My Boys

Our first week as a family of four has gone pretty well, thanks to my two wonderful boys. Scott did half days at work all week, going in at 10 and coming home at 2 or 3. This worked out perfectly. He was home in the morning to help us all get ready and then home in the afternoon to give Mason some good one on one time. He has done so much to help me I don't know what I would do without him. Mason has been a champ through this whole transition. He loves Brynn very much and gets concerned when she's not in the same room. His emotions have definitely been heightened overall, but he has been very patient and has not gotten frustrated by the baby taking so much of my attention. I think a big reason for this is all the things Scott has been doing with him. We've made it a point to do something special and fun with Mason every day this week. It has been fun to watch the close bond that my two boys have. It has also been good for me to have a chance to bond with Brynn. It will be nice as Brynn gets a little older and not so dependent on me so Scott can spend more time with her and I can have more time with Mason. That is one very important goal we have as parents, to create frequent opportunities for one on one time with our children. Here are some pictures of all the boys' fun this week.

Beautiful Brynn

My amazing sister-in-law Whitney came over yesterday and took some 1 week pictures of Brynn. I should save them until I have done her birth announcement, but they are just too precious for me to keep to myself right now.

I had to throw this last picture in. Mason wanted a turn being held for a picture.

The Birth Story

Thursday night as Scott and I were going to bed, I started having a few strong contractions. They were decent contractions, but not regular at all so I figured it was just more false labor and went to sleep. I slept pretty well and was only awakened a few times by strong contractions during the night. The next morning Scott left the house at 5:30am for an early tee-time with some buddies. I didn't even mention the contractions to him because I didn't think it would materialize into anything. I had a doctors appointment that morning so I dropped Mason off at my mom's house and headed to my appointment at 10am. As I was driving to the doctor the contractions started coming about every 5 minutes but weren't very strong. While I was waiting for the Dr to come in and see me I started feeling really sick and the contractions started to get stronger. My doctor walked in right as I was having a contraction and was like, "it looks like you're trying to have a baby." I told her I had been having irregular contractions that weren't very strong but all the sudden they were picking up and I was feeling nauseous (I got nauseous when I was in labor with Mason whenever I was progressing quickly). She checked me and sure enough I was 1 cm further than I had been 3 days earlier at my last appointment. She told me she would like to have me go across the street to the hospital and be admitted because I was already 4 1/2 and 80% and even though the contractions didn't seem strong enough or regular enough they were in fact changing my cervix. I was kind of in shock to hear this because I had not expected anything more than a quick appointment that day. I called my mom to see if she was available to continue watching Mason for the rest of the day. Of course she said yes and I knew she would take care of everything so I didn't need to worry about anything else for him. I then tried calling Scott several times but he wasn't answering his phone because he was out on the golf course. So then I tried the phone of one of his friends and luckily Jeff answered his phone. When Scott got on the phone our conversation went something like this:

Scott: "Are you okay?"

Rachel: "Yeah, I'm fine. How close to being done are you?"

Scott: "We're on the 18th hole. Why, are you in labor?"

Rachel: "Yep, and I'm being admitted to the hospital right now."

Scott: "Are you serious?!!!"

Rachel: "Yep. Go ahead and finish the hole and then hurry home."

Because I wasn't planning on being admitted I had nothing with me besides my keys and phone. So while I was being checked into the hospital Scott was racing home from Spanish Fork to get my bag that was still mostly packed from the weekend before and getting some things for Mason to drop off at my Mom's. I checked into the hospital at 11am and shortly thereafter my doctor came by and broke my water. I had already progressed more since the office an hour earlier. By this time the contractions were coming strong and hard every 3 minutes. Scott was a very welcome sight when he arrived at 12:45 (he had made it almost all the way to AF hospital when he realized our camera was in our other car at my mom's house and had to go back and get it). I got my epidural at 2:30pm. I have always said what an awesome anesthesiologist I had with Mason because my epidural was perfect, just enough for pain relief but no excess numbing. I was thrilled when the same doctor walked through the door pushing the epidural cart. Once again he gave the perfect epidural. Thanks Dr. Wright! Soon after my epidural had kicked in I started feeling a lot of pressure and asked the nurse to check me. Sure enough I was complete and ready to push. Since I had pushed my first baby out in under 20 minutes they wanted the doctor in the room before I pushed at all. So I waited for the doctor to come and with every contraction I felt like my baby was being pushed out of me. It sounds like that might be nerve racking, but really it was kind of funny and Scott and I were having a good laugh about it. Once the doctor got there it took 3 quick pushes and our beautiful baby girl was in my arms. She let out some good strong cries and then just calmed down. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was only 18.5 inches long. Everything happened so fast from start to finish that before I had even really processed that I was having a baby, she was here. I always thought that going into labor unexpectedly like that would be stressful and chaotic, but surprisingly it never felt that way. My mom had Mason so I knew he was completely taken care of and didn't have to worry about him and Scott was so wonderful to take care of all the other details for me. I felt like Mason's labor and delivery were so perfect it could never get any better, but surprisingly this was even better. I feel so lucky that both my deliveries have been such a positive experience from start to finish that I have no negative feelings when I reflect back on them. Actually whenever I think about them it makes me want to have another baby tomorrow because they are the 2 best days of my life. The must have final belly shot. I had to take it in the mirror because there was no one else there to take it for me. (I didn't have a camera when I actually went into labor and so this was actually as I was heading to the hospital during my false alarm the week before.)

