The Prints of England: The Beginning of Our Little Family

On Sunday April 14th we received our little bundle of joy! Around 5:30 that morning I woke up to some pain in my back. I stood up to go the bathroom and before I could take two steps, my water broke. I immediately froze and gasped because I realized I wasn't peeing my pants.... So that could only mean one thing... Little Brielle was on her way!! This woke Tyson up and he kept asking me what was wrong, it took me a minute for it to sink in and then I finally told him I thought my water had broke. We wanted to make sure this was the case so I called my mom and Tyson called the hospital. The hospital said that it sounds like my water had broken, but I could wait a couple hours to come up. We didn't like that idea since my fluids were half of what they should have been, so we decided to go up anyway. My mom was so excited on the phone and was all over having us go straight to the hospital (updating her all along the way of course). Our bags were already packed so we hurried and got somewhat ready and packed some last minute things, got in the car, and took off. On our way to the hospital I started having pretty bad contractions, feeling many of them in my back. These were pretty painful, but still bearable. During this whole process Tyson was so good to comfort me and take care of me! (I seriously have the most wonderful guy!)
Upon arriving to the hospital at 6:30ish (U of U Hospital), we had to go to OB Emergency to be checked to make sure my water had in fact broken. This took about an hour and towards the end of this my contractions were getting pretty bad. We were then taken to labor and delivery were they started an IV and I quickly requested an epidural. Our labor nurse Crystal was so sweet and made the experience really wonderful. The word spread that we were at the hospital and family started to trickle in. Around 12:40 they realized how fast I was dilating and decided that I could start pushing. Brielle came into this world a short 45 minutes later. It was such an amazing experience to finally see the little baby that I had spent all my time with for the past nine months! I loved having this time with just our new little family. Even though we knew our parents were dying to see the baby, Tyson and I wanted some time of just being us. It was the best! Seeing our parents and siblings hold Brielle was so cute! They were so excited that she was finally here.
The rest of our hospital stay is now kind of a blur in my mind these days. It was a great but stressful time. On Tuesday afternoon the doctors told me that Brielle's billirubin levels were too high so they needed to put her under lights. They were also worried about her weight because it had dropped more then usual. Luckily I had my mom there to support me during this time because I think I would have broken down! Tyson was finishing his last semester at the U and had to go to classes all day. Once he got back he gave Brielle her first blessing and what a great experience that was! You could really feel the spirit during that blessing. I really came to realize how blessed we are to have the gospel and the knowledge that we are an eternal family.
Later that day the hospital had to discharge me, but they put Brielle in the nursery. Since I was a breastfeeding mom they gave us a free closet/room to stay in. We really only used this room to store our stuff and sleep in. (Yes, it was a twin sized bed for the both of us to share! But at this point we were just grateful for any sleep we could get). We spent most of our time in the nursery so that we could be by Brielle's side. The nurses were so great and super helpful! Finally Thursday came around... The doctors said that Brielle was in good enough condition to go home, so my mom and I got everything all ready to FINALLY leave. (Tyson was in class again this day) It felt like we had been in the hospital for weeks so I was super happy to finally go home and shower!
We kept receiving blessings during this time as we were trying to finish the semester. Our family was such a great support and it was so nice having their help!