Getting Older

My kids are getting older. I can’t believe how fast Briella is growing and Braxton is monstrous to me now. Because of my recovery, I haven’t been able to pick Braxton up or let him sit on my lap for two weeks and when he climbed up onto my lap today, I couldn’t believe how huge he is. He is definitely not a baby anymore. He is so cute and every day is getting more adjusted to having a baby in the house. He finally went to sleep without crying and slept in his bed last night—first time in three weeks.

Today we took Briella to her two week checkup and she is SO small! She has regained her birth weight plus some, which is good, but is still only 6 lbs. 13 oz. (10th percentile). She has grown two inches in length, but that is only 38th percentile and just like Braxton, she has a small head (13th percentile). She still has a little yellow in her coloring, but we hope that will go away in a few days. She also has some tear duct drainage, which is sad to have to clean out her eyes every few hours, but also not serious. Other than that, she is cute as a button and doing really well. She is happiest when nursing, but has been really good about sleeping between feedings at night.

Here are some pics of my growing kids!

Braxton has a new habit of putting his hands in his pockets—awesome!


Boxes are the best toys

My sweet angel is 2 weeks old

It’s Been One Crazy Week

Bringing home a newborn will always add some craziness to life, but this week has been extra crazy. Luckily, Briella has been just an angel so far. She sleeps all the time, even at night. We only have to get up for the feedings and then put her back in bed, which has provided us with more sleep than we expected to get the first week. She is also a great eater and we’ve had no problems with nursing so far except me being really sore.

I am recovering really well and find myself pushing too hard and regretting it at night when the pain catches up with me. I can’t believe that I actually felt well enough that I was able to go to my little sister’s wedding on Friday. She looked so beautiful and is so happy. I am so grateful that I was able to be there for her special day.

Coming home from the hospital

Sweet baby Briella


Jess and Brian

Family Picture

Sitting with grandma at Jess’s wedding reception

Braxton and his cousin Sienna



Briella’s First Bath

Introducing Briella Lulloff

Our little Briella was born on Friday July 29th 2011 at Timpanogos Hospital in Orem. She’s 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 18 inches long with curly dark hair.

The Birth Story (skip if you just want to see pictures!)

Friday morning I went to the hospital for my second amino. We were trying not to be hopeful since last week I only scored a 29 and we needed a 50 for them to let me deliver the baby. The doctor was great and the whole experience was a lot better than the week before. After he took out the needle, he told us that light affects the results so he had to put the fluid into dark tubes—something the doctor last week didn’t do and may have skewed the results. An hour later, the nurse came to tell us I scored a 73! I have never even heard of a jump that big in the lung score, but hey, we’ll take it. The doctor couldn’t do the c-section until later that night, so we went home and called my parents who jumped in the car and drove down to help us with Braxton.

We went back to the hospital at 3 pm where they started prepping me for surgery. It took 3 nurses and 4 painful pokes later to get my IV in. I swear getting the IV was worse than both aminos put together. When the OR was ready, I walked down and got up on the table. The anesthesiologist gave me the spinal injection. This was the only time I shed tears and they were tears of fear for what was coming, not tears of pain. The actual injection was not that bad, again, the IV was worse. Once I started going numb and they got me down on the table, I was surprised at how calm I was. It is the weirdest feeling ever to feel your body go numb that fast. Literally seconds after the shot and I couldn’t even lift my own legs up on the table. The anesthesiologist was amazing and so nice, my doctors were joking and laughing, and my nurse was extremely attentive.

The total time in the OR was less than 1 hour! I couldn’t believe how fast everything went and how different the experience was compared with my prior c-section. I am a little bummed that they cut a different line because I now have two scars across my lower stomach. But, on the upside, I am feeling much better physically at this point than I did last time. I was actually going for short walks at the hospital and am doing some things myself that I still wasn’t doing 3 weeks after having Braxton. Emotionally, I feel more like myself as well, as long as I keep up with the pain meds.

