The One Where We're In Love . . .

. . . with our new, sweet baby!!

Meet Paige Erica Brunson.
Born February 18 (yes... 2 weeks early!) at 9:09 am
5 tiny lbs 8 oz, 18.5 inches.






I mentioned in the last post that I was having lots and lots of contractions, but they weren't all that painful. Well, Wednesday night, while Rick and I were at his dad's house, I noticed they were getting a little bit more intense, and told Rick maybe we'd have a baby in the next week. We then decided that we shouldn't get our hopes up.

We went to bed that night at about 10:30, and I woke up at 11:30 with very strong contractions every 15 minutes. I've never stayed awake all night and had it fly by as fast as that night. By 5:00 am my contractions were really, really intense and about 7 minutes apart, so we made our trip to the hospital. I was then dilated to a 5 and 80% effaced. They called my midwife and decided she would come in around 8. They told us to plan on delivering the baby around 1-3 that afternoon, so I rested (thank heaven for epidurals, btw!!!!!) and Rick slept.

Around 7:45 Rick woke up and I told him to go get himself some breakfast. While he was gone, my midwife came. While she was measuring me, she said, "you don't have a cervix!" I was in shock. It was only 8:00... we were supposed to wait like 5 more hours! She suggested we push just to see what happens, so I started pushing a little bit. Thankfully, Rick forgot his credit card, so he came back a little faster than he would have. He walked in while I was pushing, and I told him I was ready. He almost missed the birth! After only about 20 minutes of pushing, my midwife told me to help deliver her. It sounds weird, but I am so glad I did. Paige grabbed onto my finger as I brought her onto my chest, and it was the most amazing feeling. I cried, of course. She looked like a tiny old man, but I was so in love with this little stranger. I loved the whole experience and would do it again in an instant (don't worry... we're not planning on that for a while... then again, we weren't planning on this time...). :)

She looks just like her dad, so her middle name is Erica... kind of like Rick. :)

She had a hard time learning to suck, even a bottle, and we're still really working on nursing, but she's been great. She would sleep through the night already if I would let her. She also has acid reflux, so we have to burp her for half an hour after every feeding, because she choked quite a few times in the hospital. That was a scary thing to see. The poor girl.

She only lost 3 oz in the hospital, and then half an oz since then, so we're paying close attention to feeding her often so she can gain some weight, even though she hasn't lost too much. She's just so tiny to begin with. She's a great baby so far, and we can't stop looking at her. I've LOVED watching Rick with her... that was what I was the most excited for while I was pregnant. Which, btw, I am really surprised that I don't miss being pregnant. I had such a great pregnancy, and I thought I would really miss feeling her inside of me, but so far, I feel great and just love having her here.

The pictures are all of her first day with us, but she has changed so much already in this busy week. I haven't taken as many pictures as I would have liked to, since we've been so busy teaching her to nurse and waking her up to eat (it can sometimes take an hour to wake her up, and then the minute she starts eating, she's out again). You can be sure I'll post more pictures later... after my naps!