Well, it's been a long 38.6 weeks, but the wait is finally over. I'm going to write the whole story so I don't forget it. If you just want to bypass the story and scroll down to all the adorable pictures, that's fine too.
The last month of my pregnancy was pretty tough. I ended up getting really sick and missing an entire week of school. Those were sick days that I was trying to save for after the baby. I tried to power through one day of school, after laying in bed for four days straight. As I was walking to my classroom that Wednesday morning, I quickly realized that I was pushing it way too much. That was the most that I had walked, from the parking lot to my room, in five days!! I really thought I was going to pass out. I took the rest of the week off. As a result of being sick, I then strained some muscles in my ribs or tore something--either way super painful. After powering through for a couple of weeks being sick and in pain, I went to the doctor and he said that I was done. It was official: March 10th was my last day of work. At first, I was really sad and cried for the rest of the afternoon. I really do like my kids this year and I felt as if I was abandoning them. But after laying bed on Friday and taking some good medicine, I realized that my doctor was right. Resting and laying in bed was the best thing that I could do. At my appointment, he said that he should have written this letter 10 days ago. I'm glad that I lasted a few more days :) One more awesome sidenote that I must include is that the medicine my doctor put me on for my ribs, made my body itch like a crazy person. I seriously could not stop scratching all over; I thought I was going to lose my mind! Just when I thought I was getting better, I started itching--if it wasn't one thing, it was something else.
Since I was now going to be at home until the baby came, I called Toni to see if she wanted to come down for a couple days to hang out and help me get stuff done. Being the awesome sister that she is, she said yes! On Monday, our first item of business was to take Bailey to get her 3 year pictures done at the mall. I really wanted to take them before Brooklynn came because I knew it wouldn't get done for quite some time. We spent the day at the mall, doing laundry, and hanging out with Bailey. That night I organized a lot of things that had to get done on Tuesday--lesson plans for my sub, field hockey stuff, going to the bank, mailing things at the post office.
I woke up Tuesday morning, ready to be productive. I dropped Bailey off at Christy's and headed over to get Toni. Our first stop was to Target--my favorite place. I needed to get some baby stuff, things for me, and Bailey and Brooklynn's Easter basket stuff. While at Target, I had really bad pains in my lower stomach region. I was trying to to make a big deal about it because I had one week left and I was pretty sure that is wasn't going to be a very pleasant week. I walked around Target holding my large belly. As we were checking out the check out lady asked if I was okay. I told her I might have my baby right here in Target. She didn't think that was funny, but I was just kidding. Toni was pretty sure I was going into labor, but I told her we must press on. After Target, we then went to lunch with my dad, the bank, the post office, and then home to do more baby laundry. Overall, it was a very successful day and I felt awesome!
My mom wanted Toni and I to get pedicures on Tuesday, since I couldn't paint my own toes, or more importantly take the polish off from Toni's wedding. It was to be one last gift before Brooklynn came. We decided to wait until later in the afternoon when my mom could come with us. Once we were back at my mom and dad's house, we decided to just hang out for the rest of the night and get the pedicures tomorrow. Around 7:00 we ate delicious taco salad for dinner. After dinner, I quickly retired to the couch because I was having pains again. I sat there for a while, apparently looking like I was in pain because my dad asked me if I was having the baby. Again, I just thought this was the usual unpleasantness of being pregnant...until 8:00.
At 8:00, I started to get up because I felt like I was going to the bathroom and I announced, "I think my water is breaking!" I rushed to the bathroom to confirm that yes, my water was breaking or had broken. Little Brooklynn was not going to wait to come on her dad's birthday, she was going to come tonight! My family sprang into action! One of the first things that my mom said was that we should have gotten our toes done! She knew Brooklynn wasn't going to wait one more week to come. My mom organized the troops, Tera brought me some new pants to wear, my dad was now in charge of Bailey, and Brian found the car keys. My mom, Brian, and I hustled to the car. Tera and Toni were going to run to our house to pack some sort of bag for me, but not until they had stopped at Target to buy some cute outfits for Brooklynn (don't I have the best sisters).
As we were driving down to Zion Hospital (at a rather rapid speed) I was busy calling Kaiser. After about 10 minutes of being on hold, I informed them that I was on my way to have a baby. They said to come on down! When we got there, after a mere 20 minutes of driving, my mom and I hobbled into the hospital while Brian parked the car. I was having pains the entire time, but I wasn't sure if they were contractions or just pain--remember I know nothing about having a baby because Bailey was an emergency C section and they put me to sleep to get her out. The nurse that greeted us was very nice, but tired because they had just delivered 6 babies before we got there. She showed us to a small examination room and had me put on a lovely hospital gown. By that point Brian arrived in the tiny room and a doctor was close behind him. He asked me some questions, and I was sure to tell him that I was scheduled to have a Csection next week and would still like one tonight. He then proceeded to do a rather painful check and then a waterfall of water came quickly after the exam. He said I was dialated to a 2, so I had much further to go.