Briella had a short overnight stay in the special care nursery the first night. She was grunting a little and the doctors were concerned that she was having trouble breathing. Then a test came back indicating she may have a slight infection, so they kept her overnight. She ended up being fine and was returned to us by noon on Saturday.

Briella has been great at nursing and hopefully we will be able to continue nursing this time, also unlike my experience with Braxton. I just have to say that nursing is hard work and super painful. I hope that the pain and soreness eases soon! Briella is borderline jaundice and every day we expect the doctor give us the dreaded light bed, but so far we have narrowly avoided it by supplementing a little formula after nursing.

Our first night home was not too bad and we got a few hours of sleep broken up throughout the night. The worst part of the night was when Braxton woke up and wouldn’t go back to sleep. He is having a hard time adjusting to the changes and decided a few weeks ago that he didn’t like his room or his bed. This problem only intensified with our absence during the hospital stay. Hopefully, now that we are home we can help him get back into a good sleep pattern.

Okay, enough story. Here are the pictures!

Before we left for the hospital

On the table and under the knife

First time in my arms

A family of four

Giving kisses

Curly dark hair like her momma

Sleeping with Grandpa

Being adored by Grandmas

Venting Just a Little

I never have any luck in the hospital. Every time I go for an ultrasound to find out anything, like the gender, they can never tell me what I want to know. Also, every time I do an aminocentisis, the baby's lungs are never ready and we have to wait. It's so frustrating and makes me hate having tests with a passion, which is even more than the usual amount of hate for tests!

We went to the hospital this morning hoping and thinking we were welcoming our new baby girl into our lives and now are experiencing deja vu of when we thought we were going to have Braxton. The amino needs to have a score of 50 in order for them to be sure the lungs are developed. The doctors told me how common it is for babies to score a 50 and how girl's lungs develop faster than boys. But I've never scored that high. We did two aminos with Braxton and neither were even close. However, we were pretty sure it would happen today, but no, we only scored a 29. Not even close. Shame on me for not remembering that tests never go the way I want and having hope. They want to do the same thing next week, but because our number was so low, I really don't have any expectations that we will make that big of a jump to score a 50 in one week. Basically, this means I may be waiting 2 weeks and having my baby on the worst day possible for the whole year--my sister's wedding day!

Yeah, I'm just venting a little and will be over it in a few days. But, it is so disappointing to spend a sleepless night of nerves, followed by a long morning of anticipation, and ending in low spirits and a sore stomach with contractions from the procedure. I hate this whole process and can't wait until it's over and we can have our baby here.

Girls Trip to Park City

The girls on my Grandma Foster's side spent a few days in Park City away from the kids to play and relax. We stayed in a beautiful condo at the Canyons, swam in the pool, played games, shopped at the outlet mall, and enjoyed each other's company. It was a fun little get-a-away and my last hoorah before the baby comes. Thanks Grandma for a wonderful trip.

Out for dinner at the Silver Star Cafe

We stayed at a beautiful resort at the Canyons

Some of the girls lined up to go down the mountain

Brave Grandma did the alpine slide, zipline, and coaster!

Getting Close

Much to my dismay, the time is growing close for our new little addition to come and we still have so many things to do. I thought I might have until August, but the doctors however, have another idea. At my appointment yesterday, they informed me that I am measuring early and my blood pressure was up. So, it looks like she will probably be a July baby after all. I start non-stress tests at the hospital next week on a weekly basis and they have already scheduled my amino and c-section with the hospital for July 22nd. They are pretty confident that her lungs will be developed by then and she will be in my arms before Pioneer Day!

We still don't have a name picked out yet, or even a list of names we like to choose from. It has been one of those things we've procrasted this time. Hopefully we can decide on one soon and purchase a double stroller. I would be feeling much less stressed with those off my to-do list.

Braxton's 2-year-old Pictures

We had Braxton's pictures taken a few weeks ago by Suzette Anderson. She was great and got some really good pics of our crazy little boy. He was on a non-stop run the whole time. Here are some of our favs!