Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Our Birth Story
Jack Raymond Brawner is HERE!!!
Born on March 9, 2009 at 1:21am
Weight: 6lbs 13oz
Length: 20 inches
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Let us first start by praising the AMAZING hand and wisdom of God. His will was written all over this pregnancy ESPECIALLY in areas that we didn’t see. Right now, Shanna and I are comfortably relaxing at Williamson Medical with our beautiful baby boy, Jack Raymond Brawner. He was born into this world at 1:21 am, March 9th, 2009; weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, and measuring at 20 inches in length. His personality is about 3 times that size.
Writing this “story” was something that I think played in the back of our minds as we were making some very tough decisions. I can tell you the word “failure” was probably the unspoken word of the day, and yet I can BOLDY proclaim quite the opposite was true. Shanna and I had decided to pursue a natural birth almost immediately and subsequently invested a lot of time in learning and researching why, and how, to do so. It was important to us that in our delivery we showed our faith in God and His process of creating life, and so our hearts were filled with the desire to make modern healthcare available, yet rely and focus upon woman’s God given gift of birthing.
And thus it begins when Shanna’s water broke at 8:30 on Saturday night (March 7th) and excitement hit us in the mouth. We were so ready for Jack to be here, and NOW was the time. We quickly began calling family, packing the remaining gear, and headed for some sleep (as much as the contractions would allow.) To our surprise, the contractions allowed a full night’s sleep (6 hrs). We awoke with nothing really consistent or intense, so we immediately hit the neighborhood streets and walked the entire morning. We were stomping like crazy people, and just hoped that everyone in our neighborhood were either good Christian’s and already at Church, or complete heathens and hung-over in their beds. Unfortunately, this walking didn’t bring anything to speak of, at least anything we could really feel.
At that point, having been 14 hours into “labor” with the water breaking (not to mention having tested positive for Group B Strep) we began to worry about “time.” So we made the call to the hospital to get an idea of time frame. Their time frame was NOW (of course) but we kept ourselves committed to our birth plan, and waited out a few more hours. We thought if we could only get the contractions going we could invoke our game plan, but that wasn’t happening – so we made the decision to go to the hospital. (Tough Decision #1).
We arrived at Williamson at about 12 pm, and sadly our doctor (Dr Heather Rupe) wasn’t available, so we had the on-call doctor (Dr Ellington). She was definitely opinionated at what we should be doing, and while I wasn’t a fan of her bedside manner (perhaps an unfair “first impression”) she demonstrated much patience with us. Well, somewhat. She first checked Shanna and we were only 1 cm and 60% effaced., and because we were already at 18 hours into the water breaking, they compellingly suggested a “kick start” of pitocin at 3 mL (Tough Decision #2). Over the next few hours Shanna would see that “kick start” turn into an “OD,” as they increased her dosage to 28 mL (30 is max). Through all of this, we DEFINITELY had an increase in contraction consistency and intensity, but it never helped dilate her past 1 cm. We were so frustrated and defeated.
Let me say during ALL OF THIS, we were so dedicated to what we learned and practiced in our Bradley classes. After getting to the hospital, our mobility was quite limited, but we walked in circles, stomped in place, squatted, and spent a great deal of time on the birthing ball. As with all of us who were fortunate to have Jeannie Casey as an instructor, we knew what to do (well, I should admit we did call and take advantage of her knowledge and advice during all of this – and we can only say THANK YOU JEANNIE! You helped to give us re-assurance and confidence in what we were faced with, and we are so thankful for you.) However, I was prepping for working THROUGH the contractions, not getting them to register! How in the heck do we do that?!
