Introducing Elijah 恵冬 (Keitou) Brinley

I decided I should probably write about Monday before I forget details. Time just flies when you have a newborn... and with recovery, I tend to be sitting most of the time so time for a blog entry is easy to come by... if I'm not nursing or pumping that is.

Eli came into the world on February 23, 2015 at 6:43pm. It was a much smoother delivery than with Aiden (you can find his birth story here), thank goodness. I also have some funny videos for you to watch from some of the labor. I think you will enjoy them ;)

Eli's Birth Story

PRE-LABOR:
My mom arrived last Wednesday, the 18th and I had an appointment the next day at the OB. When I went (oh I saw Emily Maynard--she's pregnant too and has the same doctor as me... that's another story), the doctor checked me and I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I really wanted to kick into labor naturally, but with all the hard contractions and cramps I was having, it was really hard to get around with a 19 month old and function normally... So we scheduled an induction for Monday morning.

Over the whole weekend I was having some bad contractions. So much so that I was sure I would go in naturally before Monday at 8am. Well Monday rolled around and I was still having regular contractions so we went into Labor and Delivery and they hooked me up. We waited and waited and watched as the contractions showed up on the monitor every few minutes. The doctor finally came in after a c-section at around 11am and we discussed options. He checked me and I was still about the same.. maybe 1.5 cm... but he had seen Eli's heart rate and found enough reason that it was "medically necessary" to induce. Basically he wanted to have a justifiable reason to do so... and I guess he was able to find one from the monitoring they had done for the last 2 hours.

OH! I almost forgot. Prior to the doctor coming in, the nurses were trying to set me up on an IV. I didn't know why they were so early on, but I let them.... well, I let them try... 
The nurse, bless her heart, was an older lady, and she just COULD NOT find a vein to save her life. She stuck the needle first into my right wrist, and wiggled that needle around, stuck me again.... moved it around... and then gave up. At that point my wrist felt like it was on fire and I felt like I was going to puke. Having passed out while pregnant with Aiden, I know what it feels like to begin to lose it... and well, I was beginning to lose it. My hearing got muffled, I started sweating and feel like I was going to throw up. Darin knows the drill at this point (I really had issues when I was pregnant with Aiden), and grabs me a cold rag so I can stick it on my neck and face. I try really hard to breathe and finally come to.
I let the nurse know I gained my composure back and she beings trying on my left wrist. Right wrist THROBBING, I allow her to stick and wiggle again in my left... I ask her, "did you get it?"
"I think so, but it's not giving any blood..."
...okay.. doesn't that mean you DON'T have a vein? I began to feel sick again, and she begins to insert fluids into my "vein." I can tell you right now it wasn't. My arm began to feel cold.. I look over and I have a golf-sized lump on my arm.
It starts to hurt and I say "ow, ow, ow...."
the nurse looks down, "oh!" and pulls the needle out and sticks a bandage over the huge LUMP on my arm.... it looks terrible and it hurts even worse. Both my arms killed if i moved them at all. I began to feel REALLY sick again, and she left--having given up on finding a vein. She must have been having a bad day... or she needs to give up being the "IV nurse"... because that was a terrible start to my labor story.

Here is a picture of the after math of my two attempted IV inserts. Also, the one on the left hurt every time my blood pressure cuff went off... it was great. You will see in one of the videos below. ;)

INDUCTION TIME!:
After thinking through some options, the doctor decides to try a cervical balloon with a low dose pitocin. I am terrified of pitocin, and was hoping for the most drug free induction I could get, but the doctor reassured me it was a lower dose than typically given and that they can pull it out at any time. After asking a bajillion questions, we began with the balloons.

A cervical balloon is basically that. 2 small little ball-like balloons. One goes INSIDE your uterus on one side of the cervix, while the other goes on the outside. They fill them up with water to expand them little by little (every couple hours) and it begins to apply pressure to your cervix, the same way the baby's head does when the baby drops. This allows for a release of prostaglandins--a hormone that allows for labor to start. The low-dose pitocin was paired with this method to help the contractions continue to be regular.

