The Bryant Bunch: Here she is!!!

Alexa Bryant - 11/19/2012 - 7 lbs 15 oz - 21 inches long

It was quite the interesting labor and delivery, much different then we were expecting. After the very fast labor with Courtney (just over 2 hrs once I woke up to a very small leak of amniotic fluid until she was born) my doctor and I were worried that I may not make it to the hospital! Needless to say it was my second longest labor.

I went in for my checkup and had a fairly long wait. While I was waiting I started to have regular contractions (but no real pain yet). I only had false labor once with Lauren. While my doctor was checking me I changed from a 3 to 4 cm dilation! She stripped my membranes and told me to go to the hospital if I had even 2 more contractions because I was probably going to have a baby that day! It was super exciting but scary too. I started having contractions again on the way to pick up carpool. I made it to our house and waited for the wood floor guys (who happened to be 45 min late!). I called Brock and he me at my mom's since that is where we were living while our house was being fixed. I went to my mom's, packed a bag quickly, took the car seat apart so my mom could wash it and waited for Brock. My contractions were very regular and I was a little uncomfortable but felt like I still had some time to go.

Brock drove us to the hospital and my contractions stopped briefly while we were on our way. Thankfully they started up again. I was surprised to find out I hadn't changed dilation any after being there for an hour, but I knew my doctor would keep me because of my history of precipitous delivery. My contractions came strongly for a while then would stop for about 10 min then start up again all evening. Dr. Haakenson decided to start a mini dose of Pitocin, but then quickly turned it off < 10 min after starting it so she could attend another delivery, thinking I would progress rapidly. . .and I did! I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push when she came in to check on me after finishing the other delivery. Unfortunately Alexa's heart rate dropped and scared us half to death, so I had to push her out quickly! Thank goodness I pushed her out quickly with not too significant of a tear, but it was worth it for a healthy baby.

Alexa was pretty calm while we were in the hospital, usually only crying when she was hungry. She was quite a spitter though and frequently choked on her secretions and reflux and that hasn't changed but her good nature certainly has! She has a classic case of colic, which have been unfortunate enough to know about since we had to deal with it once before with Courtney. Luckily Courtney's colic ended right around 12 weeks when I went back to work, then Lauren was diagnosed with cancer. Needless to say things can't go according to plan for us around here. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Alexa's colic will end around then too and not the 9-12 months it CAN last!!! She is 6 weeks old now and I can't imagine dealing with this much longer then 6 more weeks. Alexa has a more severe case of colic and after trying lots of remedies, it has only lessened it a little bit. We given her a probiotic, Colic Calm gripe water, and Mylicon (which doesn't seem to do anything except for calm her down for a few sec and maybe get her to suck on a binky for a minute or two). She is our first baby that hasn't taken to the binky which makes it even harder to calm her down. She will calm down if you hold her close, bounce her while patting her back/bum, and making the shhhhh noise over and over, walking around at the same time. It makes for 1 sore back and shoulder area. I remember well with Courtney how everyone thought she was the best baby, but they didn't see her from 8-midnight every night! Brock and I would trade off every 45 min trying to get her to stop crying. . .NO FUN at all! Alexa's is worse because not only does she cry a lot during the middle of the night, she usually starts crying by around 6 PM and it doesn't generally let up. I have to laugh whenever anyone makes a comment about how good she is. . .we love her despite the endless screaming, but we can hardly wait for this colic stuff to end!

I'm here!

Do you see the family resemblance?

Courtney meets Alexa! She is such a good helper too:)

Proud brother.

Happy big sister. They all loved holding her for a few seconds at a time.

Thanks Grandma Nita for watching the kids and toting them around to school and to visit us at the hospital.

Aunt Anna.

Aunt Alyssa.

1st Family photo! Maybe one day we will all be looking at the same time:)

Little ball of love!

Grandma Jenny got to see Alexa at work everyday while we were in the hospital.

Papa Greg. . . p.s. thanks for the yummy chocolates:)

Aunt Frankie.

Cousin Serena.

Great Grandma Dolores.

Aunt Becah. . .Courtney loved playing with her nail polish while hanging out at the hospital with mom and dad. Thanks for the cute outfit too! It will fit Alexa in no time!