Branson Turns One Month

Branson officially turned one month old on Wednesday. We celebrated the day by visiting the doctor for his check up and visiting my friend Ashley, and her new baby boy Noah.

His Stats:

8 lbs 13oz (25%)

21.5 inches long (50%)

It's been quite a month! adjusting to life as a family unit has been interesting. I have/had my ideas of how things would be, but God likes to throw curve balls to keep us all on our toes. Any way you slice it, we're loving our little boy and loving our new life.

A "Branson" Story

On March 21, 2010 at 5:50 pm Branson Edward Grace entered into our lives weighing 6lbs 7oz and measuring 19 inches long. Here is the story of how it all happened:

At 7am we checked into Banner Desert for my scheduled induction. I was already dilated to 4cm. The ball got rolling around 9am with my first dose of meds, which was to soften my cervix. My L&D nurse said she would check on me in 2 hours to see if anything had changed, then would give me another dose, which would take another 2 hours after that-putting me around 2pm before I would be given any patosin. By 11am I was a "ripe avocado" as the nurse put it- I was dilated to 5cm and 90% effaced. Meaning that I would NOT have to have the second dose of meds (yay!) and was planned to begin the patosin around 2pm anyway. I was feeling good for quite a while; eating lunch, visiting with all of our family members, watching some tv- until my doctor came in after 2pm to brake my water, and at that point I began to feel everything. My contractions intensified within 15 minutes, and shortly thereafter I received my epidural. I continued to progress in labor and by 5pm I was fully dilated and began pushing. The hardest part was waiting 10 minutes for my doctor to come and finish "the job." I pushed a few more times and out he came!! Donny of course, got to cut the cord, and then we shared the first moments of our lives as a family. We spent the next day and a half becoming acquainted with each other and having several family members visit with us and meet our little guy.

Just a few interesting facts about little Branson:

-looks alot like his father...only 3 votes for looking like me

-has my long fingers and long toes

-first 2nd and third toes are "webbed", a Grace family trait ;)

-sucked on the same fingers as his dad did when he was a baby

-has dimples on both cheeks

-sighs when he's "happy", or just sneezed ;)

-smiles a TON, but only when he's sleeping

-tried to rollover in the doctor's office when he was 5 days old

-is a Great sleeper at night...only gets up once!!

-scrunches his nose and opens his mouth if you kiss near his mouth



Here are some pictures from the day he was born through his first week.