Braden Allen Lyman - A Birth Story in Pictures

We were so lucky to have our good friend Lindsey Harmer come and take pictures of the birth. I couldn't decide if I really wanted someone other then Zach there, let alone taking pictures of such a special time in our lives, but after I received the pictures I am so incredibly thankful to have had her there. The moments she captured will forever be cherished in our home. 

All checked in and hooked up the monitors. 

In the middle of a contraction. Not super painful but very uncomfortable. 

Nervous waiting for the epidural. I HATE needles. 

"assume the position"... waiting for the big poke. 

The epidural started making me very hot and sick to my stomach. Trying to breathe and not throw up. 

This is when things started to get a little crazy. I was not feeling well, dilation was happening quickly, water was broken and they said it was time to have a baby.

I started to panic a little bit because I thought I had more time till I was ready to push. 

 Push it. P-P-Push it real good. 

 Dr suctioning out Braden and asking Zach how he is going to cut the cord with his hands full. 

 First look at my HUSBAND DELIVERING MY SON, of course there would be ugly crying. And how about Dr Harward just BEAMING in the background! Ah-mazing photo. 

 Two seconds after this picture was taken, Braden peed EVERYWHERE. Typical Boy. 

 Momma watching the hospital take care of my little man. 

 First time holding Braden. 

Hospital photos 1

One week old.

We survived our first week as a family of four. So far adjusting to this new phase in life has been good.  Madison loves holding, snuggling, kissing, feeding, and burping Braden. She has been so helpful and kind to her baby brother. It is very comforting to me.  Night times are still rough. When Zach isn't home its a little hard to take care of the two kids at once. Madison is very sweet but not totally understanding sharing her bedtime snuggles. Shes great the rest of the day, but she is used to someone sitting and singing her to sleep and "staying there" which is harder to sit on her bed and snuggle when you are having to feed Braden or rock and burp him. She does not like sleeping alone and is having a hard time that the rest of us have  a "sleep party" every night without her. We're working on it. She usually makes to our bed by 1am and snuggles till morning.

The first couple nights home were really hard. Little man was so uncomfortable and would wake up every 15 minutes crying in pain. His tummy would grumble and he was just so upset. Turns out the kid was STARVING! His second day of life he was upset at night time too and I finally gave in and gave him some formula after breastfeeding for almost an hour. He chugged an ounce. I continued to exclusively breastfeed, but my milk didn't come in until day 5 and we hit a snag. I was too engorged to be able to nurse and had to pump and serve, which while trying to take care of a newborn and toddler, pumping isn't the easiest thing. Finally at 2:30 in the morning while trying to figure out what I should do to make baby boy happy, a feeling came to me to just give him some formula. He drank the entire two ounces and fell fast asleep. All the tummy grumbles weren't gas, they were hunger pains! Poor guy hadn't been filled for almost 5 days, no wonder he was grumpy.

As my milk started to come in, I was not producing enough for each feeding for you, still unable to actually nurse because of engorgement, I began the pump and serve routine again. However after a good couple days of stress, I said a prayer and asked what I should do. I decided it would be best for Braden to switch to formula. I continued to pump and feed until he was one week old and the colostrum was all gone. Now that we have switched, things are going much better. Madison is getting the attention she needs, Braden is happy and fed, and mommy is keeping her sanity. Haters gonna hate for me choosing to formula feed, but honestly the most important thing is that my kids are fed and they have a happy momma taking care of them.

The first night home in the middle of the night Madi had made it to our bed. Braden was up crying which at first made Madi hide her head under the pillows. We asked if she wanted to go back to her bed so she would not hear him cry but she refused. I sat at the edge of the bed a little upset and worried that every night would be like this and how would I ever survive? Madi came up to me, rubbed my back and said "its going to be ok, Mom" HOLY COW bring on the water works! My sweet sweet girl. I got Braden to sleep laying on my chest. He was still pretty uncomfortable at this point. Madison snuggled up to my arm half asleep and helped burp him until she fell back asleep. It was so sweet it could just make this mommys heart burst. She has a deep love for him that I am so grateful for.

