Grayson Brett-Jan 4, 2012

Grayson arrived exactly 16 days early!  Funny thing is, my last blog post was the day I went into the hospital.  I have been meaning to update, but I get too busy with the little man :)  So here's how his birthday occurred: (This is going to be really long, so skip to pics at will...I just want to be able to remember everything!)

I went about my day like I always do, got my hair cut, etc.  I was hanging out at our house, when I decided to look up a couple of symptoms I was having in my pregnancy book.  Turns out, the book told me I was should have called the doctor 2 days prior when the symptoms began.  Oops.  (Don't need to go into details about the "symptoms" ha).  Soo I called my doctor and they told me I needed to go into the hospital and get checked.  I called Jason and told him not to freak out, but that I was heading in to the hospital.  I really didn't think it was that big of deal, and told him not to come.  So, I drove to Ft. Worth and went to the triage area to get checked.  Apparently, my water had technically broken, I was dilated to 1 and 90% effaced.  WHAT?!  I was seriously shocked.  They told me I was going to be admitted and hooked up to an IV to start pitocin.  I have watched enough Teen Mom to know that pitocin speeds up contractions.  I actually asked the nurse if that meant I was actually going to have the baby that day...short answer was yes!

I made the phone call to Jason to let him know he needed to be heading that way, then called my parents.  My mom thought I was kidding when I told her I was at the hospital.  I think she then went into shock haha.  My parents, Brett and Courtney then booked a 9:00pm flight to head down to Dallas.  Christopher took off in the car (he has friends down here and wanted to have a car to leave at will) and they all made it in time!  They checked me into my room, hooked me up to all the monitors, and then it was basically a waiting game.  I was having contractions, but really couldn't feel them.  Jason finally arrived...and we waited some more.  He brought our iPad so we facetimed with my parents at the airport, and Carrie in AZ. They checked me again.  Dilated to 4, 100% effaced, still not feeling the contractions.  My nurse told me I could get an epideral at any time.  Apparently the epideral is on a pump and does not get shut off until after the baby arrives, so there is no harm in getting one early.  I figured I might as well get one before I start REALLY feeling the contractions, so I called in the epideral team!  After that, everything was a breeze.  Not that it hadn't been before the epideral either...this childbirth business was pretty easy :)  Around 11:45 my family arrived, and they hung out in our room until right before it was time for me to push.  The doctor was called in, and 28 minutes later, Grayson arrived at 1:18am!  It was the most unbelievable feeling in the world to see him for the first time...no words to describe it really.  He didn't cry much at first, so they had to call in the NICU team to check on his lungs.  He ended up being just fine.  7lbs even, 20 inches, looking just like his daddy. :)  I still have yet to see where I fit into the mix with this child.  I love that he looks just like Jason though!

Just born :)

 Sweet flowers from friends and family

So that's it!  We were in the hospital for 2 days, then headed home on Thursday Jan 5.  My mom and little brother stayed here for another week to help out.  It is soo nice having people here to help!  Grayson had his first doctors appointment on January 9, where they told me he had developed jaundice. :(  Not good.  Very common, but he had to be put under these lights 24 hours a day to make his bilirubin levels go down.  Broke my heart, I HATED him being under there!  Plus, the lights could ruin his eyesight so he had to wear this little mask over his eyes.  Awful.

Bailey and Riley kept a watchful eye over him while he was under the lights

Horrible.  His levels finally started going down, and we were able to get rid of the lights!  Yea!  

I know that Jason and I might be biased, but I'm pretty sure we have the best baby ever.  Haha.  He already has a little personality, and absolutely cracks us up.  He's got a little attitude/temper like his mommy and is a fiesty little thing!  He is very vocal, and lets you know when he's upset.  He has little smiles that come and go, and although they are probably just gas, they are adorable.  He kicks his feet and flails his arms like crazy.  He loves stretching out his legs, which explains SO MUCH with my rib pain.  He loves laying on his daddy's chest at nighttime, and if he gets mad, is able to inch his way up his chest like an inchworm.  He's a genius baby that can crawl already :)  He hates to sneeze, and lets out a loud yell after he is done....possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen, and is my mission to get on video.  He's got the wrinkliest little forehead, and somewhat resembles Benjamin Button at times :)  When he gets mad and you try to give him his paci he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head back and forth really aggressively.  It's hilarious. 

Grayson, you are too much fun already!  Your daddy and I love you tons and tons, and can't imagine having a better baby.  You keep us up at night, but I don't even mind :)  I love sitting up with you and watch you checking out your new surroundings.  I LOVE when you get mad, and love getting to know your little faces.  You have changed so much already, and it's only your 2 week birthday!  You absolutely have me wrapped around your little finger, and I can't help but kiss your little face every chance I get!  