The balloons went in at 12:30pm, and they got another nurse to do an IV (took her 5 seconds... I really don't have hard veins!) and they began dripping the pitocin in. My contractions picked up to be about the same pain level, but more regular. One every 3-4 minutes. They got a little stronger and a little closer together over time, and they filled the balloons up once more.

THE LABOR:
By mid-afternoon, I was breathing through each contraction fairly hard, and the nurse asked if I would like some pain killers. I think at this point it was maybe 3? or so? I said no, I don't really know why... because they hurt like heck... so the nurse was like, "I think you should. You're clearly in a lot of pain, and if you are planning to get pain meds at a certain point anyway, it's not going to matter when..."
She had a point. I don't know why I feel like I have to suffer through a little longer.... especially with how much pain I was in. I was literally feeling them at 8/10 pain scale... so she checked to see where my cervix was at. The doctor said if you tugged on the balloons and they came out, that would indicate I was greater than 4cm, the diameter of the balloons... so she tugged gently, they didn't come out, so she gave me a pain killer through my IV. I got this with Aiden too--they tend to give it to you before the epidural to see if it can hold you over longer. It is amazing. With Aiden I saw unicorns and rainbows... or at least it felt that way... this time around they must have given me a stronger dose... because this stuff DID NOT wear off until AFTER Eli was born. haha.

When she initially gave it to me, I was knocking out and talking to Darin. He videoed a lot of it... so here are the videos of me on this amazing drug for your entertainment. To explain--I am not crying, I am laughing HYSTERICALLY. So much actually, that I wet the bed. I was trying to open my eyes but they were too heavy.. so I could only keep one open... IF that. When I closed my eyes I was in a Lego DUPLO castle... and Darin was there with a phone in my face.. taking a video because I was talking nonsense. He mentioned Ellen Degeneres... I remember that... I think we are secretly hoping she sees these videos and invites us on her show.

Here they are (I don't really know what order they go in... but there are 3):

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

After about 30 minutes I could feel my contractions again. I was still majorly hallucinating and falling asleep... but I would wake up and scream/breathe through a contraction... and then fall right back to sleep. This stuff was SO strong I couldn't stay awake. The doctor came in and pulled on the balloons. I felt some pressure but they slipped right out... indicating I was dilated over 4cm. I think they told me I was around 5cm. This was close to 3:30pm or 4:00pm I think. (Darin probably knows better, he was sending texts to my girlfriends of the play-by-play). 

My contractions were SO bad I began needing Darin to squeeze and lean into with each one. They were only like a minute apart and a 9.99999 out of 10 (is it hard to say 10, because that is like the highest you can go? it is for me. Either way, they killed.) The nurse called in the Anesthesiologist who was taking her time.... It seriously took her like 30 mins or more to come. That doesn't seem long but when that means you have to sit through like 15 contractions then it REALLY seems long. Finally she arrived and gave me the epidural. The pain slowly started to fade--but I could still feel them contractions in my tail bone. The nurse tried a catheter, and I could feel everything, so I was not numb down there... but it was enough to take the edge off the pain from screaming through contractions to breathing a little heavier. As the nurse tried to help me empty my bladder, she shoved the baby's head out of the way, because it was pushing and not allowing me to empty. When she pushed the baby out of the way, my water burst. 

Within about 30 minutes the nurse told me to start pushing.... I was so confused... "aren't I only like 5 cm?" I asked. 

"No, you're 9.5, now let's start pushing."

Oh wow.. this was about 5:30 ish 5:45pm. I began pushing. At this point I could still feel the contractions enough, and so I could know when to push. In between, the other pain killer were still fairly strong, so I would almost fall asleep. I couldn't finish a sentence... I was so drugged. As the epidural set in more, I got more and more numb. After a while I couldn't feel my contractions anymore, and didn't know when to push. I think I may have gotten the epidural a little too late.. 

WELCOME BABY!:

Anyway after an hour of pushing, falling asleep, waking up, pushing, falling asleep... the baby was here! 6:43 pm. It was such a shock to me how fast this labor was... compared to my 30 hour labor with Aiden. I was in much less pain when I held Eli for the first time, since the epidural at that point was at its peak. 

I did skin to skin for an hour, Darin went and picked up Aiden and my mom at home and Aiden was able to meet his little brother. 

