Military life: bad news

I write this post with tears in my eyes.

I woke up this morning to text and emails checking on my husband. Everyone remembered he was on the Mahan and it's all over the news today.

Last night around 11:20 a shooting occured on the ship. A sailor was shot, as was the man who shot that sailor. I can't help but cry this morning. We don't know who it is yet but I can't help but imagine it being a close friend. My heart aches for the familes and shipmates attached to the ship. I can't imagine how the ordeal went down but it's terrifying.

Living the military lifestyles brings bad news very often. I know many fellow wives and friends in the service are always complaining about bad news. Sometimwsw its something terribly small but others itsr crazy happenings like the shooting. You have to take it one day at a time and keep a positive mindset.

Today we recieved the worst news since Chance joined the Navy and I know when he gets home it will weigh heavy on us. I ask everyone to send prayers to the sailors and all of their families. Keep them in your thoughts and hug your loved ones extra close today.

Update on our Daddy;

Yesterday morning the official announcement was made. Our Daddy is sailing home. The pentagon was the first to release the information and our ombudsmen still won't update us on it (the FRG and her suck. They don't do their job at all). Annnnywaaaaay, I can't give any dates as to what I've heard about the ships return but I will tell you that it should be soon. It sucks to not have an exact date but knowing he's on his way makes up for it all. I couldn't imagine spending anymore time away from him and I'm so relieved that they have decided to allow his ship to return to home port. This mess in Syria is scary. On one hand I do believe it is morally wrong and on the other I think American needs to stay out of it. We always get into things and it causes problems for us. We should be focusing on our economy and problems with our youth. 

To all of you brave sailors still out there, thank you for fighting. Thank you for allowing my husband to return home. I couldn't be more appreciative. B needs his Daddy here with him, we all do.

Little Brantley's arrival

This post is soooo late. I've discovered that having an infant is harder then I could have ever imagined.

Saturday, July 21st Chance and I attended a childbirth class. This next part is probably TMI but it happens to the best of us, I had been peeing a little when I coughed and sneezed for the past few days. It happened to me during the class and I thought nothing of it. The leaking continued and on Sunday night I woke up to go pee and the fluid drained down my leg. I still wasn't alarmed and chalked it up to laying down for so long. Chance left out to sea the next morning. This left us with a very small chance of having him home if something went wrong. On Monday I had a massive leaking again and finally began to contribute it to amniotic fluid. I didn't rush to the doctor because I had an appointment the next day anyways.

When I got to my appointment I mentioned my leaking to the doctor. She had a fit and tested me pee for fluid. She came back and told me I needed to go straight to the hospital. At this point I started freaking out. I couldn't think of anything other then the fact that my husband wasn't going to be there with me. I cried and cried while my mom attempted to calm me down. I called the Ombudsmen of the ship and tried to get a hold of Chance. She told me she would do what she could. This managed to upset me even more. I texted a friend of mine who's fiancè and she emailed everyone on the ship she knew hoping to get a hold of someone who could let Chance know. Finally when I arrived at the hospital he called. I still hadn't calmed down and was worried he wouldn't make it.

Needless to say the Red Cross let me down and failed to help us. However the captain of the USS Mahan DDg72 did everything he could to help. They tried to put Chance on a helo and the winds got to heavy. They then decided to come as close to shore as possible and but him in a small boat. This proved to be nearly impossible in the waves. I was so upset until I finally got a call saying the captain said screw it that he'd have Chance at the hospital for me. Thankfully Chance got there at 11:00 PM.

As all of this was happening I was chilling in the hospital waiting for labor to kick in. I ha pitocin in one arm and a million things hooked up to me. An hour and a half after the pitocin got out in I realize it was bubbling on my skin and wasn't even going in. They switched it to the other arm to actually start the process. At 4 CM I was done and I wanted my epidural. I was going through back labor and it was truly painful. They gave me pain meds and told me the anesthesiologist was with someone else and would be there soon. It took 3.5 hours for them to get there and they only came because my nurse finally pitched a fit. At this point I was at 7 CM and could barely breathe.

At 12 I was finally to the point where I could push. It took an hour to push Brantley out. My doctor was literally in the room for the last 15 minutes of pushing.

All 7 pounds and 6 oz of my baby finally emerged at 1:07AM. He was 20 inches long and had a head full of hair. I was so happy my husband made it and was thankful my mom was there.

I must say having an infant is so much harder then I could have ever imagined. Breast feeding is such a feat but we're getting the hang of everything. He refuses bottles and pacis and loves to swing :)

So glad to have him here with us.