The Story

First of all, I have to start off with God is good! It still amazes me how He made us so complex and the miracles He works through our bodies!
For the past couple of weeks I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions every night. Many times quite regular, but I chose to ignore them, not wanting a repeat of two false alarms like I had with Sydney. I knew that they needed to become intense to be the real thing. Last Thursday I started showing signs that labor would be approaching, so I let my mom know to be ready "just in case." I ended up spending the night at her house on Saturday night because Josh was working that night. Everyone thought it would be best if I wasn't home alone. Sunday morning I woke up with an upset stomach and a bloody show. That made me a little nervous because Josh needed some sleep and I had the girls by myself at church. On top of that, we sit in the front pew and the LAST thing that I wanted was to have to get up in front of the whole church with my kids. I would have everyone chasing me down asking questions! Luckily, nothing so dramatic happened at church. I was feeling well, I even stayed behind for the Potluck lunch after church. Not an easy thing for a girl 2 days shy of her due date with 3 kids. I did want Josh to get some sleep and the thought of not getting the house messy with lunch food was very appealing. It was actually a little humorous, someone came up to me mentioning that she didn't even know I was pregnant again!
After church I rested as normal and got up to get ready for Common Bond (our small groups for church). The girls really enjoy playing with their friends and I again couldn't pass up not having to clean up after a meal. My stomach was still getting upset, even though I knew I hadn't eaten anything that would bother it. No contractions though, so I just ignored it.
I got home and put the kids to bed and was ready to relax. Josh and I spent some time together and watched "The Perfect Storm." Must have been the change in barometric pressure from the movie :) cause I started having contractions while we were watching it. They started off about 6 minutes apart and then suddenly changed to 3. I knew the birth center wanted me at 5cm when I came in and I really wanted to make sure it was the real thing, so I hung out for a while, trying to make sure they were real contractions and getting more intense.
Around midnight I finally made the call to the midwife. She already had a woman in labor so she told me to just come on in. We made all our phone calls for child care and headed out. We didn't go racing down the road or anything, I actually enjoyed our hour drive to the birth center. Josh kept me distracted talking about life, we listened to music and just enjoyed each others company.
We arrived at the birth center and learned that I was 3cms. Not where I wanted to be, but she said we could stay and rest and see if the contractions kept going. Once we got there, we learned another mom and called in and was coming. 3 birthing women at once! My nightmare! Luckily, the recruits were called in and another midwife came to share the load. I tried to lay down and rest, but it was not comfortable. My back started hurting more, so I got up to do some pacing and leaning. I strapped on my TENS Unit and started reading the Bible. I'm not that holy, but that was all I had to distract me at the time, so that's what I used, not a bad choice though :) The contractions started getting more intense and were requiring some effort to focus through. I asked the nurse about a bath so she started filling the tub. I got in and sat for about 2 minutes before I realized that the water was really cold and it wasn't helping at all. On for the next thing. We tried the birthing ball next. I got to a point where I needed some confirmation that I was progressing. 5cm. Kinda a blow. I was really hoping to be close to transition. If I had been in a hospital, I would have gotten an epidural, no turning back now! She checked and found out that I had sprung a leak in my amniotic fluid, but that it hadn't broken yet. Progress was progress though!
I stayed in bed for a while with the midwife sitting next to me and Josh in bed next to me. It was very soothing. The midwife knew just what to say to help me focus and I loved having Josh so close. When I thought she was gone I would break down a little, just to realize she was still there and she would encourage me. The pain was getting really intense. I moved to the birthing ball, it was great! I would actually get so relaxed on the ball that contractions would come as a surprise. I started feeling pressure and the urge to push so I asked the midwife to check me again. 7-8cm. WHAT!!! NO WAY! This thing has got to end soon! I'm started to make noises I didn't know I could make. She offered me a deal! She offered to break my water, which I said yes to gladly and then she massaged my cervix to help it dilate quicker, all while allowing me to push as I wanted. PERFECT! The next 15 minutes were INSANE! I can't begin to describe the pain and desperation that I felt, but PRAISE GOD, Julianna Joy was born at 6:57am. It was surreal, I had just delivered a baby naturally! They laid her on me and I was in bliss! Julianna was finally here!
My recovery went well and I was surprised that I was actually ready to leave after 4 hours. We ended up staying about 7 hours just finishing up paperwork and such and glady left to take our newest baby home to meet the rest of the family!

