In July of 2013 Hannah called to tell us that she and Dantrell were expecting their first child. I was so thrilled because I knew that as the Mom of the babies' Mom, I would get to be more involved in the whole event. It was so much fun going through this with her and feeling more a part of the entire pregnancy and birth. We found out in the fall that they were having a boy and they picked the name Brayden. The middle name wasn't decided until right before he was born. I told Hannah and Russ and I would get the furniture and bedding for his room as our gift to her. I found a bed and dresser I liked at IKEA and she was thrilled with it when I sent pictures. She wanted black furniture but all the main stores seemed to carry only dark browns. We looked at pre-made bedding sets with her and nothing seemed to grab her as what she wanted for his room. I asked Kelly Farmer if she would sew her bedding items for us and she was excited about it. We made a few trips to fabric stores sending Hannah pictures of different color combinations. She finally settled on yellow and gray chevrons and giraffes as the motif for decorations. I found a mobile at a thrift store and Kelly recovered it with one of the fabrics and hung giraffes from it. She made bumpers, a blanket, curtains and spit rags and bibs. She covered baskets with the fabric too. Hannah painted some pictures for the wall and she and I did some name pictures. I loved the way it all came together.
She was due on February 24 but I was sure she would go early so I drove to NC the first week of February to be there when he arrived. She was worried she would go into labor and I wouldn't be there so I wanted to reassure her by coming early. We had fun shopping for clothes for him and getting everything washed and ready. By the second week I think she was ready to be done so we started walking and eating pineapple and trying all the suggestions online for inducing labor. We started seeing her first real contractions on Saturday, Feb. 8 and then on Sunday we officially got her labor going. The hospital was maddening and didn't want her to come in too soon. Since it was her first child they expected her to be in labor for awhile. I timed contractions for awhile and then eventually overruled them and told them we were coming in. It was a good thing I did because she went fast. By 9:14 a.m. he was here...all 7 lbs and 4 ozs of cuteness. She had intended to have an epidural but she ended up doing a natural birth because it all went so fast. Brayden Xavier Hunt arrived on February 10. Aunt Amber arrived just in time to see him minutes after birth. It was love at first sight for all of us. Such a cute little one he is.
Hannah embraced Motherhood and was in awe of her new son. She grew up right before my eyes that day as she conquered several of her biggest fears. I was so proud of the way she fought through the natural birth and breast-feeding trials. She found strength she didn't know she had. She and Dantrell both were eager to learn how to care for baby Brayden and I spent another week and a half with them teaching them the ropes. Brayden and I bonded in those two weeks and it was hard to leave him. He is now almost six months old and cute as can be. He is one of the happiest babies I've seen in awhile. It doesn't take much to get him giggling and he loved to have fun. I'll end this post with a few of my favorite Brayden pictures.
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