Bryn came early...

People have been asking exactly how Bryn's arrival came about, so I thought I;d give a quick lil blog about how that all happened. I am keeping up in general via FB. Well Thursday, the 23rd was my birthday. That morning I had a scheduled NST (non stress test) at our Perinatal specialists (Dr. Mirable) office. The tests were happening twice a week, they basically have you do them for any high risk situation. There are prob a ton of you out there who have had them. Within a couple minutes of being on the monitor Bryn's heart rate dropped down a couple times and the nurse didn't like what she was seeing. So they got a hold of my OBGYN, Dr Goff and told him what was going on and it was decided that she was in distress and would need to come out, but wouldnt make it thru a regular delivery and a c-section was needed. It was a tad overwhelming because you go in expecting about an hour appt, then to go on about your day. I was going to head home and shower and meet Bart for a bday lunch...but plans changed! I was sent to OU to get on their monitors, as thats where I was delivering. It was best for us to be down at Childrens so Bryn could have the care she needed. Dr Goff met us down there and within a few mintues Bryn had another bad heart rate drop and they took me quickly back for surgery. Bart barely got in the room to sit down with me and Dr Goff had Bryn out and crying. So, she was doing good, good color and crying! Bart and the neonatal team went with Bryn to get her settled into the NICU and I finished getting closed up. It was fast and furious but went great. SO...that's how Bryn came 5 weeks before her due date, and 2 weeks before her induction date! Overall she has remained stable and the past two days she has been resting very comfortably. It is nice to have her here, but hard to not have her with us. Please pray specifically that she continues to breathe on her own, remains stable so they can operate sooner than later. They are predicting Tuesday or Wednesday. Thank you all. love and blessings, brooke, bart, berkley and bryn

We survived...

Berk got to have her first Smores experience and she loved it. She really like putting the stick in the fire, she made me nervous with her lil pyro action. We made a trip to West Virginia (a central meeting spot for Bart's maternal side of the family) for a family reunion and we survived! I knew we would, I just wasn't sure what would happen in between going and coming back. Ha. Picture a 2 year old and a 31 week preggo who doesn't always travel well and you can come up with some scary scenarios. We set out last Thursday and took 2 flights, and then a 2.5 hour car ride thru the mountains. Anyone who knows me well, knows I had my nausea meds on hand and a tight smile of "I'm fine, just keep going". No one killed each other and Berkley actually was a great lil traveler. She got many compliments on her excellent in-flight behavior. We all slept a lil crazily at the reunion spot,had no schedule, slept late and went to bed late, but overall it was really a successful trip! It was neat to see all the grand and lil great grand kids running around together for a few days. It was fun to have all of the adults together as none of them lives in the same state. Coming from a small family its a tad overwhelming to coordinate that many people for me, but everyone did great, had fun, and I look forward to the first time Bryn can enjoy all her extended family too! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler than here in Oklahoma and for me and my huge self, that was wonderful. I could be outside for hours at a time and not fall over of heat exhaustion. It was quite exciting to not constantly be stuck inside. We had another doctors appointment and it kinda went the same as the others have gone. So far all looks the same, we will wait till our next appt in a couple of weeks and hopefully make a plan of action to get Bryn here safely and then get her heart worked on to keep her here. We have a 'maybe' induction date of Sept1 16th, but depending on the next appt that could be moved back a few days or a week. We will continue to wait and trust our docs and know that it will all work out. GOd is good and we know how blessed we are that things have gone smoothly so fart Things have been pretty calm overall, just normal right now and expecting that for at least another 6 weeks. Prayers are always appreciated that I can carry her as long as possible, the goal being to get all her other organs formed and working well before she arrives. Prayers as we make a plan and for the doctors taking care of us. We thank you all for the continued kind words and support. Blessings and wishes for cooler weather to you all! With Love, Brooke and the other B people living with me.

That's what she said...

