Archer Michael Berrett: birth story.

I now completely understand all those women you see in public places just letting their ba-donks out to Brest feed their baby.

But let's start from the beginning.

It was our wedding night...haha just kidding. Not that far back. 

 So my last post I explained how on that Monday I got my membranes stripped and it basically did nothing. Obviously. It either works in two days or not at all. 

Continuing on with that story; So that week rolls on and my cute husband still has me in baby boot camp; pine apple, walking curbs, raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on the exercise ball, doing the dirty, we seriously did EVERYTHING to get this baby out and I just never felt different. Contractions here and there, even ones I could count, but it just never got bad.

Sunday morning, July-27, I woke up to another one of those light contractions around 8:30 am. I didn't think anything of it and grabbed my phone to do my morning routine of social media, and about five minutes later it hit me again. Another light contraction. I still wasn't worried or getting excited but I had a feeling this time might be different. I started timing them and by the time Brandon work up around 10:00 it had been a solid hour and a half of contractions every five minutes. They still weren't super bad but they were getting there! We laid in bed for a minute and I finally mentioned to him what was going on. He asked what we should do and duh! I had to get my makeup on! Haha so I started getting ready for the day, I just had to pause for those dang contractions! Brandon maybe had a slight freak out and started going ham on cleaning the house. Not like picking up dirty laundry, like move everything out of the kitchen and get down on your hands and knees! 

By the time I had done my makeup and hair I could hardly walk when the contractions hit, they were still 5 minutes apart but getting bad. We called our parents and told them what was happening and decided to go to the hospital just to get checked out.

One thing hospitals do that expecting mothers don't know about; if you go into labor before your due date, they won't believe you. The nurses make you sit in a room for up to an hour with the machine monitoring you. 

We got to american fork hospital right before noon and they pulled me back into a room and checked my cervix, I was dilated to a 3.5. She hooked me up to a machine and left. Oh boy was that hour P U R E. H E L L. 

My contractions were every minute or two at that point and beyond painful poor Brandon had no idea what to do! My older sister had her cute boy all natural (she is crazy) and was telling me little tips and tricks on how to keep your body calm to help the contractions. I call bull shit on all of that. There is no such thing to help contractions Haha. They are of the devil and that's it. 

Okay so after the hour in that room the nurse comes back and checks me, lucky I had progressed so they could admit me! At 1:00 I was dilated to a 4.5.

So we move rooms and luckily the Anistesologist (did I spell that right?) was right there waiting and I got my epidural fast! Epidurals don't hurt, but there is like annoying pressure and a baby poke as he is doing it. The worst part was the antibiotics I had to get in my IV for being positive for what is called 'group B Strep'. It's nothing crazy but I need it to prevent the baby from getting it. The antibiotic was penicillin. It hurt so so so so bad going through my arm! For a good five minutes I felt like my arm was going to fall off, it probably would have been better if it had. 

*From here on my story moves pretty dang quick so hang in there! I'm sorry this is such a long post!*

So once I got my epidural, our families and my good friend Madie show up. I was feeling so freaking good at that point, watching the monitor say my contractions were twice the strenght they were before, but I COULDN'T FEEL A THING! It was amazing. 

The nurse came back to check me, I was at a 6 at 2:30 pm! Progressing very fast. My doctor showed up at 3:30 to break my water and I was dilated to an 8. By 4:15 I was a full 10 dilated and ready to push! What amazing feeling that is. I couldn't feel anything down there so I really didn't know if I was pushing, but the people in the delivery room all kept saying, 'look at all that hair!' Haha so I figured I was doing good. 

Fifteen minutes later or beautiful Archer made his was into this world. Screaming and waving his long fingers around. 7lbs 1oz and 19 inches long. He is perfect. Absolutely perfect. 

A few things about after delivery: emotions are off the chart; way worse then during pregnancy, nurses have to push on your stomach to check everything and it hurts really bad, and you dread going to the bathroom. 

Breast feeding is really hard.. But we are getting the hang of it. My little man is the light of our world and we love him so much. I am just so happy to be home now!

This is my world and I could stare at it all day. I couldn't have asked for a better husband. He has done beyond what I asked everytime and goes so far out of his way for our family. He is such an amazing father.

Eviction notice.

Well I have hit full term! Although these days, most doctors don't consider you full term until around 39 weeks, I am 37 and a half weeks and ready to be done! 

Yesterday at my doctors appointment I was dilated to a 3 and fully effaced...how can I be FULLY EFFACED and not be in labor?! 

