First Unassisted Night and More Brynn Facts

Well, we made it through our first night without Grandma Carol's assistance. She was ready for Round 3, but we wanted to see how things would go on our own. Other than one hard-to-diagnose spate of intense crying, it went pretty well. I don't think Jen got a full REM cycle in; but she nicely let me grab one. But this lack of sleep is what every parent has assured we'd be facing. So far we are dealing with it better than we expected. It helps when you have just the cutest little bug as a daughter.

This morning we had our second in home visit from a nurse, and Brynn is doing very well. Her bilirubin levels have actually started to drop, which is great. She's been at good levels, but it is even better to see them go down. The nurse was very impressed with her. She is back up to 7lbs. 13oz. after dipping down to 7lbs. 10oz. on her first full day back at home. We are so blessed to have a healthy, strong daughter. I may be projecting, but I think she was even tracking my head movements with her eyes the other day. Of course I wouldn't be surprised for my amazing little girl to be doing such advanced things already.

When she came out, Brynn was as purple as a grape. This is much preferred by me to the bluish white I've seen for some babies due to the vernix on them. Her color changed very quickly though to a nice healthy red and pink by the time she was on the warming table. Her extremities are still a little purplish, but that's normal.

We've found a good way to prompt her to feed a bit longer is to lift her arm like she's doing the chicken dance. When she pauses a bit long and may be getting sleepy, I'll lift her little chicken wing and let it flop. That usually will get her to suck for a few more seconds before she sleepily pauses.

We just love her so much! She is so cute and we can't wait to see how she develops day by day!

Brynn Renée Thingvall

We are so excited and blessed to get to introduce Brynn Renée Thingvall to you all. She is just the cutest thing ever. She was born at 7:56 PM on Thursday, April 26th. She weighed 8lbs. 2oz. at birth, and is 20.75 inches long. She was delivered by Dr. Barton at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette. We were really pleased with the hospital and the staff and would recommend them very highly.

Jen started in with contractions at 3 in the morning on Thursday. Jen was nice and let me sleep till the alarm went off before she told me the news. We had a doctor's appointment already scheduled at 9:30 that morning, so we called to see if they still wanted us to come in. They said to come anyway, but at 9. We got there and when the nurses saw Jen squatting and grimacing during a contraction, they moved us quickly to meet with the doctor. She checked Jen and said she was dilated to 4cm. "Go straight to the hospital," she said. "Don't stop for coffee." We did and were quickly admitted. Her parents showed up shortly thereafter and were troopers helping us throughout the day.

Jen progressed well at about 1cm an hour until stalling out at 9cm (where 10cm is the goal). That last centimeter was hard won, but she did it! My amazing wife did this without an epidural or pain meds. Painful transition contractions started around 2:30 or so and lasted through 5:15 when the pushing began. That ran up until Brynn's birth just before 8. Of course, that's when I lost it and got all weepy with joy. We were so relieved to be through labor and so happy to see our little girl!

They moved us over from the delivery wing to the Mom & Baby section around 11. We were ready to fall over at this point and the prospect of some sleep was so alluring, but we sat through the explanations so ably and kindly provided by the staff. It does seem cruel that right after a day filled with strenuous exertion and pain that someone would come in every 1.5 hours and wake us up to take blood, have us feed Brynn, or have some blood pressure monitoring. It's all for the best, but boy we just wanted to sleep.

Brynn has been feeding well off and on. If she is sleepy and not in the mood, she will not be roused. But if she is ready to feed, she will do so with appetite and enthusiasm. We've been trying lots of different ways to get her to wake up. What works seems to change every time.

We spent the next day dozing and seeing a few visitors and getting Brynn checked out by a steady stream of medical staff. We went home that evening after about 24 hours at the hospital. They sent home with us a frozen lasagna meal with all the fixings, which is pretty amazing. Jen's Mom was a superstar grandma and stayed up all night with the baby helping us to be able to get some sleep and standing by us while we worked to get in sync with our little daughter in the middle of the night.

Today we've just been snoozing, feeding, and entertaining a few visitors. Gavin and Sarah brought some delicious cookies and muffins. Thanks, guys! Mainly we're trying to rest and to get Brynn to eat up.

Okay, and now I'm starting to get a sense of the pace our lives will be adopting. I started this blog post yesterday around noon, and now it's late Sunday morning and I'm getting to work on it again. Jen's Mom again was an angel and stayed the night to help us get some sleep. Brynn fed and fed last night (Yay!), so Jen is fried this morning and I am a bit too. I held Brynn most of the morning and she is just the cutest bug ever. I am also discovering arm cramps. Now I will be working on developing a repertoire of holds.

The flow of pictures is of course ongoing and steady, so I'm just going to have to stop here and invite you to check out the gallery of pictures from Brynn's first three days. We are so blessed by God to have this little one, and we pray His protection and grace over her. We want to see her grow up strong, healthy, and wise and to walk alongside Jesus throughout her life. We'll be there too, and I think we're off to a great start.

The Belly Belies the Baby Below

Just say that title out loud. It's very satisfying to say, and it is very true. Today is the due date for the baby, but she has yet to put in an appearance. This is even despite the mounds of toys and blankies we've arrayed as baby bait to entice her out of her den. Jen is certainly ready to have her come out. We're excited and anxious and probably still oblivious to the changes she'll bring.

So, stay tuned! There should be a baby here any day now.

Nursery and Gear

The baby gear has been pouring in and the nursery has been filling up. Here's some photos of the deluge of infant merchandise and the space we're preparing for our little girl. There's more in the gallery.

I may have also had some fun with some of the stuff. It'll be a while before we can get to the toys I'll enjoy, but for now, hooded ducky bath towels are fun too.

It's amazing how generous people have been. We've already gotten enough stuff for our girl that we were able to pass some of them on to a lady in our church who is having a girl not long after we are.

We're in the red zone now. The baby could come at any moment. It's exciting, but we're trying to get done as much as we can before she arrives, and enjoy as much time out and together as we can.