Brayden Slide Show

Here is a little slide show of some pictures of our little cutie pie!!! He is so darn photogenic and at the same time, pictures do not do his cuteness justice at all! I swear, he looks more and more like his Daddy every day, YAY!!!!

Puppies!

Most of you know that Mike's parents are currently taking care of our three dogs, Bear, Brutus, and Cali up north until we move up there! Well, lo and behold, we have 3 new temporary additions to our family! We've suspected for a couple of months that Cali was pregnant (by Bear, as Brutus is fixed) and our assumptions were correct! She gave birth to three beautiful and healthy puppies on Sunday, and also one puppy that was born a still born. The three pups are doing great, 2 females, and 1 male, and so is Momma. We've kind of been joking about how Cali would do as a mom, becaues, for those of you who know her, she is kind of....not always the smartest! Sounds like she took to it perfectly!! Mike's dad was downstairs with her in the morning and let her out of her kennel and she went and tore up one of the dog beds, dragged her blanket over to it, and got to work! Anyways, Mike's parents sent us some great shots of the little ones that I wanted to share with you! Aren't they cute?! We cant wait to see them when we go up to visit in September but dont worry, we arent keeping them :)!

Brayden's First...

Earthquake!

Most of you have probably heard by now that there was a 5.4 earthquake in Southern California this morning. Brayden and I were at a Pediatrician Appt while Daddy was at work and all three of us felt it! Brayden slept through it, and Mommy kind of hovered over him in case anything fell in the Dr's office. My cell phone didnt work for about 15 minutes after the quake, so when we were out of our appt, I called Mike to check and make sure everything was ok on the base. Turns out he had been trying to call me and make sure Brayden and I were ok too. It was exciting, and thankfully from what I have heard, no one was hurt and there was no major damage!

We were at the pediatrician this morning for a checkup on Brayden's umbilical cord. The long story short is that Brayden's umbilical cord stump fell off on Sunday, but he still had a scab over his belly button that started to bleed a little last night. It bled more this morning while we were out for my Dr appt, so we called and went in to get it checked out. Dr. Gold took the scab off and noticed a small opening on his belly button which he carterized (sp?) with some silver nitrate! And once again our baby boy slept right through an uncomfy procedure! Everything else is going great!

Pics and a Video

I tried, unsuccessfully, to put pics up of Brayden, but blogger isnt working with me tonight! Anyways, here is a video for you all, everyone has been requesting another one! I know it is of Brayden hiccuping again but it is the only video we have gotten so far that shows him with his beautiful little eyes open! Enjoy!

2nd Dr's Appt

So Brayden had his 2nd Dr's appt yesterday mostly for a weight check and a jaundice check! Thankfully both were positive outcomes! No more jaundice (besides a little in his eyes which is normal) and he is gaining weight, WOO HOO!!! The bad things are he has a little tiny diaper rash which thankfully we caught early, so it will hopefully be going away soon! Seems like we can never change enough diapers! As soon as we change one, its time for another one! Thats a good sign the Dr said, means he is eating good :)! Also, Brayden has a slight case of thrush, a yeast infection in his mouth which is pretty common for newborns as well. The Dr. prescribed some medication for it, which we have to put in his mouth 4 times a day! The pharmacist warned us that it tastes horrible, but when I did his first two treatments yesterday, he slept right through them! We'll pray for continued success ;)! Also, I am getting treated for it too, just so we dont pass it back and forth to each other during feeding. Thankfully it doesnt cause him any pain or discomfort for the most part, and he is still such an easy going little guy! Let's us know when he wants or needs something and sleeps a lot :)!

Mike has been able to have leave for the week which has been SUCH a huge blessing and none of us are ready for him to go back to work on Monday. The week went by way too fast, that is for sure! It's definetely one of the most beautiful things ever to watch your husband become a Dad, he loves his son SO much!!!!

Other than that, not a whole lot to report! Brayden's umbilical cord stump is just about ready to fall off, which will make bathing him a whole lot easier! Also, he has his two week checkup this week, and we are looking forward to that too! Hopefully Daddy gets to come to the appt!

Well, I hear the little man waking up and I should go in there and lay with him, see if I cant catch him with his eyes open (Which he is doing more often these days Grandpa Kraft ;0) )!

Love to you all!

P.S. We are still working at/looking into a private blog. There are some problems with the way blogger has privatization set up so we are looking at another site to use to do our blog, that has one password for everyone to use, that requires no one to "sign-up" for anything, and makes it so only the people we give our password out too can see our blog. I'm going to be working on that this week, and will of course let you all know when we change anything!

