WARNING: VERY LONG POST… :)
Well, I’ve been trying to get on here every day since we got home from the hospital, but I’m sure you all understand that we’ve been pretty busy! So, for those who’ve been wondering about Brooke’s birthday, here you go!
On Thursday, August 20th, I stopped taking my Procardia. I took one dose in the morning and that was it! I went to work and did some last minute things in my classroom so my sub would be ready for the first day of school. I started having quite a few contractions, so I left school and went home thinking “tonight’s the night!” …well, the contractions spaced apart once I was home and resting, so nothing happened! I had gone ahead and taken the next day off of work because I was just so exhausted and again I thought I’d be going into labor anytime now.
So, the next day was Friday and I slept in since I wasn’t going to work. I was still having contractions but they were about 15 minutes apart. I ended up doing a lot of housework and a lot of walking, thinking it would help bring them closer together…again, nothing happened! This night was “Meet the Teacher Night” at TWE and since I hadn’t gone into labor yet, I thought it would be good to go ahead and meet some of my students along with my sub. While at school that evening I got to meet about 15 of my 19 students! I was a little worried that the parents of my students would be upset that I would be gone at the beginning of the year, but they were actually very supportive! I think it was good that they were able to meet both me and my substitute at the same time. During this event, I noticed my contractions were getting MUCH stronger and were quite painful. When it was time for everyone to go home, a huge storm came through. Our power
had gone out at our house, but my parents still had power…so Reagan and I went over there. While we were there, my contractions continued and were getting closer and closer…about 7 minutes apart. Once we realized our power had come back on, we went home and immediately began packing some last minute items into our hospital bags. By this time my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart. I decided to sit down and have a snack before we called the doctor since I knew they wouldn’t let me eat once I got to the hospital. Well, as I sat for about 30 minutes, my contractions started to slowly spread apart!! I couldn’t believe it! I timed my contractions for almost 4 hours that night and then finally gave up when they were 11 minutes apart. I was sooo sick of having painful contractions! How many more days was this going to go on?! So, I went to bed and got a good night sleep…and I once again said to myself “maybe it will be tomorrow”…
The next morning (Saturday), Reagan and I decided we needed to get out of the house. Maybe that would help move things along! At this point we were willing to try anything. School was starting Monday and I sure didn’t want to go to work with all of these painful contractions! So, we drive out to Katy and eat at a really yummy Mexican food restaurant to see if the spicy foods would help :). Then, we went to Katy Mills Mall…during tax free weekend…to go do some shopping. The whole time we were out, I was timing my contractions! They were about 10-15 minutes apart all day. Later on that evening once we were back home, Gretchen and Lindsey stopped by. They were as ready as we were to get little Brooke out of me! So, we all decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, we got out some chips and salsa! However, the salsa was actually kind of sweet, so Reagan went on a hunt to find something to spice it up. He ended up finding chili paste from Pei Wei!! So, I added it to my salsa and BOY did it make my mouth feel like it was on fire! Well, I guess I can be one to say that spicy foods really do work!!!! About 2 hours later my contractions were extremely strong, very intense, and were getting closer and closer. By this time, Lindsey had already gone home, but Gretchen was still at our house, so she got to witness everything!! We called the doctor and they said to go ahead and make our way to the hospital…hoping this would be our FINAL visit!!! Yay!!
We got to the hospital at about 1am. The nurse checked me and said I was 4cm dilated, so they were going to admit me! What a relief!! Throughout the night, my contractions continued, but I was not dilating. By this time it was early Sunday morning, and Dr. Patel was on call. He gave the go-ahead for the nurse to start me on Pitocin to get my labor to progress! I couldn’t believe it! After 5 weeks on bedrest for preterm labor, I’m having to be induced! Oh well, at least that means she was for sure going to be born that day! They started my Pitocin at about 8am. At this time, we decided we needed to call our parents! We had been waiting until morning because we knew if we had called them when we first got to the hospital they wouldn’t have been able to sleep. We wanted to wait until things were progressing before we got everyone all excited.