Eli was 20 ¾ inches long, and weighed 8lbs 0.6oz.

Eli came at 39.5 weeks, but he weighed as much as his brother did at 41.5 weeks. He's a big baby. He has long fingers and toes, I suspect he will be taller than his brother when they are older. He has light brown hair, not blond like Aiden was, but you can definitely tell they are brothers. 

We chose the Japanese name name Keitou for his middle name, because the "Kei" character is from my name, meaning "blessed" and "Tou" is the character for "winter." 

"Blessed Winter"

Aiden was Kai, with "Ka" from my name, meaning "summer" and "i" meaning "great"

"Greatest Summer"

 Eli is healthy and doing well. We are so happy to be a little family of 4.

I just am in LOVE with my 3 boys. I one lucky girl!

 Last video. Aiden holding Eli for the first time. This is the next day after he was born. My mom and Aiden came after lunch for a couple of hours and ate dinner with me. I sure missed my little boy while I was in the hospital. So grateful my mom took good care of him:

Until Next time,

The Brinley's

A Mother's (or Father's) Love

I had an emotional morning this morning. Let me tell you about it.

Last night, I was busy working on my Younique stuff on Facebook. Aiden was coughing a lot after we had put him down, and I was worried maybe he had FINALLY gotten what Darin and I had for so long.

You see, Darin has been coughing and congested for weeks now, and I had it not as extreme as him... but then caught a stomach virus that had me in the bathroom throwing up all night (sorry for the TMI)  last week. Darin came home early from work that next day so that I could rest and Aiden would have someone to play with him, and so that I wouldn't get him sick. I took ALL the disinfecting measures. Used my DoTerra oils, Bleach, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes like a mad woman, bleaching and wiping down everything, washing sheets... etc... I thought we were set.

So back to last night, Aiden kept coughing (most likely in his sleep) and then I heard a gag. Darin would gag at the end of his long coughing fits--so a part of me thought maybe that was it. There was no crying after, nothing. I think that was about 11pm or 12am last night. I heard some quiet whining at 2am and woke Darin because I was beginning to think maybe Aiden didn't have dad's bug, but mine. I kept thinking maybe he had thrown up, but if he hadn't and he was sleeping peacefully, I didn't want to wake him... so I decided to stay.

In retrospect, I should have checked. You know how sometimes you think--"maybe this is a prompting?" I thought that last night. But then realized that I'm typically a paranoid person and just went to bed. He wasn't crying, so he must be okay....

This morning at 7am, Aiden screamed for us to come get him because he was awake. He has been waking up earlier the last week or so because of teething, so it was no surprise. Normally Darin will go in, rock him a few minutes and he'll sleep for another 2 hours. I laid in bed listening to what was going on down the hall... THEN, I hear the bathtub turn on and I feel sick...

I run into the bathroom and Darin is undressing Aiden putting him in the bath. Aiden is just chipper with a smile on his face--but covered in what Darin thought was a blowout. I ran into his bedroom and his bed was covered. in. puke. I just started to bawl. Literally just BAWLING because at the moment I felt like the worst mother in the world. 

I had this stomach virus last week. IT. HURT. I rolled around in bed crying for about 3 hours because my stomach killed. I ached all over after I threw up and hardly slept. At least I had Darin next to me to get me tylenol, TUMs, and water.

Aiden must have gone through something similar. I heard whimpers -- I thought he was crying in his sleep but it was probably because he felt so weak. No wonder he didn't cry out to me last night, he was hurting too much. UGH. The more these thoughts raced through my head, the more I just hurt for him. As I washed off his sheets and started the washer, I just SOBBED at the thought of what my child must have gone through last night. He needed me and I couldn't be there.

All the while, as I am a wreck, Aiden in happily smiling at dad, in the tub splashing away, SO happy that he gets to start his day with one of his favorite things--A BATH.

I'll have you know, I have coddled him NON STOP this morning. What a sweet boy.

As I have been pondering about this, I just can't help but think of a few things I've learned from this experience. This clearly is not the first time I have wished that I could take away my child's pain, and suffer it for him... and it very well WILL NOT be the last.... and THAT. HURTS. As a parent the LAST thing you want your child to ever go through is pain, of ANY kind. But that's mortality and it's kind of inevitable.

