Holy Cow.. I have a 3 month old!

I am shocked that my baby is already 3 months old. Where in the world did all of that time go? I was telling my sister that when you're pregnant, 3 months seems like an eternity. However, when you have a baby, you can't keep up with the time. It's insane! It's happy and sad all at once to see her growing.

So, in honor of Brooke's birthday, I decided that I need to finally sit down for a few minutes and write down my birth story. I'm fascinated with birth stories! (If you already know it, feel free to bypass. This is mainly for me anyways!)

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 (the day before my due date) we woke up to piles of snow. It was the first storm of the winter season and it was certainly making up for the lack of previous snow. John went outside to shovel before work (He was working 3-11 shifts at that point) and I just had this urge to nest. I cleaned out the refrigerator, did all of our laundry, mopped, vacuumed, and finished packing our hospital bag. For the past few days I had been trying EVERY method imaginable to induce my labor (eating an entire fresh pineapple among many other embarassing things) and with no signs of labor, I just resigned myself to going past my due date.

Since the roads were so bad, John decided it was best for me to go to my parents while he worked in case I needed something. All of his dispatch friends were on alert for me to go into labor! lol! All throughout the night with my parents, I was having mild contractions every 10 minutes. I decided to walk on my mom's treadmill hoping to speed them up..But no such luck! So, my mom and I made homemade cinnamon rolls and ate steak.

Finally around 11, John came to pick me up. The roads were horrible on the way home and I remember thinking, "Oh well, I guess it's good I'm not in labor with the roads being this bad." I went upstairs to relax and I felt slightly wet. I went to the bathroom and a saw bloody show which was shortly followed by a small gush of water. With my heart pounding non-stop, I yelled down the stairs, "Honey, I think my water broke." Rushing up the stairs, John came up and settled me down. We got a few last things together, called the hospital, and began the treacherous ride to the hospital.

The whole way to the hospital I kept asking John "What if my water really didn't break?" I just couldn't get that thought out of my head! Sure enough, though, they examined me at about 12:45 A.M. and discovered that it had broken. However, my cervix was completely closed and not at all efaced. They told me to try to get some rest and then they would induce me in the morning.

At about 6 A.M. on Thursday morning, my due date, the fun began. They started with blood work and they monitored Brooke's heart rate. Then at about 8, my midwife incerted a pill called Cytotec into my cerix in hopes of ripening it before giving me Pitocin. After monitoring Brooke for 2 hours, John and I walked around the hospital to try to get things going.

At about 12, my sister and mom showed up and I was starting to really feel the pain of the contractions. When the midwife came to reincert another Cytotec, the discovered that I was already 5 centimeters dilated! My sister, mom, and John helped me work on the birthing ball (which is AMAZING, by the way) and then I went into the tub. I came out of the tub around 2 and they said I was 7 centimeters! The midwife guessed that Brooke would arrive around 5. I resisted ANY type of medication, as I was determined to have a natural, drug-free delivery.

5 came and went... So did 6,7,8, and 9. I started pushing around 6:30-7 and finally at 8:45, the midwife told me that Brooke was stuck and I until 9 to try to push, and if not I would have to have a C-Section. At that point, I was so upset because I had worked SO hard to do it naturally, and I felt like a total failure. Right before they wheeled me off to the operating room, my mom came in and prayed with me and off I went.

In the operating room, they gave me a spinal anesthesia and let me tell you, I did not feel one more thing! It was CRAZY! I felt some tugging and at one point, I almost threw up because they were on my stomach, but the next thing I heard was the sound of my beautiful baby screaming! She came out precisely at 10:35 P.M with a huge cone head and with lots of bruises from being stuck. Quickly they whisked her away to clean her up and suction her because she had swallowed maconium.While they sewed me back up (or stapled, shall I say), they called back to the operating room to tell me she was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 21.5 inches long. About half an hour later, I was nursing my precious little girl and it felt SO good!

I didn't get to leave the hospital for 3 more days and the recovery was rough, but I have finally gotten over the fact that I couldn't do it naturally. I love my beautiful princess and I suppose it doesn't matter how she got here!

Hope you all enjoyed!!