Madison is completely potty trained now. She also decided on Fathers Day (June 21) that she would say the prayer for lunch all by herself. She's wanted to say the prayers for meals ever since. It was the sweetest present ever. Up until now when you asked her to fold her arms or say the prayer she would just respond with "I can't". Which was adorable, but I really wished she would want to say prayers. She came around to it all her own.

Hospital photo drop part 2

Hospital stay facts

Took three tries to pass hearing exam, left ear kept failing. But he loved the hearing test nurse so I think he kept failing just to hang with her.

Didn't cry at all during circumcision. and Dr Wynn made a special trip in just to do it for us before leaving out of town. Apparently we are "good friends" of his. Who knew?

First night went ok, they constantly checked my vitals and his through out the night so there was not much sleeping happen. At 1am they took him to the nursery to give Braden his Hep C vacc. once he returned from that he was extremely grumpy the rest of the night. So I held him the whole time to make him comfy. Zach slept over. 

Slept 5 hours on his second night but woke up often squeaking with gas. Seems to be having tummy issues and in lots of pain. Nursing is going well so far, painful but working. After nursing for 25 minutes on each side, baby still seemed hungry so I gave in and offered formula. Braden CHUGGED almost an entire ounce. Poor kid was starving! He slept but then kept fussing so I sent him to the nursery for a bit. Zach went home to be with Madison. Nurses still checked on Baby and I often but tonight there were so many hospital noises I could hardly sleep.

The next morning Madison and Zach came to pick us up and take us home. Braden still needed to pass his hearing test in his left ear. The OB needed to follow up with me and the Pediatrician needed to check Braden to make sure he could go home. Our normal Dr was going out of town and the on call pediatrician would be checking him. The nurse came in early to take him to the nursery again to be check. They returned to let me know that Dr Hacking (on call) did not check Braden and that Dr Wynn was checking his own patients. UM, HELLO? Dr Wynn is out of town, Dr Hacking was covering his patients. Apparently there was a miscommunication and no one knew what was going on. We literally had to wait a couple hours before we were finally discharged because of the mix up. Dr Hacking had already gone to his office and didnt have time to return. So he became annoyed when the nurses kept calling him as our "release time" grew closer. He finally discharged us over the phone and we were able to leave. We loaded up our car with our two beautiful kiddos and headed home. Madison was OVER JOYED to finally head home with her new brother. She kept smiling and said
"We're gonna bring my best buddy home! Eeeeeeek

Can I play zoo animals with him? "

We pulled up to the house and the neighbor girls were outside waiting to say hello. Madi was excited to show him off. The girls played for a little while and then I sent them home. Momma was a little overwhelmed for the moment.

Braden Allen Birth story

A quick time line of the day

630 Admitted

715 pit icon started
0800 epidural started by Todd turner anesthesia
0900 dilated 4+
0925 water broken
1011 dilated 6. 90% effaced
1024. Dilated 8. Fully effaced
1045 delivered !!!

YOUR BIRTH STORY AS TOLD BY YOUR FATHER (and a little by me)

**Because of the preterm labor and issues during this pregnancy, the doctor ultimately decided to induce Braden's birth. I remember the night before induction we had gone over to Gigi and Papa Powells house for Fathers day. I sat on the back porch after dinner thinking for a bit. I was so torn about what to do. I was excited to meet you the next morning but also so nervous about being induced and "picking your birthday". I know that seems stupid, but Madison came on her own and I sort of liked the surprise of which day you would finally decide to come, especially since you have been trying to come since we were 26 weeks along. Ultimately I decided to go along with the induction. It worked better with Daddys's crazy work schedule and it was easier to make sure we had someone to watch Madison. We kissed out little girl good bye and went home for the night. She was staying over at Gigi and Papas with my parents (who had recently moved to Utah from California and were looking for a house themselves). They were planning on bringing her to the hospital the next day. Zach and I went back to our little apartment and tried to watch a show before bed. I showered, shaved my legs and double checked our hospital bags. 

