Hey Little Peanut!
9 weeks later and it’s about time I share little Brooklyn’s birth story! But let me tell you…2 kids is it’s own kind of crazy! Life is crazy! Especially with a 2yo boy who is his own kind of crazy! Though, he sure loves his baby sister <3
Brooklyn was due on August 15, however, we decided to kick her out a little early (lots of schedules to try and coordinate!). First, I had my membrane striped, which did absolutely nothing! I was stuck at 3cm. We had 2 hospitals to choose from. The one where I delivered Max or the university hospital. If I went into labor on my own, we would have gone to the first one (they only do inductions by a wait list). But this lady didn’t want to budge (even though my Dr could feel her head the last 3 apts!). The university hospital only allows a handful of inductions a day. After I got my membrane stripped, I just had to wait and if nothing happens, call the doc after 24 hours. And guess what?! Nothing happened! Max came pretty quick, and I was sure she would too if my body would just go into labor!
Anywho, so I called my drs office and they had to contact the hospital to see the schedule and whatnot and they would call me back (this was thursday morning). I hadn’t had an update yet so I called the office back before they closed for the MA to give me an update. I finally got a call! She said there are no more inductions available BUT my doctor said he would make it happen. She said he could call me in the middle of the night or she would call me in the morning once she got into the office. I didn’t get a call right away and I swear it felt like everyone kept asking me what’s happening and it was driving me nuts! It’s like, I don’t know! I only know what I’m told. Leave me alone. They said they would get me in.
So, I think I called around 11am for the MA to give me an update since I kept getting hassled! Finally got a call that afternoon saying to be at the hospital at 5pm! My dr was finishing up a delivery and we would be put in that room afterwards.
Funny story, we get to the hospital and basically everyone along the way seemed to wonder why the heck we were there. We get to the check in, told the lady we were there for an induction and she was a bit confused, called someone and was surprised when they said I could move on to triage! Whoop whoop! When that nurse brought us into triage, the other folks were surprised I was there because all the beds were full. They talked to someone and then they let me in! I’m pretty sure it was an emergency delivery room but that’s where we waited so they could check my dilation and see if I would be admitted. Guess what? Still a 3…and that nurse seemed to be sure they weren’t going to keep me. She left, came back, and guess what? Admitted!
So, all nice and cozy in the delivery room, they started me on pitocin. They start you at 2mm and can bump it up another 2mm every half hour. My nurse had another patient that apparently was pretty needy because she definitely did not come and bump up the meds as often as she could have. She also said they usually won’t check dilation again until the pitocin is up to 14 or 16…eye rolls…They started my meds around 630.
So grateful for my friend Annie who took our pictures AND kept me company! Time would have dragged on so slowly without her!
I was having contractions, but I couldn’t feel them. The nurse basically said to let her know once they start feeling like something. There really isn’t much to do in a labor and delivery room while waiting for things to kick into gear. Annie leaves to run home to pick up some games so we could have some fun things to pass the time. Naturally, once she leaves contractions kick into gear. Like for REALZ. The first picture was at 8:00pm. The second picture is 11pm after Annie got back. 3 contractions every 5 minutes. Apparently that is too many haha. They had to turn the pitocin down! BTW at some point, I got a new nurse, who of which I love! She is such a sweetheart! Scott was definitely pretty concerned. I was clearly in pain! And his poor hand! I’m pretty sure I squeezed the life out of it a few times.
Naturally, the contractions were terrible, especially since I wasn’t really getting a break between them (thank you pitocin!), so I opted for an epidural. Little did I know, I had to go through an entire saline bag before they would give it to me! It took forever! If I would have known that I probably would have asked a bit sooner. But it was pretty much a waste of money since it basically just numbed my left leg and the contractions still felt the same intensity as before, except concentrated on one side. I was definitely feeling things moving along and after each contraction it felt like she was moving. They say you know when it’s getting time to start pushing because it will feel like you have to poo. Which was totally happening so Annie ran out to tell the resident. She came in, checked my dilation, which was a 7. Water wasn’t broken yet but it was definitely close. They called my doctor and he said he was on the way, which took way longer than necessary! He told me he lived like…15 min from the hospital and it took him at least 30 min to get there! Probably even longer. Not too much longer after that, they got the OKAY from my doctor to break my water. The resident didn’t even have to use the little hook, she basically poked the sac and it popped! And then the nurse emptied my bladder and oh man! That was basically a little plug holding Brooklyn in and she definitely dropped a whole lot more after that happened. The resident and the nurses were basically just waiting there with me for my doctor to get there. They said we could deliver the baby, or I could try my best and not push until my doctor got there. So I suffered through at least 30 min of contractions when I could have pushed out that baby. Thank you crossfit because I held her in! Thankfully too because the umbilical cord was pretty long and was wrapped around Brooklyn’s neck twice. They did give me oxygen since the baby’s heart rate would drop a little. Naturally, with the cord around her. I basically did one long “push push push push! a little more…” BOOM! Baby! Once I started pushing, she was out in like a minute. And I got to assist in pulling her out! How cool is that? My doctor was telling me to grab her, but at first I didn’t realize he was talking to me. Baby Brooklyn entered the world at 12:28am!
We all had guesses as to what her weight would be…and no one guessed it. I said 7lbs 7oz. I bet you I would have been right IF she came on her delivery day on the 15th. But she was a cute little 7lbs 3oz, compared to Max, who was a whole pound bigger! And I had no tearing, which was a big win! Recovery was such a breeze compared to Max!
It was a great experience, minus the epidural being a waste. I loved all our staff! They were all so sweet! Anyway, enjoy some photos from D Day!