Every time I hear about a parent having to see their child suffer, it makes me think of the Atonement. Aiden's suffering last night is minimal compared to parents who have children with a painful illness or disease, cancer, etc. But as a parent you get a glimpse of what maybe our Heavenly Father might have felt like when He saw His Son suffer. I know anyone can try to imagine what that would feel like (to a degree), but I feel like becoming a Mother has helped me imagine it a little more realistically. What great love Heavenly Father had for the greater good (i.e. us) to go through that as a parent.

On the same topic, what great love did the Savior have for us to do that as well. There are only a few people in this WORLD that I would take their pain upon myself or die for. Those are people I love dearly, and people that I feel don't "deserve" to suffer that. But the Savior suffered for everyone. Every. Single. Person. Some that maybe even "deserved" to suffer because of their terrible choices. He suffered for them too. It's easy to love children, your spouse or family. It's easy to wish to take their pain away or suffer for them. But He took on ALL pains. Now that's TRUE LOVE.

Another thought: in Preach My Gospel it says,

God is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected. He loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right. He wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer. Preach My Gospel Ch. 3, Lesson 1

 I have ALWAYS loved that line. "He weeps with us when we suffer." This morning, I wept. Aiden was maybe not "suffering" as much at that point in time, but THIS LINE came to my mind this morning as I thought about Aiden. God really is our Heavenly FATHER, who loves us as His children.

Of all the other titles that He could have used, He chose to be called “Father.”
Find this AWESOME TALK here.

So next time you are feeling a little alone or unloved, know that God and Jesus Christ love you more than you will ever know.

Lastly, I learned how forgiving children can be. Last week when I was sick, I was a bit angry that Darin was sleeping. I mean I'm sick and hurting, and there he is, sleeping. Then, I would have to tell my irrational self that Darin had work in the morning (but why would he even go if I was sick) and that I needed to let him rest, and I was an adult and could take care of myself (but I want my mommy...). Yes, inside of this adult body is a selfish child. #thestruggleisreal.

If I went through what Aiden went through last night, I WOULD NOT be happily splashing in the tub. I would NOT want to be held and coddled my mom, the mom who totally abandoned me when I needed her last night. But he did. You can learn so much from a 15-month-old.

So basically, I just am grateful to have the title Mom. Do I stink at it? Sometimes, maybe most of the time... but especially last night. That was a major Mommy fail. But I'm grateful that my Heavenly Father, regardless of my weaknesses, has entrusted His children to me to take care of in this life, ALL so that I can learn what it means to become more like Him, and LOVE like he loves.

That's all,
<3/ Erika

It's A BOY!

Well, we are back on the baby blogging scene. Couldn't be more excited. Darin and I finding out I was pregnant was sort of a surprise, and I was a little worried at first... BUT its been great because recently I have been BABY HUNGRY and am so excited to have another little one around. Aiden has seen some of our friends in our ward's new babies and just adores them. He just stares at them, points, and smiles, which gives me hope and gets me excited for him to have a little brother of his own. They will be 19 months apart, so depending on when we enroll Aiden for school (being an August birthday), they could only be a year apart in school! That is obviously a few years down the road, but either way I am excited for these 2 boys to be the best of friends!

Oh... THAT'S right! In case you didn't see my Instagram post--We are having another BOY!!

He has no idea why he got a blue balloon.. except he wanted it. Aiden is in for a treat!

I'll be honest. I was SURE it was a girl. Okay, not AS SURE as I was Aiden--I think the strong hope for it to be a girl made me "sure." Plus just the timing of everything and when I got pregnant, the probably for a girl was higher than some. (I won't go into the entire anatomy of the sperm and life span, etc. haha even though I really want to!)

So when I saw on the ultrasound that it was a boy, I got a LITTLE bummed. Not bummed that I was having a boy... probably more bummed that I couldn't go shopping. Teehee. We already HAVE boy clothes. boo. I wanted to go buy a new wardrobe... haha I'm such a girl sometimes. I guess I will just have to go buy a new wardrobe for this prego belly of mine, since I was prego in the summer last time and this time it's the winter... ;) (only half kidding... don't tell Darin.).