Happy Father's Day!!

I just wanted to tell my wonderful husband Happy Father's Day!! Scott is the most amazing father and husband ever! Why, you ask? While other fathers were being served breakfast in bed today, Scott was cleaning our entire house so it would be perfect when I got home from the hospital. While other fathers were spending their Sunday afternoon relaxing and watching the US Open, Scott was playing trains and giving some much needed attention to Mason while Brynn and I took a nap. While other Dad's were being pampered, Scott was the one doing the pampering today at our house.

Thanks for all you do and especially everything you did this weekend for our family. You're the best Daddy in the world! We love you!!!

Baby Brynn

Our baby girl has arrived! Brynn Elizabeth Murray was born June 19th at 4:23 pm. She is 7 lbs 9 oz and 18.5 in long. She is a perfectly calm and beautiful girl and she and Rachel are doing very well. Here are a few pictures.

Just a Drill!!

Some of you might have heard I was having a baby yesterday. Well, turns out it was just a drill. Friday night as I was putting Mason to bed I started having some contractions that were stronger and more painful than the Braxton Hix contractions I often have. After he was in bed I started a movie and laid down to rest. Pretty soon I felt like I was having one contraction after another and they were growing in strength so I decided to start timing them. They were lasting 45 seconds and 2 1/2 minutes apart consistently for an hour. By this time it was 11pm. I called Scott who of coarse was in Park City all weekend for work. I let him know what was happening and that he might want to start making plans to get his responsibilities covered for the next day because he could be coming home. I then called my sister-in-law, Kacie, to let her know we might be dropping Mason by later in the night if I needed to go to the hospital (My parents, who normally would have taken him, were in Chicago for the rest of the weekend). At this point I decided to get everything ready to go while I could still move through a contractions. The night passed and the contractions grew stronger and stronger. I couldn't sleep due to the contractions so I just laid in bed and watched TV trying to distract myself. By 6am my contractions had finally reached a strength I decided I better go to the hospital, especially since I would be driving myself. So I woke up Mason and dropped him off with my brother and headed to the hospital. I was dilated to 3 and 80% effaced and the baby was "really low" according to the nurse when I checked in (a little bit of progress since my last appointment 3 days earlier). They monitored me for an hour and then came back to check me. There had to be some change in my cervix for them to admit me. Of course no change had occurred but the nurse informed me the baby had dropped even lower and now my water bag was very tight and would probably break before my cervix changed. The nurse was convinced I was in early labor with how regular and strong my contractions were so she didn't want to send me home. She suggested I stay another hour to be monitored. With her confidence that I would eventually be admitted I finally felt like it was safe for Scott to leave his work and that this was going to be the real thing. Scott joined me just as they checked me again and still no progress. We decided we would go walk around for a while and do some stairs to see if we could pick things up a little. The nurse liked the idea of me not going all the way home and kept telling me not to be afraid to come back and wait too long because once I started to go I would probably go all the way really fast. This once again was encouraging. So Scott and I walked around the hospital for the next hour or so and slowly my contractions started to spread out more and more and become less and less strong until they finally stopped altogether. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! After 14 hours of contractions every 3 minutes they just stopped (Yep, 9pm-11am). Nothing. Not even a twinge of pain. Needless to say I was very upset because I had accepted the fact that I was having a baby that very day. I had already been in "labor" for longer than my entire labor and delivery with Mason. We went home hoping that maybe things would pick back up, but they never did. So instead of having a baby last night we went to the Orem Summerfest Parade (I was secretly hoping the loud sirens and motorcycles would break my water like they did my friend's last year). Anyway, I'm still here with baby intact and will be for the next week and a half until I am induced. I guess she wasn't quite ready to come after all. Just for the record, although Grandma Nancy was very upset the baby was coming while she was gone, she promises she was not praying for the labor to stop like that.

Baby Sister

It's been a while since I posted about my pregnancy, but with our little girl's arrival just 3 weeks away I thought I'd do a little update. We are getting very excited for the arrival of our Baby Sister. Mason talks about her all of the time. I didn't know if he would be old enough to really understand what's going on, but he does. He knows there is a baby girl in mama's tummy and that she will come out soon. Every day he tells me about all the things that will happen when "baby siser come out". He is excited to "Hold It!" (said while wrapping his arms around himself giving a hug), "change diaper", "seep in crib", "push sing", "shoot with baby siser" (I've tried to explain that baby sister won't be playing basketball with him for a little while), "baby siser use gwama's baby sweep" (he got a second baby sweep from grandma's house and apparently he is going to give it to baby sister), and "baby siser drink milk" just to name a few things. I am not worried about him loving this little girl, but loving her to death. He is going to be a very protective older brother from the beginning. I'll be lucky if he lets me take care of her at all.

As you can tell we refer to her as Baby Sister, and up until last week it looked like that might be the only name she would ever get. We have had an exceptionally hard time coming up with a name we like. At one point Mason suggested the name Snowman and for a while that was the best option we had. But he's changed his mind and has decided we should now name her Thumper, which happen's to be the name of his cousin's pet bunny. While we are taking his suggestion into consideration, Scott and I have finally come up with a couple names we like for our baby girl. We like the names Brynn and Jane. We like both of the names but I like Brynn more and Scott likes Jane more. What do you think? I think we will probably have to see her before we decide which name, but for the time being those are the options.