First Halloween

I hadn't even thought to buy anything for Peyton to wear for Halloween because 1) my due date was not until November 9 and 2) Since she has been born I have been too busy to even think about it!  Not to worry though, my mom and sister were not going to let Peyton's first Halloween go by without getting her something to wear for her first holiday.  My sister bought  this cute sleeper for her that said “Mommy’s little pumpkin” on it and my mom bought her a bib that said “First Boo”.  Sweet Peyton was only 10 days old and still so tiny---even though her little outfit was a size newborn, I still had to wash it in hot water and dry it on high heat to shrink it because it was too big for her.

Although things have been busy, I did manage to make sure that we had plenty of candy because I just knew that we were going to have lots of trick-or-treaters this year.  Well not so much---we only had two groups of kids come by our house!  Guess that just means more candy for us…..

Our Little Glow Worm

When we left the hospital on Saturday, Peyton’s weight had dropped down to 5 lbs. 13 oz which they seemed to think wasn’t bad. By the following Monday she had dropped down another 2 oz. so went back to the pediatrician’s office on Tuesday for another weight check. She was still 5 lbs. 11 oz. but when they checked her bilirubin level it was high which meant she had jaundice and was going to have to have phototherapy at home. Even though I knew that this was a very common thing among newborns and have known several friends’ babies who have had jaundice, I went into meltdown mode at the pediatrician's office and then again when the home health nurse came to bring the phototherapy lamp.  She had barely gotten in the door before I started crying. I think she felt sorry for me because she completely violated HIPPA and told us that she had taken a phototherapy lamp to the house across the street from us earlier that day.  In fact, the couple that lives there have a newborn baby boy that is the same age as Peyton.  It's funny because the girl was induced on the same day as me and at the same hospital.  We were also in rooms across from each other after delivering our babies.

The home health nurse said that Peyton was to stay on the light at all times except for when she needed a diaper change or needed to be fed.  She also said that most babies like the light, but that was not the case with Peyton. The two nights that Peyton spent on it were AWFUL!!! She was so upset and wanted nothing to do with that light.  It was so hard because all we wanted to do was take her off of it and hold and comfort her but then again we didn't want to take her off of the light because we knew the longer she was on it the quicker her bilirubin levels would drop and the sooner she could come off of it for good. Thank goodness she was only on it for two days.  I don't know that she (or us) could have handled it much longer!

We had a follow-up appointment with the pediatrician today since Peyton came off of the phototherapy light yesterday afternoon and thankfully she got a good report.  Her weight was down to 5lbs. 10oz. but the doctor felt like she would start gaining weight over the course of the next few days.

First Week Pictures

Pretty alert for a 1 week old!

Sound asleep with Pops (Matt's Dad)

Sunbathing in her swing

Meeting her cousin Will for the first time

Visiting with Uncle Trey

Snuggling up with Granddad

Mommy's Little Peanut

Wide awake during a diaper change with GP and Granddad

Taking a bottle with Daddy

First Sponge Bath

Only in our family would Peyton's first sponge bath be a family affair!!!  It took me, Matt, my mom, Matt's mom, and Matt's sister Holly to get our little peanut clean.

Peyton Michele Bradford

Our sweet baby girl has arrived! Peyton Michele Bradford made her debut at 4:53pm , weighing in at 6 lbs 2 oz and 18 inches long. Matt and I are so excited that she has safely arrived and are already so in love with her. I know that they say you never forget the details of the day, but I want to recap them while they are still fresh on my mind. Sorry—it’s kind of long!!

