Hi all!

As you can imagine, life has been busy since the arrival of our amazing rainbow baby girl; but I am finally sitting down to write a new post about her arrival! So here we go!

 

By the end of my pregnancy I was so over being pregnant. I was huge and uncomfortable (see photo of my giant stomach below). Also, I couldn’t resist the comparison to a bucket of chicken! Haha! That photo was taken on my due date, December 4th. I was going insane ready to be done being pregnant and ready to meet our sweet girl. I was doing squats, jumping up and down, walking constantly, eating pineapple core (not just good for embryo implantation!), basically doing anything I could to get things moving. The next day, I was texting some friends from college and one of my girlfriends said she ate dates and then went into labor with her son. So, naturally, I got dates immediately. I DID NOT like the taste, but I ate them until I felt sick – haha!

At 10pm on December 5th, I was ready to have another day pass without Brooklynn, and in my irritation I went to get ready for bed. I was in the bathroom doing the nighttime routine things that we all do before bed, and I saved using the bathroom for last because at that point I was getting up multiple times a night to pee anyway. As I finished peeing, I bent down to get my leggings off so I could put pajama pants on. When I bent down, Brooklynn gave me a good kick and then suddenly my water broke! It was actually much like the movies – a huge gush of water right into the toilet! I was pretty happy that it did that, because less mess!

Now, to save you all for having an exact play by play for the boring stuff, I’ll stop being so wordy. We got to the hospital a little after 11 and my pants were SOAKED. I was so happy to get into a room and get settled. By 2:30am, my contractions were INTENSE! I was having contractions about a minute apart, so I got my epidural. I tried to put it off because I was only dilated 3 1/2cm, but my contractions were so crazy, I couldn’t put it off any longer. Then, at 4:00am when the doctor came back to check me again, I was only 4cm dilated. I was very worried the epidural was going to wear off since I was taking so long to dilate. I was also so tired, but I had a blood pressure cuff on my arm going off automatically every 15 minutes, so sleep wasn’t really happening.

Somehow at 6:00am, the doctor came back to check and I was 9cm! I was instantly shocked and very awake because I couldn’t believe how fast it happened! Bobby and I called our parents and let them know I was going to start pushing soon. In fact, by 6:30, I was 10cm dilated and started pushing!

Luckily, my epidural had not worn off, and I will be honest guys, I didn’t think pushing was bad at all. My contractions had gotten so strong that the epidural wasn’t helping much, so it was actually a relief to push because it took the pain of the contraction away when it was time to push. Also, in my true form, I was starving at this point. I wasn’t allowed to eat anything except ice chips, popsicles, water, and broth. So in between pushes I literally was taking bites of a popsicle! (I seriously felt fine the whole time – just tired and hungry!)

However, FOUR HOURS later, I was still pushing. At this point, I still felt okay, but I was so incredibly exhausted. The doctor explained that Brooklynn’s head was not getting past one area of my pelvic bone. Every time I pushed she got close, but not quite far enough down. She had also had a bowel movement at this point, but luckily she was not in distress at all. So, at 10:30am, the doctor recommended a c-section. She did give me the option to push for another hour, but strongly recommended me to just go ahead with the c-section. This was because if I kept pushing, I would get more and more tired and if another hour went by without Brooklynn there, it would become an emergency c-section. After having a good cry (because I was TERRIFIED of a c-section), I said I was okay and understood that it was the best option.

At 11:44am, I was wheeled into the operating room. I was so sleep deprived I basically felt drunk, but I willed myself to stay awake because I couldn’t wait to meet our girl. At 12:14pm on December 6th, Brooklynn Grace was born! She was a tiny 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 19 inches long. This picture was actually take a few days later, but it is so precious I had to include it!

 

Now, let me just say, I have a whole new respect for anyone who has a c-section. There may be people out there who think it “isn’t labor” and that it is the “easy way out.” That might be the case for the during part – but let me tell you, the after is much harder! I also had a harder time right after because I have so much scar tissue from my appendix rupturing when I was a kid (more on that in another post). However, the days that immediately follow a c-section are HARD. You are recovering from a major surgery and trying to take care of a newborn. Oh, and for anyone who didn’t know – you still bleed A LOT and have to wear those giant pad/diapers and the mesh underwear. The one thing I am looking forward to if I am blessed enough to have another baby one day is not having to go through the beginnings of labor for hours before my surgery. (I am figuring I will have to have a c-section again, because this girl’s head was so small – if it got stuck, any baby is going to get stuck! haha!)

 

Anyway, life in the past month with Brooklynn has been exhausting but amazing! We are so in love with our sweet girl, and so very lucky to have her. I still can’t really believe that she is ours and that she is here. We waited so long for this, it is hard to believe it is real sometimes! Then I think about some of you who read this that are still waiting, and have waited so much longer than we did. I know how much that process seriously sucks, but I truly believe that your time will come too! The biggest piece of advice I can give to those of you trying – do your very best to try to stay positive. It is the hardest thing you can do during this process, but I really honestly think it makes all the difference.

 

I will write again soon about what we discovered during my c-section (insights to my infertility, etc.) and I will be sure to update about our sweet girl. I’ll also talk about when we will be trying again (I know it seems crazy to even say!)

 

Thanks for reading the long post!! xoxo