It didn’t take long for the Pitocin to start working. My contractions started getting closer and stronger. I knew I was planning to get an epidural and since the anesthesiologist was down the hall giving another patient an epidural, I decided to go ahead and get mine as well. Actually, I probably would have waited a little longer, however the anesthesiologist said he was going home…so it was either now or much later! I was so nervous about the epidural but it actually was not bad at all! Just one little sting and then some weird pressure in my back, but once it was done, I felt GREAT! My whole belly and legs were numb and I couldn’t even tell that I was having contractions.
I had a fantastic nurse during my delivery. She was so nice and helpful. She continued to check me often to see if I had dilated any more, but I was kind of stuck at 5cm for a long time. Dr. Patel came in and did something…not sure what!...and then I was dilated to 6cm. Then a little while later I was fully dilated! It was about 3:30pm at this time and I had noticed that my “numbness” in my legs had kind of gone away. There was a little button I could push to give me an extra shot of pain medicine, so I kept pushing it! I wasn’t having any pain from my contractions, so I thought pushing the button was doing the trick even though I wasn’t numb like before. Well, about 20 minutes later, it was time to start pushing! Dr. Patel wasn’t back yet, but the nurse was going to have me start pushing so that when he arrived, he could deliver my baby. Well…I had done my research on how long a woman is usually pushing before the baby arrives…and a lot of the answers I had seen said that it usually takes around 30 minutes or so. Well, after about 20 minutes of pushing, I asked my nurse if I had made any progress, and her answer was that I had made about a centimeter of progress! Oh boy, this was going to take a lot longer than I’d expected! I was already extremely exhausted and I was starting to feel a lot of pain. My nurse had me rest a little bit in between some pushes. I was so exhausted that when I rested, I started to feel myself passing out. I forced myself to keep my eyes open. The pain by this time was so intense. I couldn’t believe how bad this hurt! I thought the epidural was supposed to help at least a little bit! I was given oxygen, but I still felt like I couldn’t breathe. I could tell Reagan was worried…I kept asking him if he was okay! He continued to give me ice to chew on, and then I had to ask him to start rubbing the ice all over my face! Apparently my little Brooke was considered a “back-slider”…I would push and push and push, her head would get closer and closer, but then when I stopped pushing to take a breath, she would “slide” back in!!! OUCH is all I have to say. FINALLY after about an hour and a half of pushing, Dr. Patel arrived!! Thank goodness…maybe he could help get this little girl out of me. In between pushes, he tried telling jokes to distract me…ha! That didn’t work. Then he started to get serious and was telling me “Get mad Amy!” So I did. I have to say that this was BY FAR the worst and most extreme pain I have EVER endured in my life. I felt EVERYTHING. It basically felt as if my epidural had worn off and I was going at this naturally. While pushing, I had two nurses in the room…one on each side of me. They both had their arms across my stomach and were pushing on my belly to try to help get her out. I seriously thought I was going to pass out and wake up in an operating room or something! I don’t mean to scare my pregnant friends…I was even told by my nurse that this was NOT a normal delivery! So, after getting mad and asking our good Lord to give me strength, our little Brooke Nicole finally was born at 6:13pm after over 2 hours of pushing!! I was so relieved! Reagan was going to cut the cord, but because of all the distress being placed on her, she came out blue and purple and had to be given to the nurses right away. I kept thinking “is sh
e okay?” but then we finally heard her cute little cry!! I could hear everyone in the hallway scream! (All of our family and friends were outside my door listening to everything going on!) You know, when you see on movies or tv, right after the woman has the baby, she kisses her husband…well I did, however instead of saying “I love you” I told him “That was the worst pain I’ve ever been in, I am NEVER doing that again!” I’m sure he loved hearing that! Brooke weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 17 inches long. The nurses had to do all kinds of things to Brooke and it seemed like forever until I was able to see her, but when I did, I could tell she was the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen! I finally got to hold her after a while and then all of our family and friends came in a few at a time to meet her. I knew I looked HORRIBLE, but I didn’t care!! I was so happy to finally have her in my arms.
