Brooke's Birth Story (cont'd.)

You can read the first part here that I posted one week ago.


The doctor came in between 6:30 and 7:00pm that night and checked me and I was about the same, 2-3cm. Around 8:45 that night, my contractions started coming closer and getting stronger. After about 15-20 minutes, my nurse came in and asked if I was feeling them and if they hurt more and I told her yes. So she went to call the doctor. She said he was in the O.R. He must have been on his way up because he came in about 3 minutes later to check me. He said I was 5cm and we were going straight to the O.R.!

The nurse started prepping me right away. I had to get the catheter in and also drink this nasty stuff from anesthesia that I guess neutralizes the stomach acids. In the meantime, I called Doug. He answered the phone and I asked him if he was ready to be a Daddy again. He was very surprised! I told him to come straight down because they were taking me as soon as I was ready. That was about 9:15pm. Then I called my mom quick and also 2 friends to give them the heads up. Anesthesia came in and I signed all the consents. I was feeling pretty confident that Brooke would do well (I was 27 weeks 4 days then and had had the steroid shots for her lungs), but I was VERY nervous about the c-section. My c-section with Zachary went very smoothly, but with Ryan, the spinal did not work right and I felt them cut me. I was freaking out so bad that as soon as they got Ryan out, the put me to sleep. While I was under, I had disturbing dreams and I felt like the world was ending. It was so strange and I hated it. Then I got pretty nauseous when I woke up. It was just not a good experience. Plus, I was worried about some other unforeseen complications, like hemorraghing or getting an infection afterwards or something. Anyway...

They got me ready VERY fast and took me to the O.R. I knew the spinal would take several minutes and it would also take a little bit for them to get everything else ready. I figured Doug would make it in time. All the while they were prepping me, the OR staff was joking around, trying to keep me relaxed and calm. They were pretty funny and it was nice that nobody was freaking out or anything over how early I was. One of them was even named Brooke! Pretty funny ; ). The anesthesiologist assured me that I would not feel anything and that I would not get the headache afterwards that I had gotten with both Zachary and Ryan (and he was right!).

By the time they were ready to start, Doug still wasn't there! I'm telling you, they were fast! It took Doug a little less than a half an hour to get to the hospital (but until you figure in parking and walking through the hospital and getting scrubs on, etc., it was even longer than that). He got there about 4 minutes after she was born. As the doctor pulled her out, he said she looked good. And then I heard her cry :*). The most beautiful sound in the world. I never got to hear that before with the other two. A couple minutes later, the neonatologist came over and gave me the "A-OK" sign and said they got her pink. I was expecting a Polaroid picture of her like I got with the boys, but instead I was told they were bring her over so I could see her. I couldn't believe it! And then there she was, all wrapped up in her little blanket with her hat on and only on oxygen! She looked wonderful :*). I got to say hi to her and give her a kiss. Right that minute, Doug came in and they let him hold her for a minute before they took her to the NICU. The look in his eyes was so awesome to see as he saw and held his daughter for the first time :*).