Mr. Brayden

...is doing great! It's so crazy to think in 2 days he will be ONE WEEK old!!! :)!!!!

I took this picture on Tuesday and just LOVE it! He has the CUTEST little face, at least his daddy and I think so (:))!, so I thought I would share this with you all!

Also, hopefully this video shows up. Sorry I didnt put it up sooner! I took this while we were still in the hospital, it's Brayden getting the hiccups, which he gets often, and used to get all the time while I was pregnant too, he is too cute :)!

Some actual information!

Hi guys,

I'm not going to be typing for too long but wanted to get some information up here and not just all pictures, though I know no one is complaining about just having pictures of our little stud muffin ;)!

I havent posted anything about my labor story yet, but its pretty short, simple and sweet! We checked into the hospital around 5 pm on Friday evening, got all set up and got my IV started with fluids and antibiotics. Shortly after they hooked up my pitocin to help me to start contracting and we were on our way! One of the doctors from my usual dr. office came in and broke my water about an hour later, and then the contractions started coming much more frequently!! Mike coached me through a good 4 or 5 of them when I decided I was ready for the epidural. I wasnt in unbearable pain but Mike and I both needed our sleep, so we went for it. It went so smoothly and all I can say is, I love epidurals :)! It took all my pain away, but not all sensation which is what I wanted! About an hour after that I started itching, which is a side effect of the epidural and the nurse gave me some benadryl which put me to sleep. That was my only regret about my whole labor, was taking the benadryl. I wish I had realized I was going to have Brayden so soon because it did make me very groggy and Brayden too, but thats ok! Shortly after that I was asleep. I remember waking up to have the nurse check me and have her tell me that I was 8 cm dilated and falling back asleep and next thing I new she was back in and checking me, telling me I was 10 cm, that his head was right there, and running out the door to go get the Dr! A few minutes later, Mike was holding one of my legs, and a great nursing intern, Farrah (who I had met during my pre-term visit) was holding the other, telling me when I was having my contractions because at first I couldnt tell the pressure, and then pushing! After about 5 or 6 contractions our little miracle came out! I heard "0052" and watched as my wonderful husband, now an amazing father, cut the umbilical cord between me and our little Brayden! After that they spent a little while working with Brayden since he was groggy from the benadryl and getting some mucous out of his lungs and then they FINALLY put him in my arms. Mike and I can agree there are no words to describe the whole process, to explain our feelings when we first saw Brayden, total disbelief and a joy and happiness that there arent words for!!

We stayed in the hospital through Monday, since Brayden was born before 37 weeks (36 weeks and 6 days) they wanted to make sure he did a ok! He passed his car seat test to make sure he was safe in the car seat, started eating better towards our last day in the hospital, and had every nurse eating out of his tiny little hands!

We came home Monday afternoon, and things have been great since! Mike was able to take a weeks worth of leave and this time of the three of us being home has been priceless!!

Today Brayden had his first pediatrician appt.! We took him to the pediatrician that my brother, sister, and I grew up going too, and that my sister-in-law takes me nephew too! Keeping it in the family! The appt went great! Brayden hasnt lost any more weight since being discharged from the hospital (he weighs 6 lbs 15 oz) since he lost some of his birthweight, which is totally normal. He is still a tiny bit jaundiced; he gets to be a sun baby today and tomorrow and spent some time in the window sun light! Also, his feet turn in a little bit, so the Dr told us to work on massaging them and kind of pushing them outwards while we are holding him. He told us it was completely normal since he was all scrunched up inside me, and that massaging his cute little feeties should definetely help! We're going back in on Friday to have his weight checked and make sure he is still gaining and make sure his jaundice is getting better!

Whew, that was longer than I thought, hope it keeps all of you up-to-date! Lots of love!

And More and More Pictures!

We are home :)! And very happy to be home as a full family!!!!

I know I still have a lot to update on but tonight is just going to be a bunch of pictures again! I promise to actually update with information soon!

Also, we are going to be making our blog private now that Brayden is here! We are planning on doing so tomorrow. Hopefully it is an easy transition process and none of you have a hard time getting on here. If you do, please let us know!!!

More Brayden Pics

More Pics!

Hi everyone,

While my boys are asleep I thought I would put a couple new pictures up! The one of Brayden in the puppy dog sleeper on the bed and of Mike feeding him are from late last night and the one of him in his car seat is from just about 15 minutes ago! He is having his car seat test done right now, just making sure he breathes ok while sitting in there for an hour, he is almost done and doing GREAT! More updates to come once we are home, hope the pictures are enough for now :)! Love to all!!!

