Brooklyn's Arrival!

After our test run on Monday evening (the 16th), I was very gun-shy about going to L&D only to be sent home again. We followed up with my OB on Tuesday afternoon as directed and he estimated that based on various symptoms that I would go into labor & deliver within 48 hours. I was still pretty skeptical, even at 40 weeks and 2 days, but felt encouraged that I would have her by Friday based on our induction plan.

All day on Tuesday I had contractions roughly 10-15 minutes apart that were fairly uncomfortable, but I was not convinced they would get closer together. Starting at about 5pm and lasting through dinner, I noticed the buggers were getting stronger and once I started timing them that they were getting closer together. By roughly 7:30, they were painful and 4-5 minutes apart. I started to let myself believe that this was it. I showered, put some make-up on and we called Dear Deana to come stay with Ell. By the time we left at 8:45, I was telling Chris to HURRY and having to really concentrate on breathing through the contractions. He was driving super-fast and I didn't even get bossy about it--I was getting really worried I wouldn't make it in time to get an epidural.

When I walked into L&D the lady from the night before got a chuckle that I was back, but the nurses quickly realized that this was the real thing and put me in a room directly instead of making me go to triage. When the nurse checked me, I was at 6-7cm and begging for an epidural. This required lab results and filling out of consents and such. She offered me some pain relief through my IV, but I really didn't was to be out of it when Brooklyn was born so I declined. My parents and best friend arrived. . . and the contractions were becoming increasingly strong. The only thing that gave me relief was intense pressure applied to my back. I was really worried that I wouldn't get that darn epidural in time! Finally, the anesthesiologist arrived (his name was Dr. Needleman-ha!) and had everyone but Chris leave the room so that he could administer the epi. I was writhing and crying in pain, so being asked to sit still was excrutiating! After some very tense and sweaty minutes, the epi was in and within 5 minutes my pain began to lessen. I am still in awe at women who do this completely medication-free, although I think if I had been in a different position or in water maybe I could have held out. . . . but I don't know. . .

The nurse checked me and I was complete. . . I'm guessing that I was at roughly 9cm by the time the epi was placed. She called my OB again and he said he would be there within 10 minutes. He arrived and it was a whirlwind of getting everything set for B's arrival. They decided it was time for me to push--difficult because my groin, particularly my left side was so numb. I *think* I pushed for 10 minutes--during those pushes, my OB was giving Chris a quick training on how to deliver babies so that he could 'catch.' I gave one big push and her head was out. . . I let my contractions do the rest of the work. Chris got to deliver and to cut the cord, which was amazing. Her delivery time was 10:55pm--pretty quick when I consider I was checked into the hospital at 9:15pm!

Brooklyn was immediately placed on my tummy, and she was gorgeous, even covered in the vernix--it was much thicker than Ell's. Her cries were a bit weak and she was a little blue so the nurse took her to get suction and it's a good thing--she had lungs full of amniotic fluid. The nasal aspirator wasn't enough and they had to deep suction. My mom and Chris were right there with her the whole time and they were telling me how beautiful and BIG she was. Finally she was stable enough to get weighed and she was a whopping 8 pounds and 10 ounces!!!! That's a full pound more than Ell was at birth! (he was 7 pounds, 8 ounces) I gave my OB a hard time for telling me that she would be roughly the same size as Elliott!

After she was stable, they placed Brooklyn on my chest for skin-to-skin contact and there she stayed for an hour or so. Our hospital has a new policy where the babies don't go to the nursery for baths and such--they complete it in the post-partum room. Needless to say, by the time everything was checked out and bath completed, we were exhausted. I believe that Brooklyn left our room about 3am after eating one last time. We got roughly 3 hours of sleep before she was back at 6am. :)

And THAT is the story of Brooklyn's entrance into the world!