Brooklyn Nicole Has Arrived!

Monday June 27th I woke up at 2am to go pee like normal. I had only been in bed since 12:30am. so waking that early for the bathroom was a little unusual for me. After wiping I noticed some light blood and the first thing out of my mouth was "Oh Crap!" Jay had just gone to bed right before I got up so he asked what was wrong. After telling him what happened he asked if we needed to go to the hospital. I honestly wasn't sure what to do as I had never had any bleeding with my other two. I called labor and deliver at the hospital but was told that I didn't need to come in unless my water broke, it was period like blood, or if I couldn't walk or talk through the contractions. I wasn't even sure I was having contractions so I opted to hang out at home for a while. The contractions started coming about 30 minutes after hanging up the phone but they still weren't that bad. I honestly thought they were the normal braxton hicks contractions that I had been having since the Tuesday before. Now that I think about it though, I realize that what I thought were braxton hicks were actual contractions. I tried laying back down around 3am but the contractions were keeping me up so I decided to just stay up, play some game lounge on the tv, and see what happens. Around 5am  they had been coming bad enough that they were stopping me in my tracks every time I went to walk. Still not terrible but knew that we needed to start getting things ready. I woke Jay up after calling my mom. It took us about an hour to get everything ready for us to head to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 7am. Got hooked up to the contraction monitor and had my cervix checked. The nurse said I was only at 3cm. I don't think she wanted to officially admit me yet. After being monitored for half an hour she had another nurse come in and check me. This nurse said I felt more like between 4 & 5cm. Finally got to the deliver room at 7:30. IV's hooked up, monitored, and continuously being checked because the nurse couldn't tell if she was head down or not. Alice came in around 8:30, checked me and broke my water. At this point I had been given nubain for the pain though it wasn't doing anything at all for me. After my water was broke we realized that it was merconium stained (for those that don't know, this means that Brooklyn had a bowel movement in the uterus). Alice wasn't worried because her heart rate was normal and wasn't decreasing. We also found out that the reason the Dr. thought she was bigger is because I had an excess amount of fluid. After they broke my water the contractions started to become more and more painful. I was holding on to the side of the bed and asking for my epidural at this point. Couldn't get the epi yet cause they were doing a c-section though. Not much later I was climbing up the side of the bed and literally screaming in pain, started rubbing the side of my stomach then Jay realized we needed the nurse/dr. right then. Nurse comes in and says"We need to call Alice here now" So guess what... time to deliver and no time for an epidural! I had to do it all natural for the first time. Alice got there in no time at all thankfully cause I couldn't take it anymore. I only remember pushing about 3 times before she was out completely. It was the strangest feeling in the world too. But after she was born I was calm as could be, like nothing had happened. I even remember having a calm conversation with Alice and Stella about the placenta and how some people eat it and encapsulate it lol. Brooklyn was born at 10:10 am after a week of early labor, 8 hours of active labor, and about 5 minutes of pushing. She was 6lbs, 19in long, full head of hair, and scored 9/9 on her apgars! All in all, she's a perfect baby and we are all so happy she's finally here!

Yay 37 weeks (Full Term)

Technically I'm now 38 weeks and 1 day. I wanted to do things a little different now that I'm getting closer and closer to the end. A lot can change in one week's time and I really don't want to have to make a new post every time there's something new going on. So from now to the end I will be updating at the start of the next week instead of after my appointments. 


Last Monday I had my Dr.'s appointment. I was still only 2cm and 60% effaced. She actually thought I would have gone into labor that weekend. Alice said this Monday we would schedule my induction date. Tuesday I started having more severe Braxton Hicks contractions. Not only do I have the tightening in my stomach but now they are causing some crazy cramps in my back and lower abdomen. I'm seriously going to be pissed if they aren't causing any progress. I've been trying to work up the nerve to ask Alice to do a membrane sweep when I go in Monday. Other than the cramping, there's really no sign of labor coming any time soon. But then again, doesn't it usually just come out of nowhere!?

36 Weeks!

So close yet still so far away! I didn't update last week because nothing really happened at my appointment. We did the Group B Strep last week and that's about it. So let's get to this week's appointment. GBS was negative which is good, no antibiotics when I go to deliver. Here's how mine and Alice's conversation went today. 


Alice: This is about the time I tell you when to call me or when to go to L&D. If contractions are regular at around 5-6 minutes apart and last a minute each, and blah blah blah, or if you live more than hour away. 
Me: I actually do live about an hour away from the hospital. 
Alice: In that case, we can discuss doing an induction at 39 weeks to make sure you make it time. I'm going to check the baby's position from the outside and if I can't tell if she's head down then we'll do an internal exam, but if I can feel from the outside then we wont unless you want me to. 
Me: Yeah, I actually do. I just want to see if these contractions are doing anything. 


*Alice checks heartbeat, position, then does the internal exam.*
While she's checking me she says,"I don't think you'll make it to 39 weeks. You are already 1-2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. Of course I have one patient that's 4cm and still coming for her weekly appointments." 


So YAY! The contractions aren't for nothing and I'm progressing. Pretty exciting for me since I was really afraid she was going to tell me that nothing was happening down there lol. Hopefully I'll make some more progress before next Monday! So the good news is that either way it goes, I only have 3 weeks left. Maybe living an hour from the hospital isn't such a bad thing. I don't mind the pitocin to induce since I've had that before with Matt. We went to Wal-Mart after my appointment and I started having more contractions while we walking around. Miss Brooklyn must want out as much as I want her out! Thank god too cause I really don't want to go 4 or more weeks. Only bad thing... I'll be 39 weeks the Friday before the 4th of July, and Jay doesn't start vacay until the 3rd of July so I wouldn't be able to do it until then. Which means possibly a 4th of July baby and I would hate to take my cousin's birthday from her or make her share it!