Brayden Asher Kincaid is HERE

We are SO proud to announce the birth of our son,

Brayden Asher Kincaid

Born on July 19th, 2008

at 12:52 a.m.

7 lbs, 8 oz.

21 inches long

Please click on the link below to see some pictures of our son!
More updates will come later but all three of us are doing GREAT :)!

Brayden Asher Kincaid 7/19/08

We're having a BABY!!

Just wanted to let you all know that we will be checking into the hospital to get induced today around 4 p.m.! We went to the Dr. this morning because I wasnt feeling so hot, and when she checked my amniotic fluid it was very low, time to get Brayden out of there!!! Unfortunately my Dr wont be the one delivering Brayden, but fortunately, during our pre-term labor experience we met the Dr that will! (My Dr is going on vacation). His name is Dr. Hanna, and I have heard a lot of nice things about him! Please keep us in your prayers and know that we will be updating you all as soon as we can!!

Also, for those of you who are coming to visit, we cant WAIT to show Brayden off to you, please bring your cameras but also, we would like to be able to post the first pictures of Brayden ourselves, so if you can wait until after we make our first post to post yours, that would be GREAT! We really appreciate it!

Cant wait to show our little man off to the world!!!!!

Ultrasound Pics

Hi guys,

I'm trying to keep updating everyday until Brayden gets here, as long as there is some news to share! Today we had another appt with the perinatologist just to check on Brayden and my amniotic fluid! Brayden is great, had the hiccups during the appt :)! He already weighs 6lbs 10 oz, can you believe it!?! That made Mike and I very happy, just feeling like he is big enough if he does come the next couple of days! Also, I asked the Dr if he could do a 3d since we havent been able to get one for awhile. At first he didnt want too, and he explained to us that Brayden's head is really low and its really hard to get any sort of picture from where he is. He told us he could try, but he didnt want us to be scared if it didnt look like other ones we have seen because his face is against my uterus, in a funny position, with not too much fluid around it, and he had he hand in front of it! Brayden is absolutely perfect and we cant wait to have him here!!

Also, they measured my amniotic fluid which they measured at normal/low, which means its decreasing, but not a problem yet! The Dr agreed that I should have Brayden within the week, it's all up to him and God :)!

Here you go:

This one is of Brayden's profile again, he is looking up, once again, hard to get a picture of him in the position he is in, but you can get the idea!!

And this funny looking one is of one of Brayden's eyes, his nasal cavity, and his cute lil mouth :)!!!

Breathe!

It's funny/weird how easy it is to remember such a vital bodily function....

I just got an email from my friend Miranda after letting her know that my contractions have increased, but not enough to go to the hospital or anything yet, and she reminded me to breathe!

I always thought that was funny when you would hear it on TV shows or in childbirth classes that women had to be reminded to breathe, I mean, isn't it just natural and common sense?

Well, last night I had a "bad" contraction. I use the word lightly because it wasnt all that "bad" but just stronger and longer than some of the others I have had, and much to my amazement, Mike had to remind me to breathe! I didnt think much of it at first, but now looking back at it, it was a weird feeling to be like, "oh, yeah, I'm not breathing!" I was just concentrating on the fact that my stomach was getting hard and that my chest was feeling tighter, and I think I was gritting my teeth just because of the pressure, and somehow, in the midst of all that going on, I decided holding my breath would be a good idea, haha! Anyways, just a small little post to make fun of myself, to let you all know I am breathing, and to also let you know, no new news yet!

L and D Update

Hi Everyone!

Another update today as promised! My appt this morning went well, I was finally about to see my original Dr again which made me happy, though I really like the other two doctors as well! I had another NST done and another exam. The NST showed a few big contractions and a few smaller ones but also showed that Brayden wasnt getting enough variability in his heart rate (nothing to be concerned about, it turns out he was just sleepy) but my exam showed me at 2-3 cm dilated, 70 % effaced, and Brayden's head at 0 (once again, just means he is even further down). So based off all of that, she decided she wanted to send me to Labor and Delivery to have them monitor us for awhile and give me an IV to pep Brayden up!

We checked into the hospital, they started my IV and took some blood and we just waited for maybe an hour or so, and then my Dr came back in to check me. I am having pretty frequent but small contractions, just tightening, no pain, and Brayden was/is doing excellent! I was the same amount dilated and effaced, and Brayden had moved back up a bit (they think because I was laying down for awhile) so she said that I was more than welcome to go home and hang out until his final debut! She did say that she is almost positive it will be this week based on everything going on! I guess we will see!