Julianna Joy Bradley

Julianna Joy Bradley

Born July 25, 2011

7lbs 14oz

19 inches

It's Fun to be One

When did my baby grow up? Today is Sydney's first birthday. I just can't believe how quickly time flies! I had so many flashbacks today of Makayla and Caroline's first birthday's; it is just amazing how quickly this journey of parenting can fly by!

Today we celebrated with our family for dinner. We invited my folks, my grandma and my sister's family to join in the festivities. I slaved all day ordering the pizza :)

Makayla was very enthusiastic about helping me set up for the party, so here is a samping of my future hostess-to-be's work. What a lovely fork display :)

I know, this cake is not nearly as elaborate as Makayla's, but hey, I did it myself. Next time I know that I should splurge on the extra frosting and use real cake decorating tips.

I thought this was such a cute captured moment of Sydney and Gram Gram enjoying some quality time together before the party started. Sydney sat there for at least 5 minutes, almost a record!

Here she is, so excited to open the gift that her sister's picked out for her. I was so proud of Makayla and Caroline. They were playing with the change in their wallets and decided on their own that they wanted to get Sydney a birthday present. I packed them all up and took them to the Dollar Tree and let them pick out whatever they wanted. Narrowing things down to just one was difficult, but in the end they were both pleased with their choice.

Stacking blocks from her cousins. I know, you would think we would have had our own set, now we do!

It's difficult deciding what to play with. The new toys, the wrapping paper or a toy that's already been opened! She enjoyed them all!

YUM! Her first taste of chocolate. She was a little hesistant at first, but she quickly got the hang of it! We were all pleased by her reaction and the mess that she made.

She thought she was so funny sitting in the sink to get rinsed off. I LOVE this picture!

BFF's

It's amazing the memory that my girls have! We have some great friends from college that live within visiting distance that we see a couple times a year. They have two beautiful children, one including a daughter close in age to my oldest 2. Even with as rare as it is that we get to see each other, my girls always remember visiting with them and talk about them regularly. Makayla even wanted to invite their daughter to her birthday party (too bad for the drive!).

Unfortunately for us, our friends have obeyed God's call and are moving to Kansas to help out with a church plant. Since Kansas is not within visiting distance, we wanted to get one more visit in before the move (and before baby #4). Let me tell ya, 5 kids in the house is a handful!! We might not have had room to all sit around the table or fit in the same car, but we had a great time together!

One must do activity was go to the beach. Since we only like 1 1/2 hours from the beach, this was a great day trip! We were having such a blast I only was able to snatch one really good picture. But believe me, we were there all day playing in the water and sand and having a fun time enjoying a beautiful day at the beach.

The men proved to be true dads and took the kiddos (minus Sydney) to Marbles Kids Museum for the day. That is one of our absolute favorite places to go (especially with our family membership!) I think my kids could live there!

And finally, we have a tradition of putting a the girls in the tub together and taking a pic. You can view and old picture in this post! It's neat watching the kids grow up and grow older together!



In other Bradley News:
Sydney's 1st birthday is on Saturday, so be anxiously awaiting a post with pictures of her special day!

I am 36 weeks pregnant! Where did this pregnancy go? I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to... I'm not quite ready to have a baby in the house again, but I'm not sure how much longer I want to be pregnant! The Lord has truly blessed me with a comfortable end of the pregnancy. I am amazed everyday how little my body is bothering me as compared to my other pregnancies. This will definetely help me be patient for this last month or so.

My T-Ball Star

Up to the Plate

Smack the Ball!

Run to First

My Star Player

It's hard to believe that T-Ball season has come to an end. We had a little rough start with some coaching issues, but I ended very pleased with Makayla's experience this summer. She even got upset about her last game, wanting the season to keep going. Next stop - Soccer!