My doctor literally laughed when he checked me and said I was fully effaced. Me and Brandon still have no idea what we are doing so we were like, 'well what now?' Haha. I really like my doctor! (Side note: he actually delivered me and all my siblings! And now my baby, pretty cool!) so I definitely want him to be the one to deliver my babe, even though all he does is come in at the last part and then leave..

Anyway. This is on a Monday right? So doctor Corey tells me and Brandon that he will be gone from Wednesday night to Saturday night and he wants us to meet his partner doctor incase I go into labor while he is gone. Grrrrreat. Of course that would happen to me, Have my baby while my doctor is out of town. So basically we have two days to have this thing or hope he stays in till next week which is VERY unlikely to happen. 

I asked my doctor how he felt about stripping my membrabes and he agreed immediately. With how far along I already was he felt like I would come fast. 

For those who don't know, membrane stripping is... Well freak I don't even know. Google it. Some uncomfortable thing he does to my cervix or uterus wall that separates two things from each other? Haha but it's supposed to help induce labor. What I DO know about it is it either works within 24-48 hours or won't work at all. 

For some weird reason I freaked out and decided I didn't want to strip my membranes.. So me and Brandon left the Doctors and Brandon headed to work. 

A couple hours later after talking to my sister and mom we decided it couldn't hurt anything! If it works, great! If not, we are back to square one, wondering if he will come while my doctor is gone. Oh! And my in-laws would be gone that same time also. Awesome huh?

I called my doctor around 12:30 pm and told him I had changed my mind and wanted to come back to strip my membranes, he said to come back in right then! Ah! So I drive back, got it done, and went over to my parents house. Membrane stripping does not hurt p.s. It it's just very uncomfortable. 

So I colored my sisters hair and we went to mosey around the DI. By then it was about 3:30 and I was already spotting (gross, sorry) and cramping. So I was getting excited! 

Brandon got off work and we met back at our house. He turned into a freaking drill Sargent and was trying to make me down red raspberry leaf tea, walk curbs and anything else we could think of or google that induces labor haha. 

We went to the store and bought a pineapple, I found some crazy pregnancy dance that made Brandon pee his pants laughing while he watched me do it, and I took a nap:). Last night about 9:00 pm we went out to walk curbs and stairs and my legs were already sore from that dang pregnancy dance! But we walked for about 20 minutes before i was done and tired. 

After I cooled off, our baby was dancing around inside me and Brandon got to feel his little feet popping out of my sides for a good half an hour! I love when Brandon gets to feel him:). 

I just wish he could feel his feet OUTSIDE my body haha! 

I went to sleep last night with some pretty knarly cramping and mild contractions...it is now 5:00 pm on Tuesday, so about 29 hours since the stripping... And no baby. But contractions are happening so that is a plus. Another plus is I don't need my kitchen table anymore!! I have my own built-in table to hold all this nasty pineapple I am trying to eat. Lets hope hope hope baby Berrett comes tomorrow! 

large and in charge.

With only five weeks till my due date and a baby who is trying to come early, I can't help but look back on the last month and how much I have changed! Right now baby Berrett is measuring almost 5 pounds and 18 inches long! He definitely is a mover and loves to stretch out up in my ribs. Even though I have been having either contractions or R E A L L Y painful Braxton hicks, I'm kind of sad to have this baby! Every night as I'm falling asleep, and when I wake up, just laying in bed, he goes crazy. I swear I can see his little toes as his feet kick out of my sides. I love my quiet time with our little man. It's the most amazing feeling ever, knowing I am lucky enough to carry a human inside me. 

BUT! On the flip side, I get to be a freaking mom and I want this kid out of me so I can make sure he isn't ugly.... I'm really worried he might be funny looking. I mean me and Brandon are pretty dang sexy;) but sometimes cute couples have ugly kids... Either way I know we will love him. And if not there is always plastic surgery.... Haha kidding! I'm so mean. 

Although the last few weeks of belly pictures have been making me rreeaallllyy sad, it's funny to see how baby Berrett's position makes my stomach really poop out, sit lower, or seem (somewhat) small(ish). 

^If only you could see my pants in this picture, I had on normal jeans and I'm pretty sure the pony tail holding them together was about to pop. 

^baby Berrett sticks his butt out and it's the funniest thing, but it makes my belly look kind of pokey looking like in this picture. 

^i don't know what the crap went down this week but I was HUGE! Very round and... Huge. This is the week I had a melt down and cried to my husband haha.

^And the most recent picture. Still big, but not like the last picture. My back constantly hurts, I am out of breath walking the 30 seconds from my house to my work, and my most favorite treat of all time (popcorn) makes me sick. 

But seriously. Over all I love being pregnant, It was meant for me. I have one pretty perfect life I must say. 

