We're expecting!!!!

That's right! I had a sneaky suspicion I was pregnant before I even got a positive pregnancy test result. My chest was killing me before I even took a positive pregnancy test! We went to Allison and Craig's baby shower that Saturday and I had taken a negative test, so when people kept asking if I was pregnant yet I said no honestly, because I am the WORST at keeping secrets/surprises!!!

I tend to ramble (a lot) and give too many details... so I apologize for the extremely long posts. Might as well give you a heads up to get your snacks and beverages handy while you ready through this! :)

Spreading the news:
So, Paul, his parents and I were discussing taking a trip to Alaska in June on a motorcycle! I knew we would have to revisit this whole idea now that we knew I was pregnant. Paul didn't see anything wrong with me still going. The Doctor advised against it and Kelly said she wouldn't do it. Thank goodness we didn't still plan on it, because I was so sick and it would've been a miserable time for me - therefore Paul too! So, the day after I found out my dad wanted to go to the branch manager and tell him that I was only going to work for him, I told him let's hold off on that and he asked why and I just said, just because. I couldn't tell him yet, because Paul and I decided to tell our parents around 8 weeks, but then this made me realize I should probably explain why I told my dad "lets wait" and we wanted his parents to know why we weren't doing the motorcycle trip. The next day I went to my audiologist after work and showed up at my mom's crying, because the audiologist wasn't very helpful with my hearing aid situation (they kept whistling even without a hand up by my ear causing feedback), then she just said, "well if you think of anything let me know"! I just started crying and she felt bad, but not bad enough to fix the hearing aid. So, I left upset. (They are expensive and it stinks to have paid so much and have so many issues!!! I've never had issues like this in the past with my old audiologist or hearing aids (she says I got lucky - really? 15 years of lucky??), so I get pretty upset and frustrated when I can't hear normal - well my kind of normal, ha.) Anyway, I told my mom the whole hearing aid fiasco and she felt bad, then I told her about how dad wanted me to quit working for the branch and just work for him, but I wasn't sure that was the best thing to do at this time and that I didn't know what to do (was crying at this point). When she asked why, I told her I was pregnant and started crying all over again! Ha. She was so happy, so that made me happier despite my extreme frustration with my hearing aids. Then on Good Friday I went to Tucson with Cheryl and Lauren Valledor. I grew up watching Lauren and her older brother, so was so excited to join them for a UofA tour!!! I even showed Lauren the Gamma Phi house afterwards. We went to Frog's for lunch and it was fabulous, I so wanted to tell them I was pregnant, but Paul and I agreed to wait on telling friends until we told our parents. So, then I dropped Cheryl and Lauren off and went to my parents' house again. My dad, mom and Mckaley were in the backyard. I looked at my dad and said, you know how you want me to work for you, well I don't think that the timing is good, because I'm pregnant quietly so Mckaley couldn't hear, I couldn't tell her before my brother and plus it was too early to tell her. My dad started laughing and hugging me. I finally felt relived to tell both of them, like I said I'm the WORST at keeping secrets, so keeping this secret made me a little grumpy/irritable sometimes, I think! Ha. I felt like I was lying all the time! So, that weekend I met up with Allison and Ashley at Scottsdale Fashion Square. I wanted to tell them so bad or at least Al, but I kept chickening out! Al was still pregnant at this time with Ellie! So, I'd sometimes ask random questions and kept smiling weirdly during the whole afternoon. I kept hanging out and shopping with them, hoping I'd work up the courage to finally tell them. Ha. Allison later told me that she thought I was that day, but never said anything, so ignored it. I later asked her to stop by after her baby shower in Mesa that month. When she came by, I was 5 weeks and told her! I forget how I brought it up, but she started crying and said she knew it and Craig (her husband) told her she was crazy for guessing that's why I wanted her to stop by! (She knows me so well!) I told her I was feeling really well and she warned me that morning sickness creeps up around 6 weeks... I told her I was feeling great, so wasn't worried! ... Whoa. Then towards the end of week 5 I was feeling bad/extremely nauseous! The throwing up didn't come until week 7, I believe. Then I was throwing up every day, I was looking on Pinterest for every home remedy to cure morning sickness! I especially wasn't a fan of puking at work! I finally told my brother at work early June, because I couldn't keep the secret anymore! He was pretty excited/happy for us and it was sweet of him to show it. I told my co-worker, Linda, earlier too, because she was having a hard time at work and I thought it would cheer her up. She was an older women who had been the office receptionist for many years, back when I would come visit my dad during high school. I'm so glad I got to tell her, because in the middle of June she passed away. My heart felt happy that I happened to share the news and get a big hug from her before she passed. She was a very sweet lady and we got along great... So, we slowly started telling our family in May/June and friends too. I could tell you when and where I told each person, but that would get boring! ;)

