The Doggett Family Update

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I am going to try to keep up with it, but we will see about that. Anyways, we have had a major change in our life so here goes nothing.

Finding out about our little miracle
One day in July of last year, I felt really funny all day. I went to sleep the night before around 9 and slept until 11 the next morning. I should have been well rested, but for some reason I still felt exhausted. I don't know what made me do this, but I decided to just take a pregnancy test. I did not even think I was pregnant, but had one and thought I would just use it up. I have been told most of my life by doctors that more than likely I will not be able to get pregnant without help from fertility drugs. To my amazement, I looked at the stick and I was pregnant. What?!?!?! I could not believe it. I called Justin and his reply was, "Are you kidding me?" I said, "Yes, I am kidding you...I just thought hey let me call Justin and play a joke on him....NO!!! I am not kidding you!" To be on the safe side, Justin made me take 2 more tests (we didn't want to get our hopes up for nothing). Both of those tests showed positive as well. Yay!!! We are pregnant....it was such an amazing feeling. We chose Dr. Kara Brantley to be our doctor...she is amazing! We had our first sonogram at 6 weeks and heard the heart beat and from that moment on, we were in love. The baby's due date was supposed to be March 29 (I will get to why I said supposed to be later on in this post).

1st Trimester
My first trimester was not too bad. I did not get morning sickness, but I was exhausted all of the time. When a pregnant woman tells you how exhausted she is, this is what she means....try to imagine taking 6 Benadryl and trying to function during the day. The first trimester is over before I even knew it.

2nd Trimester
During my second trimester, my exhaustion got better, but I started getting migraine headaches. The migraine headaches lead to me being very nauseated a lot! I ran to the bathroom so many times. I even threw up in my office....couldn't make it to the bathroom in time.
My favorite part about the 2nd trimester was finding out what we were having. We were so nervous that day. Our sonographer asked Justin what he thought we were having. Justin said, "A girl." The sonographer circled an object on the screen and asked, "Do girls have this?" He shouted, "It's a boy?!?!?!" We were thrilled. We couldn't believe it. We decided to name him Brayden, but Justin was in charge of the middle name. He wanted to keep it a secret. All I knew was that it was between Erik (Justin's middle name) or Everett (Justin's dad's, brother's, grandfather's, and so on down line middle name). By the 20th week, I was showing big time!

3rd Trimester
I thought the first trimester was exhausting, but I was very wrong. The third trimester is the worst trimester of all. I was a whale! I not only had gained 40 something pounds, but I was so swollen. By the third trimester, the only thing you can think of is when is this baby going to get here. I was constantly counting down the days. Rolling over in bed or walking down the hall took more effort than I was willing to give. To make matters worse, Brayden was sitting on my bladder so I had to get up every hour to use the restroom.
On March 4th, I had a doctor's appointment (beginning in March I was supposed to see the doctor once a week). That day my blood pressure was really high. They sent me down to the lab to get some blood work taken. The doctor decided that I needed to be admitted into the hospital. I was monitored and had to urinate in a bottle for 12 hours to determine how much protein was in my specimen. That night I was allowed to go home, but I had to return with the specimen the next day. On March 5th at 3:00 pm, the doctor called to tell me that I had preeclampsia and I needed to have Brayden early. The next week, Brayden was going to be 37 weeks so she said that would be a good time. She wanted me to come to the hospital on March 9th and I would be induced on March 10th.