DISCLAIMER--- I don't know why and Im so not a computer person but my paragraphs don't show up.--- A good laugh these days is much enjoyed and appreciated on my part. I find myself telling jokes to Berkley that make me giggle, which make her giggle and then its like I actually had a decent conversation that day. I also count answering Dora and Mickey on the TV as conversations some days. That should tell you loads. Joke example: Why did Tigger jump down the toilet? He was chasing Pooh. Its one of my favorites. :) Its been a day where we were inside a little to long, this prego slept with a 2 year old on top of her last night, and so was pretty lacking in the energy department today. Pretty much felt like a failure at life. This day happens way to often. If its a choice to stay in, to just enjoy the quiet thats one thing, but the dirty dishes, toys everywhere, didn't do one productive thing kinda day is not so good. I get a lil pity party on. Its not cool. But, it ended in gymnastics, lots of snuggles, singing Bible songs, kisses and I love yous. God is good. It seems these days, and I realize its a phase of life, an age where people are getting married, having babies, getting into their life long careers kinda phase... its a phase where it seems like it is more rare to have a healthy marriage, a healthy child, a stable job than it was when I was younger. I am sure most of it is when you are 16, all you care about is driving, friends, etc. You don't realize 'real' life quite yet. Well I am in that stage where people around me are having babies and as we go through health issues with Bryn (27wks. and going strong) there are so many around us who are grieving a miscarriage, who are hearing their own difficult news about their unborn child, who are dealing with health issues of their infants and toddlers, and those who are continuing the path they have been on since their child was born of continued doc visits, surgeries, and tests. Its all too much. Sometimes, there are no words. I am a firm believer that God does give us more that we can handle. I think he allows bad things to happen so we HAVE to rely on Him. I think he can equip us for anything we face, therefore we are able to handle what is thrown our way. I think he shapes us and uses these stormy moments to mold us in His image, and to bend us to His will, to fulfill His ultimate goal. He will give you more than you can handle...because He doesn't want you to fix it. HE wants to carry us, HE can fix it. It may not be how we would fix it, how we want it or in the timing we wish, but Gods will, His plan, is always better. Its not easy to accept when you are in the storms. Its not fun. Its life and life is beyond hard some days. I have been humbled by realizing how much I didn't 'get it' till I was in it. I have been broken by realizing my friends or family have felt this sadness I have felt, this helplessness, this fear, or even this peace in realizing that we can't control it. How silly do I feel sometimes for thinking I understood their pain, or that I had the answer? Even though I have plenty of days of "why?", I have plenty of "why not." I have also realized how blessed we are. Not by things but by people, by love, by prayers and by Berkley. She keeps the joy in the house for sure. Its not good to compare, its a great sin I struggle with. But, compared to many around us we are facing a great future, with two girls that have bright futures. We will have a surgery, we will have some late nights, some tears, some fears and a few more battles I am sure we don't know about yet, but overall life is really good. Its one of those....'if you stuck all your problems in a bowl with others problems, you would take yours back out.' Im a selfish person. Really we all are, but I have been shown it daily since we had Berkley. Its not fun to realize 'unbecoming' things about yourself. Recently I would say I have become a lil more selfish on purpose. I have chosen to say 'no' more, to choose our family, or what is best for us. I have chosen me, rest, just time to relax at home or with family instead of being a part of the hustle. I love people, I love helping if I can, I love being invited to the party, the playdate, the dinner, but the world is a busy place. Sometimes its good to just slow down and watch Dora with your two year old instead of rushing to this place or that. We can rush tomorrow. I feel very blessed to have these choices. We continue to ask for prayers, for Bryn. We have a few months before she arrives and life changes a bit. We look forward to the rest of the summer, pool time, lake time and more memories with family and friends. I also ask you to pray for those out there like some of our friends who are dying to be parents and are struggling to make that happen, for our friends who have suffered multiple miscarriages and even with a healthy child still struggle with the loss, for our friends who after years of trying are finally going to be parents, I ask you to pray blessings over some of our friends who just got to bring their baby boy home from the Congo, I ask that you pray for our friends who are headed for more surgeries with their lil ones, for those taking their children in for testing and to figure out answers. I ask you to pray for a friend who lost her dad, a man who faced another brain surgery and is home, healed. Pray for the family who has healthy happy triplets, for our friends who after losing a precious boy adopted the cutest lil boy you can imagine. I ask you to prayer for that mom who is battling cancer with two small children, for the couple who was torn apart and is trying to repair their family, for our friend who lost a baby boy and now is living life with two precious girls, for the parents who learned that as the help their lil boy fight for his life, his twin has the same health problem. I ask you to pray for those people in your life struggling with life, with sickness, with pain, with sin, with addictions,for those all over this world who don't know Jesus. There is so much to pray for, it all matters. We live in a fallen world, there is sin, sickness, and many things out there trying to bring us down. Love each other. Be kind, give more, love more and see how the blessings flow in. Love me when I least deserve it, its when I need it most. Be a good friend by calling me out to do better, to be better, to quit bellyaching, to be Christ in this world. When I mess up, forgive me. Help me focus on the good, help me count my blessings. Encourage me. I love you all. I thank you for your friendship even if we don't get to see or talk often, whether we are close or just a friend of a friend. Thank you for being Christ to my family and I. Thank you for your prayers. lots of love - Brooke (bart, berkley and bryn)

Another update...