Anyway, I am beginning to believe that my body only knows how to make boys--although again anatomically thats not true because the sperm is what determines the gender.... hah. Anyway I do kind of have a feeling I will be one of those moms with like 6 boys... maybe I'll have a girl for my last! Darin keeps telling me to stop worrying about it, it's only #2... but we will see... ;)

Anyway all joking aside, I am more than excited to have another BOY join our family. We will be a rough house for the next 18 years... it will be fun. My makeup business on the side helps me keep in touch with my feminine side, so hopefully I won't go all Tom Boy on ya'll. haha. just kidding.

Here are some pictures of our little boy (sorry they are pictures of a picture. I'm lame like that.)

profile

Body from the side. Look at those legs and arms curled up!

From the side face down. You can see his spine well

3D. He wouldn't move his hand out of his face.. so this is the best we got!

His foot. This kills me. Too cute!

We can't forget this runny nose boy! The weather changes has had my boys with the sniffles. Mommy is just tired from being prego, no runny nose for me!

Real boys drink from PINK cups. He's growing up so fast, I can't believe he will be a big bro soon!

I think we determined I am 21 weeks in this pic. Definitely starting to show, but not huge... YET.

Let's talk about pregnancy for a sec. I'm a little over 21 weeks now... and MAN I'm already having a hard time breathing, acid reflux (it's the worst), and trouble sleeping. With 2 sicklies in the house and me exhausted from lack of good sleep, we are lazy bums here on weekends. Except yesterday... when we spend the whole day at the DMV. Long story.

So, I do have a little venting to do. The ultrasound put me 10 days ahead of what the doctor set my due date as. When he set my due date, I knew he was off, because I know my cycles and the DAY I conceived (I know, this is hard to determine but trust me, I know. Haha... anatomy lesson?). Okay so, 40% of women can feel pain when they ovulate, thus they know when the egg is released. Sperm can live on average 3-5 days, and after 3 days they lose their "effectiveness." Basic anatomy right? Well lets just say the date that the doctor said would have been WELL after the sperm had died off... TMI? I'm sorry. Sometimes I think I should be a doctor. baha. Anyway he set my date at Feb 28. The way doctors determine your "due date" is based upon the average cycle length of a female. Mine, which is clearly LONGER than the average, makes it so I get the gypped. I have to (get to?) keep my babies in a few extra days... just like with Aiden. So... I take it upon myself to determine a "compromised" due date. I decided on the 26th. =) The real date based upon my cycle is the 25th.

Well, and with all my ranting and whining about it, just like mommies' cycle lengths are different, I'm sure babies' womb time is different too. I'm sure 40 weeks is just as much of an "average" as is the 28 day cycle length of a female. So really I just need to stop whining and deal with it. :$

Well long story short, after the ultrasound, the technician said--are you sure about this date? She let me know the doctor would possibly change the due date because it was a 10 day difference. I KNOW for a fact in reality it's not a 10 day difference, but more like a 3 day, but after my experience with Aiden, if I'm going to be induced, might as well get to be induced sooner than later right?? Anyway the doctor said unless its 2 weeks he won't change the date. AND I've accepted that. Baby will "come when he's ready." **for all of you who say that, it's NOT something any mom who is 42 weeks prego wants to hear BTW... for future reference. EVEN if its true. haha... (Source: #howtotalktoapregnantlady101)**

Anyway, enough of me ranting. It has been fun to have this baby kick and roll around. He is JUST as active as his brother, which means we will not own nice furniture, china, lamps, etc. Until they are 18 years old. That's okay I guess, we can save money that way right?

OH! One more thing. We are thinking up some names for this new one. So far we like the following:
-William (Liam for short)
-Eldon/Elden
-Carson
-Cannon
-Beckam
ANDDD we are trying to think of some Japanese names. We may do Rikuro, since that is my grandpa's name, and maybe do Riku (or Ric) as his Japanese nick name.
We've got a couple months to decide but it's always nice to have a name right?

Well, I will leave you, as I have probably talked your ear off! Until next time!
The Brinley's