So long story longer, with a deadline soon arriving we were faced with (Tough Decision #3)… the epidural. Shanna wasn’t feeling the pain of the contractions and labor as much as one would imagine, so pain didn’t enter the equation. Rather we were faced with the two things: 1) How do we get this baby out with a vaginal delivery in the time frame we’re dealing with; and 2) if a Caesarian is necessary, an epidural is going to be required anyway. So – with being told the epidural MIGHT relax the tension in her cervix (thus improving dilation) we thought this is our last fighting chance to do this vaginally. In addition to the epidural, they were inserting an internal monitor, so that we could see what these contractions were REALLY doing. The results were interesting. They were FULL ON contractions. Dr Ellington commented at how surprised she was that Shanna was even able to handle this, particularly with the high levels of pitocin being administered. So here we are, she’s been contracting for several hours, and yet again - she’s STILL 1 cm.
Shortly after they inserted the epidural, Dr Ellington made the call for a C-Section. She noticed that Jack’s oxygen levels were depleting during each contraction, and at this point we were all pretty much on the same page that we were delaying the inevitable. So with prayers and tears, we committed ourselves to bringing Jack into this world in the way that was evidently God’s will. The Caesarian is where God’s plan was revealed, and the day’s events fit together like a puzzle. It turns out Jack’s cord was wrapped around his neck twice. This was preventing him to descend any further than he already had, hence no dilation. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened had “our plan” been accepted over God’s. Only He could have known about Jack’s condition, and only through Caesarian could this baby be born with Mommy and Jack being completely healthy. What a beautifully, exhausting day.
Thank you, God, that our will and our plan didn’t supersede Yours!
We will be at WMC until tomorrow (Thursday March 12) if anyone would like to come meet Jack.
With love,
Keith and Shanna
Born on March 9, 2009 at 1:21am
Weight: 6lbs 13oz
Length: 20 inches
Let us first start by praising the AMAZING hand and wisdom of God. His will was written all over this pregnancy ESPECIALLY in areas that we didn’t see. Right now, Shanna and I are comfortably relaxing at Williamson Medical with our beautiful baby boy, Jack Raymond Brawner. He was born into this world at 1:21 am, March 9th, 2009; weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, and measuring at 20 inches in length. His personality is about 3 times that size.Writing this “story” was something that I think played in the back of our minds as we were making some very tough decisions. I can tell you the word “failure” was probably the unspoken word of the day, and yet I can BOLDY proclaim quite the opposite was true. Shanna and I had decided to pursue a natural birth almost immediately and subsequently invested a lot of time in learning and researching why, and how, to do so. It was important to us that in our delivery we showed our faith in God and His process of creating life, and so our hearts were filled with the desire to make modern healthcare available, yet rely and focus upon woman’s God given gift of birthing.
And thus it begins when Shanna’s water broke at 8:30 on Saturday night (March 7th) and excitement hit us in the mouth. We were so ready for Jack to be here, and NOW was the time. We quickly began calling family, packing the remaining gear, and headed for some sleep (as much as the contractions would allow.) To our surprise, the contractions allowed a full night’s sleep (6 hrs). We awoke with nothing really consistent or intense, so we immediately hit the neighborhood streets and walked the entire morning. We were stomping like crazy people, and just hoped that everyone in our neighborhood were either good Christian’s and already at Church, or complete heathens and hung-over in their beds. Unfortunately, this walking didn’t bring anything to speak of, at least anything we could really feel.
At that point, having been 14 hours into “labor” with the water breaking (not to mention having tested positive for Group B Strep) we began to worry about “time.” So we made the call to the hospital to get an idea of time frame. Their time frame was NOW (of course) but we kept ourselves committed to our birth plan, and waited out a few more hours. We thought if we could only get the contractions going we could invoke our game plan, but that wasn’t happening – so we made the decision to go to the hospital. (Tough Decision #1).
