Upside Down Brown: Blake

Whoo....this has taken some time. I should have wrote this post a month ago but here we are on Blake's two month birthday. I will do her two month update tomorrow after we go to the doctor.

Back to the beginning though. I guess it's best to start a few days before she came. My due date was July 24th and since our little Beau man arrived right when he was suppose to everyone was on pins and needles the whole day, me especially. Every little twinge for the few days before and leading up to that Sunday I was sure it was time but nothing. Monday morning I had my 40 week appointment, however; my regular doctor was out so I someone else. From the moment the doctor came in I could tell I wasn't going to be happy. It wasn't that she wasn't a good or nice doctor she just wasn't my doctor. She didn't tell me all of the things that my doctor would normally discuss with me like my weight, and my bump growth. Next thing I knew she was ready to schedule an induction and I was panicking. I asked her if she could try to get a hold of my doctor and she what her thoughts were about inducing. Unfortunately she couldn't be reached so I left with no plan made and a promise to call later in the afternoon, knowing that my doctor was on call on Wednesday and Saturday. I never heard anything. I spent the rest of the day freaking out and trying not to cry.

Tuesday morning bright and early the office called me and simply stated, "Stacey, we have your induction scheduled for Saturday morning at 8 am, you will need to call around 6 to and we will get your bed ready, please arrive a little bit early...." and that was it no more holding back any tears. I was scared, an induction was not something that had even crossed my mind. Thankfully, I had discussed having the ability to have my doctor deliver and she had given me her personal number. I shot her a quick text and asked her to call me if she had a chance. She text me right back and said she would right after the parade, it was Frontier Days after all. When she finally called she told me that she agreed, that a pregnancy that goes past 41 weeks has a higher risk for complications and emergency c-section (something I really wanted no part of.) Since I knew she was going to be there the next day and I had already talked to Mark about how he felt, we moved the induction up to Wednesday. I spent the rest of the day crying on and off and finishing up all of my last minute tasks at work. I went and had lunch with my parents, cried to them, and tired not to worry to much.
That night we spent time with Beau and took him to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Everything was already packed and set to go for a hospital stay and the welcoming of a new baby.

Wednesday morning, at 6 am I called the hospital and told them I was coming. They said they had a room all ready to go and to head on up whenever I was ready. Once we were all checked in a few nurses started getting me prepped. I peed in a cup, I got an IV line (after several tries, a few bruises, and one blown blood vessel.) My mom came to wait out the day with us and shortly after, Dr. van Kirk came in to check me and start the actual induction process. I wasn't anymore dilated or effaced from my 39 week appointment and I wondered if we were in for a long haul. She put a gel to soften my cervix and told me she would be back to check on my again at 11 am. I started having contractions right away. Nothing to intense but they were there, thankfully my nurse would let me come off the monitors for about a half hour or so every now and then so I could pee and wander around my room, bounce on the ball, whatever worked. By 1 pm the doctor still hadn't been back to check my progress but my contractions were starting to get closer together and more intense. Finally, about an hour or so later she came in. I wasn't sure I had moved much and prepared myself to be disappointed and still at 2 centimeters or hardly above that. To my pleasant surprise I was dilated to an eight and she was ready to break my water. All with no pitocin!! She asked if I wanted an epidural first, I did, so they called for the anesthesiologist. He showed up pretty quickly but took his time chatting and going over everything with us. He put the tube in my back, said he'd be right back with the meds and my contractions got really intense. I told the nurse and she said to tell her when I felt pressure, a millisecond later I was telling her I felt it. The nurse checked me and said my amniotic sac was super low, I was at a 10 and the man with the epidural medicine never came back. It was then that I told my mom she should probably go. It was about 2:50. My doctor was back and set up to deliver. She kept telling my I was so close, and that she could see Blake's head. I didn't believe her at all, I was convinced that I was going to be in the same boat as with Beau and be pushing for three hours. Twenty minutes later though, we had a sweet little girl. We spent about an hour and a half just the three of us, snapping some pictures, getting acquainted and waiting for a nurse to come in and get her cleaned up and give us some stats. Then all of our family and Beau got to come meet her and my heart melted into a pile. Beau was so calm and reserved, the best big brother right from the start.

All in all, it was such a different experience than with Beau. It was faster, I walked up to labor and delivery with no indication that I would be having a baby that day, unlike Beau when I walked in already hours into labor and had to be wheeled up. I did it with no epidural, with the best guy and daddy by my side!!

Here's a few pictures to document baby Blake's arrival.