It was dissapointing to go into L and D and leave again without Brayden in our arms, but just knowing he is healthy and safe and that he will be here soon is all we need for now! We're trusting in God's perfect timing!!!

Please keep us in your prayers and that all three of us continue to stay in good health!!!

Guessing Game!

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile but Mike talked to his dad last night who told him what day he thinks Brayden is going to come and that reminded me to go ahead and post this!

We're going to play the guessing game with whoever wants to participate.

Post a reply to this blog with:

The day you think Brayden will come

The time

His height

His weight

Daddy's guess is: July 28th, 8:42 p.m., 21 inches, 6 lbs 14 ounces

Mommy's guess is: July 18th, 4:16 p.m., 19 inches, 7 lbs 2 ounces

I had a hard time guessing and so did Mike! Sometimes I feel like Brayden is going to come super soon, and other times I feel like he is going to hang out till closer to my induction date! Remember, I am going to be induced if he doesnt come in the next 2 weeks, somewhere around the 27th of July!

Can't wait to read all of your guesses!!

36 weeks!

Today is the 36 week mark of my pregnancy, officially 9 months! Crazy how time flies!!!!! And yes, that means, I am no longer taking my contraction pills! I took my last one last night at 6 pm, and they work for about 6 hours. No big news or anything yet, I have been feeling more tightening and a few more noticable contractions, but still nothing major. I am having maybe 2 contractions an hour at that, very irregular. But, that could change at any moment and we cant wait for our little Brayden to get here! We'll update as often as we can to let you know if anything is happening! Thank you all for all your prayers and love!!

P.S. We do have a doctor appt tomorrow in the morning, so if nothing happens before then, I will be posting about how the doctor appt went!!

Pictures Galore!

There ^^^^ are the pictures of Brayden's room, pretty much done besdies a few small things! :)







Here are a couple pictures requested by my mommy of me and Brayden, enjoy!

And lastly, a picture of Mike and I!!! We cant wait for Brayden to finally get here!!!!

Grandpa Dave in the 4th of July Lawnmower Race!

My sister just sent this video to me of our stepdad Dave participating in the 4th of July Lawnmower Race up in Prairie City Oregon where they live! Anyways, I thought it was really cool and wanted to share it with everyone! Hope you enjoy :)!

Click on the link to see the video:

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg289/arahsaylp/?action=view¤t=4thofJulyPrairieCity606-1.flv

My wonderful sister and her wonderful hubby shot this awesome video and are now famous, well, at least in Prairie City, as the video made it onto the Blue Eagle Website (the newspaper up there that My mom works for)

Here is the link to the Video on the Newspaper website and a little blurb about all of them!

So proud of my family!

http://myeaglenews.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=17462&SectionID=49&SubSectionID=177

Could be 1 week, could be 3!

It's amazing how such a little boy can have such power over our lives! I laugh as I type that because right now, and I guess for quite awhile now, and for quite awhile in the future, Brayden sure does have his say in how things are done!

We had another Doctor's appt today that went fantastically! Brayden cooperated quite well throughout the whole NST (non-stress test) where they monitor his heartbeat and my contractions and we were done with it in no-time and passed with flying colors! He has been VERY active today, and had great variability in his heart rate so they doctors are very pleased! Also, they got the results from our perinatologist appt from last week which were great. It was showing Brayden at a growth rate of 35 weeks when we were really like 34.5 weeks and my doctor told me that is really good and that its if it the growth is behind that they get worried, but that above average growth shows a healthy baby! Also, my exam showed that I am even less dilated than I was at my last appt and the same effaced as I was last time, and Brayden is still of course in the right position and very low. They always laugh at how low he is during my appts! They keep telling me what a good baby he is to be behaving and staying in the right positions! I had a quick ultrasound without any pictures just to check my amniotic fluid level, which is normal and healthy :)!

Also, the reason for the title of this post is that this Sunday the 13th I will stop taking the medication Nifedipine to stop my contactions and then we will have an appt this coming Monday for a checkup to see how it is affecting me. From there, its up to Brayden when he wants to come up until I am 38 weeks (July 27th). The doctor told me today if I dont have him by 38 weeks they wil go ahead and induce me since he is growing so well and has been in the heads down position for awhile, plus everything else that has happened. So from what I can tell, we will be having a JULY baby and not an August baby :)! He just wanted to be born in the same month as his cousin Gregory (who is hoping to share his birthday on the 22nd with Brayden)!!!