Over the next two days we had lots of visitors to see Brooke. It was so much fun introducin
g her to everyone. We also found out that Brooke was jaundice so she was going to have go under the bililights for 24 hours. The hospital let us “board in” while she was under the lights so we didn’t have to go home even though I had technically been discharged. All of the nursing staff at the hospital was just fantastic. They were all so nice and kept asking how Brooke was doing. I feel like I got to know quite a few of the nurses there! On Thursday, we were finally able to take Brooke home! Her jaundice levels had gone down! We were so excited. We put her in a new outfit and made our way home. My mom was waiting at the house and got some good pictures as we showed Brooke her new home. Brooke is such a good baby! She finally got the eating thing down and is now on a schedule of every 2-3 hours. In between feedings, she mostly just sleeps. She is so cute when she’s hungry…she likes to suck on her hands and fingers!
We went back to see Brooke’s doctor today and were given good news! Her weight is now 5 pounds, 8 ounces, which means she’s gained 2 ounces. The doctor said it usually takes babies 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight, but Brooke did it in 8 days and gained extra! She is now 17 and three-fourths inches long. I felt so bad for my little girl, though. She was probably traumatized by this doctor visit! As soon as we got there, they completely undressed her to weigh her, the dr. was poking all over her body, and then she had to get a
heel prick for a blood test! She had her little fingers wrapped around one of mine and as soon as the nurse pricked her heel, her grip tightened so much around my finger. She started crying so much and she had tears running down her face! I stayed strong and didn’t cry…I just kept trying to comfort her and kiss her forehead. Poor baby girl! The whole way home, she had this look on her face like “what did you do to me mom?” (see the picture!) I felt so bad! It’s a good thing we don’t go back for another 3 weeks!
Whew…that took forever to write. Even though it’s super long, I’m sure I left out a lot of stuff about Brooke’s birthday. Although it was the most painful experience of my life, it was the absolute BEST day of my life as well. It is something I will truly never forget and will cherish the rest of my life. I hope you all get to meet our little gift from Heaven one day!
Well, I’ve been trying to get on here every day since we got home from the hospital, but I’m sure you all understand that we’ve been pretty busy! So, for those who’ve been wondering about Brooke’s birthday, here you go!
On Thursday, August 20th, I stopped taking my Procardia. I took one dose in the morning and that was it! I went to work and did some last minute things in my classroom so my sub would be ready for the first day of school. I started having quite a few contractions, so I left school and went home thinking “tonight’s the night!” …well, the contractions spaced apart once I was home and resting, so nothing happened! I had gone ahead and taken the next day off of work because I was just so exhausted and again I thought I’d be going into labor anytime now.
So, the next day was Friday and I slept in since I wasn’t going to work. I was still having contractions but they were about 15 minutes apart. I ended up doing a lot of housework and a lot of walking, thinking it would help bring them closer together…again, nothing happened! This night was “Meet the Teacher Night” at TWE and since I hadn’t gone into labor yet, I thought it would be good to go ahead and meet some of my students along with my sub. While at school that evening I got to meet about 15 of my 19 students! I was a little worried that the parents of my students would be upset that I would be gone at the beginning of the year, but they were actually very supportive! I think it was good that they were able to meet both me and my substitute at the same time. During this event, I noticed my contractions were getting MUCH stronger and were quite painful. When it was time for everyone to go home, a huge storm came through. Our power
had gone out at our house, but my parents still had power…so Reagan and I went over there. While we were there, my contractions continued and were getting closer and closer…about 7 minutes apart. Once we realized our power had come back on, we went home and immediately began packing some last minute items into our hospital bags. By this time my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart. I decided to sit down and have a snack before we called the doctor since I knew they wouldn’t let me eat once I got to the hospital. Well, as I sat for about 30 minutes, my contractions started to slowly spread apart!! I couldn’t believe it! I timed my contractions for almost 4 hours that night and then finally gave up when they were 11 minutes apart. I was sooo sick of having painful