A McBaby Story

Well, I finally have a chance to sit and chronicle the amazing story of Brinley Jane's arrival onto this Earth. This is a long one, but since I do this blog not only to keep up with friends and family but to chronicle our life events, I want to get this all down.

On Tuesday morning, June 9th (my original due date) we went in to my doctor's office to have the lovely foley catheter placed on my uterus to hopefully dialate my cervix for induction. We headed home and spent the day resting, walking, packing, cleaning, and eating our last meals. I had alot of lower back pain but I could never seem to find a rhythm to it so I figured it wasn't contractions. I had no stomach contractions at all so I was a little confused. Thank goodness for friends like Courtney, Rebekah, and my 2 "Doulas" Jenny and Vaughanie who were posting vigil over their phones to answer all my questions about going into labor! We were scheduled to head into the hospital at 6:00 that evening to start the rest of the induction process, so we loaded the car and said our goodbyes to life in our house as we once knew it.

We got to the hospital and were greeted by my nice nurse (I already forgot her name!!!) and escorted to a huge delivery room. I got situated and comfortable then waited to get orders from Dr. Blair about what to do next.

A few minutes later the nurse came back and said that Dr Blair wanted me to keep the catheter in all night, unless it fell out on it's own, and start the pitocin at 4 am to hopefully have labor fully in gear by 7 am when he came in the next morning. He also ordered me 2 Ambien and some Stadol pain medication with a Fenigren for possible nausea if I wanted to take the edge off the contractions. I went back and forth on this decision for pain meds but decided just to go with the Ambien to help me sleep at first. I ate a sandwich because he said food would stop at midnight and God knows I am not passing up a chance at food! We watched some of Benjamin Button, but after about an hour or so, we decided to go on to sleep to get as much rest as possible for the long day ahead. An hour or so later, my back pains had become much more regular and intense so I figured that this was what contractions were going to feel like for me. They were keeping me awake even with the Ambien, so I decided to go ahead and take the Stadol/ Fenigren combo as well. That's when things got funny. All I know from there is that Rocky said I warned him at one point that the Jack-O-Lanterns were melting off the walls....um yeah...I was out. I come to find out later that most people take HALF of an Ambien. Wow.

Needless to say, that is all I remember until I woke up around 4 am to go to the bathroom. When I did, out fell the catheter which meant the nurse could now check my cervix and we could move on with the process. When she checked me, I was at a 6!!! The nurse could not believe it and said she had never heard of the catheter induction working that well on anyone before. Praise the Lord!
The best part of this news was that I could now get my epidural! I was a bit scared but my CNA did a fabulous job and my lower extremities were numb in seconds!! I got the shivers so my nurse brought me some warm blankets and I hunkered down to sleep for another hour!! Now that is what I call labor!
When I woke, it was time to start pushing. This was not what I was expecting. I really thought it was going to go quickly because of things I had seen on the movies and tv, but it was actually a veryslow and low key process for the most part. Just me, Rocky and our nurse counting and pushing. It was really tiring but I felt like the repetition of it all helped the time to pass. An hour and a half after I started pushing, we had a little girl!

She was absolutely perfect but we couldn't really believe she was our kid! She had curly dark hair- where in the world did that come from? We were both blond! She had a very distinct dimple chin- who gave her that? They wisked her away to get cleaned up and Dr. Blair took care of me. He told Rocky that everything from here on out was going to be different and sometimes hard, but if he just loved me, Brinley would see that and learn all she needs to know. What sweet advice! I love Dr. Blair!

A few minutes later everything was complete and we had about an hour together as a new family of three. No one was at the hospital yet because we didn't expect everything to go so fast! We just sat there together and basked in the glow of our new little blessing. It was priceless.

After our sweet time together, I looked at my phone and saw that our first visitor had arrived- my trusty go to girl and best friend Erin! She had driven in to Dallas the night before so she could get to the hospital ASAP. She spent the day being chief photographer, errand runner, hostess and guest book attendant! I am so glad she was there.

They took Brinley away to bathe her and have all her tests run.

I had to chill in the L and D room for a little longer until the epidural wore off and I could walk on my own. They brought us breakfast and I was ready to eat! I honest to goodness think I am the only girl that can give labor to her first child without skipping a meal in between!

I was finally feeling my legs again so we packed up and headed to our home away from home on the 11th floor. We had requested the suite and luckily it was open! It is about 3 times larger than other post-partum rooms and had an amazing view of downtown Dallas. It also came complete with a stocked fridge of drinks and a fruit basket! We loved it!

By this time, the guests started rolling in like wild fire. Family arrived in droves and the rest of the day was spent introducing Brinley to all her wonderful friends and family! Some of the first to arrive were my grandparents and Brinley's great grandparents- Memo and Pop, and cousins- Elizabeth and Holley from Ft. Worth.

Uncle John came along right with them. He made sure to get Brinley's arrival posted to facebook asap.

Next came Nan from Brownwood. Grandy couldn't make it because he had to work, but he sent some beautiful flowers!

After that, came Papa, BeBe and Aunt Holly from Abilene. Holly had been texting me through the night to give me advice because she is an L and D nurse! She was a master swaddler and took the infamous black and white picture that is floating around on facebook.

My Dad was undeniably smitten with Brinley. Such a precious sight to see!

Finally, Royce and Donna got there! They had to come in the room separately because they had their other grandchild, Sissy the Pug, in the car. I was glad to hear that Royce picked a name for himself- Daddy Roy! I have to admit that I keep wanting to say Daddy Mac (and yes, "I'm the Daddy of the Mac Daddy...." song goes through my head when I think about it)

Nonna came and switched out with Royce a few minutes later. It didn't take long for the cell phone to start ringing with him asking to come back!

Tom, Rebekah, and Henry were our last guests of the evening. Henry was his jolly self as usual and Rebekah was running around after him feeling bad about his precious squeals. I loved it- and I found it fun to see Rebekah trying to manage Henry and a newborn!!

What a cute couple!

After everyone left, we were once again our little family of 3. What a wonderful day ordained by God long before I was ever even born. We feel so priviledged to have been chosen to be parents to Brinley Jane. It was a long and exhausting day but totally worth every minute!