came in and got me hooked up and the pain got a little better. Sometime after 11, Dr. Benton came back to check me again and I was still only 1 1/2 cm dilated and Bryson had begun to drop, but only the crown of his head. She gave me my choices. I could try to continue and hope to have a natural/medicated delivery or just go ahead and do a c-section. The problem with going the natural way is that my water had been broken for so long that I would soon begin to run the risk of infection. Also, since only the crown of his head was dropping it would be more difficult for me to deliver since it appeared that there wasn't enough room. Also he was face up which apparently is a bad thing. I didn't realize babies had to be face down in order to deliver. She said she could try to turn him or he may turn on his own, but she doubted that would happen. It just seemed that so many things were stacked against us so I wanted to take some time to think about my choices. While we were discussing our options, I asked for an epidural. I have no idea how some women go through child birth without any medication! and the epidural was not bad at all. So once I couldn't feel the contractions, I was able to concentrate more on my decision. Around 11:30 we decided to go with a c-section. There were so many other c-sections that we had to wait until 1:30. I guess my mom was right about the whole full moon theory because there were a lot of people having babies that day. After anxiously waiting to be wheeled back, it was finally our turn. I was a little nervous because I have never even had stitches before, much less been cut open by a doctor, but I was also anxious and excited. The c-section itself was not bad. I could not feel a thing. The only part I could feel was when they actually took him out. It did feel like an elephant sat on me but just for a second and then we heard him cry. It was the best sound I had ever heard and I immediately started crying. When I first saw him, the tears only got worse. But shortly after that, I had this horrible burning pain in my chest. I have never experienced anything like this and I was scared. The doctors had also never seen anything like it before and didn't know what was causing it because my EKG and blood pressure were perfect. This pain was a million times worse than labor pain and I swear that my heart was about to explode out of my chest. All they could do was pump me with more pain meds and tell me to breathe. After they were done cleaning him they wanted to know if we wanted a picture, but I was in too much pain to care about a picture at that point. I feel really bad because I feel like I neglected my child the first minutes of his life and we didn't get that classic c-section picture. We did get one on the way out of the operating room after I felt better. He was born 9 days overdue at 1:43 pm and weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21 inches long. His apgar score was a 9.9 which is wonderful. The highest you can get is a 10 and from what I've heard, not many people get a 10. The rest of the afternoon and night we spent with our family just loving on him. We sent him to the nursery every night we were in the hospital but I still didn't sleep. All I did was wonder how he was doing. The last night was the hardest and I actually cried when they took him. I am going to have such a hard time when I have to go back to work and leave him.
My recovery has been good so far. I have been very sore and have had to sleep on the couch because our bed is so high, it hurts to try to get in it. I tried to let him sleep in the bassinet but all I did was sit up and stare at him. I am so worried that something will happen when I close my eyes. So for now, while I'm on the couch, he sleeps on me. That way I can feel him. We have both slept good. I think I have gotten a total of at least 6 hours of sleep every night except for Sunday night. I got my staples removed yesterday and now I can move around a little better because I don't feel like I'm going to pull them out. I am still sore, but I'm slowly trying to get back to doing more things around the house. The faster I can recover, the faster I can lose this pregnancy weight. I will post some pictures in my next post which will probably be later today depending on how my day goes. I still have school work to do, but I got far enough ahead that I think I'm ok for now. However, any chance I get I'm going to do school work so when I have to go back to work in April, I won't be spending all night doing school work. Sorry for such a long post, but I thought that some people would be interested in how everything happened.

Baby Showers

I have really procrastinated on posting all my shower pictures. I had 3 and we got a ton of stuff! The first shower I had was a tea at my church on January 17. Here are the pictures from that day.










My second shower was thrown by Martha, Joanna, Megan and Kate here at our house. It was on January 24. Here are the pictures from that day.









My last shower was on January 31 and was put together by Robert's mom and his sisters. Here are the pictures from that day.




Sorry for the picture overload. Hopefully my next post will be full of Bryson pictures!

Update!