• Kimee - nail salon getting pedicures before she left for her residency in WA.
• Emily - Postino's for her late birthday treat.
• Hamrocks, Millers and the rest of the Herrs got the hear the news at my brother's birthday celebration via a card that read "to the coolest Uncle". Sarah looked at it and got it right away, Jay man was pretty confused, but caught on once Sarah clapped and hugged me! Ha. 
• Paul got to tell his siblings, except for Tim, since I called Katie up. When I told her she was shocked and kept saying "can I tell her, can I tell her" - then I said "you are too, huh?!?!?" So, Tim and Katie told me they were expecting and their due date was 6 days before ours! Whoa!!! How cool! - Annabelle was born two days after Emma! :)
• The Weeks all found out after Ellie was born and I kept texting Allison while she was in the hospital. Allison's sister read one of Al's text's aloud and then one of them happened to be about me being pregnant (because I had been pretty sick at this point and was wanting to get up there to visit her, but was having a hard time getting there due to feeling sick). Ha. Glad they got to have that moment of finding out together, so I'm glad Ashley read Al's text. :) I'll just make sure never to text Allison about a surprise party or something for Ash! Ha.
• Tessie - we kept playing phone tag and missing each other, so on Mother's day, I sent her a text wishing her a happy mother's day from one mom to another! She wrote back that she was jumping up and down after church with excitement and hoping Navy would decide to come out from all that jumping around (Navy decided to arrive late and was born the next day!).
• Mary (Paul's sister) - she invited me to a Women's expo downtown Phoenix with her friend, so I went and of course they were handing out little beverages and I offered mine to Mary. She knows me well and when she realized I was giving them to her, I finally explained, yes - I can't have those because I'm pregnant! She was so sweet about it and excited for us! 

So, now the news is (was) out! Wednesday, April 16th the day we found out we were pregnant! I took a few tests before then due to my suspicion and happened to call Allison earlier that week and told her how I thought it was hilarious that I pulled out a used pregnancy test in the bag of unused tests she gave me! She said Craig wanted to keep one and then asked why I was going through those. I told her I was organizing and putting them somewhere else. Then she said, well when you do take one, make sure it's in the morning. Good to know since I kept taking them after work. So, as I was giving Paul a kiss goodbye that morning, he asked what the test said and I said, what test and how did he know. He said he heard me opening one. Ha. Man, that boy has some good ears!!! So, I told him and he was so happy, but then I had to go to work, so it wasn't the most fun way to give him the news. But I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it in all day until he got home late that night, so it was probably best that I told him before I left for work! :)


Cute story - after I got home from having lunch and shopping with Allison and her sister, Ashley, Paul was looking up baby names! :) We had a lot of boy names and very few girls names. I thought it was sweet he was already looking into names for our baby.

Welcome Emma Elizabeth Brennan

We welcomed our beautiful daughter Emma Elizabeth on Thursday, December 4th 2014 

at 3:20pm. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long. She was delivered by Doctor Linda Sodoma at Banner Gateway Hospital in Gilbert, AZ.

