You're on Your Own Now

Forty-eight hours after giving birth to Bradley, the hospital told me I was free to leave. With the child.

Yikes.

I dressed him in a darling little outfit:

It's particularly meaningful because it was one of Chris' outfits from when he was a baby!

Once we made it downstairs we strapped him in the carseat... that only took four people...

Then, with no written test, no mandated video or classes... they trusted us to leave the hospital with a helpless human.

(We learned pretty quickly that he is way too small for those little bear strap things.)

And we headed home with our new tiny roomate. 

WBW: Four Weeks and Counting

Today's Way Back When-sday, we'll go all the way back to a MONTH ago-- the day Bradley was born. I can't believe it's been a month!!

Last Wednesday I shared much of the day, but today I'll share more from the Labor & Delivery room. I have been nervous about giving birth for the past nine months. I am self-diagnosed "pain intolerant" and have seen enough TV shows to know that what happens in the Labor & Delivery room is not pain-free!

Almost immediatly after I was induced (which just means they gave me some meds that started contractions) I had an epidural (which is what blocks the pain of labor). This all happened around 8am. I was nervous, but in good spirits.

Soon the contractions were starting (though I couldn't feel them) and the L&D nurses were monitoring everything from my blood pressure to the baby's heartbeat. I wasn't allowed to eat anything but popsicles. And since I've heard that labor can last over 24 hours (and I get pretty grumpy without food) I decided to eat as many popsicles as Chris would get me!

In between eating popcicles, entertaining the family that were coming in and out of the room and getting my temperature checked, I also spent some time surfing the web on my iPad:

This was not the dramatic day I've seen on TV...

At 1pm or so they checked everything and realized that the baby was ready to come out! For those keeping track, that's 5 hours of labor-- most of which was spent eating popsicles.

The nurse gave me some instructions and all of a sudden the room was full of medical people! I was warned that I might have to push for at least 30 mins if not 3 hours (first time moms usually go for at least an hour). I was nervous about this part, but ready for what I knew to be the hard part of the day.

I started pushing a 1:46pm. Bradley was born at 1:47pm. I pushed twice. They say God only gives you what you can handle? Well thank you God for knowing I couldn't handle much!

My little champ.

Our new family:

Bradley Danger weighed in at 6lbs and 9oz:

And has the correct number of fingers and toes:

 My doctor wasn't able be there, but one of her partners came and was great:

I can't recomend the ladies at Complete Women's Care Center enough!!

And my Labor & Delivery nurses were also amazing.

Fun fact: I delivered Bradley at the Women's Hospital... which is also where I was born!

After the shockingly easy 5.5 hour labor and the even more shocking 1 minute delivery... I was able to eat:

So I did:

Chris was laughing that mine would make a pretty boring TV show... but I am a-ok with that! And, of course, the best part of the day was spending time with this little man:

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Hanging out at the Hospital

Bradley is already one well documented kid. And I have a feeling it's going to continue. These are just a small sampling of photos we took while he was in the hospital:

I pretty much did this the entire 48 hours we were there.

And this:

I have a million photos of Bradley sleeping (which must be a family tradition, as I have a million photos of me sleeping as well):

Here he is doing an Elvis impersonation:

And looking a little grumpy when woken up:

Just like mom:

The cafeteria at Women's Hospital has rather inconvenient hours-- Chris often missed lunch or dinner by just a few minutes. One lunch that he went to get was from Taco Bell (gross) and he got Doritos Tacos Locos. I agree with the name: loco.

 It looks like Bradley wanted some Loco Tacos too:

Well Bradley if you keep looking this adorable, then you'd better get used to the camera... mama's ready to document every blink, wink and smile!

Meeting the Family

Bradley had many family members eagerly waiting for him to arrive! After he was born Chris and I were able to spend about an hour with him before he was whisked away to the nursery for almost three hours. So everyone had to wait a while before the official introduction.

Here are the grandfathers and Maria watching Bradley in the nursery:

When it was finally time, everyone gathered around to sing happy birthday to him... but when it came time to sing, "Happy Birthday, dear..." Chris said the name: Bradley Danger!

Here were the reactions:

Then we played pass the baby.

Here he is with my parents:

And with Papa P:

Maria couldn't wait to meet her new cousin!

The two grandfathers meeting their grandson:

I had a grand plan of Lucy, Maria and Bradley all wearing these Olympics outfits... but things didn't quite turn out as planned (mostly due to the fact that Bradley did not come early, as I had told him to!).

Still, Maria rocked her outfit:

My dad enjoyed some time with his third grandson:

And Johanna enjoyed some time with her first nephew:

(Bradley is the third boy on the Beard side and the first boy on the Hill side.)

And sweet Maria was excited to give her little cousin a hug:

It meant so much that some of our family was able to be there with Bradley and we can't wait to introduce him to the rest of the group!

WBW: Three Weeks and Counting

Way Back When-sday is back!

It's been three weeks since Bradley Danger was born. I can't believe it! It's so cliche, but true: our lives are changed. Big time.

But today let's go "Way Back" to before baby...

A few weeks before Bradley was born, Chris and I took a "how to take care of a baby" class at our hospital.

Chris with "not our baby""

Once we aced the class, we thought we were ready for the real thing. Ha! Let me just say it's easier to swaddle a doll than a fussy newborn!!

 Chris put some finishing touches on the nursery:

And I completed some last minute projects:

A sign for the front door... and yes, I decorated the bottle of hand sanitizer. Can you tell I was getting antsy??

The weeks preceding our due date I felt like "dead man walking". Everything I did was the "last time before baby". Including our last date before baby:

As you can see I was pretty preggo when we saw the Lion King. So much so that one of the ushers came to me and let me know that they had doctors on the premises... "just in case".

I didn't go into labor at the theater... in fact for a while, it felt like I'd NEVER go into labor. I tried all the tricks:

Spicy Food

Raspberry Tea

Carrot Juice

We even went to brunch at Haven for some Eggs Boudreaux (which is what we called our baby while he was still cooking):

 So what finally got this baby out?

A good, old fashioned induction!

The morning we were scheduled I was bumped due to a lack of beds at the hospital (really?!)... so we had ANOTHER day to wait. But finally, on August 15th, we left the house for the last time as a family of two:

While I was in Labor and Delivery, my dad made a cake for his grandson:

PD, Johanna and Maria came into town to meet their new grandson/nephew. PD rushed to the hospital to wait for the baby:

and he brought his famous snack basket:

Meanwhile Maria and Gordon had some playtime at the house:

It wasn't too long (5.5 hours of labor) before Bradley Danger was born!

Next Way Back Wednesday I'll share part two of Bradley's birth day.

Want to share some Way Back When-sday photos of your own? It's easy!

Step One: grab a button and to put on your WBW post (that will send readers here):

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