Britain Comes Home

Our experience having a baby was much better this time around, and we were excited to bring Britain home just 24 hours after she was born! We did have to take her back for bilirubin tests since she was a bit jaundice, but that was sooooo much better than sitting in the NICU! Russell had gone home to get some work done and play with Eden, but came back in time to get Britain all ready to go while we waited for the nursery to come and give us discharge instructions. It was about 7:30pm by the time we actually got to leave, and I had been ready to go home all day so I was quite excited but quite tired by the time we got to the house. After a stop at the McDonald's drive-thru for a cheeseburger and hot fudge sundae, we headed home to meet Aunt Rachel, play with Grandma and Eden, and Skype with the Aunties and Grandpa in Houston!

Starting to get dressed to come home.

I had to roll up her pants like 3 times!

Her outfit was quite big even though it's 0-3 months. She's just a tiny girl.

All dressed and loving Daddy.

A warm hat to keep her warm since it had been snowing the whole time we were at the hospital!

Meeting Stitch Bear. He forgot to get out of the suitcase the night before. Silly bear.

NOT enjoying the car seat, but ready to go out to the car.

Meeting Aunt Rachel. That's a big yawn, not a huge scream!

Grandma Flanagan helping Britain Skype Aunt Cooper, Aunt Cymbre, and Grandpa Flanagan. She's definitely a 21st century baby!

Britain Lilly Ahlstrom

Britain Lilly Ahlstrom has joined our family! Dr. Nance set me up to be induced so that we wouldn't have to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital and things went MUCH quicker than last time! We got to the hospital at noon and got everything set up.

All hooked up and waiting.

My contractions got very painful really quick and about 2:00pm I got an epidural and then tried to take a nap. Well....that nap didn't happen because I was dilating so fast that the kept checking me and checking me. Also, Dr. Nance realized that my placenta had started coming off early causing lots of blood, so they were watching Britain's heart rate closely. Luckily, her heart rate stayed right where it should and things progressed quickly.

At 4:30pm I was 7cm. At about 4:50pm I told Russell I thought it was getting close because I was starting to feel pressure. A minute later Dr. Nance came in to check me and said "you're a ten, let's do this." He got ready, and about 4 pushes later Britain Lilly Ahlstrom was born at 5:08pm.




Britain weighed in at 6lbs 8oz (half a pound less than Eden!) and 19 inches long. Because of the problem with my placenta there was blood in her lungs and her color wasn't the greatest, so after a hug from Mommy they took her to the nursery to give her some oxygen in an incubator for an hour or so. Russell went with her and came back to check on me every once in a while. After she was doing better they gave her a bath and got her all ready to come back and see Mommy!

Getting some oxygen to improve her color.


Britain's Hospital Bath

Back in the room loving Mommy!

One proud Daddy.

Later that night my mom came to the hospital to love her for a while, and she brought Eden back the next day to meet Britain. Luckily, we were able to come home that night and sleep in our own beds! We had to take her back for two days to have bilirubin tests, but we got to love her at home.

Meeting Grandma Flanagan

Meeting her big sister.

Daddy and his girls.

Calling Daddy

Eden spends most of her day calling Daddy on anything and everything she picks up. My iphone, the tv remote, wii remote, doorstop, legos, anything. She's learned how to say "hi dad." Too bad Daddy never seems to answer. He must be really busy at work!

12 Months

Eden has been part of our family now for a whole year, and I can't believe it. She's grown up so much in the last month that it's crazy. She is a walking fanatic now...no need to crawl. She walks back and forth between the couch and the back door about 100 times a day. She LOVES to play in the curtains on the back door, especially when Mommy and Daddy say "peek-a-boo." She has also found the cupboard full of pots and pans and likes to help Mommy cook all the time. Eden finally has just enough hair to put a little clippy bow in, but it falls out fairly quickly each day as she rolls around on the floor. She is fascinated by pillows and loves to lay on them, and is LOVING oranges now that she is one and can have citrus fruits!

Here are her stats from her check-up:

• 19lbs 10oz - 27th percentile
• 29 inches - 48th percentile
• 17.75 inch head - 52nd percentile

Too bad this one is blurry....it's super cute.

And...a silly pose done all on her own.

Just in Case You Were Wondering....

She LOVES this silly dinosaur!

Matchy-Matchy

Britni got me some cute penguin pj pants for my birthday, and while I was wandering around Target a few days later I found matching ones for Eden and I just HAD to buy them. She needed some warmer jammies anyway, so I didn't feel too bad. Here we are matching:

However, Eden was NOT happy about taking a picture:

Halloween Celebration

Since Halloween was on Sunday, we went Trick-or-Treating Saturday night with Jack around our neighborhood. Eden was a tiger and Jack a pirate! It was cold and rainy so we didn't stay out long, but they got a good loot for being so little.

Pre-Trick-or-Treating

The first door

A HUGE dog came to the door and scared Jack. He didn't even bark, thank goodness!

Eden enjoyed the idea much more when I let her walk.

What a cute pirate!

By the end the kids had a routine down. Jack would walk up to the door and say "knock" as he knocked. Then immediately he would say "trick or treat" before anyone came to the door. After he got his candy he would say "thank you, bye!" And....Eden figured out she could kneel at the step of each door and make people come down to her. Silly girl. She also figured out she could choose her own piece of candy from the bowl.

Eden was amazed by her loot and spread it all over the floor.

Sunday after church we let Eden where her Tinkerbell costume from Aunt Cooper and Aunt Cymbre. It is super cute, but it was WAY too cold to where it trick-or-treating. However, we had to get it in.

Even Tinkerbell needs a break!