Monday, October 18: I was one day shy of being 37 weeks and had my regular weekly doctor’s appointment that morning.  I don’t think that he or I ever thought that I would make it this far. When he first started examining me at 33 weeks, I was 80% effaced, 0.5 cm dilated, and the baby's head was "engaged".  I had been to labor and deliver three times, once at 32.5 weeks to check the size of the baby and two other times at 34 and 36 weeks because of regular contractions.  I had also been put on medicine at 34 weeks to try to keep the contractions down.  It had been a very stressful month but thankfully we were almost to the full-term mark and he felt like at this point we should feel good if I were to go into labor.  In fact, he said that he hoped I went into labor that day because he was on call that night. After completing his exam, he told me that I was 3 cm dilated and that Matt and I might want to walk around the hospital for a little bit to make sure that I didn’t start having regular contractions. WHHATTT!! I couldn’t believe it—this might really be the day! Matt and I were both excited and anxious thinking that this could be it.  We walked around for about 15 minutes feeling good that this was going to be the day and my doctor would be there to deliver Peyton. Well I had two contractions that were about 5 minutes apart and then nothing. So we left, but were determined to make it happen that day since we knew my doctor was on call. We ran a bunch of errands with the thought that surely that would cause me to go into labor.  To our surprise, we were wrong.  The day came and went and no labor.

Tuesday, October 19: Yesterday I felt really good about going into labor, but then today rolled around I was NOT ready because I knew that the chances were slim that my doctor would be the one to deliver Peyton if he had just been on call the night before.  Thankfully, I had a few contractions here and there but nothing very regular.  

Wednesday, October 20: We mostly hung around the house that day because later that night we were going to Matt’s parents’ house to celebrate our nephew Sean’s (Matt’s sister’s little boy) 1^st birthday. Matt took Ellie on her daily afternoon walk and I decided to join them for part of the way. I probably didn’t walk with them for more than 10 minutes before I decided that I had had enough and was going back home. Once I got home I started having contractions. They didn’t really seem to be regular until we got in the car and were halfway down 280 heading to Chelsea in 5:30 traffic. Long story short, we got to Matt’s parents and ate dinner while I was trying to socialize with the family while nonchalantly timing my contractions. Finally, after realizing that my contractions were about 7 minutes apart and had been for about an hour and half, I told Matt that it was time to go. I called the on call doctor and we made our way back home to get our bag. When she called me back, the conversation went just like the other two times I ended up in labor and deliver…. MD: “well I don’t know that it’s really labor since they aren’t painful but I guess the safest thing is for you to go on in and get checked out.” 

I think that we ended up at the hospital around 8:30 pm and it turned out that our nurse was one of my sister-in-law’s (Becky’s) good friends. I got hooked up to the monitors and they decided to keep me overnight because I was having regular contractions and they wanted to see if things progressed.  I don't know that any of our family members were super excited at this point because this was our third trip to labor and delivery with regular contractions.

Thursday, October 21: My doctor came in to see me in the morning and examined me. By this point I was 4 cm and he said it was labor. Lucky for me, my contractions were still not painful. They started potocin to speed up my contractions and said I could get my epidural whenever I was ready. I held out until around 12:30 pm at which point my contractions went from not really hurting to getting stronger to “I think that I waited too late!” After the epidural, my doctor broke my water. I started pushing at 3:56 and had her at 4:53. I couldn’t believe how tiny she was and her full head of dark hair! She was absolutely PERFECT!!!

Friday, October 22: This was a whirlwind of a day, with lots of family and friends coming by to meet sweet Peyton. Not to mention the non-stop hospital traffic that was constantly coming and going from our room---my OBGYN, the pediatrician, the lady about the birth certificate, nursing, etc.

Saturday, October 23: Time to come home!! The dress that Peyton wore home was a sweet little pink Feltman Bros dress that both me and my sister wore home from the hospital after we were born.  My mom had even saved the shoes that we were home and had given me them to me for Peyton to wear as well.  The dress and the shoes were definitely too big for Peyton but I'm sure that she will grow into them.

Below are pictures from the past few days....

Matt and I at his parent's house the night before Peyton was born (and yes I was having contractions at time this picture was taken).

Anxiously awaiting the birth of our sweet baby girl!

Meet Peyton Michele Bradford!  More perfect than we ever could have imagined!

My sweet dad loving on Peyton

Peyton getting dressed to come home in the same Feltman Bros dress my sister and I wore home from the hospital.

Our new family of 3!

Little peanut in her carseat

"I'm ready"

Ellie meeting Peyton for the first time

Catching some zzz's in her swing

Matt giving Peyton her first bottle

So tiny.....

Sweet Ellie wanting to be part of the action