The Birth Story-Part 1:

9/1/2013

Dear Brookelynn, 

Part 1:

You're finally here!  You were born on Sunday, August 25th at 7:11 AM at Kaiser, Roseville.  It's a day I will never forget, it was the happiest and most frightening day of my life.  But, before we discuss your arrival we must back track a couple days to tell the whole birth story. 

On Friday, August 23rd we arrived at the hospital at 5:45 AM for an appointment to be induced for the second time.  Mommy was much more nervous than the first time (and as you will see for good reasons).  When we arrived we were told they had, had a lot of emergencies overnight and needed to postpone my appointment for a couple hours.  The charge nurse suggested we go to breakfast and relax.  Relaxing was the furthest thing from my mind even though I had only gotten a few hours a sleep the night before (my nerves and you crazy movements were keeping me wide awake).  GeeGee, Glammy, Daddy, and Mommy went to Mel's to kill some time. We arrived back at the hospital around 8:45 and still had to wait until 10:30 to get to our birthing suite. We were the only appointment they kept for the day, even scheduled c-sections were rescheduled.  

By 10:50 AM I was getting my IVs. Then the let down came over the coarse of the last two weeks prior to our second attempt there was no change to my cervix.  This meant we had to start all over again.  At 11:30 I was given my first dose of Miso (a pill taken orally to help soften the cervix). So the waiting game began! 

At 1:30 PM I ate lunch a bagel and grapes.  And my nurse brought in a thick egg crate for my bed so I didn't have to be uncomfortable waiting for labor to begin. By, 4:30 it was time for the second round of Miso. Then, I got a craving for McDonalds at 7:45. Finally, at 10:15 it was time for a third round of Miso. 

That night I slept as much as possible.  Daddy, Glammy, and Rachelle (even on her birthday) kept me company in between. GeeGee stayed at the hospital but slept in the waiting room and in his truck. Unkie went home to sleep and take care of Paisley. 

It was Saturday, August 24th and it was time to see if the Miso was working. At 7:30 AM I was checked.  We cheered when they told us I was 40% effaced and 1 centimeter dialated! The nurse thought that was historical that we would be so excited about such a small milestone but it seemed huge to us. 

At 8:00 the doctor decided to give me an epidural for the procedures that were to come.  Only Daddy was allowed to stay with me when i got the epidural. It was not painful at all. It just put a little bit of pressure on my spine. It was a good thing I couldn't feel what was going on. At 9:15 a balloon catheter was inserted into my cervix to help dialate me further. The balloon would fall out when the cervix dialates to 4 or 5 so yet again a waiting game. At that time they also inserted a catheter in my bladder since my legs were numb and I couldn't get out of bed to use the bathroom.  I looked up at Daddy and said, 'Are they even doing anything?' I highly recommend the epidural and a good doctor (Dr. Garvey was the best)! 

The only down fall at this time was that I could only have clear liquids.  I then decided to make a list of everything I wanted to eat that you couldn't during pregnancy. 

The balloon was still firmly in place at 3:30 so they gave me a 4th dose of Miso at that time.  At 4:23 I wanted to smack your Dad as he sat there and sniffed a package of cookies before he ate them (he says he was checking for freshness, but it still pissed me off). We decided labor must be nearing because I was getting snappy. At 6:09 I had to push my epidural button for the first time to give myself a boost because contractions were becoming more noticeable and painful. 

By this time we are growing frustrated and every time they played the lullaby when a baby was born we would get mad, where was our baby?  Rachelle had resorted to calling babies little fucks. She was beyond frustrated and feeling sorry for Mommy.  It was discouraging to know all these women were coming in and popping out their babies and here I was on day two and there was no sign of you coming.  We are all getting delusional. 

Finally, at 7:20 it happened the Fully bulb that was inserted on my cervix came out! At 7:40 PM we began Pictocin at level 2. And by 8:19 I laughed about a joke we were going to play on GeeGee.  We were going to send a picture of my belly button to him in an email titled Brookelynn.  He has a phobia of pregnant belly buttons. As I was laughing I experienced a large gush and when Daddy and Rachelle looked we knew it was my water that had broken, my mucus plug was also there (guess I hadn't lost it as I thought before). But, my nurse at the time said it was discharge (she was wrong).  At 8:25 they increased my Pictocin to a 4.  And at 8:38 I snapped at Rachelle and she began jumping for joy because she knew you must be arriving soon. At 8:52 I pushed my epidural button for the second time. Finally, at 9:14 they increased my Pictocin to a 6. By this time, I can determine I'm going to have a contraction because every time one is about to start I have a silent little fart. We are all laughing at the observation I've made. 

At 9:25 the doctor comes in to check me again and I am dialated to a 4. The doctor also confirmed that we were right my water had broken. By 9:42 I needed a third pump from my epidural button. And at 9:58 they increase my Pictocin to a level 8. My pain is increasing and at 10:07 I'm needing another pump from my epidural button and again at 10:22 and 10:44. The pain was becoming worse by the minute. At 11:00 the nurse calls the anesthesiologist to give me higher meds in my epidural because I shouldn't be experiencing so much pain at this point. I'm beginning to get worried.