The day started at 4am when Sara just couldn't fall asleep, it was like waiting for Christmas morning. We arrived at the hospital 6:30 am when we were admitted and sent to our room. Sara was the only induction that day.  The nursing staff went about doing their business, asking questions and filling out paperwork. Our L&D nurses were Stephanie and Debbieann.  And IV was quickly placed and Sara became comfortable in her bed. She was given 1 liter of fluid before the Pitocin was started at the lowest level possible, which then started the contractions at 3 minutes apart. 

**I was again nervous and excited. I couldn't believe it was all happening. I couldn't sleep so I was up early doing my make up and curling my hair. I sent a reminder text to my friend that we were meeting at the hospital at 6:30 am and Zach gave me a blessing. We snapped a picture on the way out the door and headed to the hospital. Such a different experience, the nurses knew I was coming. My room was ready. Everything seemed so much less urgent. 

**Once the pictocin was in my contractions started hard and fast! They were painful about 2-3 minutes apart and 30 seconds long. They stopped the medicine and let labor progress naturally. However giving someone medication to kick start labor when she has already been in "fake labor" for several months just gave my body the go ahead to GET THIS KID OUT! 

 At 8am Dr. Turner with anesthesia entered the room to administer the epidural. This was in midst of the neighbors in the adjacent room screaming wildly for some type of Exter celestial help. Dr. Turner made light work of the epidural and Sara's lower extremities quickly started to feel the feeling effects of bupivacaine and Fentanyl. 

**We joked as he entered the room that he should probably help the lady down the hall who was SCREAMING "Heavenly Father, please make this stop!" he said she had been in labor all night long and complained so much and for so long they were taking her to knock her out and have a c section, so he wanted to get my epidural in before he was stuck in surgery with her. I appreciated his thoughtfulness, I was definitely not willing to wait much longer. 

At about 9am Sara was checked and found to be four plus centimeters dilated. About 15 minutes later at 9:25am, the Honorable Dr. Harward entered the room and with the use of an amnio hook made quick work of the bag waters. It was funny to watch Sara's belly quickly lose part of its volume as the water was broken. 

**When the doctor broke my water I felt a slight pinch and a warm gush of water. Because my legs were mostly numb I had no control over my lower half and it just felt so weird to be stuck in a puddle of water and not being able to do anything about it. All we could do was sit and play the waiting game.... I call this the calm before the storm.

The next check happened at 10am and she was dilated to a six. Over the next few minutes we started to see that Braden's heart rate with the accelerate with each contraction. It's usually isn't much of a concern but his heart rate was starting to stay steady at that lower pace. First the nursing staff gave Sara some extra oxygen to help out the baby. After some time and she was dilated to an eight but the time the baby was with lower heart rate started to increase. The nurses thought maybe the baby ran out of fluid to quickly. The wanted to place an inter-uterine catheter  to replace some of the fluid. When she tried she got nothing but blood quietly and calmly she took her gloves off and exited the room, without saying anything. 

** This is when I felt the mood in the room change. The nurse had come to check how far along I was and place an inter uterine catheter to try and replenish some of the fluid I lose and help with his heartbeat. I couldn't see what was going on but she quickly put her hands behind her back and left the room. Something didn't feel right. I started to get nervous but no one would tell me what was going on. 10 minutes later I heard Dr Harward yelling at his nurse in the hallway. Apparently she had just paged him instead of urgently calling his office when she ran in to the issue with the blood.  He was not pleased and let it be known. Then as if nothing had happened he enteted the room with a big smile and said " lets have a baby!" I cried. I didn't feel ready to push. I didn't feel ready to have a baby. I knew something was wrong and no one said anything. My emotions were overwhelming but mostly I just didn't feel ready to have the baby, labor hadn't progressed enough for me to want to push him out. 

Dr Harward had planned to let Zach deliver Braden but when things got a little scary, Zach stepped back and Harward said " get in there, its go time". Three pushes and my beautiful boy was out. I remember feeling so exhausted and light headed after he was out. They took Braden away and Zach followed. My friend Lindsey stayed by my side while the doctor worked hard to stitch me up and stop the bleeding. 

