Super Brock

The evening of December 8th took a very drastic turn when Brock ended up at the ER with a very high fever and acting lethargic. We were transferred to Children's Medical Center in Dallas, and he was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and sepsis. We are spending Christmas in the hospital, and will most likely ring in the new year here as well.

For more current updates on how Brock is doing, please visit: www.posthope.org/superbrock

~Taryn

Ice Storm 2013

Thankful that little Brock decided to make his appearance before the ice storm hit! We had a few days of help to get any newborn necessities we would need, get the fridge filled with food, and somewhat adjust to being a family of five. The roads here are terrible, so we are stuck at home...but the girls have gotten bundled a few times to play out in the ice. Brynlee is a HUGE fan; Brielle not so much. 

Our Home Birth Story

Brad and I are so excited to share with you the story of our home birth. It was an incredible experience for us both and we feel so blessed to have had a natural, uncomplicated birth in our own bedroom in our house. We put so much research, consideration, and prayer into these decisions (hospital or home birth, chiropractor, midwife, etc.) and did not walk into it flippantly. We recognized there are always risks to birth, but ultimately we felt led to trust Donna Miller and her student midwife Danielle Mason at Gentle Beginnings Birth Center to walk through this journey with us. My prenatal care was amazing, and the girls were both very involved throughout each appointment- whether it was helping to measure baby, or pressing the on/off button on the doppler in order to hear Brock's heartbeat. Time was spent in each appointment getting to know me, the entire family, and what we ultimately desired for our birth. When we were told that Brock's kidneys were enlarged and we would need to see a specialist, Danielle arranged to meet us at the appointment. The care was more than we could have ever expected. For anyone in the area, I would highly recommend them based on our experience. 

We had anxiously been preparing for our sweet Brock for what seemed like an eternity! I woke up around 1:30 AM on Tuesday, the 26th with uncomfortable contractions that were about 6-7 minutes apart. Brad and I had stayed up until close to midnight so I was already feeling exhausted, but the contractions were painful enough that I could not go back to sleep. We got up around 3:30, touched base with our midwife, ate a snack, and began getting everything ready around the house. My contractions got closer to 5 minutes apart close to 8 am, so our midwife came by to check on us and get an idea of where we were in the laboring process. The girls woke up shortly after she arrived and my contractions immediately slowed down. This was definitely discouraging and I remember apologizing to her over and over when I realized it would be a very long time before we had a baby. Our midwife, Danielle, decided to grab some breakfast while we got the girls situated with Brad's mom and told us to let her know any changes while she was gone. It wasn't long after Brad's mom came to the house that Brad and I decided to attempt a walk with Brad in the 40 degree weather outside. My contractions started coming closer together and I was soon unable to walk or talk through them. We texted Danielle and she said she would head back to the house. When she got here (a little after 10), my contractions were much stronger, but didn't stay close together for very long. Within the hour, they had spread back to 5-6 minutes apart, and I begged to be checked. I was so tired and worried that I had several more hours of labor ahead of me. I also desperately wanted to get into the birth tub, as I remembered how wonderful the water felt when I was laboring with Brielle. I was between a 6-7, and Danielle told us we could begin filling up the tub with water while she called the other midwife Donna, and Kaitlyn (another student midwife) and told them to head our direction. I got into the tub as soon as I got the green light from Danielle (baby's heart rate was checked, temperature of the water had to be no more than 98 degrees, etc.) I remember being so excited to hear the other midwives walk through the door because I knew that meant we were definitely getting closer to having a baby in our arms.  Having an unmedicated birth is such a mental, emotional, and physical battle within your own body and the presence of those three woman at our birth who believed in me and who believed in the body’s ability to- in most cases- birth a baby without intervention was so empowering. Brad was my rock throughout labor, and I would not have been able to do it without him. Whether holding me up, swaying with me, reminding me to breathe, or retrieving drinks, wet washcloths, etc., he was absolutely wonderful! Our experience of working through each contraction together while listening to songs like "10,000 Reasons" and "Healer" and having our midwives pray over us while we labored is something that I would not trade for the world. My water broke about 10 minutes after 1 PM, contractions became super intense, and Brock was born about 20 minutes later. I pushed for one contraction and pulled my own baby out of the water onto my chest. 

I did it!

Brock Jacob Morrow

Born: Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 at 1:32 PM
Weight: 8 lbs, 5 ounces
Length: 20 3/4 Inches 

We are overjoyed that we were able to have a natural, uncomplicated homebirth and are all doing very well. His sisters think he is the greatest and we are constantly being reminded how blessed we are. Here are a few pictures of the newest addition!