Here's where I got nervous. He told me that since I had last eaten at 7:00 and it was currently close to 9:00, that I might need to wait 7-8 hours to have the Csection until my stomach was empty. They only way they would proceed was if breaking my water again (or whatever he did) put me into regular contractions and labor and then they would forget about the empty stomach and just get the baby out. I was not happy thinking that I would have to sit in this tiny room feeling rather uncomfortable for 8 more hours!! Luckily, I guess, I started having regular contractions. They moved me to a slightly larger room to get ready for the Csection. The whole time I just kept thinking, isn't the main reason for having a Csection to avoid all this pain? Through this brief two hour experience, I discovered that contractions are not a lot of fun, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't even having major ones just ones that were big enough to hurt. I was trying to do some good breathing techniques to get through the pain, you know like what you see in the movies since I never took one of those breathing/birthing classes.
Around 10:30ish a doctor came in and said that we'd have the baby out in 15 minutes since I was clearly in labor. I gave a worried glance at Brian and told him to go tell my mom and sisters that this was it! About 30-40 minutes later, all the doctors came in and said that this time it was for real! We had to wait after the last announcement because another mom and come in in labor and they had to check her out too. The nurse had me walk down to the operating room to get prepped. I thought that Brian would be in with me when they stuck the dagger into my back, but I guess he wasn't allowed in for that part. I was really nervous that it was going to be really painful or that I would cough or sneeze just as the needle was going in and cause some serious trouble. The part that hurt was the numbing shot; the rest of the time it just felt like the doctor was pushing my back. I try not to think of what he was really doing because it freaks me out! Once he had it done I immediately became a limp, rag doll. It kind of scared me because it was instantaneous and I wasn't expecting that.
After I was immobilized, they brought Brian in and started with the procedure right away. I thought something was wrong, but they told me they just want to make sure they get it done before the spinal wears out--good idea. The spinal made me really tired and cold, but it was slightly like an out of body experience. For some reason, my brain started thinking that if I gave into my sleep I would die. I know that was completely illogical, but I think I was a little bit nervous. I could not think about what was going on on the other side of the blue sheet or I'm pretty sure I would have puked or freaked out. Brian was brave and watched the entire thing; I warned him not to pass out because I didn't want to do it alone. I haven't had him tell me about it yet, because it hasn't been long enough and I'm not sure I want to hear all the details about my guts being displayed so publically. I was squeezing his hand so hard, I thought I might break a bone. At one point they told me to expect to feel a lot of pushing and then Brooklynn would be out. I did feel weird pushing and then I heard a rather loud baby crying. I was glad to hear the crying because I know that means good things. It took longer than I expected for them to show me Brooklynn, but I knew that Brian was with her so it was okay.
When they went to weigh her, that was the first time I saw my chunky little nugget. My first thoughts, for quite a while, were I can't believe she is so big!!! She weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds 14 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long! I couldn't believe it! I knew she felt big in my tummy, but I had no idea how big. The nurses bundled her up and gave her to Brian to then show me. She just looked like this cube of a baby with these big, squishy, adorable cheeks. After that it kind of all blends together. They put me back together, wheeled me into the recovery room and finally gave me my little bundle to hold. We were in the hospital until Friday afternoon, when I had had enough and was ready to go home. So that's how our baby Brooklynn made her grand entrance into this world!
Now just enjoy the adorable pics:
I guess this one is not adorable, but this is me ready and waiting to go.
Brian on his way to the operating room. When Bailey saw this picture she said, "Look my dad is a doctor!" She was quite excited at that thought.
Here's the dedicated crew that came and waited all morning for Brooklynn's arrival.
Toni with my bag that she and Tera packed for me. Side note: despite having two kids, I have yet to pack a hospital bag for myself.
This is what she looked like the first time I saw her. Like a little cube of a baby all bundled up and these huge cheeks.
Here's Brooklynn the next morning with her first bow--a big moment in any girl's life.
There aren't a whole lot of pictures that I can post of myself where I don't look naked or horrific. This one is pretty good--as far as hospital pics go.
One proud papa!
Toni brought Bailey down on Wednesday night to meet her baby sister.
She was so excited and proud to finally be a big sister! She wanted to hold her all night, or at least for five minutes and then her attention was on to something else.
She has been wearing big sister shirts almost everyday since Brooklynn came. I love this smile because it just shows how truly excited she is.
Me and my girls!
This is how Brooklynn would have liked to lay the entire time in the hospital. All curled up in a ball, nice a snuggly.
Here I am slightly more presentable after a shower. And here's Brooklynn in her first real outfit. The pants were hilariously big and baggy. It was funny because I thought she was so big, until the we tried the pants on her.
One big yawn since she didn't sleep a whole lot during the night.
Going home Friday afternoon to get some peace and rest from the hospital.
On Saturday she got all dressed up for her first family get together to cheer BYU onto a victory. Of course I put a headband on her. Look at those chubby cheeks!
Aaron and Toni came down and did a photo shoot with Brooklynn.
Here she is in her cuddly, pink carseat. It just makes me realize how small she is when I see her in her carseat.
I have to thank my awesome family for all that they have done to help me out so far. Both my mom and my sister Toni spent a night with me in the hospital and I know it wasn't pleasant. Tera took time out of her crazy schedule to come down to the hospital a couple of days and hang out with me. Bailey has had numerous slumber parties at my mom and dad's house and even a few days of fun up at Toni and Aaron's house. Go to Toni's blog to see some fun pictures of her special time with Bailey and some funny stories. I'm just so glad that she's here and healthy and happy (most of the time). I've also been seriously happy that I wasn't pregnant for one more week--I'm not a great pregnant person. So welcome the newest member of our family--Brooklynn Kay Bronson!!
