Dakota Brooke

Where in the world has time gone?! How has it been TWO WEEKS since Dakota came running into this world?!

I had every intention of writing this story much earlier, but honestly, I needed time to reflect on everything and then life happened (something about keeping up with a 4 and 2 year old at home? Ha!)

Below you will find the story of what I mostly recall. The day was a huge blur due to emotions and how quickly everything happened but I will do my best!

Sunday, November 12, 2017

On Sunday, E and P arrived with big sister C. They planned to stay at a hotel in order to be up and ready at the hospital the next day for induction.

We met them at the hotel and let the kids swim for a few hours and then headed to dinner together. My kids then went to Nana's (my mom’s house) for the night since we had to be at the hospital by 6 am.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Monday morning came really fast and that set the stage for the rest of the day! We all arrived at the hospital at about 6 am and checked in. Dan and I were given a room and the parents were given a room right across the hall. This was perfect as big sister was with them and everyone could go back and forth to check on her and me throughout the day.

Unfortunately, there was a rush of women that checked in around the same time as me. They were in active labor so we were put off for quite some time. We were bumped from nurse to nurse slowly getting checked in.

At 7:45 my doctor came in to check on me and had planned on breaking my water. At this point, nothing had been done. We had been there almost two hours and honestly expected me to be much further along at this point. Judging by my past labors my doctor knew that I would progress quickly once my water was broken. She gave me two options, wait for my IV and Pitocin to see how things progressed and she would be back around lunch to break my water OR she could break my water right then and get things going. I opted for her to break my water and then us play catch up. So, she broke my water at 7:50am.

I had already informed my nurses that my “birth plan” included only two things: get her out safely and EPIDURAL!  Due to the fact that the morning was so chaotic, I had yet to have blood work done. So, the nurse put a rush on the blood work so that we could order the epidural. My first contraction was marked at 8:20am. (just 30 minutes after she broke my water)

At 9:45am, the anesthesiologist finally came in to set my epidural. Within 15 minutes my right side was starting to go numb but my left side still felt normal. I knew the drill, the nurse had me lay on my left side to have gravity assist in the numbing. Well, the baby didn’t care for that and I had to turn back to my right side. By 10:30 am I was still feeling everything on my left side so we called the anesthesiologist to come back. At abut 5 minutes till 11, everyone but Dan stepped out of the room for the dr to fix the epidural. He attempted to ‘re-dose’ the epidural at 10:59am  and try to get it to take. He said “give it 15 minutes.”

At this point, I looked at my nurse and said something along the lines of “I’m feeling a ton of pressure.” So she checked me and I was at an 8.

E took big sister to the cafeteria really quick to get a snack (she knew it wouldn’t be long but that after her arrival it would be awhile before they ate). My good friend, Lindsay, was there with us as well and she was in the waiting room having a quick snack too. (She was with us the whole time and is an amazing photographer. She was able to capture all of the wonderful emotions of the day and I can’t wait to see the pictures)

By 11:15am I told the nurse that it was time. She checked me and said “Oh ya, look at that!” The tech’s had just come in to start prepping the room and here I was already ready to deliver. The parents wanted the baby’s cord blood banked and in the chaos, we didn’t have the kit ready. I looked at Dan and said “go get P (the dad) and the blood kit, grab Lindsay from the waiting room, and for goodness sake, get E (mom) back in here!!” P called E and E said she literally threw food back on the shelf and booked it back to the room.

The on call doctor was called into the room to deliver since my doctor was now on her way but had not yet arrived.

Let me take a minute to talk about the pain. The pain, that I didn’t want. Remember now, my birth plan... EPIDURAL! I could not feel ANYTHING on my right side, I couldn’t even wiggle my toes (which is unusual for an epidural) but I could literally kick my leg in the air on the left side. It hurt. The contractions hurt. The pain hurt. I was squeezing Dan and E’s hands so hard. After a few minutes E said, “just push! It’s okay if your doctor isn’t here.” So with her blessing and the next contraction, the on call doctor coach me through a push. Out popped her head, just as my doctor walked through the door! My doctor took over and on the next push she was out.

At 11:28 am, just 3 hours and 8 minutes after my first contraction, Dakota Brooke was born. She weight 7lbs, 15oz and was 21 inches long! She is beautiful and had hair! (which is a first in the delivery world for me! Dan and my genes only produce bald babies!)

P (dad) was there to cut the cord and baby girl was handed to her momma to be snuggled! There were so many tears of joy and it all felt so surreal! Immediately after I said “That wasn’t that bad!” Nature’s way of protecting you! Ha! You forget almost instantly the amount of pain it takes to bring a baby into this world, she was completely worth it!

Given that our rooms were so close, we got to visit often. Tucker and Lainey came up in the afternoon to see the beautiful child that had been growing inside me all this time. My mom and Dan’s parents also got to come up to see her and congratulate E and P. Tucker and Lainey then went to Dan’s parents house (Boy does it take a village!)

We were all discharged the next day. E has become like another sister to me and I am so thankful for this friendship! She's been updating me regularly on how Dakota is doing and I get pictures as well! She is growing like a weed and is so darn cute! Her mom and dad are adjusting well to having a newborn and big sister is loving her new role! We are hoping to get to go visit soon!

The whole family! :) 

I am healing well and have been enjoying a few weeks off with my family. I will reopen my daycare next week!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! Delivery was a whirlwind, but so amazing! Watching Dakota grow is sure to be fun as well!

Lastly, I can't begin to thank my husband enough for all his support over the last year. He has tolerated me when honestly he shouldn't have (IVF hormones are no joke!), he has encouraged me, he has picked up the slack, and most importantly, he has loved me through all of this. I picked a good one!