Brynlee Michelle Christensen

The Proud Dad with his girls!!!

Brynlee's here and we are starting to settle in. She is a sweet little baby and the other kids are very nice and always willing to help (at least where she is concerned).
Her due date was on Monday the 26th and I was sure she would be at least a little early. When Monday came and went it was a little disappointing but I was scheduled to be induced the following week if she didn't come before then. Tuesday I felt pretty crummy all day but the contractions weren't very consistent. Once night hit the contractions started up as usual. I had contractions pretty much every night for about 3 weeks prior to her birth. They would come on strong but never stay more than an hour in a consistent pattern. It was really annoying...and hurt! Anyway, on Tuesday night Keeper went to basketball as usual and I hung out and waited for the contractions to stop. They got worse so I called him and asked him to come home. (I think that was a first time in our marriage I have ever called him home from basketball.) He came home, showered and we got ready to go. My parents showed up to stay with the kids while we were gone. We got to the hospital about 10:30pm and I was immediately hooked up to the monitors to check the contractions because they weren't sure they were going to keep me. They monitored me for about an hour and a half and I hadn't dilated much more (about a 4 then) but I had thinned out a ton so they decided to keep me. Each contraction was killing me by this point. Keeper kept saying, "tell them to give you the epidural", before I was officially admitted to the hospital. I love my caring husband.
So, they moved me into a room and took blood for the lab work that had to be done before I got the epidural. They gave me an IV med that they said would make me sleepy. It didn't! Anyway, they checked me before I got the epidural and I was at a 6. I got the epidural. Yea! I expected the pain to go away, at least for a little while but I still felt a lot. My stomach didn't hurt with the contractions but all the pressure hurt like crazy! After the epidural was in things flew by. There was a ton of pressure, my water broke, more pressure, they checked me, I was complete, more pressure and they told me that the doctor said I could push in 20 minutes. Are you serious?! I hurt so bad. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more meds and after a few minutes I was a little better. We waited the 20 minutes and tried a "Test push". Yeah, test push my eye, the baby was coming and the doctor wasn't there yet. The nurse got ready to deliver the baby but the cord was around her neck and she couldn't get it off. Right then the doctor walked in, threw on some gloves, got the cord off her neck and delivered the baby. She was born at 3:42am on the 28th. She was very blue so they gave her oxygen and she pinked up. I was strep B positive so I needed to be put on antibiotics through delivery. I got one dose but to be safe they wanted two so they put an IV in Brynlee and gave her antibiotics for 48 hours. It took them 4 tries to get an IV in her. They would get it in and then the vein would bust. My poor baby! I was discharged from the hospital on the 29th but they let me "room in" with Brynlee until the next day when she would be ready to go home. It was really nice to be able to just keep my room and stay with my baby. Although it was a long journey with so many uncertainties, everything turned out ok and we love our little Brynlee. She is so sweet! We are so blessed to have her.
Right after she was born.


Hooked up to the IV. Check out how taped up her foot is.



Camy brought a flower to give to Baby Brynlee. What a sweet big sister.

Parker is definitely the proud big brother.

Carson loves her too.

Sweet baby Brynlee.