Her due date was Dec. 21st, so she came 17 days early! Mommy was very happy to not be dealing with pregnancy aches and pains anymore! No more throwing up or heartburn/reflux! Yay! So, here is the story of her unexpected early arrival:

On Wednesday, Dec 3rd I went to work at 7:30 am like usual and then had a Doctor's appointment after work. The doctor said I was completely closed and to come in next week for the ultra sound to measure our little girl and that she didn't think she would come early at all! (dang it) Then I went to an eyebrow appointment (whew, good timing), then stopped by the Orange Patch store/boutique for some fresh squeezed OJ made locally (seriously the best if you haven't tried it yet), a Christmas tree skirt for our first family Christmas and a cute Christmas decoration for the wall. Then dropped them off at home and quickly left to meet up with Daddy, Oma and Papa Brennan for dinner. Then Paul and I went to Home Depot to look for a Christmas tree and then Lowes since we didn't find anything there. We did get some garland to wrap around the banisters in our home. No Christmas tree yet! Then home we went. I had started sleeping on the recliner for at least 4 nights by this point and it felt so much better on my groin, why didn't I start sleeping there back in Sept when that terrible pain started! Sleeping was the worst, each time I rolled over or tried to get out of bed it felt like knives were being shoved up into my groin area, I know - too graphic! So, I got all settled into my little area on the recliner with my water, cell phone (need my alarm to wake up) and laid down with Paul on the opposite couch watching TV. I was all cozy and then decided to use the restroom one more time before falling asleep. As I pushed the recliner down my water broke! On my drive home from Lowe's I sent Allison a text message and she happened to send me one at the exact same time. So, I called her. Well, when my water broke, I called her and she was so excited to hear my voice. Apparently she told Craig the second she saw me calling "Abbey's water broke" or something along those lines. She knows me well, because I'm not a big phone talked, so knew something must be up. I don't know why I called her, but I didn't want to go to the hospital for no reason and since she's already been through this, I thought well I'll see what she says. Sure enough she said, yes, go to the hospital. So, I took a shower and Paul did some laundry for me. Then the soon to be dad showered while I packed the remaining items for the hospital bag! Yes, so many people told me have it ready to go before Thanksgiving, but of course I procrastinated, do you expect anything different?! Like me, Emma decided to make her parents be prompt! Ready or not she was coming! We were pretty excited!!! We headed to the hospital around 12:30pm. By this point I was starting to feel some pain, but prior to my water breaking I was feeling no pain - as far as contractions go! ;) We checked in, went to triage, where the confirmed my water did break. Then we were moved into the delivery room pretty quickly. Next thing I remember from this crazy and overwhelming night was it being after 6am and the anesthesiologist came in and it was someone Paul knew growing up. He said he was off at 7am if I decided to wait for the epidural then someone else would be administering it. I got my new nurse Deb at 7am and she was awesome. I don't even remember the one before her! The one before Deb said you can get the epidural whenever you want, but it will slow down the process, so I kept putting it off. Deb said, I'm a huge believer in getting it whenever you want and are ready. She said that I was so tense and that it helps labor if I allow myself to relax more, so I said I'd wait awhile longer (to be honest I was completely scared to get the shot, so the longer I waited the more I felt I could