Miles Quinn, 5lbs 11oz, 18in, Born 10/15/13 at 10:49pm

Exactly two weeks before his due date Miles Quinn Brandt made his awesome appearance into the world!  He had made the decision to be two weeks early because he couldn’t wait to meet Mom & Dad and all the family who was gathered to celebrate his entrance to the world!

Birth Story

We chose to have a natural birth without the aid of drugs and a goal of having a water birth.  With the help of our beyond-all-words (AMAZING!) doula, Carly, we had identified what our preferences were for the birth of our son but we were also prepared to make different choices if the need arose.  Well, Miles began testing us almost immediately.  Erin’s water broke on Monday, October 14th after we had spent the majority of the day at the birthing center being monitored because she thought her water had broken Sunday morning.  After determining that the water had not broken on Sunday, we headed home and Erin’s water really, really broke a few hours later.  We learned that only about 15% of women have their water break before labor begins in the epic, gushing way as shown by Hollywood.

The midwives suggested we come in the next morning if contractions did not start that night.  We loaded up the car the next morning and moved into the water birthing suite at the Family Birthing Center.  Because Erin’s water broke and she hadn’t started contractions we discussed our options with one of the midwives and our doula.  We agreed to take a drug called Cytotek to “encourage” labor – it is a stomach ulcer drug that is used off label to induce labor – and it is a gentler, less intense option than Pitosin, which we really wanted to avoid.

We spent the day walking with purpose to encourage contractions, laying on a bed while the nurses monitored the baby and contractions, visiting with family, and waiting.  Lots of waiting.  Matt’s parents drove down that morning so they could be there for the birth and Erin’s parents, brother, and sister-in-law were hanging out.  It was great to be surrounded by our families!

At around 7pm Tuesday evening the contractions started to pick up and while family was out to dinner we started into active labor.  Up until this point the midwife and the nurses weren’t convinced we were going to have a baby that night and it was really busy at the birthing center so it was just Carly, our AMAZING doula, and us working to bring this baby into the world.  Erin worked through the contractions with focused breathing and growling out low tones, which helped to focus the energy low in the belly – moving Miles closer and closer to joining us!

At about 10:30pm a nurse came into the room to move Erin to the bed so that they could put the monitors on to check on the baby and the contractions.  It was during this transition that Miles made his move and once on the bed Erin let everyone know that the baby was coming!  Soon the room was full of nurses and a lot of encouragement to do what the body wanted to do but not a lot of encouragement to push because they were hoping to get the midwife there in time to catch the baby.

Our midwife, Amy, arrived about 10 minutes later and Erin pushed – howling with the wolves is the phrase we had talked about previously from the book Birthing From Within – and Erin was using all of her strength and focus to howl and growl and push Miles into the world.  It was a beautiful, instinctual, and empowering nine minutes.  Yep, Erin pushed for nine minutes and then Miles came crying into the world.  He was placed on her belly where the bonding could begin and Mom and Baby could seriously recover.  Matt was right there with happy tears!

Five Day Stay

During Miles’ routine nursery visit and check up after he was born they determined that his blood sugar was lower than they would like.  He was put on an IV to supplement his glucose level and we spent the next five days waiting for Erin’s milk to really come in and provide the level of glucose Miles needed.  It was a very intense time for our new family and we worked hard to support each other and encourage Miles to keep getting stronger!

It is not unusual for babies that are earlier than 40 weeks to have some issues and this was Miles’ hurdle to overcome.  We don’t have a specific diagnosis for why his blood sugar was low.  Miles didn’t have a lot of brown fat when he was born, which is something babies use to insulate them from the first few days while momma’s milk is coming in.  Another theory was that he was stressed out in the womb or during delivery that may have affected his bodies production of glucose or there could have been an issue with the placenta.  So lots of theories and no concrete answer.

Baby Fat

The best news is that we are home now and learning to be parents of the cutest peanut ever! Matt is thriving as the rock in the family – keeping all the things in motion, soothing Erin and Miles when we cry for unknown reasons (yay hormones!), and sneaking in snuggles whenever possible.

Erin is busy making milk, feeding MQ, feeding herself, and smiling a lot!

Miles is gaining weight and, we think, he’s starting to get his chub on!  He’s teaching us so many new things every day.  MQ is the love of our lives and we are so proud to be sharing him with the world.

The other member of our family, the fur member, Stella is adjusting really well to having a baby in her palace.  She was upset that we left her home with strangers for five days and didn’t know what to make of the sounds that Miles made the first night home but after a couple of days she settled down.

