Brynn Marie Mantalas

Our happy family of 3
Warming after her first bath
Our precious baby Brynn

Well it's official...Jerret and I are parents of a BEAUTIFUL baby girl. Her name is Brynn Marie Mantalas. We welcomed her 6 pound 8 ounce, 18 inch little brown haired body into the world on Saturday, March 21st at 4:10 p.m. I woke up at 3:15 in the morning on Saturday to a surprise of my water breaking...I called the birthing center and they told us to come in. By 8 am I was on oxytocin (or patocin).  I had planned on going without pain meds, and around 3:00 being 6 centimeters I couldn't take the pain any longer. We decided to go for the epidural. Our nurse said it would take at least 20 more minutes to get my IV ready to go for it plus I would need to be able to be still for 10 minutes. I wasn't sure about this because contractions were SO intense I was moving all over the place!  However, within 7 minutes of deciding on the epidural, something in our labor had dramatically changed...a baby felt like it was going to come out. Our nurse checked again, and I was 9 centimeters. I went from a 6 to a 9 in 7 minutes. I kept telling people 10 minutes and my nurse reminded me every time, no it was 7 minutes. :) So we went no epidural and pushed for about a half hour. Man was that ever painful, but well worth it. I was up and showering within about an hour after delivery. I had some internal tearing so I have some stitches, however, I am getting around quite well. Lots of nurses kept telling me, I didn't look like I just had a baby. I am so thankful now that I didn't have to the epidural because it was what we wanted all along. But during the moment I just didn't feel like I could take it. Jerret told me before hand that he would help talk me out of it, however, he said he couldn't stand seeing me in so much pain so he just said it was up to me during the moment. Here are a couple of pics of Brynn...hope you enjoy!!!