So here I am, 3 days overdue and still no baby. Not only is there still no baby, but as of yesterdays appointment, I had still made no progress. My doctor still thought he was going to be big, so she did another ultrasound. He looks so precious. He has big pouty lips and a head full of hair. However, he is not big. The ultrasound tech had him measured right around 8 pounds. So since he's not big, my doctor set me up for a stress test. His heart rate was between 140 and 150 the entire time and I even had a few small contractions that I didn't even feel. Me and Bryson passed this test with flying colors. Everything with me and him are perfect. That's the good news. The bad news, that bought me another fabulous week of being pregnant! I was really not wanting to hear that. Especially because I have already been finished with work for a full week and this itching is driving me insane! She gave me a prescription for an oral steroid and a steroid cream which so far are not working. I think I'm going to give it one more night and then I may be calling her back. I just don't see how I'm going to make it another week with this itching! So here's the plan:
I go back to see the doctor on Monday March 1, if Bryson has not come before then. If I am still not dialated, I will have two choices. One will be to come back Monday night and be induced. The reason she would want me back Monday night instead of Tuesday morning is because chances are, if I haven't made any progress, labor will be very long. So that opens up another option. If I'm not dialated, I could just come back Tuesday morning and have a c-section. I think this is option we are leaning toward. I just don't see the reason to put my body through all those extra drugs and labor pains only to end up with a c-section anyway.
On the other hand, if I go back on Monday and I have dialated to at least 3 or 4 cm, then I will go back on Tuesday morning and get induced. She said my chances of having a successful deliver go up the more I am dialated. I'm hoping Bryson decides to come on his own before then, but I think he has his own agenda. Here are the ultrasound pictures from yesterday.




I love how his hair looks like it has spikes just like Robert's. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like.

Baby Update!

I went to my weekly Dr's appointment on Tuesday and everything looks great! We had talked at our last appointment about the possibility of him being a 9 1/2 pound baby if I went to my due date which kind of worried me a little bit. I have heard of some people delivering babies that big and having problems with either mom or baby. But I have also known some people that have a c-section because of the size of the baby and everything is fine. I asked about another ultrasound and she said I would only get one if she was unable to tell if he was breech or not. Well on Tuesday, I had still made no progress. No dilating, nothing. She measured me and again voiced her concern about him being a big baby. She was concerned about his size compared to my progress and thought that she may have to help things along. She wanted to do an ultrasound so I called Robert and had him come up there since I didn't want him to miss seeing Bryson again. I will say that part of me was hoping that he was big so maybe she would help things along because I am miserable! So we got the ultrasound and he is not big at all! He is perfect. As of Tuesday he was estimated to weigh 6 pounds 4 ounces and projected to gain a half a pound a week. So instead of looking at a 9+ pound baby, I think we are looking at an 8 pound baby. I know ultrasounds are not always accurate, but I like that news a lot better than the news we got last week. The ultrasound tech printed off some pictures for us. Here are the pictures that we got.

This is a picture of his face. If you look close you can see his nose and lips. He also has his hands over his eyes.


This is a profile picture. The white line you see is his forehead.


This is a close up shot of his profile. Again, the white line is his forehead. If you look close you can see his nose and his big pouty lips.


This is another close up of his profile. If you look under his chin, you can see his big belly.


Of course he's still a boy! He's not as modest now as he was in October.


Here's his big foot and his fat toes.


And she was even nice enough to let us attempt at a 4d shot. I think he looks like Robert! Look at those fat cheeks!

I can't wait until we can hold this little guy in our arms. I am 37 weeks today and plan on working for the next two weeks. That's if I don't go into labor before then or have to take maternity leave early. I have been in a classroom by myself since the middle of last week and it is killing me. I am not sure if they just don't realize how far along I am or they just don't care, either way, it is killing me. I really need the money but I'm not sure I can handle working by myself for two more weeks. Let's just hope this little guy decides to come early.
I have had two baby showers so far and we have gotten a lot of good stuff for the baby. We have one more tomorrow. I am so excited to see what we get. I will post pictures of all the showers after tomorrow.