We arrived at Williamson at about 12 pm, and sadly our doctor (Dr Heather Rupe) wasn’t available, so we had the on-call doctor (Dr Ellington). She was definitely opinionated at what we should be doing, and while I wasn’t a fan of her bedside manner (perhaps an unfair “first impression”) she demonstrated much patience with us. Well, somewhat. She first checked Shanna and we were only 1 cm and 60% effaced., and because we were already at 18 hours into the water breaking, they compellingly suggested a “kick start” of pitocin at 3 mL (Tough Decision #2). Over the next few hours Shanna would see that “kick start” turn into an “OD,” as they increased her dosage to 28 mL (30 is max). Through all of this, we DEFINITELY had an increase in contraction consistency and intensity, but it never helped dilate her past 1 cm. We were so frustrated and defeated.
Let me say during ALL OF THIS, we were so dedicated to what we learned and practiced in our Bradley classes. After getting to the hospital, our mobility was quite limited, but we walked in circles, stomped in place, squatted, and spent a great deal of time on the birthing ball. As with all of us who were fortunate to have Jeannie Casey as an instructor, we knew what to do (well, I should admit we did call and take advantage of her knowledge and advice during all of this – and we can only say THANK YOU JEANNIE! You helped to give us re-assurance and confidence in what we were faced with, and we are so thankful for you.) However, I was prepping for working THROUGH the contractions, not getting them to register! How in the heck do we do that?!
So long story longer, with a deadline soon arriving we were faced with (Tough Decision #3)… the epidural. Shanna wasn’t feeling the pain of the contractions and labor as much as one would imagine, so pain didn’t enter the equation. Rather we were faced with the two things: 1) How do we get this baby out with a vaginal delivery in the time frame we’re dealing with; and 2) if a Caesarian is necessary, an epidural is going to be required anyway. So – with being told the epidural MIGHT relax the tension in her cervix (thus improving dilation) we thought this is our last fighting chance to do this vaginally. In addition to the epidural, they were inserting an internal monitor, so that we could see what these contractions were REALLY doing. The results were interesting. They were FULL ON contractions. Dr Ellington commented at how surprised she was that Shanna was even able to handle this, particularly with the high levels of pitocin being administered. So here we are, she’s been contracting for several hours, and yet again - she’s STILL 1 cm.
Shortly after they inserted the epidural, Dr Ellington made the call for a C-Section. She noticed that Jack’s oxygen levels were depleting during each contraction, and at this point we were all pretty much on the same page that we were delaying the inevitable. So with prayers and tears, we committed ourselves to bringing Jack into this world in the way that was evidently God’s will. The Caesarian is where God’s plan was revealed, and the day’s events fit together like a puzzle. It turns out Jack’s cord was wrapped around his neck twice. This was preventing him to descend any further than he already had, hence no dilation. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened had “our plan” been accepted over God’s. Only He could have known about Jack’s condition, and only through Caesarian could this baby be born with Mommy and Jack being completely healthy. What a beautifully, exhausting day.
Thank you, God, that our will and our plan didn’t supersede Yours!
We will be at WMC until tomorrow (Thursday March 12) if anyone would like to come meet Jack.
With love,
Keith and Shanna
Friday, February 27, 2009
38 Weeks TODAY!!!
This picture is from earlier this week... I THINK JACK IS REALLY READY! (almost as much as me and dad are!)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
TIME IS FLYINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Wow!!! February 12th!! 31 days until Jack is HERE!!! It's been such a busy few weeks. January 31st my brother got married to his beautiful bride in Twin Falls, Idaho. It was a beautiful wedding for such a beautiful couple.
Mr. and Mrs. Muretisch
The trip was beautiful. Keith and I left early on the 29th and flew into Denver where we met up with my dad and step mom. We caught that flight (in 5 MINUTES!) and flew from Denver into Salt Lake City. What beautiful landscape out there! I'll have to post some pictures of the snow covered mountains and sites as soon as I get them. We all drove from Salt Lake City up to Twin Falls where we met up with the rest of the family. The food they fed us was AMAZING! (potatoes at every meal!) And the couple that put us up for the weekend were so hospitable. It was really a great trip and I'm SO GLAD Keith and I were "able" to go, with little Jack's arrival so soon!
