introducing brooks matthew: the birth story

I decided to break up the events surrounding Brooks' birth into multiple posts. One long post would just get boring..and way too long. 

Brooks Matthew. Born September 15, 2011. 3:46pm. 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long.

 It's insane how much they change over just a few day! This doesn't even look like the baby laying next to me right now!

I can't believe tomorrow it will have been a week since Brooks was born. This week has flown by. It has been a very precious, special week. Getting to meet baby Brooks, introducing him to his brothers, bringing him home and getting all settled in. Besides being tired, I couldn't have asked for a better week. The boys have welcomed him with open arms (and mouths as Brooks is constantly covered in slobber from all of their kisses). He is a typical newborn, sleeping most of the time and basically just waking up to eat. The last couple of days he's had some longer awake times, which helps him sleep better at night. Overall, we are already enjoying every minute of life with him. If only it could stay like this for a while....

The Birth Story:

We woke up at 4 am on Thursday, September 15. My parents stayed at our house through the weekend to take care of the boys so we snuck out that morning super early to get breakfast before we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. While at IHOP, we called the hospital to make sure they were ready for us. They asked us to come at 6am instead because they were pretty crowded. So we went to Super Walmart and killed some time. When we showed up at 6, we still had to wait for a room until 6:30am. Once we got all settled in, our nurse informed us that because of the full moon that night, they delivered more babies than they could count. There were 28 babies in the nursery. Every labor and delivery room was full, as well as all the post-partum recovery rooms. They were swamped. What a day to be induced...

I can't believe I'm posting this pic of myself.

by 7:30am I was hooked up to all my IVs and the pitocin to get the contractions started. My doctor came in a little before 8 to "check" me and possibly break my water. Unfortunately, I hadn't progressed any since the last week and was still at 1.5 cm. She didn't want to break my water until 2-3cm and said she would be back around lunch time. I was very disappointed. I knew that until my water was broken, things would not speed up. But I understood, and knew she had patients to see. Fortunately for us, she happened to have 3 other patients in labor at that time. (insane!) So she never actually got to leave the hospital and was able to come back at 10:15 to check again. Up until this point I had only had mild contractions from the pitocin, definitely none worth getting an epidural for. So I had only progressed to a 2. I was so glad that she went ahead and broke my water at this point instead of having me wait to get to a 3. What I didn't know what how fast...and hard..the contractions would come. By 10:45, only 30 minutes later, I was miserable. As in I thought I was going to die. I asked for my epidural at 11, and because of some c-sections that were happening, couldn't get it until 12:15. In that one hour and fifteen minutes, I gained a whole new respect for the women who do it all natural with no drugs. I honestly have NO IDEA how you do that. I respect you..I think you're insane..but I respect you. 

When I got my epidural at 12:15, I was at 5cm. Once I had my epidural, my parents brought the big boys up so we could give them their big brother gifts and spend time with them before Brooks was born. They only stayed for a short time, but it was very sweet to see how excited they were to be there and were very ready for Brooks to come. 

When my doctor checked a while later, I was between 7-8cm. Around 3pm my nurse checked again and I was still at 7-8, which annoyed me. She told me to turn to my side. Around 3:15 I could tell something was different. Even through the epidural, I could feel pressure. She checked again and said "DO NOT PUSH. I do NOT want to have to catch this baby! " I had gone to 10cm in 15 minutes. My doctor had gone back to her office and I had to wait for her to come back before I could have this baby. She came in a little after 3:30. I remember looking at the clock at 3:40 and she was getting ready to "catch." Two contractions and 6 minutes later, Brooks was born. I told someone shortly after that if I didn't have to go through the grueling 9 months before, I might have 10 kids if they were all this easy! Someone told me once that the third just falls out and they weren't kidding! Another cool part of the day...a couple from church went into labor the night before and was having their baby in the room next door! Their son was born 2.5 hours before Brooks. It was so cool for Matt to have a new friend to spend time with at the hospital and be able to walk along side since he is a new father. We all decided that our 2 boys are destined to be best buds! 

So there you have it, a simple birth story. I love that we had no drama, I had an AMAZING nurse, and nothing but good memories of this day. Next post:Meeting the big brothers and more photos of the day!