I think that is all I can report for right now. Except for two shelves that Daddy has to bring home tomorrow, Brayden's room is done! I will be putting more pictures up tomorrow! Hope all is well with everyone else! Leave us a message if you can, we'd love to hear from you!

Pictures!

Here are some much asked for and highly anticipated (haha) photos of Brayden's room in progress! It was hard for me to take pictures without everything being done and perfect but I know a couple of you were dying to see what things looked like. There are still shelves that Daddy is working on, the toy chest in progress, and a few other things, but this is just the beginning and gives you all an idea of what it will look like :)! I love looking in there and seeing all his stuff, cant wait for him to be here, but I try not to tell him that because he still needs to hold his horses a little bit ;)! Anyways, hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!

We hope you are all having a fantastic day celebrating our wonderful country's independence!! I am SOOO proud to be an American, and SO thankful for all the men and women serving in so many capacities in our armed forces to keep us a free and prosperous nation! THANK YOU!

Mike and I have been having a wonderful and very relaxing 4th so far! I have been dying to do some arts and crafts for Brayden's room, so for the last couple of hours we have been working on those. One is a toy chest for his many toys he has accumulated so far, and the other is the letters to his name that I am painting to hang above his crib! They are all turning out so cute and I am taking a break right now and though I would put some pictures up! Here they are in progress! Pics will come later on when we end up finishing them!

Brayden's Ultrasound

We got back from Brayden's ultrasound a couple of hours ago and then we layed down for a nap. Mike is still sleeping so I thought it would be the perfect time to give a short update on how our appointment went! We have one healthy little boy! Everything is still great with Brayden, blood flow, heartbeat, growth, amniotic fluid level, etc is all perfect! He was a sleepy boy today so they were able to get his measurements done pretty quickly. Good for them, but Mike and I can never see him enough ;)! He is still WAY low and head down and the technician let me know there is no way of him flipping, so that is a praise report just knowing that he cant try to wiggle himself out of the right position for birth! This technician told us too that she could see the hair on his head! I just think thats so amazing that they can tell that already! They were able to give us his weight, and its just another sign of him being healthy; he is 5 lbs and 13 ounces!!!! They said that is great and assuming he gains his 1/2 lb per week, if I do give birth right around 36-37 weeks he will be be roughly around 7 lbs! If I go full term, he would most likely be 8.5 or bigger, haha! We feed him well!

Thats all for now, pictures to come soon! (We weren't able to get a 3d ultrasound because Brayden is so low, but I cant be bummed out because I know he is in the right position to be here soon so we can just see him in the flesh!!)

39 days huh?

Hi everyone! Sorry I havent posted in awhile! I guess I didnt realize that it had been so long since I put any of our information up! Good news, no hospital visits since the last time I wrote :)! Brayden seems to be doing great, moving around a lot and making Mom and Dad laugh all the time with his antics! He seems to have nights where he is more feisty, and punches Mommy in the belly button repeatedly... I definetely love feeling him move around, but I am not a fan of the belly button punching as it hurts!!!! Little booger!

Mike and I are doing really good too, we just moved up to Thousand Oaks to our new 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, and we are IN LOVE with it! It is definetely the nicest place we have lived this far, is really spacious, and the scenery and complex are beautiful!! And Brayden has his own room with a beautiful blue wall! It's been a lot of fun getting things set up, then again, Mike did all the hard stuff, well, mostly everything, so I guess it might not have been as fun for him! All the furniture got moved in this last weekend with thanks to my brother and my nephew and my Dad for helping out!!!

We have another checkup for Brayden on Monday, and we have our perinatalogist appt and ultrasound ( I think the last one) today. We are very much looking forward to it and I hope they are able to do it in 3d! I have a feeling they might not be able too since Brayden is SO low, but I'm hoping! It wont be long before we get to see him face to face!

I have to hold him in for at least the next week and a half, Sunday the 13th is when I hit the 36 week mark and they are planning on taking me off of the medication, YIPEE!! That's why the title of this post is 39 days, because I really dont think this munchkin is going to hold off that much longer!! I started packing our hospital bag yesterday, just starting to get things ready!

No plans for us for the 4th of July, just going to enjoy Mike having the day off. Maybe do a movie marathon or something! We'll be watching the fireworks from our apartment and since the mall down the street is shooting them off we should have a pretty good view!

Pictures of the apartment, of us, of my belly, and hopefully scans of our ultrasound will all be coming soon!!