Two posts in one month, that is pushing it for this gal! Update on baby girl #2: We had another scan today and got to meet with the cardio specialist. Not much new info, but some. They feel the main problem is still in the aortic arch. It could be three different things though with the arch. Best case scenario is in my terms is that it mild coarctation, with that they most likely could put in a balloon to open it up, or surgically fix it another way. The other possibility is an interrupted aortic arch, which is more serious and basically the aorta isn't attached at a certain spot, so they would use meds right after she is born to keep everything open until hey can go in and basically build it all back together. Bryn wouldn't cooperate so they couldn't get a good picture of the whole area, and therefore we still don't know which scenario we are dealing with. We will go back next month, take more pics and hope to know exactly what to expect. I will deliver at OU Children's, be induced so we can plan and have all the doctors there to take care of her. While she will have to have surgery to fix it, we are thankful it can be fixed, and that we live somewhere with great medical care. The smaller problems in the heart, the VSD's are hopefully small enough they will either close on their own, not be an issue, or can be fixed while they repair her aorta. The kidneys do not seem to be an issue we have to worry about now. There are two, one is just in her pelvis. So as she grows we will se specialist for that and just figure out if they are both functioning or if they one in her pelvis is going to be a problem. The abnormal chromosome issue seems to still kinda be unresolved but they do know now they are from an extra X chromosome. It is nothing from Bart or I, just something that happened in her development. So we will just continue to pray it turns out to be nothing. They feel most likely it won't be an issue, something we may have never even known about had we not done an AMNIO and this type of genetic testing. After she is born and growing, we will watch her and see if any delays happen, if they do, then meet with a genetic doctor from there. Still lots of unknowns,but lots of answered prayers too! We feel much better about her quality of life, we feel that we are in good hands with Dr. Ward and whomever he will set us up with. We are expecting that the rest of the pregnancy should be normal with just some extra doctors and scans thrown in. Other than her heart she seems to be growing well, measuring well and should arrive towards the end of September. We are so thankful for the prayers and kind words as we have been waiting for more answers. We know how blessed we are that things aren't worse. We ask for continued prayers for Bryn as she grows, for the doctors we will be working with and for MY anxious heart. I have always had faith God will equip us for whatever we are thrown, but I have been struggling with just accepting what we have been thrown. My need to control things keeps getting shut down, and its a big lesson for me to learn. I don't like hard lessons, ha. I hope to update again before our next appointment, but if not, hope you all have a great June. God is Good. Blessings and Love, brooke (bart, berkley and bryn too)

tick tick tick...