Sneak peek

Like most people, we are keeping our baby's name a secret...unless you ask me, then I'll tell you haha. But we also don't want to go flaunting the nursery around either! We are so freaking excited for it to come together and we are getting so close:). 

Baby Berrett already has more clothes then me! He is definitely going to be a romper baby, i mean seriously, those things couldn't get any cuter. We are still debating on what his outfit will be to come home from the hospital, but right now it's that cute little jean romper in the front! Beauty before comfort right? ;)

I had to sneak a peek of Brandon's favorite thing about the nursery, Because it's pretty freaking awesome. I just can't wait!! 

These are our colors:) plus a little gold here and there. I cannot wait for it all to be finished! Little Berrett is already one spoiled baby...and I love it. 

Last night me and Brandon had A 'oh crap' moment, realizing we are less then 8 weeks from having our sweet boy. I guess you can only prepare so much for something you've never had, we couldn't be more excited and nervous:).

Baby vogue

Pregnancy brings a lot of discomfort to your life. You feel chubby and tired all the time, your feet swell up, you get stretch marks, your extremely hormonal, it's seriously a joyous time;).

But really. Pregnancy to me feels like it was meant for me. Besides all the downfalls it has, it's the most amazing feeling knowing I'm growing a HUMAN inside me. SO CRAZY! It blows my freaking mind every time our baby boy moves inside me. I could cry. Sometimes I do haha, hormones, what to ya do. 

But it's still hard. Its hard having to lean forward to see my own swollen toes, It's hard walking up after a wonderful 8 hours of sleep and feeling like a bus hit me, I'm a l w a y s tired. And it's hard seeing my body get bigger and the scale go up as I gain weight. 

I absolutely love pregnant bellies and seeing girls take the cutest maternity pictures! My good friend Madie who I've known since we were wee little things offered to take some pictures for us! What better way to feel better about my body then to look damn sexy with my hott hubs in a photo shoot, so I said yes! 

It was a drama-filled couple of weeks trying to find outfits, I almost killed the kid working at forever21 but that's a whole other story...

But last night we met up with mads and I just am drooling over how they turned out. She is amazing! So here is your overload of our maternity pictures:)

If I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be this one.. :) 

Or this one because it's just steamy;)

So feel free to send any of these to baby vogue magazine if there is such a thing. 

Hallelujah

the month of May was extremely long and hard for both me and Brandon. He started a second job, which means I didn't see him from 7:00 am to about 10:00 pm Monday through Friday, and then I work all day on Saturdays! On top of that he was finishing up two college classes on line so once he got home from his long days at work he sat at the computer till 4:00 in the morning, kid you not. This kid is crazy! I don't know how he did it. And for me it was hard because I was a single wifey! 

But the month was winding Down and I decided we needed a getaway. With a baby on the way I just decided one night in park city was enough haha. I so I made reservations for last Saturday night and wasn't going to tell Brandon... But I did. I spoiled it. Because we can't ever keep secrets from each other dangit. 

Saturday came and I worked a half day then we headed out!! We love park city, we went there for our honeymoon and are Determined to have a house there someday. Once we got settled in the hotel room we grabbed a bite to eat. If anyone is looking into hotels to stay, we stayed at the westgate resort and it was so nice! 

We ate at this little grill restaurant that was in our hotel, super cute, the weather was too perfect so we sat outside.

It was seriously just a perfect night getaway! 

We saw a movie... Neighbors... It was hilarious, so funny. But man it's crazy what producers can get away with. That movie was D I R T Y....but still funny haha.

On our honeymoon we ate breakfast several times at the bridge bar and grill, they have these amazing little potato things that are to die for! So duh we had to go there for breakfast Sunday:)

Such a quick vacation but just what we needed to celebrate the month being over. It was so nice getting into bed at the same time as my husband for once haha. I just love him.

girls weekend

last year for mothers day, my two sisters, my mom and i all went down to st george for the weekend with my aunt and cousin. we had so much fun we decided to do it again this year! except we went the weekend after mothers day and bailie wasn't able to make it due to senior prom. so it ended up just being me, my mom, bre and gunner.

Saturday morning we walked (more of a hike for me) to the top of dixie rock. seriously. aren't those the cutest chubby legs you've ever seen??

we got snow cones while in st george and i cheated!! i cheated on snoasis and i will be forever sorry because it was just nasty. now i am craving snoasis like crazy. man that stuff is good.

and we swam, because duh. its st george and it was 95 degrees. but my swimming consisted of sitting in this floaty, in the kiddie section of the pool, and i didn't mind one bit. it was beyond relaxing. all around it was a great weekend away! but now i am so happy i am home with my hubby and my own bed:)