How We Met You

Brenli,

Today you are 2 months old, and what a wild 2 months it has been.  On April 13th I got test results back that said my bile acid levels were too high which is dangerous for you.  I had just finished grocery shopping when I got the news.  My plan was to spend the weekend meal prepping.  Those plans were put on hold because they would be inducing me at 3:30pm - just 3 hours after I got the call.  I immediately called your dad.  He was almost to work.  We were both so shocked when we realized we would be meeting you so soon!  To be honest, I was terrified.  I had a specific birth plan in place that  I wasn't sure would be able to happen.  Go figure that a birth plan wouldn't work out.

I met your dad at home.  He was packing his bag and taking care of some house things while I showered again before going to the hospital.  We sat down at around 2:45pm because we were done with everything.  I looked at your dad and said, "So...You want to just head out now?"  He quickly replied, "Yep!"  We took one last photo of the two of us with Cobie to document the last time it would be just us.

We checked into the hospital, got our room, went over our birth plan and a few other decisions before the process finally began - which was around 7pm.  They gave me misoprostol and used the folly to get things moving from 1 cm to 3 cm.  At 10:31pm, they gave me more misoprostol to get things going again.  By 1:00 AM, I was dilated 4 cm and my water broke!  I had said to our nurse, "Um...I just went to the bathroom, and I'm not entirely sure if I just peed again or..." She laughed, checked, and found that it had broken!

Things really started moving the, and it was painful!  I tried to labor in several different positions to help with the pain, but each time I did, your heart rate would drop - so they I just stay in bed to labor, which was disappointing for me, but at least I knew you'd be safe!

By 4 AM I was around 5 cm dilated and had barely any time between the intense contractions.  It felt like only seconds between contractions, and the pain was so much and I finally decided to get the epidural, which was around 5 AM.

After getting the epidural, I fell asleep almost instantly.  A few hours later, I woke up and was 9.5 cm dilated and it was almost time to start pushing!  Every contraction that hit, we would push for 3 sets of 10 seconds each.

I'll never forget the look on your dad's face when he saw the top of your head.  He looked so excited and said, "She has so much hair and it's dark!  Oh my goodness!"  The doctor echoed this and said your hair was definitely long!  Just a few more pushes, and you made your appearance after 8 hours of active labor, and 43 minutes of pushing.  I was instantly enchanted by you.  Brenli, you were stunning and just so amazing!  I knew I loved everything about you in that instant.

The next hour was a whirlwind.  I got to hold you the entire time.  We tried to feed you and you latched right away.  Dad cut your - and after that golden hour, they finally told us your birth details:  Time: 8:34am, Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz. Length: 20 in.  Your dad and I were speachless and so in love with you.  We prayed for you each day and here you were, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days later.

We were moved to our room where we learned to bathe you, breastfeed, diaper, and a ton of other fun things, including swaddling, which you dad is a pro at.

We went home the next day.  It was crazy that they just let us leave the hospital with a tiny human just over 24 hours later.

And that, Brenli, is how we met you.

Today you are 2 months old.  This is the most challenging thing we've ever done, but you are so very worth it.  Your dad and I love you so much, Brenli Lynn Arruda.

<3
-Mommy-

Baby A is a...

Well, friends, we found out the gender of our little one!  Before we get into that, I want to say a huge "Thank You" to Meloney, Chris, and Emily for putting together such an incredible gender reveal party, with tons of touches of my favorite show: How I Met Your Mother.

I mean, look at some of these details!
This board was made by our Aunt Tammi, including some old wives' tales to help people guess the gender, which they did using their thumbprint on this super cute umbrella page.  Most guessed baby is going to be a boy.
















Brian and I didn't have a preference either way.  I didn't have any sort of gut feeling - but I think part of me was hoping girl just because boys are terrifying.  Haha!

We did the reveal using a colored smoke bomb under my How I Met Your Mother umbrella.  Our brother-in-law lit the smoke bomb and out came...

PINK!

Brian and I are so very excited to welcome our little girl into the world in April 2019!
Brenli Lynn Arruda, we cannot wait to meet you!

-jennilea

Almost 17 Weeks!

It's been such an exciting time and I think week 16 has been my favorite so far.  I started feeling Baby A move around!  Not huge movements, but movements nonetheless.  It definitely helps things become more real for us, though I'm still waiting for the moment that this will REALLY sink in.

Last week (at exactly 16 weeks), we went to The Baby Connection for an ultrasound where they would determine the gender.  The hardest part is that we didn't get to see much of it.  Why?  It's completely our own fault.  We decided that we want to be surprised along with our extremely close family and friends when we find out the gender at our gender reveal party.  That being said, currently the only person who knows the gender of Baby A is my sister-in-law, Meloney.  Don't try to break her; she's been a great secret keeper thus far.

Luckily for us, the entire ultrasound was placed on a DVD which we are so excited to watch after our gender reveal celebration in just a few weeks. 

Here is what we did get to see though:

• Baby moves around, a lot!  All of that energy no doubt comes from me...not just because I'm physically providing all of it, but it's kind of a personality trait of mine as well. :)
• You can see baby's face on the ultrasound, and it looks like an alien.  So weird.  Haha.  The profile is super neat to see though!
• Baby prays...sort of.  They had us look at the ultrasound in this moment because we can't see the body, and because it looks like baby is praying. How cool is this!?  One of the things Brian and I (and anyone with our prayer list) have been praying for is that baby would have a passion and heart for serving God.  Seeing this makes me so excited for the hopes, dreams, and lots of prayers that we have for the future of Baby A. Feel free in joining us in prayer for baby.

Another update for the week is that I think my belly is finally starting to show a little!  I'll take a photo on Friday when I'm officially at 17 weeks, but my pants are definitely at a point where they are getting tight but at the same time maternity pants are still too big. A few people have suggested bands that help extend the pants I've got now, so I'm thinking I may go that route in the next week or so.

I'd like to end this blog with a question for Moms:  What style of maternity pants did you find more comfortable, and where did you get them from?

-jennilea

Sharing Our Story

Well, it's just about time.  Tomorrow we will be 12 weeks which means we get to share our secret with all of you.  Let me tell you, it is about dang time!  When you get exciting news, all you want to do is share it with the world.  We were blessed enough to be able to tell our closest family and friends, and through them, we are telling all of you.  If you haven't already, head over to my Facebook page to see our pregnancy reveal.

So now that you've all enjoyed that, I wanted to share with you how I told Brian:
My sister is a photographer (http://jackiraney.com/ if you're interested), and I instantly knew I wanted to tell him in a way that would also capture his reaction. We told him she was working on a couples project, which she does from time to time.  On letter boards, she had us say what we loved most about each other.  His said "I love her heart and her passion" while mine said "You're going to be the best dad! 2019"  We stood back to back and then faced each other when she told us to.  At that point, we looked at each other's signs (well, I looked at his face while he read my sign).  He had this look of confusion, and then it clicked: He is going to be a dad!  When we were talking about it later, he told me he was confused because he thought I did it wrong.  Haha!

Here are photos from that moment.  We hope you enjoy sharing in our joy:

-jennilea