Brooklyn's Birth

I woke up to quite the surprise Wednesday, September 11 at 5:00 am. My water had broken and was leaking all over me and our brand new mattress! As soon as I realized what was happening I jumped out of bed and woke Eric up. He quickly called his parents to have them start their 4 and a half hour drive from Wisconsin so we'd have someone to watch Brody. I decided to take a shower then somehow convinced Eric to let me drive myself to the hospital since I wasn't having contractions yet and didn't want to bring Brody to the hospital.

I checked myself in at about 6:30 am and I was dilated to a 3. My contractions started up but I was not about to have this baby without Eric by my side, so I basically kept my legs crossed and stayed extremely still until his parents got to our house and he got to the hospital at about 11:45. 

I think I willed myself out of labor since I was so nervous Eric wasn't there, so they decided to start me on Pitocin at about 12:15. I was worried because they didn't want me to have my epidural until I had progressed a little more, but by 2:30 my contractions were getting more steady and I was progressing enough that I got it. Such a relief! It was an awesome epidural and definitely did the trick.

By about 5 pm I started feeling the most intense pressure and pain I had ever felt. By the time I decided to speak up about it and the anesthesiologist got in there I was pretty panicked and in full blown tears. I had never felt so much pain and just kept looking at Eric with tears streaming down my face. Eric looked as though he felt pretty helpless, but when we were alone he asked if he could give me a blessing to strengthen me and calm me down. It was one of the most amazing and memorable moments of my whole delivery and one of the most tender moments we've shared. I was so grateful to have him there by my side and for his priesthood power. It was pretty incredible because I felt better instantly and was able to enjoy our sweet baby girl's birth with no pain.

The nurse decided to check my progress at that point and looked a little panicked when she could feel the baby's head right there ready to make its arrival! She hurried out of the room to get the doctor and started frantically setting everything up. We did two sets of practice pushes then she told me to stop pushing until the doctor came in because she was right there. The doctor walked in casually then looked over and her eyes just about bugged out of her head. She told me not to push or even laugh too hard while she hurried to get gowned up and ready to go. As soon as she was ready I pushed through one contraction and Eric told me her head was out.  Before I knew it she was out and they were putting her in my arms.

Brooklyn Danielle Price was born at 6:14 pm. She looked like a healthy size but I didn't think she was as big as Brody had been (9 pounds 1.5 ounces), so I was shocked when she weighed in at 9 pounds 6 ounces! She was 21 inches long (Brody was 20) and had a 14 inch head. All of the nurses and doctors were amazed at how perfectly round her head was. She was only in the birth canal for a few short minutes so she didn't have much time to get the typical newborn cone head. Her APGAR score was a 10 right away and she sure had a set of lungs on her right from the start!

I am so grateful for the safe and healthy arrival of our sweet baby girl! She is already such a blessing in our lives and I can't wait for all that life will bring to our new family of four!