Blade Everett Brunson

Out little baby boy made a very speedy entrance into the world early on Monday, March 12th. Sunday was a normal day. After church I finished up the very last things I had wanting to do before baby came. Lance's parents got into Park City on Sunday evening so I could finally stop stressing about a babysitter. Lance and I went to bed kind of late on Sunday- no signs of labor yet. My due date wasn't until Friday. I woke up a little after 12:30 to go to the bathroom and felt a small gush when I stood up. I was a little unsure about things so I went back to bed and about 5 minutes later my water broke for real and was literally just gushing all over the bed. So surreal! I yelled at Lance to wake up and we jumped up and started gathering up the last-minute things we needed to take to the hospital. Lance called his mom and she started driving down (1 hr). Contractions started about 5 minutes after my water broke and were immediately painful and 3 minutes apart. We called our friends that live behind us and asked them to come over so we could leave. We left the house around 1 am and I was in a lot of pain and starting to really panic about what was going to happen. It took 25 minutes to get to the hospital and by the time I checked in to Labor and Delivery I was throwing up from the pain and having contractions every 1-2 minutes. They sent me to triage and left us there for what felt like an eternity (probably about 15 minutes). Lance was helping me through every contraction and I was still holding out slim hope for an epidural. When they finally checked me I was at an 8. They immediately put an IV in and wheeled me down to the delivery room. They started antibiotics ASAP since I was Group B Strep positive. My doctor was out of town, his partner was delivering at the other Ogden hospital, and the doctor from the other clinic was "on his way". The anesthesiologist came in and tried to get me to sign the consent form for an epidural. I was in too much pain, and then suddenly there was no time! I remember yelling, "It's too late, I can feel his head!" They laid me down on the bed and my body started involuntary pushing. I was in soooo much pain, I thought I would die. I was screaming and crying and telling Lance that I couldn't do it. Sadly for me, I didn't have a choice. They paged the on-call OBGYN in from the hospital and the nurse finally snapped me into control of my body enough by telling me I just needed to do a couple of good pushes. I focused and pushed twice and out he came! Ow. When he came out, he was purple and not breathing, with the cord wrapped around his neck and stomach a couple times. There was a few tense moments before they got him to breathe and tried to give him to me. I was so traumatized by the birth and in shock and so much pain still that I couldn't hold him. My body wouldn't stop shaking. He was cold and needed skin to skin so Lance took one for the team and whipped off his shirt. Meanwhile, I wanted so badly to hold him but I was still in too much pain, and they wouldn't give me anything! They told me they were ordering Motrin from the pharmacy and I'm thinking, "That is not going to cut it." I was crying and basically begging the doctor (who arrived about 5 minutes after Blade did) to give me something to help. He finally ordered a Fentanyl for me which helped immediately but made me groggy so I still couldn't really hold him. By that time that wore off the ibuprofen had kicked in and things were really looking up in my world. I could finally hold Blade and nurse him- about 45 minutes after he was born. I feel like I missed out on those first moments with him and it breaks my heart a little. I was not prepared at all for a natural childbirth. I'm glad it's over with and fingers crossed it never happens to me again. But I'm so glad he's here, safe and sound!

First picture

7 lbs, 4 oz, and 20 inches (same stats as Reagan!)

Moving to postpartum care after his birth. Feeling pretty good by this point!

So many pictures! Such a snuggly little dude.

For the first week of his life, he had this super funny cry. It was like a high pitched, squealing wail. Kind of like a baby pig or something. It made Lance and I (and anyone else that caught it) laugh every time. Sadly, it's turned into a regular newborn cry these days. 

Best daddy ever!

Big sisters came to visit that afternoon after school!

Even Madelyn was so excited and very sweet to him, which surprised me a little. 

Can you say obsessed? 

They were especially interested in watching Daddy change his diaper. 

Big yawns!

We had to stay at least 48 hours to monitor Blade because I only got 5 minutes of antibiotics before he was born. The second day was pretty long and boring- we were ready to get out of there!

Blade had his first path. Some parts he hated, some he loved.

Snuggly fresh!

And we had visitors to help pass the time! The girls were thrilled to come back and Blade was excited to meet his grandparents who were holding down the fort at home. 

Marissa also stopped by for a visit and we spent lots of time resting. 

Wednesday morning, it was time to go home!

We had a little welcome committee waiting for us. 

Blade took his first naps at home. 

And got in lots of snuggle time. 

Maddie really excelled at bouncing him softly in this.

And now we've just been trying to keep things together at home for the past week! Blade takes up almost all my time but luckily Joy is still here to help with the other kids. We're so lucky to have this sweet little boy! Welcome, Blade!