ok, ok I know, it is january + it has been 6 months since briggs michael came into our world! annnd I am just starting to blog {insert big teeth emoji face here}. I am not wanting to skip out on this little bears birth story though, so naturally, I chose him for my first post, naturally :)
also these images shot by the lovely megan robinson are too good not to share, even if they were taken in the early warm july weather, + i'm over here sitting with my feet in wool socks, on the heater, trying to stay warm in this arctic negative degree temperature that should not even exist. little man came exactly one week late, that last week was killer. i guess that's what i got for telling people how much i loved being pregnant aaall the time, which i did + i miss it like mad!
carrying another human felt so natural to me {even though saying that out loud sounds like the least natural thing in the world} also, being pregnant is the loveliest thing about being a woman. i miss that feeling of him being a part of me, going everywhere with me, + being able to go from so small to..well, bigger (ha) in such a short amount of time in my tummy. i swear sometimes i feel a feeling of a moving baby in my tum, + i'm all like "whaaa? it can't be." {no i am not pregnant again} i loved being two as one for nine months. i also have a weird obsession with pregnant women….{beautiful}
after telling this story a million and one times you would think i could tell it like a pro, but i still seem to get my words jumbled + miss something, or drag it out. all i know is that it was a beautiful, memorable thing. that babe warms my heart.
the contractions started late sunday afternoon, so sky + i took a drive up cascade, above soldier hollow to maybe help move things along, but mostly just to take my mind off the pain. they were strong, which is why i thought for sure we would have that lil man later that night. but the contractions eased up after we'd gotten home, they were still there, just much less painful. i was able to sleep until about 4am, i took a bath + the contractions got hard and painful again. i was texting one of my friends while in the bath, who had had her baby girl a few weeks before; you could imagine my jealousy towards her with all her baby talk, photos + snap chats of her new babe. i would ask her questions like "how did you know this was this?" "did this happen to you?" "how long did you wait until this?" blah, blah..
after a pretty long morning, i knew today was the day! at about 7am i made skyler go to micky d's for breakfast + watch 'hitch' with me. at about 2:30 in the afternoon we finally drove to the hospital. even though i was a week late, i still felt weird about going to the hospital, saying to skyler "oh, what if they send us home," or "my contractions really aren't that bad babe, we can wait longer." he was finally like "woman, get your flippin bunzz in the car, we are going to the hospital!" feeling pretty good, aside from the cramping, stinging, painful punch to the groin every 3 minutes, we drove the 15 minutes to the park city hospital. when we got there, the nurse checked me; i was still only dilated to a 3 + hardly efaced :( boo! so they sent me to walk around the hospital. at about 4:15, we went back in to get checked, hoping for some progress. i didn't think one hour of walking around would do any good, but it sure did.
you better believe i got an epidural, heck, we need to take advantage of todays modern medicines {not getting after momma's who choose not to, i envy you beautiful beasts}. now feeling at much more ease, labor progressed rapidly, i guess my body just needed to calm down with an epidural to really do it's thang! I was doing very well yes, there was just someone who was not doing so well :( a very stressed babe, with sudden decreases in heart rate, that got me + my momma worried. even doctor sabella looked pretty worried, which made me + my momma more worried. especially with knowing how educated + experienced, + practically famous my doctor is, + she really is the best. I do not worry very often, but i guess the birthing of my own child will do it to me. my mister is a very calm and collected person, which helped me enormously. i could not have stayed as calm as i did without him; which makes for a smoother delivery for everyone. after about 20 minutes of close monitoring, doctor sabella had contemplated, but made the decision to go in for an emergency c-section. so in lickidy split time, with skyler by my side + my momma left in the delivery room to wait, they wheeled me back for surgery.
i had prepared myself for the worst while pregnant. if there were to be any bumps in the road, i had mentally prepared myself. honestly, through out my pregnancy, i felt like a c-section was going to be the way for me. doctor sabella had told me at my appointments that i had a very snuggy passage way {sorry for the tmi}, she said my hips are built like a man more than a girl (haha); this may offend some, but i laughed at this + i am not a sensitive person. she never said it would be impossible for him to come naturally, she had done it many times. she was just trying to make me aware that a cesarean was possible. so instead of me not being able to get him through the birth canal, it was briggs who could not come through. he had the cord wrapped around his neck, that was the cause of his heart rate decrease. every time i would contract, the cord would tighten around his neck! he was also really squished + contorted in my tum, + face up, sabella + the nurses had said. little buddy.
very much awake, and not able to feel anything from my tummy down, only some tugging on + around it, they went to work. and when they opened my tummy up, they said the first thing they saw was briggs's face, he was also really far down in the birth canal they had to pull him up + out. they are not soft with this; skyler said a number of times he was thinking how rough they were with me + baby briggs. he said he was thinking things like "oh be careful with that baby please," or "hold up, i think she might still need that piece over there" {ha, again sorry for the tmi}. call me crazy, but I would have loved to watch with a mirror, everything was a little chaotic though + we had to move fast. who knows how long that cord was around his neck causing his heart rate to decrease. i cringe every time i think about it, + cry a little. which is also why i was so grateful for doctor sabella's quick decision to do the surgery. did i mention she is great?
going from walking around the hospital at 4:30 in the afternoon for an hour, stopping every 3 minutes, leaning up against the wall, while yoga breathing, killing anyone with my eyes who would even look at me, saying "skyler, shut up" every time he would be talking during a contraction; to having a babe looking wide eyed up at me in my arms by 7pm, is a miracle to me! a miraculous miracle that my Heavenly Father, my doctor + nurse team, my husband, + my mother had made possible.
we call him 'briggs michael bamgartner', born 7 july 2014 at 6:56pm monday evening, weighing in at 7pounds, 6ounces + 21 + 1/2 inches long. total dream boat.
michael is my dadda's name + skyler's dadda's name too, so we used it for his middle name. also, i think it is special to keep it in the family, that is just something i have always liked. it's funny, as he grows, he will think all the grandpas' in the world shoud be michael's. (haha)
a baby was life changing, yes. even though i was warned, you do not know what the adventure is going to be like until you experience it for yourself. i was as well prepared as i could have been + knew my life would change forever before i got pregnant. people would say, "oh your life is over now, you can't do or go anywhere anymore." but skyler + i decided that we can still do things + go places, we get to include the lil dude too, yay for us. greatest adventure i have ever embarked on. yes, i am thinking i will do it again some time in the future. and no, my life is not over, it is only just beginning! we love our briggies.
love, mrs b
love, mrs b