halloween 2017

so yay - we got in at least one more year of family costumes! claire and i have recently begun reading the harry potter series and she loves it! so as halloween drew nearer, we decided to go as the hogwarts crew. after placing our painted pumpkins on the front porch, we of course had to have a mini-photo shoot in the awesome costumes amber made. after that, we hit the town with their cousin jayden and brought home a great haul this year. always such fun.

caleb went as harry's owl, hedwig. amber did such an amazing job on all the costumes, but this one was extra great. maybe it was just the cute baby that just really pulled it off.

seth went as best friend, ron weasley. we especially liked coloring seth's hair red for this costume.

claire of course went as the smartest kid at school, hermoine granger. she's growing up way too fast.

everett led the way as mr. harry potter himself, complete with makeup lightning scar.

Painting Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening, the day before Halloween we decided to paint some pumpkins. Kids had fun. Seth kept putting his paint covered hands up to his mouth, I think forgetting it was paint. :P Besides eating a little paint though, he had a lot of fun painting his pumpkin. :)

Newborn

Bringing a new baby home is always an adjustment. This time around was a little harder just because we have Claire's school schedule to continue to wake up for and get her ready and out the door. We couldn't just sleep in and relax with our newborn in the mornings. :P Seth loves Caleb so much and constantly says "baby" all day long. He's been super helpful and protective. Caleb is a typical newborn and I attempted to take newborn photos of him when he was 8 days old. It's hard to take your own newborn's photos though. I think he can smell me or something, and he wouldn't sleep for me, but he's a sweet baby. He's got so much hair, I love it. It's always the first thing people notice. :)

Caleb Levi

 Introducing...
Caleb Levi Bryson

born October 1, 2017

12:17pm

7 lbs 13 oz

18.5 inches

This pregnancy was a little harder on my body. Still not a lot of morning sickness, which I'm grateful for, but I did get extra tired and napped all the time. The varicose veins came earlier than expected and hurt more than they have in the past. So from the end of the first trimester or beginning of the second I was wearing compression hose and socks trying to figure out what worked best. After going through this pregnancy I'm feeling more motivation to get back in shape so if there is another one, it won't hurt as bad. :p

Caleb's due date was October 8th and I usually go late so I tried to get in the mind frame that he wouldn't come until then or later, but I also had suspicions that he could come early. I knew I was pregnant so much earlier than with the others and he measured like 4 days bigger at the first ultrasound, but still by the end of my pregnancy I didn't want to get my hopes up. :)

He was born around noon on a Sunday. Nesting had really set in earlier that week. I was cleaning and getting things done and ready for the baby even though I knew it would probably be two more weeks. On Thursday I had my OB appointment and I was only 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I thought it might be more so I was a little disappointed. I had been feeling Braxton Hicks since the second trimester and they were definitely more painful and uncomfortable towards the end. That weekend I had been feeling them a lot, especially after any physical activity. On Saturday, Scott woke up really early to go to a football game while I stayed home with kids. I watched General Conference and relaxed most of the morning. It was such a nice day.

Contractions started around 10:30 pm. I was getting ready for bed and they kept coming. We were laying down in bed around 11 pm and I told Scott that I was a little nervous, they hadn't stopped yet. I was timing them and they were coming every 5 minutes or so. Scott had woken up so early, and had had a big day so he zonked out pretty quickly around 11:30 pm. I on the other hand couldn't fall asleep. I tried to relax but they didn't go away and they were already kind of painful. I was worried about making it late to the hospital like last time so I woke up Scott and he went to get my mom upstairs to watch the kids and we left for the hospital around 12:30 pm.

We got to the hospital and had me change in a room and checked my progression. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was only about 3 cm and 70% effaced so I was disappointed. The nurse told me if I was a first time mom she would've sent me home, but because it was my fourth, it was a VBAC and because last time he came so quickly they encouraged me to be admitted and be induced. I really didn't want to be induced. I had still been thinking I wanted to go unmedicated. I was so tired and frustrated that I couldn't decide. The nurse said we could walk around for an hour and she'd check me again, so we walked a couple laps slowly around the labor and delivery unit. The contractions were so painful and I was quickly deciding against an unmedicated labor. They were still not going away too so I figured this had to be the real thing. They checked me after the hour and there was maybe a half centimeter of change so again she told me I could either choose to go home or be induced.

I was so emotional at this point. I was tired, and in so much pain. I was frustrated there wasn't more progression and Scott wasn't helping me make any decisions because he was so tired and out of it himself. He fell asleep on the couch and I was left to make the decision. I'm sure the nurse thought I was crazy cuz I couldn't stop crying. I was shaking too. The doctor who was there was encouraging me to stay, I just really didn't want to be induced and put on Pitocin. Last time I was given Pitocin I ended up having a C-section, so I just worried. Contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes though and were super painful which is what made my decision. I was admitted to the hospital and given an epidural around 5 am.

After getting my epidural, I was able to get some needed rest. The epidural worked, probably a little too well. I was unable to move or feel anything. I was able to join Scott and sleep for a bit. They checked me again at 6 am, but there really wasn't any change so we decided to break my water. I started progressing again, but it was a slow process. I was 5 cm dilated around 9 am. They wanted me to continue progressing so they decided to put me on a little bit of Pitocin. This is the part that scared me, especially when my contractions started coming further apart after being given the Pitocin.







We turned on General Conference at 10 am at the hospital, but honestly I didn't hear much of the talks. I slept when I could and they continually checked me and helped me rotate what side I laid on. I was fully effaced and 7 cm around 11:30 am. By the time Conference ended they told me I was ready to push.

Caleb's head was angled slightly off so the doctor had me push once and was able to gently rotate it. Then, I only had to push through two more contractions and Caleb was here at 12:17 pm.

Aunt Sherry and cousin Tasha were the first to meet him. They showed up at the hospital right after he came and were able to hold Caleb for a few minutes before leaving again to pick up our kids. They stopped by the hospital again with our kids and Caleb met his siblings. Claire, Everett and Seth each took turns and held Caleb for just a short time. Seth did great and was pretty smitten with baby Caleb from the start. They got treats at the hospital and held the baby and then left to spend the rest of the day with their cousins. That afternoon grandma and grandpa were also able to visit and see Caleb at the hospital. 

Recovery went pretty smoothly. We spent all day Monday in the hospital. Scott slept at home with the kids, brought them to visit again for a little while, and then let grandma take care of them so he could spend the rest of the day with us at the hospital. We were all ready to leave the hospital Tuesday morning when we took Caleb home! :)