We started our weekly visits to the doctor this month. We had an ultrasound on Feb. 3rd. Jack weighed in at 5lbs 13oz and right on track for his due date. It was so amazing to see our little guy again. He was moving a lot (as usual) and making it hard to get a good picture!
(front view of face; chin, cheek, lips, nose, eye)
(profile view)
So far I'm not yet dilated at all, so I must wait patiently. We have been getting the nursery all ready for his arrival (which makes time fly). Keith did an AMAZING painting job. 
We taped for days to get everything just right, but it was so worth it. We are also SO BLESSED to have some ladies from church throwing us a baby shower this weekend! I'm so excited to see everyone (some people that I haven't seen in a while). My dad and step mom are also stopping over this weekend to help put some finishing touches on the nursery on their way to Lexington. Keith and I purchased a beautiful paddle fan to keep little Jack cool and keep the air circulating.
The cats are going to have an interesting adjustment. They have been extra attentive lately to me and my belly. I hope they like Jack and STAY OUT OF HIS CRIB when he comes home!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
oh yea...
And we are going to get an ultrasound video of Jack on the 3rd so you guys can see this little guy in action, finally. He's amazing and VERY active!! I've also been trying to catch him in the act of kicking the heck out of me. It's fun to watch my belly dance. Stay tuned!
Keith and I had a busy morning. We went to meet with a pediatrician and also had our 32 week checkup. Things went well with both. It’s hard to know with a pediatrician exactly what you want (since we’ve never had to find one before) but this lady seemed very nice. We’re still deciding though…
Our checkup appointment ran over a bit as we started asking a bunch of questions that we now have since we’ve started with our Bradley classes. She measured my belly and said that it was measuring at about 35 weeks yet I’m just under 33. This was a surprise because 2 weeks ago my belly was right on track. The gestational diabetes can cause the baby to be large, and even though my numbers have looked really good, my belly was still measuring a little big. Keith and I already knew that we would be having 2 more ultrasounds. Our first will be on Feb. 3rd, and will determine the size of Jack. We will have another at 38 weeks. This can have an effect on the delivery. Our doctor recommends that depending on Jack’s size, he be delivered BY March 15th (no later, which would mean if he didn’t come on his own I would be induced) and if his size is larger than 9.5 lbs that I have a c-section. This is her recommendation to make sure that Jack and I are both healthy after he is born. Again, this is all depending on how the ultrasounds read. Our doctor is very supportive of natural birth, especially for first time deliveries and is hoping that this will be the way it goes for us. My job is to continue to watch my diet (and blood sugar levels) and exercise. I have been already doing these things, so that means that as we all know, the rest is in God’s hands!
It gets exciting as time gets closer to when Jack will be here with us! Please pray for a smooth delivery, and that we can have the option to chose the delivery we really want. (Also that I will relax about all of this) This has definitely been an adventure so far and from what I hear, IT’S JUST BEGINNING!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
32 weeks!!
Can you believe I'm already 32 weeks?!!?!?Jack has been spinning, kicking, and punching me ALL day today, and most days. I find myself getting up at least once a night now (God's natural preparation for the future), and pretty much every sitting/sleeping position is uncomfortable. If I'm sitting, I must lean back otherwise Jack's uncomfort causes me to be uncomfortable...kick kick, punch punch, move mom you're squishing me!
Keith and I have had a busy January which has made it FLY BY! We found out that we will be having 2 more ultrasounds due to my gestational diabetes (which has been controlled and balanced). We will get to see our son at 35 weeks and 38 weeks! I'm so excited to see him in there again!
Keith and I started our birth classes. We chose to naturally give birth using the Bradley Method. There is a lot of exercising and preparation! It keeps my thoughts busy, and I can't believe that he will be here in less than 7 weeks.
We are leaving next week to head to Idaho for my brother's wedding... That's surreal in itself. So many crazy things to happen in the next few weeks. God is amazing and has continued to bless us tremendously so far in 2009. Keith and I continue to put our effort towards glorifying him in our thoughts and actions.
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