Brooks's birth story

    Just minutes old in this picture. 
                                       
All snuggled up.

 

 First bath.

 First time in the car seat, all ready for his first trip home.

 We made it--we're home!

 Hanging out in the swing.

First outing to the doctor's office.

We were scheduled to be induced at 7:30 in the morning on Tuesday, April 24th, but our little guy had his own agenda.  On Monday afternoon, I went in for one last doctor's appointment and had my membranes stripped for a third time in a last ditch effort to get labor started on its own--I was 5 cm dilated at this appointment.  Just like the previous two weeks I started having mild contractions which were coming every 5 minutes.  Unsure of what to do, I finally called labor and delivery around 10pm (since I was induced last time, all of this was new to me).  They told me to drink 5-6 glasses of water and lay down on my left side and if I wasn't in labor, that would make the contractions slow down and eventually stop.  That's what happened so Nate and I went to bed.  Shortly after, they started again.  They were farther apart, but had definitely picked up intensity.  We waited probably half an hour before we made the decision to go to the hospital.  My doctor had told me that if I thought I was in labor I shouldn't wait for the contractions to get close because things might proceed very quickly.  We called our neighbor, Erin, and she came right away to stay with Danny.  By the time we were all checked in at labor and delivery (around midnight) the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart and everyone was extra speedy so that I could get an epidural as soon as possible.  Talk about amazing relief--I spent the rest of the night snoozing and chatting with Nate and our nurse.  I experienced some nausea, but nothing nearly as bad as I had while I was in labor the first time.  After the epidural, my contractions slowed down (a somewhat typical reaction to the medications) so two hours later, the doctor broke my water and said she'd be back in two hours to check on me.  And when she came back, I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to push!  I pushed through three contractions for a total of 4 minutes and little Brooks was born at 5:56 am and let out his first cry as they laid him on my chest.  They worked on him while I held him and Nate got to cut the umbilical cord.  So he was born on April 24th, the same day as the induction, but he was here before we even would have started.

For those of you wondering about his name, I can't even remember where I first saw it, I just knew I really liked it.  And it wasn't long before Nate was convinced too.  It doesn't have any significance...we just liked it and now we love it because it's the name of our second son.  :)