Brielle Sue is 2 Months Old

Brielle (Ellie) is 2 Months Old!

Oh sweet girl how special you are, we didn't know we needed you to complete our family  but oh how we did! These updates are very bitter sweet knowing you are out last sweet, tiny, baby! 

~weight 11.5lbs

~wearing size 1 diapers 0-3 and 3 month clothes

~sleeping 6-7 hours at a time at night 

~You love to find your fingers and thumb when your paci is out of reach 

~ You love your mammroo swing 

~ you love to snuggle especially with your momma 

~ You are still completely adored by your big sisters but especially Brinkley, she has an overwhelming love for you and tries to claim you as her own haha

~ you are starting to smile but are very selective with your smiles 

~ you love your momma, a lot!

~ you got to celebrate two sisters birthdays and didn't care in the least 

 

As much as I want time to slow down I look forward to seeing what month #3 holds for you. You are perfect in every way and we love you to the moon and back. 

 

 

 

 

 

Brielle Sue Struska

Brielle Sue 

Born January 16, 2017

1:48am

Weight: 7#15.5oz 

Height: 20.5in

As I have with my three older daughters I plan to write out my labor and delivery story. Every delivery of course has been different than the rest and has its own little details this one is no exception. I plan to start back a little farther with this story. I had been fighting a pretty nasty cough and cold for several weeks when January 9th hit and I developed a fever as well. I knew I wasn't in labor but became worried about the baby due to my fever. (Sometimes working in that field is a downside. Ha) We decided to head to the hospital just to get checked out. We checked into labor and delivery where they confirmed that I was not in labor and really wasn't dilated at all. After monitoring the baby for a bit they decided to do an influenza A swab. While we were waiting for the results to come back my fever continued to go up and the baby wasn't tolerating it well. Once the results came back they diagnosed me influenza A and decided to keep me inpatient so I could get the Medications I needed and so they could continue to monitor the baby. I stayed in the hospital from January 9-12 before being discharged. Baby continued to stay strong despite everything we were going through. I got amazing sleep while in the hospital and was ready to tackle life at home until baby came. They checked my cervix before I left and I was 2cm.

Right before we left for the hospital on Jan 15.

On Sat morning I woke up to a contraction that was a little more uncomfortable than the Braxton hicks I had been having and I was excited because it meant something was different. But then I didn't have any more for several more hours. That went on during the day on Sat and Sun. Every few hours I would have an uncomfortable contraction but not painful. Which was a little frustrating. We played games with my family on Sunday until late in the evening then headed home. I started to have a few more contractions here and there that were becoming a little more intense. Just after 10pm I decided to start keeping track of my contractions and to my surprise they were about 4-5 min apart and getting stronger. I paced the room for a little bit as Joe got ready for bed and into bed when I decided we needed to probably at least go get checked out at the hospital. I called my friend Katie who came over to stay with the girls and called my mom to meet us at the hospital. I was still convinced my contractions were probably going to just stop before we got to the hospital but we took out stuff with us. By the time Katie got to our house and we got in the car is about 1045pm. Contractions were still about 5 min apart and tolerable but painful.

We got to hospital and into our room about 1115pm where they hooked me up to monitors and then checked my cervix. I was a good 6-7cm and contractions were coming about every 2 min. I was soooo relieved to be dilated so far and to officially be admitted to have our baby! As my awesome labor nurse started the admission process and got antibiotics up and running (I was gbs+) contractions continued to get a bit stronger. I decided at that point I better ask for my epidural or I wasn't going to get one. They came in pretty quick and I got the epidural. A few min after the epidural was in place I coughed (which I had been doing for weeks because of my stupid cold before the flu hit) and my water broke. At this time she checked me and I was about 7cm and the nurse could feel the baby's hair. Even though we didn't know the gender at that point I changed my mind from thinking it was possibly a boy to knowing it was a girl.  My nurse told me she was going to let me just labor at this point and they weren't going to check me or do much for the next few hours because they wanted to get a second dose of antibiotics on board before baby came. Well right after the nurse walked out I stared throwing up and got a horrific pain in my right hip. The pain was not going away and seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. I remember at one point turning around to look at the screen and I was VERY annoyed that my contraction didn't seem to be letting up at all. All the while I was still throwing up. The nurse came in and said she would get the anesthesiologist to up my  epidural since I was still having so much pain, but then decided to go ahead and check me quick first.