The Big Day
Justin had to work on March 9th (it was busy season...poor thing) so I drove myself to the hospital and arrived at 3 pm. They admitted me and the fun (sarcasm) began. I can honestly say that one of the worst parts about labor and delivery (for me) was the IV. The nurse couldn't find my vein so she had to dig and dig and dig. I started crying because I thought if I can't handle this...how will I make it through tomorrow. They immediately start you on fluids to keep you hydrated and they continue those fluids until well after you have had the baby. My friend, Jamie, came to stay with me until Justin got off work. After Jamie got there, Dr. Brantley came in and inserted a balloon to help me dialate because at this point I had still not dialated or thinned out at all. She also gave me cervadil to help start the thinning process. I started having contractions. They were not too bad at first, but after so many they start to get very old. I asked for a pain reliever to help me sleep so they gave me Stadol. The only thing that medicine did was make me nauseous...it did not help me sleep at all.
Around 6 the next morning, the nurse came in to wake me, but she didn't have to do much awaking because I had not slept at all that night. She asked me if I wanted to get an enema and I chose to have one. It was not bad at all...I worried but I recommend it to anyone. She then isntructed me to take a shower and wash with this certain type of soap that prevents infections. After my bath, the nurse started me on pitocin. I was very nervous, because I thought I was going to immediately start having bad contractions. I was wrong. I just kept having the same ones from the night before. Dr. Brantley got there around 7:30. She checked me and discovered that I was 3.5 centimeters dialated. Woo hoo!!! Next, she broke my water around 8 am. I was nervous about this but it is not bad either. It is just very warm and wet. About 30 minutes after my water was broke, I felt it....my first bad contraction. I was fourth in line for an epidural. After five very bad contractions, I asked for Stadol. The stadol did not help so I don't know why I even bothered. In fact, all it did was make me very loopy. Finally, the doctor came in to give me my epidural. He made me lay in a fetal position and before I know it...I felt zero pain. It was not bad at all! A little before 10 am (yes 10:30 am...woo hoo not a long labor at all), the nurse checked me and I was at 8.5 centimeters. She said that it is time to push. I couldn't believe it. My mom was in labor for 23 hours and I have only been in labor for less than 3. I start pushing and around 11 she called Dr. Brantley down. By the time Dr. Brantley got there, Brayden had moved back down and my pushing went from being great to nonexistent. The funny part was that my nurses would say, "You are doing a great job....keep it up...." then they would look at each other (as if I couldn't hear) and say, "She is not even pushing." After 30 minutes of pushing, Dr. Brantley made the executive decision to CUT OFF my epidural. What? Cut it off? I panicked....I started begging her to just vacuum him out. I was so scared. Thankfully, she didn't listen to me about the vacuum thing. They turned off my epidural and the second I felt pain we started pushing. I pushed and within minutes Brayden was crowning. It was the worst feeling in the world at that point....then I find out I have to hold off on my pushing until Dr. Brantley could come down. When you don't have the epidural, you feel this extreme pressure and feeling of pushing....it is not a great feeling when you have to force yourself to not push. I was screaming telling them to hurry and that I can't hold it anymore....I have to push....I have to push....I can't hold it. I know this is graphic, but I was definitely feeling the ring of fire!!! Dr. Brantley finally arrived and one push later, my precious angel popped out. That was the best feeling of relief in the world. Brayden Everett Doggett born at 12:27 pm (only 4 hours and 27 minutes of labor). I remember being stitched up and hearing Justin say his middle name. I yelled, "Did you say Everett?"...it was so cool to finally know his full name.

My Gift from God
The first time I laid eyes on Brayden was amazing. He was so beautiful. He had looked at me and my heart melted. I could not believe that Justin and I had made him. It is an instant love and bond that no other person can share. He is the apple of my eye. I can't imagine my life without him it. Being a mommy is the best gift God could ever give someone. I love the way he smells, the sucking noise he makes with his mouth, the way his mouth moves when he has his paci in it, his eyes, his feet and toes, the way his hair fuzzes up in the back, his fingers espcecially his thumb, his smile, his lips, his kissable chubby cheeks, his little booty, the way he looks when I turn him over during bath time (so funny), how he makes every outfit the cutest outfit in the world, the way his eyes slowly open and close while he is feeding, okay I love everything about him to say the least.

My Husband
Justin has been the most amazing husband and daddy through this whole experience. While I was on maternity leave, he took turns with me getting up with Brayden. I was off work and could take naps during the day and he couldn't but he chose to still help me. Brayden got colic at 3 weeks old. He would start fussing around 5 pm everyday and then around 9 pm he started his blood curtaling cry and did not stop until 1:30 or 2 am. This can make a sane person go insane. When I would be at my wits end, Justin was always there for me. He would take Brayden and calm me down. I cried a lot and Justin would always make me feel better. I couldn't have done this without him. This experience has brought us so close. My favorite thing in the world is to watch Justin hold Brayden. You can see the love and amazement in his eyes. Many times Justin is the only one that can get Brayden to calm down. This makes Justin very happy. There is nothing in the world that is more precious than a daddy and his little boy.

Well that pretty much wraps things up. Nowadays, we are busy cleaning bottles, changing diapers, and enjoying watching Brayden change before our eyes. He is two months now and he has started to smile a lot. I can't wait to see what the future holds for our little family.