Great Big Piles of Thanks

Thank you to everyone for your congratulations and support!  Thanks to the folks who provided and continue to provide physical support through cleaning, cooking, and taking out our trash!  Thanks to everyone for your patience while we hunker down and learn to be parents, we will resurface someday.

All the love and hugs too,

Erin, Matt, Miles Quinn (MQ), & Stella

Miles Quinn, 6lbs 11 1/2 oz, 20 1/4 inches – Happy Halloween!

It has been a couple of months since our last informational post about Baby Brandt aka Conrad the Conqueror and a lot has happened in that time.  We moved from California back to Durango, Colorado – Erin flew and Matt drove himself and Stella – our furniture arrived on a big truck, Matt went to Paris for work, Erin transitioned into the 3rd Trimester with The Conqueror, Matt flew back to California for work, and we’ve been slowly putting our home together with the help of family and friends.

Baby Brandt aka Conrad the Conqueror is still officially nameless but we have a working list of 18 names so when he makes his big debut we’ll hopefully have something picked out by then.  If you missed it, we did announce the sex of our baby back in June, you can read about that here!

Conrad the Conqueror is doing great at all his check ups i.e. my belly measures on target with how many weeks I’ve been pregnant and his heartbeat is in the “normal” healthy range.  Yay!  I’ve included belly bump pictures below at about 29 1/2 weeks and some folks may think, “what a tiny belly!”  Apparently, I’m carrying this baby nice and close without a lot to show for it.  Please do not mistake this for a light belly because I still feel like I’m packing around a lot of belly & baby!

We’ll officially be 30 weeks tomorrow and have made the transit to midwifery care instead of going to an OB/GYN.  Our plan is to avail ourselves of the opportunity to have a waterbirth in the birthing center at our local hospital, where our midwives (we have 3) practice.  We are super excited to make the switch and already feel like we are having a more positive experience.  I’ve been to two prenatal yoga classes with plans to go back every week until the baby comes.  I’m also looking into yoga aquatics offered right across the street from our condo at the rec center!  I like the idea of taking some of the weight off while stretching my body.

Matt has been busy, between all his travels and work, putting our home together, assembling baby gear, and reading up on pregnancy/birthing.  We have several more weeks of work and a lot more baby gear before we could say we are done but we do have some time (10 more weeks!).  Matt also had a great time with me at a lactation class where we learned all sorts of tips and information about breastfeeding.  His biggest take away was making a sandwich with the breast.

(If you hover over the pictures the captions will pop up.)

Belly Bump 29 wks

Firefoxes for Baby Brandt

View from above 29 wks

Proud papa with gear

Cozy living room

Our new dining table – seats 6!

Stella adjusting to her new domain.

Welcome to CO from Erin’s parents

Welcome ballon from Nana & Papa

As for our move to Durango, it went as smoothly as a move with a pregnant person and a cat can go.  Matt surprised me with an upgrade to first class for the San Francisco to Denver leg of the trip and it was luxurious!  The ability to recline comfortably and eat like a champion made that first part of the trip super easy and helped ease my sad hormones – I was leaving Matt in California for two weeks and that was too long for my pregnant self to cope with.  At least the people in the security line gave me space to just cry it out.

The next part of the trip will make lots of sense to folks who have tried flying from Denver to Durango in the summertime with afternoon thunderstorms.  Due to unsafe weather conditions all flights were grounded – the delay lasted 5 hours before they finally cancelled my flight.  By then I was a complete mess (and would argue that even if I wasn’t pregnant my reaction could have been similar) – I called Matt’s Aunt Becky who lives in Denver and she came to rescue me.  Mind you, I was sobbing and barely coherent, but Aunt Becky calmed me down, swept me up, fed me, and tucked me into bed.  I cannot express how incredibly grateful I am to her for all the help and support – it was a wonderful gift to feel safe, secure, and cared for! Thanks Aunt Becky!!

And then, very anti-climatically, I hopped on a flight the next morning and arrived in Durango to be greeted by my parents who are very excited to have Matt and I back in the area with their third grandbaby (more like grand-fetus, at this point)!

Matt left California two weeks later with Stella and his bikes all bundled into the car.  Stella slept on his lap from Mountain View to Flagstaff, Arizona where they had a hotel room.  Stella is a trooper when it comes to car travel but their final leg from Flagstaff to Durango proved to be too much and she peed on Matt’s pillow.  Almost made it!

Despite some major travel for Matt (he was in Durango for a week, then gone to Paris, back in Durango for a week, and then off to California!), we are settling into our new home.

I think that sums up most of what we’ve been up to in the last two months and I’ll try to post more frequent baby bump stories as we begin the countdown.

All our love and great big baby kicks,

Erin, Matt, Conrad the Conqueror, and Stella (meOW!)