contractions! How many more days was this going to go on?! So, I went to bed and got a good night sleep…and I once again said to myself “maybe it will be tomorrow”… The next morning (Saturday), Reagan and I decided we needed to get out of the house. Maybe that would help move things along! At this point we were willing to try anything. School was starting Monday and I sure didn’t want to go to work with all of these painful contractions! So, we drive out to Katy and eat at a really yummy Mexican food restaurant to see if the spicy foods would help :). Then, we went to Katy Mills Mall…during tax free weekend…to go do some shopping. The whole time we were out, I was timing my contractions! They were about 10-15 minutes apart all day. Later on that evening once we were back home, Gretchen and Lindsey stopped by. They were as ready as we were to get little Brooke out of me! So, we all decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. When we got back, we got out some chips and salsa! However, the salsa was actually kind of sweet, so Reagan went on a hunt to find something to spice it up. He ended up finding chili paste from Pei Wei!! So, I added it to my salsa and BOY did it make my mouth feel like it was on fire! Well, I guess I can be one to say that spicy foods really do work!!!! About 2 hours later my contractions were extremely strong, very intense, and were getting closer and closer. By this time, Lindsey had already gone home, but Gretchen was still at our house, so she got to witness everything!! We called the doctor and they said to go ahead and make our way to the hospital…hoping this would be our FINAL visit!!! Yay!!
We got to the hospital at about 1am. The nurse checked me and said I was 4cm dilated, so they were going to admit me! What a relief!! Throughout the night, my contractions continued, but I was not dilating. By this time it was early Sunday morning, and Dr. Patel was on call. He gave the go-ahead for the nurse to start me on Pitocin to get my labor to progress! I couldn’t believe it! After 5 weeks on bedrest for preterm labor, I’m having to be induced! Oh well, at least that means she was for sure going to be born that day! They started my Pitocin at about 8am. At this time, we decided we needed to call our parents! We had been waiting until morning because we knew if we had called them when we first got to the hospital they wouldn’t have been able to sleep. We wanted to wait until things were progressing before we got everyone all excited.
It didn’t take long for the Pitocin to start working. My contractions started getting closer and stronger. I knew I was planning to get an epidural and since the anesthesiologist was down the hall giving another patient an epidural, I decided to go ahead and get mine as well. Actually, I probably would have waited a little longer, however the anesthesiologist said he was going home…so it was either now or much later! I was so nervous about the epidural but it actually was not bad at all! Just one little sting and then some weird pressure in my back, but once it was done, I felt GREAT! My whole belly and legs were numb and I couldn’t even tell that I was having contractions.
I had a fantastic nurse during my delivery. She was so nice and helpful. She continued to check me often to see if I had dilated any more, but I was kind of stuck at 5cm for a long time. Dr. Patel came in and did something…not sure what!...and then I was dilated to 6cm. Then a little while later I was fully dilated! It was about 3:30pm at this time and I had noticed that my “numbness” in my legs had kind of gone away. There was a little button I could push to give me an extra shot of pain medicine, so I kept pushing it! I wasn’t having any pain from my contractions, so I thought pushing the button was doing the trick even though I wasn’t numb like before. Well, about 20 minutes later, it was time to start pushing! Dr. Patel wasn’t back yet, but the nurse was going to have me start pushing so that when he arrived, he could deliver my baby. Well…I had done my research on how long a woman is usually pushing before the baby arrives…and a lot of the answers I had seen said that it usually takes around 30 minutes or so. Well, after about 20 minutes of pushing, I asked my nurse if I had made any progress, and her answer was that I had made about a centimeter of progress! Oh boy, this was going to take a lot longer than I’d expected! I was already extremely exhausted and I was starting to feel a lot of pain. My nurse had me rest a little bit in between some pushes. I was so exhausted that when I rested, I started to feel myself passing out. I forced myself to keep my eyes open. The pain by this time was so intense. I couldn’t believe how bad this hurt! I thought the epidural was supposed to help at least a little bit! I was given oxygen, but I still felt like I couldn’t breathe. I could tell Reagan was worried…I kept asking him if he was okay! He continued to give me