Brielle

Brynlee: Picture Update

August Announcements

It has been a very long time since I have posted about our family, and we have been up to way to much to try to catch everyone up now on all of the little things...so here are the BIG things:

1. Brynlee had her third birthday!

2. Brielle turned 1!

3. We found out we are expecting another little one- a BOY- who is expected to join us in November!

4. Our sweet Zion got out and was run over. :(

5. Brynlee and Brielle spent several days in Austin at Camp Nana!

6. Aunt Alyssa came to town to visit for a couple of days before heading back to Purdue to finish her last semester!

7. We survived summer! One week at camp with daddy in New Mexico, and two weeks without daddy at home.

8. Brad's sister, Melanie, and her family welcomed a little boy into the world August 5th- Soren Daniel Partlow.

9. Brad and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!   

10. I decided to try a little harder at the whole blogging thing! :-)

Look for pictures and videos soon!

~Taryn

Sweet Sisters

Photos and Video Updates

Playing at the park right by our house

Playing with Cousin Canon

Our Car Catastrophe

Brad and I left in our two vehicles with everything not in the moving truck (the girls, two dogs, tree frog, banking statements, fireproof safe with all other important documents, etc.) around 9 PM on our last Sunday there in Baytown in order to make it to Grapevine around 2 am, grab a pet friendly hotel once we got into town, and meet the movers at our rent house at 8 am. We were hoping the few hours of sleep we would get would be enough to get us through the day as we were already incredibly physically and emotionally drained. Everything was going smoothly, and we were on track until I hit a dog going 80 mph on I-45 in the middle of nowhere, (which was also about 30 miles outside of Dallas). The car didn’t make it much further before if started smelling, making horrible noises, and letting out lots of steam from the engine. To make an incredibly long story short- we waited two hours beside the road in the middle of nowhere for AAA to come and tow us (3 am), and we were still over an hour away from Grapevine (just under 100 miles- our towing limit). Since the tow truck didn’t typically deal with anything in Grapevine, they asked to follow Brad to the body shop of our choice (like we had one at that point…or like we knew our way around any better than they would). Anyway, it was after 5 am when they dropped off the car, so he didn’t even bother going to the hotel. Brad’s parents were spending the night with Brad’s brother and family in Mesquite and thankfully they were able to come get me and the girls (and everything in my car that we needed) before the tow truck arrived.

The car had over 200,000 miles and was going to cost every penny it was worth in order to fix it (basically anything plastic under the hood was ruined- fan, radiator housing unit, other big plastic car parts with names I don’t remember)…so Brad and I (and a very nice man from church) towed it down to car max and got a check for a whopping $450.00.

Since the towncar was the only car that we own that fits the car seats, we were in a pretty quick bind to decide what we were going to do. Yes…picture us…just moving into a house in a new city where we know absolutely no one, with no way to get around. Once people at church heard what had happened, people were so helpful in lending cars until we were able to find something we liked and could afford. We really wanted something with a third row, but not a ton of miles, and a price we could pay cash for.

We searched craigslist, dealers, friends of friends, friends of family members…anyone! I ended up finding an ’02 Suburban that had been traded in at a dealership, and Brad and I bought the vehicle. We thought we had gotten a great deal, had convinced the dealership to add a 6 month warranty on the vehicle, and they were going to run the car through their service center the following day. (That was Monday) On Tuesday, we called several times to check on the vehicle, but never could get in touch with someone who knew what its status was. On Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from the dealership saying they could no longer sell it to us because it would cost too much to fix. On Thursday, they cashed the check we had written for the vehicle, which left us in a position to no longer be able to negotiate with anyone else because we didn’t have funds available. I spent about 6 hours at the dealership Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (total) before walking away with a reimbursement check (and a bunch of bologna). The staff was so incredibly rude and no one told the same story. I was so disappointed by the whole thing, but mostly felt completely lied to, or like they backed out because we got too good of a deal. Regardless, there was no convincing and we began our shopping again once we had our money back!

Today, Brad and I purchased a 2007 Ford Freestyle, and it is just perfect for our family. This will be a much better car- newer with better gas mileage, but it doesn’t completely erase all the frustration from a flat out horrible experience!

Anyway, I know a lot of you have kept up to date with everything going on via my facebook rants…but there is the whole story. (well, an abbreviated, more emotionally detatched version)…and a picture of our new ride! J It seats 7!! Brynlee even said she wanted to sleep in her car seat in her "new car" tonight...

First Family Picture

Our first family picture taken here in Grapevine!