Brigham Tyler Steineckert

He has arrived!! April 23rd at 8:09 am our lives changed completely with the arrival of our little guy!! At 8 lbs 11 oz he is 19 1/2 inches of complete cuteness and perfection. Nothing could have prepared me for this moment or for this new phase in my life. I am overwhelmed completely with this change and I am amazed at the women who not only do this once, but more than once!! What joy, blessings and adventure Brigham brings into our lives. If you want to read the birth story, read on, if not just enjoy the pictures!!

Being two days past his due date we were all getting anxious. My Mom was only going to be with me until Sunday and I really wanted her with us. Around Thursday morning at 1:44 I woke up to what felt like contractions. I laid in the bed comparing everything I had read about contractions to what I was feeling. I turned over to watch the clock and counted as the feelings became minutes apart. I woke up Ryan to count with me at 4 minutes apart I knew it was time to go. By the time we got to the hospital I had exceeded the "deep breathing" and had gone into the "Hee Hees". By the time we got into the room I was into the "Hee hee Hoos" and was 6 cm dilated.......and completely ready for the epidural. It took forever for the anaesthesiologist to come to the room (he didn't think I was far enough along to get the epidural) after being checked I was already dilated to an 8. Finally getting the drugs I needed (THANK GOODNESS FOR EPIDURALS!!) Dr. Spence broke my water and I dilated to a 10 - time to push! Brigham was face up (the wrong way) I was put into all sorts of positions to push in hopes that he would turn. After two hours of pushing he was stuck and wasn't going to move any further. Dr. Spence looked to me and said, "I think we'd better do a C-section". Now, I'm not against a C-section. I was a C-Section baby, but in our tiny hamlet of a hospital their policy is "Once a C-section. Always a C-section" it is kind of a bummer to have that mandate fall on me, but it was a good thing.

They wheeled me into the operation room, I was shaking - totally shaking - with a good mix of fear, anxiety and adrenaline. Ryan got into scrubs and once everything was ready to go he came in to sit with me. I asked him to talk to me and get my mind off of things and so he decided that it would be a prime opportunity to pull out the camcorder and update "everyone" on what was going on - I wanted to kill him - then the Dr. said, "Dad you can stand up and peek over if you want" just as Ryan stood up and moved the camcorder to peer over the sheet they pulled Brigham up and out and the most beautiful sound in the world filled the room, Brigham's crying, which then made me start to cry because, as most of you know, him and all of his sounds of being alive was what I needed/wanted/hoped/prayed/wished to hear the most. I heard one Dr. say, "he's got a pretty big head" and a nurse comment, "He feels like 9 lbs".......it made me happy to have a C-section (the poor kid would probably be wearing my hips as a sombrero today if we didn't). Ryan went with Brigham to the nursery and I stayed there, getting stitched up, trying to talk the Dr.'s into taking out some hip fat while they were poking around in there. By the time they wheeled me into my bedroom my little man was ready to eat - and he hasn't stopped since! We've had quite a first week. Extra days at the hospital trying to get his billiruben count down (jaundice) with billiruben tables and blankets all around, learning how much (and often) a baby needs to eat and learning how much less you are going to sleep .....soooooo tired!!

But I sit in amazement, just looking at my little guy, and thinking about all the time and prayers in took to get him here and just being blown away at the fact that he actually is here!! We are grateful for all of the prayers, wishes and good thoughts that have been sent our way during this whole pregnancy and are so happy to share this joyful moment with all of you!