She said you are complete, I'm getting Dr. Le, DO NOT PUSH THE BABY OUT while I step out of the room for a min. I didn't feel like I needed to push. I felt like the baby was trying to come out my right hip. Everything from there happened very fast and within minutes it was time to push. I pushed once and out SHE CAME at 1:48am just about 2.5 hours after getting to the hospital!!! Joe was going to announce the baby's gender but I happened to look down right as she came out and I yelled out, It's A GIRL! We were both so excited and happy to have another sweet baby girl. The Dr then told me she would deliver my babies any day! Ha
Aside from the flu and the sickness I had the week before delivery it was a wonderful experience. Poor baby girl Struska didn't have a name though since we couldn't decide on one ahead of time. We discussed a few names and then decided we should get some sleep first and not try and name our daughter at 4am after not sleeping at all. Of course I couldn't sleep and names were swimming through my mind. I think it was about 6am when I got up and wrote Brielle on the board to look at and compare with the other names we had discussed. Joe decided he loved it and so did I and we had already discussed using Sue his mom's first name as the baby's middle name so that was an easy decision. There will be no more babies from this Struska family but we are loving having our 4 girls!!!

Brielle Sue 1 Month Old

Brielle Sue
We still can't believe you are here and now a month old already. We all love you so much and couldn't imagine not having you in our family. Your sisters love you a lot and always ask to hold you, especially Brinkley. Visitors have to fight off Brinkley for a chance to hold you at all. Here are a few facts about you from your 4 short weeks of life!
~ weight 9# growing like crazy
~ diapers newborn but not for long
~clothes newborn are getting a tad short so we are transitioning into 0-3 month
~ sleeping a couple good stretches through the day and night

~ you already took your first plane ride at 10 days old to Wisconsin to see Gran and Grandpa and some cousins

~ you celebrated your first Inauguration Day with the swearing on of Presedint Donald Ttump

~ you celebrated your first Valentines Day

~ you were dedicated at church with the 9 other babies that have been born since May 2016
~ you are the post dinner entertainment for your sisters

Ms Bri you couldn't possibly be loved anymore and we look forward to the next month!

Girls News Rooms

We've had an interesting couple of years in transition. We bought a house before we started having kids then we decided to up and move. Well that move brought some changes we weren't really prepared for, such as Denver housing market and changes in jobs. We didn't ever lack a warm place to lay our heads but we did have to sqeeze our family of 4 into a two bedroom apartment and then the 5 of us into a 2 bedroom townhome and we always had what we needed but God provided a lovely house for us that we will hopefully grow old in! ( I will be 30 in which means I'm practically there) We plan to use this awesome home for God and to serve Him. So into the fun part, decorating. Each girl has their own room and we've had a blast doing them different. The girls love their rooms. Here are some photos.

Hadley's Room

Brinkley's Room

Mayzie's Room

Not Quite A Year Yet

Mayzie 11 months old 

Just like I'm not even 30 (at least until July) Mayzie isn't one, until next month. I am very excited that she is growing and healthy but a little sad that this first year ha gone so fast. Mayzie you are such a sweet happy girl. 

~Weight 21#

~Wearing 12-18 month clothes but size 2 shoes. 

~crawling everywhere and walking around everything but you still won't take the plunge

~ you got to celebrate your first Broncos Super Bowl win!!!

~ climbing up stairs but nothing else... Yet. 

~ you now have 6 teeth peeking through