A quick update

I'm truly the worst at updating this blog. I had all of these great intentions about blogging along the way of Brooklynn's life. Sadly I have failed miserably. Nevertheless. I wanted to post  a quick picture of the princess and to let you all know how truly smitten we are with her. She is a little ray of sunshine.

Everyone talked about how babies have their own personalities and that I would see hers come though. No. Truer. Words. Without speaking a single word, our little baby has let us know so much. She loves singing songs. Loves to stand up on her strong little legs. Loves to be where the action is. Loves to suck her thumb with one hand and softly pinch the skin of your neck with her others hand while resting her head on your left shoulder when she's tired.  Her favorite toys aren't toys at all. They are hairbrushes, measuring spoons, water bottles, and remote controls.

She will giggle uncontrollably when she's tired and she hates being put down for a nap. She wriggles like a monkey when I'm changing her diaper, and she's making more and more sounds. We love her sweet voice.

I'm not trying to brag about her too much, but people stop me every day to tell me how beautiful she is and that she should be on commercials. And while I do think she is the prettiest thing that I have ever made, it's her sweet soul that I'm in love with. It's her inner joy that makes her beautiful. I'm glad other people can see that too.

I love seeing her face light up when Josh comes home from work. I love seeing her reach out her little arms toward him for a hug.

Sigh. Sometimes it's all so perfect. These are the times that it makes all the tears and the sleep deprivation worth it. We love our little valentine!

Grammy Val love

First week at home

The first few days

Brooklynn May Foster

I’m delighted to be updating the blog with the heartwarming news of the birth of our baby girl.

Meet Brooklynn May Foster. Born on February 14, 2015. 8 lbs. 8 oz. 20 inches

We are absolutely in love with our little valentine.

Birth story

On Thursday, February 12 I had an OBGYN appointment to have a sweep done to see if we could get this little munchkin to evacuate the premises. I was huge and uncomfortable and overdue (due date was Feb. 10). Appointment went well. I had been dilated 1 cm for weeks and nothing had changed. Doctor said that if the sweep worked then I would go into labor within 24-48 hours.

That evening, around 6 p.m. while preparing dinner, I started getting contractions. I started timing them and realized that they were coming about every 2-3 minutes and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Josh got home, we had dinner and debated going to the hospital, but I decided that I wanted to labor a while within the comfort of my own home. Plus, I could still talk through the contractions so I knew they weren’t strong enough yet. Around 11, I sent Josh to bed and told him I would wake him up if I needed him. I figured that one of us should get some sleep. The contractions continued and started increasing in intensity. I tried going to sleep to see if they would stop, but they were painful enough that I knew that sleep wasn’t going to be an option.

Finally, around 4 a.m. I woke up Josh and told him that I was ready to head to the hospital. We got there and headed to triage. The nurse told me that I didn’t look like I was in enough pain to be in labor (eye roll). They took my vitals and finally hooked me up to a monitor and checked my cervix. I was only dilated to 2 cm, but the nurse was surprised at the strength and frequency of the contractions. They gave me some fluids and told me that I wasn’t dilated enough to admit me, but that I could try walking around for an hour to try and get dilated more. So Josh and I walked around for 2 hours.

When I went back to triage, basically nothing had changed. I was still at a 2 and the contractions were still the same. They called my doctor and she told me that they could either induce me or they could give me some morphine to ease the pain of the contractions and send me home.

I hadn’t wanted to be induced, but by this time I had been awake all night and was extremely tired and ready to be done with the pain, so I opted to be induced. It was about 10 a.m. when I got moved to labor and delivery and immediately met with the anesthesiologist. I opted for a walking epidural initially so I could move around to help with the dilation. Once the epidural was in place Josh and I walk the halls again and I was given a birth ball to bounce on to help move things along. During this time I was feeling pretty good. I threw up a couple of times, but things were manageable. Well, the Pitocin, fluids, blood pressure dance began and day turned to evening and evening turned to night. At some point the contractions got too painful for just the walking epidural so I got the full epidural and was bed bound from that point forward. My body was taking forever to dilate. The nurses kept telling me to sleep, but they had the pressure cuff thing on me that kept waking me up every 10 minute to take my blood pressure, so no sleep for me sadly.

Around 1 a.m. I had finally dilated to a 10 and was at a point where I could start pushing. I’ll spare you some of the gory details here, but suffice it to say that I pushed for over three hours and it was undoubtedly the most physically demanding things I have ever done. I was so tired that I could hardly open my eyes. At 4:21 a.m. Josh and I finally got to meet our baby girl. She was a whopping 8 lbs. 8 oz (well, large for a Morley baby…I blame Josh on how big she was, haha). Holding her for the first time was one of the best feelings in the world. I’m so glad she chose Josh and me to be her parents.

I wanted to give a huge shout-out to my incredible husband, Josh. He was my rock, my cheerleader, and my advocate. He was so strong for me. I love him so much!!

Here are a few pictures of our valentine.