Daryn Elena's birth story

World, meet Daryn Elena, our new baby girl:

Daryn decided to show up on Thursday, May 23rd, nearly 4 weeks before my scheduled induction. I went into labor in the middle of the night on Wednesday. When we realized we would need to head to the hospital, I called a friend in the ward to come stay at our house with Reagan until Marissa could get there from Provo. Marissa was able to stay there all day until Lance's mom could fly in from Texas. Have people willing to drop everything at a moment's notice was such a blessing. 

After we got to the University of Utah hospital, they gave me a drug to try to stop labor, since I was only 35 weeks, but they realized that I was progressing too quickly, so into labor and delivery I went. Luckily, I was able to get an epidural at this point, after about 4 hours of labor. 9 hours after my contractions woke me up, and about 5 minutes of pushing later, our baby was born at 10:32 am. 4 lbs 13 oz and just over 17 inches. Because of the cloacal exstrophy, they immediately cut her cord and passed her through to the NICU within seconds. Lance was able to go see her a few minutes later. They originally thought she was a boy, so we were going to name her Dustin. Because so many of her organs were outside her body, it was difficult to tell exactly what was going on. She also had bad bruising in her face from being face up, just like Reagan was.

 After I was stabilized and had a chance to pump, they wheeled me in to see her about an hour after she was born. I couldn't believe how tiny she was, although the nurses reassured me her weight was very good for a 35-weeker.

About 3 hours after she was born, the Life Flight team came and took her over to the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital. We spent lots of my 2 day recovery go back and forth between the two hospitals and meeting with the doctors that would be operating on her.

 Friday morning, we got to hold her for the first time. It literally felt like I was holding nothing. Seeing her sweet little face blinking up at me was the best feeling ever.

 Friday afternoon, when she was just 27 hours old, she had her first surgery. It was terrifying going with her down to the OR and then saying goodbye, but we both put on a brave face.

 Her surgery was about 3 hours long and involved 6 different surgeons; general surgeons, urologists, and anesthesiologists. They were able to repair most of her intestines and the hole in her abdomen wall, put her bladder together, and do a colostomy. They were also able to determine that she is, in fact, a girl. I spent a lot of Friday trying to come up with her name, which, incidentally, means gift and light. The surgery went very well, and hopefully she wont have another for a couple years. Her stoma may or may not be permanent, and her bladder is still outside her body. When we saw her after surgery, she was still totally out of it from the pain medication and she had a breathing tube in. We haven't been able to hold her since then.

 I was discharged from the hospital Saturday afternoon. Staying in the hospital was great. Being so close to my baby, and having nurses bring you everything you need. Plus getting beautiful flowers my from my family.

 

It was so hard to leave my baby behind, but I was glad to come home and see Reagan. I missed that sweet girl a lot. She had a blast playing with her cousin Grace and getting totally spoiled by her Gigi :).

 Before church this morning, we took Reagan to the hospital to see her new sister. She was pretty impressed with "Baby Daryn" and kept commenting on how tiny she was. She was not very happy about leaving the teddy we brought behind, but overall it went well.

One happy family.

 Lance and I went back to see Daryn again this evening, and they had taken her breathing tube out! She was soo cute curled up on her side. Tomorrow morning we should be able to hold her again. The doctors hope to be able to start giving her food within the week, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that she will be able to come home sometime in June. It's hard to predict what the future holds, but we're so incredible happy this sweet little angel has joined our family. She has already brought so much love to our lives, in our family and from others. I have a feeling we have a lot to learn from her.

What a week

It has been a very, very long week for us. I decided that this was the best time to potty train Reagan, and planned to use the 3-day method. Unfortunately, it turned into the 6-day method for us. I spent the entire week stuck in the house (missing the gorgeous 80 degree weather) constantly watching, following, entertaining, and reminding Reagan, as well as cleaning up pee. To make things better, I woke up with a bad cold Monday morning and have been sick all week. Between that and Reagan adjusting to her new bed (less sleep for everyone) and stressing about the baby and the constant, yet painless, contractions I have been having, I was this close to having a total breakdown. Lance was a great support and didn't complain once about the fact that we had next to nothing for dinner every night and spent 20-30 minutes extra putting Reagan back in her bed repeatedly at bedtime. Luckily, for the sake of everyone's sanity, potty training finally clicked for Reagan on Saturday morning and we have only had 2 accidents since then (one at church this morning). Amid all the stress, we still managed to have some good times:

Reagan's choo-choo

Being introduced to playdough!

"Riding" her decorative horse

Playing in the rain with Daddy

This was hilarious. She was trying to get a ball at the bottom and I encouraged her to keep reaching (because I was too lazy to get up and help her). She reached and reached on her tippy toes until she finally fell in and hung there balanced on the edge, saying "Mommy, I stuck. I really stuck." She stayed stuck long enough for me to get up and get my phone to take a picture, while calmly explaining her predicament to me.

 Love these little ringlets that are coming in.

 

I painted her toes for the first time! She keeps looking at them and saying "Lellow toes! So cute!"

It's official. She's our big, grown-up girl.

Mothers Day

 We had a wonderful Mother's Day here in the Brunson household. At least Reagan and I did. Poor Lance was so tired from a very long week at work and camping with Reagan, and stressed about doing a devotional/presentation at the campout and then speaking in church on Sunday. But of course, being the wonderful guy that he is, he still made the weekend special for me. Saturday morning, I went and got the prenatal massage that Lance got me for Valentine's Day. It was so wonderful and relaxing. Then we spent the afternoon playing in my mother's day present (that I picked out): a pool! Reagan was a big fan and it felt good to soak my swollen feet. I think we will get lots of use out of it this summer.

 Soaking up the sun like her mama :)

 Then after naps and showers, we went to Salt Lake for a yummy dinner at Market Street Grill. Reagan was so tired she kept laying her head on Lance's arm.

 We ended the day with a stroll up to Temple Square to enjoy the flowers and the beautiful weather.

Sunday was more low-key. Lance got up early to work on his talk and made breakfast with Reagan. He gave a wonderful talk on mothers in church and we spent the rest of the day hanging out as a family. I love being a mother :) Reagy is the best and we are excited and anxious to see what round two will bring!

Father Son Campout

On the Friday before Mother's Day, I sent Lance and Reagan to the ward's Father and Son campout. Reagan did her best to blend in, but I think she stood out a little bit. According to Lance, they had a great time playing with the fire, eating yummy food, sleeping in the tent, and throwing rocks in the lake! How exciting.

They both came home very worn out, and Reagan just wanted to snuggle in her blanket. I didn't mind. 

Reagan's New Room

Since Reagy is a big girl now (and the new baby is coming soon), it was time to move her to a big girl room! I've been working on it for the past month and a half, and last weekend it was finally time! On Friday night Lance and Reagan went on the ward Father Son campout (I know, she's a girl) and I spent the night moving all her stuff into the new room. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out- especially the quilt, pillowcases, and little throw pillows that I made!

Luckily for us, Reagan loves her new room. Her favorite things are the bookshelf and the toy box- everything is so accessible! She loves to spend all her time in there and hasn't once looked back to her baby room. Learning to sleep in a toddler bed has been a little bit of an adventure...

And the nursery sits quiet and mostly empty, waiting to find out whether we will be welcoming a new baby boy or another baby girl. 

33 weeks

Baby Brunson is coming 6 weeks from today!