Dear Baby Briggs (1 month old)

Dear Baby Briggs (aka Little Man),

Today you are one month old.  On one hand it seems like just yesterday you entered the world and blessed our family, but on the other  it seems like you've always been a part of our family.  I can barely remember what life was like before you arrived.  In the past month you have had a ton of visitors, both to the hospital and our house.  Mimi came for a week to visit and Pops surprised us when he arrived in the middle of the night for the weekend.  After they left, Grandma Susu and Aunt Wendy came for a week.

Overall, you have been an extremely easy baby.  You sleep ALOT, especially during the day.  But I have to admit you have also gotten better about sleeping at night, as long as we have you in the swing.  We will however be working on moving you into your crib shortly.  You are generally a pretty happy baby except in the evening when you seem to fuss/cry for a couple hours.  I really think it is just your way to get daddy's attention.

One thing that we really need to work on, however, is your eating.  I'm not saying that you are not a good eater... you must be because you keep putting on weight.  It's more that you are a messy eater.  It seems like every time you eat, mommy needs to change clothes because you just don't hold on.  It's really more like you enjoy sipping your meals rather than drinking :-)  I have been concerned on a few occasions that you weren't getting enough, but you gained a pound in one week.  Yes, one pound in a week.  At that rate you will be surpassing your sister's weight by the time you are nine months old. 

I forgot how many diapers newborns go through... Wow!!  And yes, I have been surprised with a fountain on a couple of occasions when I didn't get the diaper on quick enough.  You love to take baths and especially get your hair washed.  Unfortunately, however you have lost a lot of your hair from when you were born. 

Your sister absolutely adores you and always wants to help.  She can hear your crying from the other room and will run in to give you your binky.  I think you actually prefer your fist, but mommy keeps insisting on the binky.  She loves when you look at her and that is really starting to happen more and more.

My favorite memories so far have to be during some of our midnight feedings when Stella wakes up and doesn't want to be left out.  She comes in your room, climbs into the rocker and lays across my lap while I am feeding you.  There have been many a nights that we have all fallen asleep together on that chair.  It's times like that that I realize how lucky I am to be your and Stella's mommy.

It's the thought that counts... right?

I would be lying if I said that we have been good about going to mass lately.

Our routine used to be to go to 5:30 mass on Saturday evenings and then go to dinner afterwards. However, as Stella has gotten older going to eat at 6:30 or 7:00 is not practical. So we tried Sunday morning mass for a while.  That worked better in terms of the time, however I feel like we spend the whole time reminding her to talk quietly, pumping her full of goldfish or trying to keep her occupied. I really can't remember a homily since she was a year old.

We are wanting to get Briggs baptized, back in Peoria, next month.  In order to do this we need a letter from our perish stating we are members. I am feeling a little guilty about asking for this because we have been so spotty on our church attendance so I insisted that we go to church this past weekend. I decided that we would go to 8:00 mass. A bit aggressive, I know, especially when I made that decision at 7:00 and church is 15 to 20 minutes away. By the time we all got ready and to Scottsdale it was 8:15 before we walked into church.  But hey, it's Catholic, so as long as you're there before the Homily it counts... right?

We walk in as quietly as possible and sit down right as the priest begins the Homily, whoo we made it.  Immediately Briggs starts to get a fussy so take him out of his seat to hold him.  And then it happens, he projectile vomits his entire feeding all over himself, me, the pew and my brand new Coach purse (that Brian bought me, a whole other story for a different time).  I grab the closest thing to me to start quietly cleaning up.   I then get up to leave and take Briggs to the bathroom for a mini bath and a change of clothes.  Of course Stella needed to go with.  We get everything taken care of and head back in with enough time to hear the end of the Homily.  As Stella goes to get into the pew she cracks her head on it.  Not a little bump, but hard.  Hard enough that a people in the pew a couple rows ahead looked back.  She begins sobbing, I had Briggs to Brian and again I leave, taking her outside. 

