I'm not even sure where to start! The last few days have been a complete whirlwind and an emotional roller coaster. It all started Thursday morning (April 1st) at 5:30 am when I was half sleeping, and I felt a gush of fluid. I hoped that I had just wet the bed, but I was pretty sure that was not the case as much as I was hoping it was. I called Curt at work, and he was on his way home right away. I called my mom and dad, who were planning on arriving in Provo that afternoon to spend Conference Weekend down here. They left my aunt's house in Montana right away to head down here. I called the on-call doctor and he said to go in to the hospital because that's the only way they would know if my water had broken. I was so scared and nervous because I knew that if my water had broken, we would be having a baby in the next day or two. Curt gave me a blessing before we left for the hospital and it helped to calm me down a bit.
We got to the hospital at 6:30 am. I wasn't leaking fluid and I wasn't contracting. The nurse didn't want to have to check me, but she needed to have something to tell the doctor. She checked me and I was dilated to 1.5cm and was 90% effaced. She said Brooklyn's head was really low, and so as she checked me, the pressure changed and I gushed a bunch more fluid, so at that point she was sure my water had broken. Soon after that, I started having contractions every 3 minutes regularly and lasting about 30-40 seconds. They were pretty painful. They started an IV, antibiotics, and gave me a shot to help Brooklyn's lung development. One of my doctors came to see me and said they were hoping I would deliver the next day so I could get another shot in 24 hrs for Brooklyn's lungs, but he also said they wouldn't stop me if I was in active labor. But a different doctor was on-call and was giving orders. He wanted to try to stop or slow down the contractions in order to prolong the labor to give time for the shot. So I got some meds to help slow down contractions, but it really didn't seem to do anything. Sometime in this, I began having anxiety. I was throwing up, shaking really bad and in a lot of pain. I decided to get some IV pain meds to help me relax. It seemed to help some. The nurse checked me several hours after the first time and I was dilated to 3cm and almost 100% effaced. Kinda bummed, because I swore I should have been further than that!
My parents and brother got to the hospital at 1:30 p.m. It was really nice to have them there, especially because it took some of the pressure off Curtis. (He was kinda driving me crazy..telling jokes, which wasn't a good time!) The contractions continued to get stronger and closer together. We aren't sure on the exact time of things, but she checked me around 3pm and said I was at 3.5-4cm dilated. They didn't want me to get the epidural until I was at 5cm, so I wanted things to get there fast. (I had wanted to go natural, but given the circumstances and being completely and totally unprepared for labor so early, I was all about the drugs!) She checked me again at about 4pm and said I was at 4+ cm, but she still wanted to wait a little bit before the epidural. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart, very strong, and lasting about 60 seconds (Not much time for rest in between!) She checked me again around 4:20pm and I was at 7cm (I think), so finally she said I could get the epidural.
A few minutes later, she and another nurse came in and I could tell something was wrong. They were trying to find Brooklyn's heart beat; they had been having trouble all day differentiating between her heart beat and mine, since mine was fast due to pain and stress! They brought in an ultrasound machine, and it turned out her heart rate was about the same as mine. It had been in the 130's all day and dropped to around 110bpm. They put me on oxygen, lowered my head, turned me on my left side and shortly after, the doctor and several other people came in quickly. The doctor checked me and I was at 8cm. The doc said 'Prepare the O.R.' and that's when I became a little (ok, maybe a lot) freaked out. He said that if when we got back there I was fully dilated, I could try to push. They told Curt they would come back for him, he gave me a quick kiss, and I was wheeled out of the room.
The O.R. was crazy! There were like 20 people all around, each doing their own thing. They were telling me to relax as I was freezing and shivering out of control. They poured freezing iodine on me as they were telling me to take slow deep breaths. The last thing I remember is the neonatalogist asking me what we were going to name her. I said "Brooklyn," and then I was out. They had to put me under general anesthesia since I hadn't had an epidural yet.
So from the time I was wheeled back, to the time they had her out was 11 minutes! She was born at 4:56p.m. They actually didn't go back and get Curt for the delivery since they had to put me completely out. They did tell him to watch for a group of people wheeling Brooklyn to the NICU. He was able to follow them in and watch them cut her umbilical cord, put in lines, etc.
I remember a little bit from the PACU. I asked them if there were IV pain meds ordered once I got to my room. She wasn't sure, so I asked for some more before they took me to another room. I think this was about 7:30pm. I was pretty out of it...I'm not sure how many pain meds I got! Apparently, sources tell me Curt was telling me all about Brooklyn and how cute she is and I was just saying, "Cool." I don't remember that, and I'm blaming it on the meds. They didn't really do much for me in this room, I guess they just were waiting for me to be more with it before transferring me to the post-partum room.
I think finally at around 11:30pm they moved me to the post-partum room. I hadn't seen my baby yet, and they kept telling me they wanted me to pump as soon as possible, but they hadn't given me the equipment yet. Once we were settled in our new room, I pumped and then FINALLY at 1am, I was able to go to the NICU to see sweet little Brooklyn. It was love at first sight! She won my heart instantly! We just got to touch her and tell her we love her.
So, the next few days went pretty well. I was up the next morning showering and walking around. My recovery was super easy! I took some percocet occasionally, but really felt great! We spent the next few days visiting Brooklyn, eating, resting and visiting with family. Curt parents decided to come down for the weekend to meet Brooklyn and spend time with us. It was nice to have so much family support.
We definitely had some emotional moments, especially at the thought of leaving her at the hospital when we went home. She did pretty well. She got a bit tired of working so hard to breathe, so she was on a ventilator during the day on Saturday, but they took her off of it that night and she has done great. They continue to wean down her oxygen and she is tolerating it pretty well.
We left the hospital Sunday night. It was very hard to leave her there. We definitely had dreaded that moment. But we felt a lot of peace, and knew that she had wonderful doctors and nurses caring for her.
So basically life is a little crazy right now! We are parents, but it's kind of a weird in-between time where we don't really feel like it since we don't have her with us 24/7. We got to visit her 3-4 times a day and get to hold her once a shift. Those are the moments we so look forward to! She does so well when we hold her and is such a princess! Today was the first day we really heard her cry, and we think she has a good set of lungs! She calms down with her binkie and loves being close to mom and dad. We feel so much love for her! When we are with her, we feel like everything is going to be just fine. We love the feeling of peace and comfort when we are around her.
She is going to be in the NICU for several more weeks (possibly up until her due date, May 24th, but we are hoping sooner). I hope it goes by fast! But Curtis and I have decided that life is about enjoying the moments, and we treasure every moment we spend with our Brooklyn. She is such a blessing in our life and we can't wait to have her home with us!
If you made it this far, you must have a very good attention span!! It's hard for me to write brief stories, because I'm all about details! Plus, this is a good way to journal.
We thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers. We very much feel the power in prayer and know that the feelings of comfort we receive is due in great part to the love and prayers of so many wonderful people. So thank you thank you!! We know that Brooklyn is being blessed as well and we couldn't ask for more!
And for putting you through such a long story, here are some pictures.