ice to chew on, and then I had to ask him to start rubbing the ice all over my face! Apparently my little Brooke was considered a “back-slider”…I would push and push and push, her head would get closer and closer, but then when I stopped pushing to take a breath, she would “slide” back in!!! OUCH is all I have to say. FINALLY after about an hour and a half of pushing, Dr. Patel arrived!! Thank goodness…maybe he could help get this little girl out of me. In between pushes, he tried telling jokes to distract me…ha! That didn’t work. Then he started to get serious and was telling me “Get mad Amy!” So I did. I have to say that this was BY FAR the worst and most extreme pain I have EVER endured in my life. I felt EVERYTHING. It basically felt as if my epidural had worn off and I was going at this naturally. While pushing, I had two nurses in the room…one on each side of me. They both had their arms across my stomach and were pushing on my belly to try to help get her out. I seriously thought I was going to pass out and wake up in an operating room or something! I don’t mean to scare my pregnant friends…I was even told by my nurse that this was NOT a normal delivery! So, after getting mad and asking our good Lord to give me strength, our little Brooke Nicole finally was born at 6:13pm after over 2 hours of pushing!! I was so relieved! Reagan was going to cut the cord, but because of all the distress being placed on her, she came out blue and purple and had to be given to the nurses right away. I kept thinking “is sh
e okay?” but then we finally heard her cute little cry!! I could hear everyone in the hallway scream! (All of our family and friends were outside my door listening to everything going on!) You know, when you see on movies or tv, right after the woman has the baby, she kisses her husband…well I did, however instead of saying “I love you” I told him “That was the worst pain I’ve ever been in, I am NEVER doing that again!” I’m sure he loved hearing that! Brooke weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 17 inches long. The nurses had to do all kinds of things to Brooke and it seemed like forever until I was able to see her, but when I did, I could tell she was the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen! I finally got to hold her after a while and then all of our family and friends came in a few at a time to meet her. I knew I looked HORRIBLE, but I didn’t care!! I was so happy to finally have her in my arms. Over the next two days we had lots of visitors to see Brooke. It was so much fun introducin
g her to everyone. We also found out that Brooke was jaundice so she was going to have go under the bililights for 24 hours. The hospital let us “board in” while she was under the lights so we didn’t have to go home even though I had technically been discharged. All of the nursing staff at the hospital was just fantastic. They were all so nice and kept asking how Brooke was doing. I feel like I got to know quite a few of the nurses there! On Thursday, we were finally able to take Brooke home! Her jaundice levels had gone down! We were so excited. We put her in a new outfit and made our way home. My mom was waiting at the house and got some good pictures as we showed Brooke her new home. Brooke is such a good baby! She finally got the eating thing down and is now on a schedule of every 2-3 hours. In between feedings, she mostly just sleeps. She is so cute when she’s hungry…she likes to suck on her hands and fingers! We went back to see Brooke’s doctor today and were given good news! Her weight is now 5 pounds, 8 ounces, which means she’s gained 2 ounces. The doctor said it usually takes babies 2 weeks to get back to their birth weight, but Brooke did it in 8 days and gained extra! She is now 17 and three-fourths inches long. I felt so bad for my little girl, though. She was probably traumatized by this doctor visit! As soon as we got there, they completely undressed her to weigh her, the dr. was poking all over her body, and then she had to get a
heel prick for a blood test! She had her little fingers wrapped around one of mine and as soon as the nurse pricked her heel, her grip tightened so much around my finger. She started crying so much and she had tears running down her face! I stayed strong and didn’t cry…I just kept trying to comfort her and kiss her forehead. Poor baby girl! The whole way home, she had this look on her face like “what did you do to me mom?” (see the picture!) I felt so bad! It’s a good thing we don’t go back for another 3 weeks!Whew…that took forever to write. Even though it’s super long, I’m sure I left out a lot of stuff about Brooke’s birthday. Although it was the most painful experience of my life, it was the absolute BEST day of my life as well. It is something I will truly never forget and will cherish the rest of my life. I hope you all get to meet our little gift from Heaven one day!
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