Jaundice baby with the yellow eyes :(

This is his favorite way to sleep..legs up, butt in the air, on your chest

Testing out his bed, even though he doesn't sleep there yet :)

Not a fan

HATED his swing at first...now is warming up to it

B is exhausted from this baby!!

First "bath"

Not a fan of baths either!

Okay, I will try and update as much as I can with new pics of the little guy!  I have too much fun playing with him, so the blog has been ignored recently :)

37ish weeks

Full Term!  Hard to believe this little man can come at any time now!  I am starting to do last minute things to get ready for him, which I have put off until now.  This past weekend I finally packed the hospital bag.  I still don't have everything in there, but for the most part I think it's good.  I have a little checklist of stuff I need from an iPad app, so I've just been following that.  Knowing me, I'm probably going to forget a few things and someone will have to go back to my house to get it while I'm there.  Oh well.  We also cleaned out the garage (when I say we I mean Jason) and installed the car seat base in my car.  We FINALLY finished his bathroom too!  About 5 months ago, I got the urge to tear down the wallpaper in our guest bathroom.  I got about halfway finished, then quit because it was coming off in little tiny pieces.  So our bathroom has been sitting there with half torn down wallpaper for that long.  Pretty.  Anyway, Jason texturized it, and we painted it the top blue color of Grayson's room.  We took down the huge mirror and replaced it with two individual mirrors over the double sinks, and replaced the light fixture.  The bathroom is black white and baby blue just like his room.  So!  That's done as well!  Lots of progress at the O'Bryan household :)

Old bathroom

New bathroom

I had my 37 week appointment last week, and everything went really well!  I was very relieved.  They did the sonogram to check his growth, and he measured in at a whopping 6lbs 8oz!  Hard to believe I have a full size baby in there!  My nephew Patrick was just a little over that when he was born...so weird!  They did a lot of technical measurements (head circumference, femur length, amniotic fluid measurement, etc) and everything came back great.  They said there's nothing to worry about it, and I just happen to measure small.  So good news all around!  I go back in tomorrow for my 38 week appointment.  As of last week, I hadn't really made any progress as far as dilating or effacement.  I'm guessing he will check again tomorrow?  I don't know.  I have been feeling VERY uncomfortable lately.  This little 6 pounder may or may not have broken a few of my ribs.  It used to just hurt when I pressed on them.  Now it hurts to take deep breaths, and you can pop one of them in and out of place.  Sick right?  So anytime he wants to vacate would be just fine with me! :)  Plus I really want to kiss his sweet face!

We have had Christmas and New Years since my last post too!  Christmas was very different being in Texas!  I thought I was going to be pretty upset Christmas Eve (which is when my fam always celebrates) but I ended up being alright!   We Skyped with them during present opening, and it really felt like I was almost there.  This is the extent of pictures we took Christmas Eve: 

Anyways, it was really fun being able to be in on everything back home!  My dad surprised everyone and got all of us iPad's!  I was shocked to say the least.  Jason and I were given our Christmas present early (my parents generously paid for our crib and bedding), so I was expecting some pajama pants at most :)  Christopher opened an iPad, then Brett & Court got one...THEN my mom got one...I was very happy with my crib, but I was a tad jealous haha.  I then opened our present, which they had disguised so it didn't look like one.  So fun, we love it!  Facetime is the best, and we have started using it quite a bit.  Jason's mom got an iPad as well, so we have been using it with her too!  Jason also got surprised with a trip to the Masters with my dad and brothers in April!  Brett had called me back in October when he found out he got tickets to "check" to see if Jason would be able to leave the baby.  Pretty sure Jason would go to the Masters even if Grayson was due in April ha!  He's really excited.  We then went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service in Mansfield.  Good...not nearly as good as my church back home, but it did the job.  Christmas morning, Jason's parents and little sister drove up from San Antonio and spent the day with us.  It was great to have family around on Christmas day.  Really sweet for them to make the 4 hour drive (well 8 roundtrip) to spend the day with us!  New Years Eve was extremely uneventful. Being 9 and a half months pregnant is not conducive for NYE :)  We ordered pizza and a movie, and struggled to stay up past 12.  TAD different than last year in New York or the year before in Jamaica!!  I was perfectly content staying home and relaxing, and next year will be even better with an almost 1 year old!  

Alright, that's all for this week!  I forgot to take a belly pic at 36 or 37 weeks.  Oops.  This one can count for 37 even though it's a day away from being 38 weeks :)  

And this picture just makes me laugh....this is her staring at me/straddling the couch while I work on the computer