New Year, New Baby.....

Well, our lives have changed drastically since my last post. I have a ton to report, so please bear with this incredibly long post...

First and foremost, we had our daughter, Bryn Elise on December 16th, at 7:25 p.m. Due to complications, we had to have a c section. Bryn weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz, measuring 22 inches long - by far the biggest baby had by any of my sisters. She came into this world screaming and full of life. It was a moment we will never forget. We came home from the hospital on my birthday, December 19th. We walked around the lake with Bryn and Jack and just enjoyed those first few days.

Around 11:00 pm on December 23rd, my stomach basically busted open and fluid came gushing out causing Dale and I to rush to the hospital where Ann (thank God) met up with us and brought Bryn home to her house for the evening. It turns out my incision became infected while I was at the hospital. I was admitted to the hospital and stayed for 2 days. I was released on Christmas Day evening. I didn't care about being in the hospital on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I didn't even care about the amount of pain I was in. The hardest part of the second hospital stay was being away from my new daughter. She couldn't come to the hospital as I was in a ward that was highly contagious and everyone there had open wounds. Lovely. We didn't get a chance to even get one picture of Bryn on her first Christmas, but hopefully she'll understand.

Dale is amazing. I don't know how he handled it. A wife in the hospital and a newborn at home. We have awesome families and my Mom came and stayed with Bryn for about 14 hours on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas morning. Dale's Grandma also came and stayed with him on Christmas Even night. If I were him, I would have lost it. He is the best.

My sister, Ann, came by the hospital and showered me with Christmas presents and stayed and visited with me too. It was so nice considering she had her husband's family's Christmas to celebrate that evening as well. Also while I was in the hospital, my best friend, Jen, and her husband and sister stopped by to see me. We were supposed to be able to meet each other's babies, but unfortunately b/c of my hospitilization, I missed out on meeting her little man. He's already 8 months old and I am dying to meet him!

We are still dealing with the infection, but most importantly, Bryn is perfect. She is amazing, healthy and happy and that is really the only thing we care about. Oh, she's also quite beautiful!

It is literally impossible for Dale and I to put into words our appreciation for what our families have done for us. This week, Aimee (Dale's Mom) is coming out everyday to change my wound dressings (not to mention she takes Bryn and gives me a break, constantly cleans, does laundry and all around rocks!). Dale's sister, Lauren, is constantly checking on us, seeing if we need food, coming by to visit and just being awesome. My sister, Melanie, came by and visited and gave us wonderful food to boot! Cindy (Bryn's future favorite person) has come by and showered us with food as well (some from Mom too, but most importantly, red velvet cake). She also watched Bryn while Dale and I went to my weekly doctor's appointment and to the grocery store.