By the time, she settled down and we went back in for the THIRD time.  Everyone was professing their faith.  We again quietly and carefully entered the pew.  Thankfully we made it through the rest of the mass with only the usual disruptions.  We practiced talking very quietly and ate an obscene amount of goldfish

As we left the church I turned to Brian and we both laughed.  Yes we went to church, we made it... But did we really get out of it what is truly intended,  or is it just that thought that counts?

ABC Art Class

Now that Stella is no longer going to Ms. Robin's house I wanted to find ways for her to interact with other children.  I know that she is really going to miss her friends there.  So I decided to get her involved in some classes at the Gilbert Park District.  The only problem is that for the majority of the classes you need to be either 2 1/2 or 3 by the first day of class.  Stella misses that 2 1/2 cut off by two weeks.  I did, however, find one class that she could take... ABC Art.

Today was the first day of class and I have to be honest I was a bit nervous about how she would do, she was youngest kid in the class and I was hoping she wouldn't cry... but she instead she was so excited.

Waiting to go in.

She walked right in and did great.  She sat with the other kids when they read the story at the beginning.  Did great during centers.  And even played with the other kids at the end.  Although the class is only 45 minutes, once a week, I think it will be good for her.

Sitting at the table getting ready to paint

Waiting for the other kids to finish up

The finished products from today's class

Welcome... Hayden Briggs Campbell (Better late than never)

 On Saturday May 12th, we welcomed Hayden Briggs Campbell into the world.

Birth Story...
On Friday afternoon, I started having contractions again.  I decided to take a nap because this usually helped them go away.  My philosophy was if I can sleep through them, they probably aren't really that bad.  By the time Brian got home from work, they were a little stronger but again nothing that I was going to die over.  We went to dinner at Zipps and at that time I began timing them.  They were about 7-8 minutes apart.  After dinner we came home, put Stella to bed and watched a little Dexter.  When it was time to go to bed, I just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep, but again I wasn't going to die.  I went from the bed, to the chair, back to the bed.  Around midnight, I decided that maybe we should go to the hospital... So I took a shower, picked up the house (no one wants to come home to a messy house), packed Stella's bag, repacked mine and had Brian DROP me off at the hospital.  Yes, I wasn't sure if they were going to admit me or send me back home and I didn't want to bother the Bollards in the middle of the night just to be sent home.  Again, the contractions were uncomfortable but I have been in far worse pain :-)

By 1 am, I was admitted to the triage unit of the maternity ward and was hooked up to the monitors.   They watched my contractions for the next hour and at 2 am decided to admit me because the baby's heart rate was dropping each time I had a contraction.  The plan was to start an epidural and then break my water, hopefully speeding up the labor process.  I called Brian to have him meet me at the hospital.  Paul came and picked up Stella.  Before Brian even arrived the epidural was already in place.  Brian arrived right before the doctor and I mentioned to him that it felt like I had "a lot of stuff going on down there."  And sure enough when the doctor arrived to break my water, we realized that it had already broke on its own.

For the next few hours, my each time I had a contraction the baby's heart rate would drop but the contractions really never got closer together.  They decided to start me on pitocin to speed the process along so we could get him out before he became really distressed.  They started me on pitocin and within a few minutes his heart rate dropped again and didn't go back up.  They immediately took me back off the pitocin and began having the C-section conversation with me.  We played this for a few more hours and at 10am they came in.  At this point my contractions were no closer together and I had not dilated beyond a 5 (I was a 4 were I arrived at the hospital).  The doctor told me that they would give me 2 hours to fully dilate and if I didn't they were going to take me in for a C-section.

At 11:00 they came in to check me because they had lost my contractions off the monitor.  She said that they were going to take me in for the C-section but somehow I was fully dilated.  Within 24 minutes Hayden Briggs Campbell was born.  For the most part it was a very easy delivery, except once his head came out his shoulders became stuck on my pelvic bone.  The room went from having four of us, Brian, the nurse, doctor and myself to having 4 additional nurses in 15 seconds.  It was crazy, but in the end everyone was okay.

Hayden Briggs Campbell was born at 11:24am.  We weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 21 inches long.

Why is it that I always end up on oxygen?

Momma and Baby Briggs

Stella and Briggs

Daddy, Stella and Briggs

First "Family of Four" Picture