prepare myself, ha, or at least that was my theory). So, I was at 5cm when I finally decided I could use the epidural and was getting ridiculously tired of getting up to pee from all the fluids I was hooked up to and getting up was not pleasant, especially with my groin pain getting worse. This was around 9am I believe. Then I finally got some sleep after being up over 24 hours and not being able to sleep through the contractions before then. It was very weird not feeling my legs and not something I loved, not to mention whoever gave me the epidural made it a very unpleasant experience, I did not enjoy that and Paul was even weirded out by the way it was done. I didn't like that she was talking to me and I couldn't read her lips and every time I tried to look at Paul or the nurse to have them repeat what she said the nurse would jerk my head down (since my chin was supposed to be towards my chest), so you can imagine not knowing what was being said to me was making my anxiety grow even more. I sound like a wimp I know, but this was probably the worst part for me. But it was totally worth being able to get some sleep! Poor Paul never feel asleep or so he says, but I swear I saw his eyes closed a few times. :) I appreciate Paul letting me nap.  I felt bad not entertaining him, so decided to play him at a game of chess. (He taught me on our honeymoon and we would play a few times here and there on the iPad. I won!!! I think he was overly tired and anxious/excited! I was totally relaxed, so I tried not to rub it in too much. :) Then I was getting sleepy and decided to be done after one game and take a nap. After napping on each side for awhile I told the purse I was feeling a lot of pressure! So, she checked me and said baby Brennan was finally faced down and ready to come! Oh my goodness! I couldn't believe this was actually happening. It still seems surreal that we have a little beautiful baby girl with us! So, Deb and Paul helped me push for awhile and boy did the pushing hurt my head so bad! I had just gone to the doctor on Monday for a sinus infection, so my head was sooo full of pressure and holding my breath to push was pure miserary! Ha. I think if I wouldn't have been so stuffy and dealing with awful heartburn it would've been even faster, but then again I think the head pressure made me push harder and so I progressed quicker! I pushed under 40 minutes and the doctor came in and I think I pushed twice more and out Emma came! Paul was sure I'd cry, but I think I was in shock that I just had a baby and that something that large could come out. Yes, it's a miracle and Paul talks about how wild and amazing the human body is, I'm just as amazed, but still shocked. I think I was still feeling a bit numb. I often think about what the deliver would've been like had she come closer to her due date and am so thankful she came early at a healthy 8lbs and 2 oz! Whew! I was 2 weeks early and 8lbs and 4 oz - you're welcome mom. ;) Ha. Like mother, like daughter. My heartburn/reflux went away immediately just like everyone said it would. I kept downing ice chips in between pushing thinking that would make it go away and Deb finally said, I think it's making it worse. Well, anything down the throat was helping at that one second, but I finally stopped since those people tend to know their stuff. So, I definitely did not want my picture taken this day or any day around the end of the pregnancy... I wish I would've had a few taken after that moment of me holding her for the first time. I didn't take many pictures during this entire pregnancy, people always asked me why and my best response was since I felt pretty crummy the whole time - I never wanted a picture to show that, because I was pretty sure since I felt crummy I looked crummy as well. I know I didn't, but that was how I felt the whole 8 months. The first 5 weeks were the best! Ha!

