He has arrived!!

Before I say anything else, let me just say this: mothers who CHOOSE to do natural childbirth, God bless you.  You are amazing and perhaps a little insane. :)  So with that, here's the story of little Brooks Michael Green's entry into the world...

I had a doctor's appointment at 2:00, yesterday, October 27th.  I had an NST, as scheduled.  But the action had really begun around 12:15, when I felt a little contraction.  I had never had Braxton Hicks contractions, so I was slightly suspicious.  And then the contractions kept coming, and they weren't exactly comfy.  By the time of my appointment, they were pretty consistently five minutes apart. 

Praise God for His timing.  Logistically, everything worked out great.  Mike had actually been working from home for the day, and I was feeling pretty certain that I was going into labor, but instead of having to sit at home, wondering when and if I should call the doc, I just got to walk in and see him.

At the end of the NST, which was totally normal, Dr. Larry checked and found that I was 4 cm dilated.  I asked him what he thought my next move should be.  He told me I could go home but not to wait too long before heading to the hospital.

So I jumped in the car, immediately called the family, and headed home, thinking I'd probably have about an hour before we went in.  However, it only took about 10 minutes until the contractions were at three minutes apart and painful.  The girls were awake, so all four of us jumped in the car and headed to CDH.

I walked in at 3:34.  Stephanie (thank you thank you thank you!) came to the hospital to pick the girls up, so Mike could stay with me. 

I pretty much asked (begged) for my epidural as soon as I hit the front door, so the nurse started to prep me for all the stuff that has to come before.  And, holy cow, I had forgotten how awful contractions can be when they start coming fast and strong.  But the anesthesiologist got there pretty quickly, and I welcomed the relief.

After he finished his work, he asked his typical questions, and I told him I was feeling pain in the top of my left thigh.  "Huh," he said, "thigh... that's a new one."  As he was responding, the nurse checked my dilation and chimed in, "Umm, yep.  That's because she's complete, and the baby's low."  Apparently, Brooks was ready and raring to go.

They called to see if Dr. Macek (who delivered Riley) was nearby, and we found that he was actually at another hospital with another mom who was fully dilated.  Of course, the hospital has a doctor there at all times in case this kind of thing happens.  Nancy, my nurse, told me to let her know if I felt the need to push, and she'd call in Dr. Sanchez.  It took me about four minutes to feel that need, and she made the call.

Dr. Sanchez came in, but it was clear that he was going to hold off as long as possible, hoping Dr. Macek would be able to arrive in time.  Praise the Lord for that epidural because it gave me a few moments of reprieve from those contractions, but sadly, it didn't really have time to take hold.  So let's just say I was hoping Dr. Macek would make it, but I wasn't totally on board with the waiting thing. 

I'm guessing it was only about 10 minutes or so later when Nancy announced that Dr. Macek wouldn't be coming but that he had called Dr. Hay, who was only five minutes from the hospital.  A few minutes after that, Dr. Sanchez finally gave me permission to push.

Don't worry; we'll skip over the details except for the fact that HOLY COW, CHILDBIRTH HURTS!!!  I thought contractions put me at the 10 level of pain.  Clearly, I was wrong.  And I'm thinking that the epidural may have taken off a little edge, but I'd like to think that it couldn't have been much.  So, again, shout-out to natural birth moms!  Dr. Hay rushed in when Brooks' head was halfway out, and I was thrilled to see her. 

I only pushed twice, fortunately, and he was here!

I also should mention, in the interest of full disclosure, that I screamed my head off.  And I'm not usually vocal when in pain.  I'm more of the silent sufferer type.  Clearly, my tolerance hadn't yet been put to the test. 

The poor little guy had swallowed some meconium, so the NICU team had to be called in.

They ended up having to intubate him and bring him down to the NICU, but I got to love on him for a few minutes first.

We got to go down to see him at 7:30, and he was doing awesome.  He's super handsome, just like Daddy, and he was breathing great and ate great, too.

At around midnight, they released him from NICU, and he has been amazing!

His favorite things are eating and sucking on stuff.  He's eating great, and he loves his paci.  And he hardly cries at all!  When they had to check his blood sugar, he let out a short grunt and was done.  What a man!

I'll tell ya... it's an understatement to say that I really love this little guy.