Man time flies when you aren't a good blogger, and you're busy, and you mainly just don't know where to start... We have had an interesting last few weeks. We were very excited to find out we are having a second baby girl at the end of September. We have decided to name her Bryn Victoria. Im about 24 weeks and so a little over halfway there. This has been such a different pregnancy from Berkley, it is unreal! I was so thankful to not be sick this time around but now looking back a few weeks, I would trade it for all the doctor visits and unknowns we have been facing. Pretty quickly after we found out Bryn was a SHE, we also found out that she has some health issues. We feel pretty confident, as of today at least, that it will not be a genetic issue we are dealing with. If it is genetic, it will hopefully be on the more mild side rather than what we were initially facing. Now we are focusing on meeting with specialists who can help with the specific organ problems, mainly the heart and kidney (not two, just one). We meet with Dr. Ward next week and very much are hopeful he can shed more light on the exact problems, how severe they are, and what steps we will be taking from here. One doctor seems to lean towards it being 'plumbing' issues that can all be fixed, including her heart issues. We are prayerful that, that comes true. I never thought id be praying for just heart surgery for my child, but I am! We ask for prayers as we move forward into the scary unknown. There are still some issues with chromosome abnormalities that are being tested, and tested, and so we also ask for prayers of clarity in this issue. I'm horrible with unknowns so week after week to be told they need more blood, we do more testing, we do an amnio, etc., and to get no definite answers has been very hard. I have been blessed with lots of stories of great outcomes, knowing that things could be much worse, but when its you going thru the storm...its still hard. We are so very thankful that we have the medical access we do here in the US and here near where we live. We hope to be able to deliver here, and to get treatment here, as it would mean its all more common issues and that Dr. Ward could handle it all. But, if we have to be somewhere else we know that it would be the best place for Bryn. Thank you for the prayers and love being sent our way and on our behalf. Bart ran in the Memorial Marathon and Berk, her aunt LaLa and I went out to cheer him on. She thought it was pretty fun. She LOVES to eat spaghetti! Blowing bubbles, coloring and painting are among her fav activities. She likes to wear my jewelry, so we put one of her clip on bows, on her ear like an earring. She was beaming. Pretty much every morning she comes to our bed and watches cartoons while mommy takes a few minutes to wake up. This would be her normal pose. She doesn't look like she loved it, but she got to ride a pony at her friend Morgan's birthday party...she kept asking to go for another ride. Berkley is almost 2 1/2, busy as every, sassy as can be and has more energy than I can keep up with. She is such a joy to watch. I of course think she is the smartest 2 year old around, and maybe the cutest. :) We are working on her big girl room, and even though she doesn't really care, is happy in her crib still, its fun to think about having both my girls in their rooms one day. God is Good. Blessings, Brooke

Adding to the Crew in 2012

We are happy to share some good family news! We will be adding to the chaos around Sept 21st with baby #2. :)
We ask for prayers for another happy, healthy baby. We know we are blessed and we are very thankful.

Love and Blessings,
Bart, Brooke and Berkley

Movin and Shakin in 2012

Hello All! Well wishes to you and yours in the New Year.

What a great end t 2011 and great start to the new year we've had. We've seen family, friends, had some outings to relax and move us right on into a crazy, busy, February. February brings lots of birthdays and fun though. Berkley will be 2! Its just gone way too fast. I see newborns and can't even imagine where the time has gone. Its been a whirlwind of funnies though.

Berkley is truly, like any child to their parents, the JOY of our lives. She is hilarious. She has so much personality, is such a ham, makes the silliest faces, and is constantly on the move. She never stops. No really, she doesn't. She had a great Christmas, enjoying one toy Santa brought a tad more than the others...a lil 2mph quad (4wheeler). She does tricks people. She will stand while riding, sit on it backwards, etc. She is a little daredevil. Its so fun to watch, until she runs into the wall and doesn't stop pressing the GO button. She loves friends, and playing. She loves anytime we get to see friends, go to playgroup or just go outside and watch the big kids at the park. We are so blessed that she loves going to church, MDO and her grandparents houses. SHE LOVES her grandparents on both sides. She knows their houses, so when we pull up she gets super excited. She is spolied rotten, and we love it because we are blessed to get lots of mommy/daddy time when we need it. She loves babies. She would prefer a "live" one to feed and take care of, but a doll will work just fine. She buckles them in chairs, carseats, her highchair, and strollers. She is obsessed. You will see in the pics below what I mean...She is a great helper. She still loves Gymboree, so we go weekly and play hard. We have made some new friends through church, MDO and playgroups, so its fun to see her with more kids her age and really being social. We are very blessed.

We are looking forward to another great year in the Brewer home. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Love and Blessings,
bb

Making sure daddy has all her goods before we leave.
Typical JOYful face. Im bad about snapping quick photos on my phone, hence the blur.
Christmas Eve at my parents house.
Fake sleeping to make people laugh...
Showin her belly off, to herself.
Acting like butterflies at Gymboree.
Xmas night in her pwetty dwess, as she calls it.
Went to see Cyn at Lake Texoma, loved swinging.


Putting deodorant on her belly. It stunk.
Puttin on makeup, nope thats not a black eye.

Helping Lucy drink her milk...even though Lucy is 1 and totally capable.
This is how I found her Wednesday night at church. Just hangin out.
trying to put on a doll sized shoe. She tried this for quite a while.
Found her asleep one night like this...apparently we were being too loud in the living room.
FroYo at Green Goodies! YUM!
Allie's bday dinner at Chick Fil A. Friend photo!
Addie, Allie and Berk
Goin down the slide with Allie.