The next time we saw the nurse was with the whole delivery team and Dr. Harward. The doctor explained that it was time to deliver there is some mild bleeding and that she was fully dilated and this baby was going to come out now. And a quick rush of events the doctor and Zach quickly gowned up put on the gloves and prepared for delivery. With the nurse on each leg, Sara began to push with Dr. Harwood and Zach ready to catch. Soon the head was visible in it was getting closer. Sara even reached down once to touch the babies head. She managed to put her finger in a blood clot and was thoroughly grossed out. With the doctors help Zach proceeded to deliver his new little boy. Experiencing one of the happiest moments of his life Zach pulled his baby boy out and held him close.  Dr Harward leaned in and asked " how you going to cut the cord ". He helped Zach hold the baby and cut the cord. Zach held up his beautiful baby Braden to show his mom at which point, Braden peed all over the place. Baby was then cleaned up checked by the hospital staff. He weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. and 19 inches long and a full head of hair. After they were done with thier work, Braden was given back to his mom for some skin to skin time. 

While they were checking the stats on the baby Dr. Harward worked to stop the bleeding and repair the damage that had be done. Because delivery happened so quickly, Sara tore her cervix and also got a few additional stitches. Sara lost a good amount of blood and the Dr worked quickly to try and fix it before needing to go to the OR. After he was finished the housekeeping staff came in and quickly cleaned all the blood on the floor before Sara could see it. It looked like a murder scene, but of course no one shared that information with Sara so she would remain calm during the entire thing.  

** I finally got to hold my boy for a few minutes but felt so tired and weak I couldn't hold him for too long. Soon after we called our families to tell them Braden was here. They wanted to all come visit but I didn't feel up to it because delivery was so intense. Big sister came around 1:30 with Mimi and Papa. VIkki, Lance and Jono came that evening around bedtime and the rest of the friends and family came the next day. 

The first few hours with him were the best. The tiniest newborn baby snuggles and breastfeeding was actually working! Birth was traumatic but I swear women do it over and over again just for this moment. We didn't sleep much in the hospital but I didn't mind. 

Just a couple hours after birth, waiting for big sister to arrive. 

Sister got to the hospital around 1:30 and was instantly in love.


11am instant love.

Still feeling good and goofing around with the O2.

6:15am. Ready to leave for the hospital. 39 weeks pregnant.

We are ready for our little firefighter

Quilt and bumper made by this momma! Our little firefighter theme crib is all ready and waiting for our baby to arrive. We can't wait!! 

37 weeks 6 days - Still Pregnant

Ignore the squinting. It was very overcast and bright when this photo was taken. 

How far along? 37 weeks 6 days
Total weight gain/loss: 19 lb

Maternity clothes? Yes and some of husbands old t shirts
Stretch marks? No

Sleep: I wish, I have wicked insomnia these days. 

Best moment this week: Going to the pool twice with the family

Movement: All the time and running out of room.

Food cravings: Salad, fruit, Chocolate, ice cream.  

Anything making you queasy or sick?
Just waves of nausea that come and go through out the day, mostly during the "false labor" stuff.  

Have you started to show yet: Been showing for a couple months now. Bump is in full force. 

Leakage: From where? Boobs? No. Vag? Always. Pregnancy is gross. Third trimester is known as swamp crotch

Gender prediction: We know a sweet baby boy is on his way. 

Labor Signs: All the freaking time. He just needs to decide when he wants to get here. 9 Days left to pick his own due date or I pick it for him. 

Belly Button in or out? Outie this time around. So strange. Started around 7 1/2 months after being in the hospital and it pretty much sticks out all the time. 

Wedding rings on or off? On and still loose VS pregnancy with madi when I became swollen from the heat and unable to wear my ring for a good amount of the pregnancy. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy.

Weekly Wisdom: Let husband take out the trash and do all the gross chores.

Milestones: Making it PAST full term this pregnancy.