So, after her delivery Paul and I got to have a "Golden Hour" where it is just us two and Emma. There were a few times where they came in to just clean up or do something, but we didn't really notice them. It felt completely natural to have her in my arms and I never thought I'd feel that way. I will admit I had anxiety about being a mother, mostly because I had never been one and wondered if I'd know what to do, how would I know what she needed, etc, etc... but all my worries went away that moment I held her. My favorite memory and moment was watching Paul and seeing him hold our daughter for the first time. This is a picture I took of him holding her and I'm so glad I captured this moment. 

After that we slowly started getting ready to move to the postpartum room. I was feeling so much better! I was so happy and relieved she came early and I was no longer pregnant. I still wish I could've been one of those people who loved being pregnant, but I unfortunately was not. She was definitely worth it all though and I know my pain during the pregnancy could've been much worse, so I was lucky. That night Paul mom's and my parents came to visit their newest granddaughter! We got a lot of grief for not having a name picked out yet! I don't know why, but picking out a name was the hardest thing of this whole pregnancy! Ha. I didn't like the stress of not having a name and having to finalized it before we were kicked out of the room, so next time I'd like to have it picked out. We had our top two names, then Friday morning I threw out the third one that got knocked out the month before, I just made the name picking worse by bringing it back into the mix. It was between Emma (first name from the get go, should've just stuck with it back in April!), Annie and Madison (Maddie). We started asking the hospital workers what their favorite name was and had a tally on our white board going! I'm not sure what the tally was for, but in the end we ended up naming her Emma after all. I think I always knew that was her name, but I just wanted to be sure after hearing some people say they changed their child's name later or ended up picking a different one once they were born. Our nights at the hospital were good ones. On Friday night she slept a long time and the nurse came in and asked if I fed her! I saw the clock and said, "No!!! I didn't think I was going to sleep that long!", I felt terrible, but she never woke up crying, so looking back I'm not too worried about going past an hour of when I was hoping to feed her. She's a great eater and has been from the get go. She definitely has her dad's appetite, I often think I'd be exhausted from eating as much as she does! Ha. Especially with it being just milk, ewww. ;) Her doctor, who checked on her was Dr. Jacks from the pediatrician's office and he was so nice. He said her color was great and she was a very healthy baby. Yay! Her primary pediatrician is Dr. Randy Leavitt, he was mine and my brother's doctor growing up and we really like him! It's so nice having someone you have a history with look after your baby! It was so nice getting to see him after all these years and I was incredibly impressed that he remembered I had one brother who went on to play college basketball and that one of had hearing aids/hearing loss. I told him that was me. What a good memory! It must be fun getting to see all his old patients children now, he said it was pretty neat. When we go see him and he checks her he always says "she's perfect". :) I'm sure all doctors say it, but I always think it is sweet of him to say. I'm such a sucker I know! So back to our postpartum stay at the hospital... on Friday we had a great day! Emma was perfect and Paul slept better this night. I am fortunate enough to be able to take out my hearing aids when I go to sleep and I can still hear her "I'm hungry/feed me" cry! I know Paul lays awake hearing her every sound/movement, poor guy. I've noticed I've been hearing different sounds when I'm trying to go back to sleep at night, things I've never heard before, so I will put a hearing aid in, my glasses on and look over at her and seeing her sleeping peacefully and then take them off/out and go back to sleep or I will roll over and ask Paul if she is making noises. So, that Friday both our parents came back to visit Emma, our good family friend, Sarah Hamrock got to meet her, Paul's sister Mary and Jason came by and my brother, Tyler and Meg came too! Tyler and Meg brought the kids since we had windows and were on the bottom floor. My dad checked it out the night before to see if the kids would be able to see in and he could. So, Tyler, Meg, Mckaley and Mikey all walked up to the window and knocked! We raised the blinds and showed them Emma! My brother came in first, then Paul went outside to be with the kids, so Meg could come inside too. It was fun to see Tyler and Meg with their first niece/nephew! Meg's brother doesn't have children, so this is the first cousin for Mckaley and Mike! It was so fun to see the excitement on Mckaley and Mikey's face even from inside! Children that were not your own weren't allowed to come into the hospital during this time of the year, so we made the most of those windows and am glad we got that room, so they could come see her! We had a nice little evening with the three of us watching the UofA football game against Oregon that went horribly wrong! ;) I have a bunch of other photos on my phone from the kids through the window to just sitting in bed and snapping pictures of Emma sleeping. I didn't get any of the grandparents with Emma, so need them to send me some photos when they get a chance now that the holidays are over! :) Here are a few for now! 

 Uncle Tyler

Aunt Meg

The sweet postpartum nurse, Angelica made this cute little hat for Emma. 

We finally got to go home Saturday late morning! It was so nice to bring her home! Paul's brother Peter came over and then Allison, Craig and their daughter Ellie, Emma's bff came by a few hours after we got home! It was nice to have visitors and people wanting to meet our little girl! Ellie did not like when her mommy and daddy were holding Emma, but it was fun to see them together! 

 Finally going home! 

Meeting the Peters family and the two newest bffs meeting for the first time! 

So, that's it for the labor/delivery & hospital story! Stay tuned for more Emma and Brennan family photos/stories and adventures!