Towards the end of my pregnancy when I would visit my OBGYN and Perinatologist each week they kept saying “I can’t believe your still pregnant!” I thought that was so strange since I wasn’t even considered full term! Everyone thought Brooks was coming early!
Here it goes!
I was having stronger than typical contractions starting on Friday, October 19th and ended up losing my mucus plug on Sunday, October 21st. Even though I didn’t feel 100% we had brunch plans with friends and went straight out and it kept my mind off of things! The busier I stayed the less I focused on how I felt. After talking to family, they suggested that I go get seen by my OB the next day. I went in on Monday to get checked and the OB on call said I wasn’t in labor. My family wanted to come into town that weekend just in case something happened, so my mom came into town on Thursday late afternoon and my dad got in on Friday late afternoon. I decided that Friday, September 27th would be my last day of work. I went through the week as I normally would with Braxton hicks coming and going all week, but I still felt really good! I went to my scheduled OBGYN appointment on Friday, September 27th and was fully effaced and 1 centimeter dilated. Since most of my friends have kids and my sister has three I know that everyone is so different so that really didn’t mean anything to me! I sent my last work email at 4pm that afternoon and turned on my away message!
Mom and I ran out to go get a massage and boy did that feel good! My dad was coming into town that night and I knew Michael and I wanted a date night at some point that weekend. Mom suggested that we go on our date night on Friday. When I got home from the massage I took a body shower, got dressed and did my makeup and even wore heels! All I wanted was some parmesan truffle fries so we ended up at JCT Kitchen! After dinner we walked around and listed to live music on the rooftop. After dinner we were so full so we went straight home. On the way home Michael said here read this…I immediately burst into tears (my first real cry of the whole pregnancy). Earlier that day Michael had written a letter to our unborn son. It was the sweetest little letter and still brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. When we got home my best friend who was also pregnant and our original due dates were 2 days apart sent pictures of her in the bathtub. I thought to myself wow that would feel really good right now. I went upstairs and got in the bath for 30mins. When I got out I went downstairs and joined my family in watching one of our favorite TV shows. It was almost 11pm when the show was over and I got up to pee. I was practically limping to the bathroom in so much pain. I felt so much pressure, but thought it was just because I was holding my pee too long.
When it all began!
By the time I got ready for bed I had another episode of that same pain! I finally fell asleep holding Michael’s hand and 45 mins later, I was awake again. I woke Michael up and told him that this wasn’t the typical Braxton Hicks I was having the last couple of weeks. Michael was frantically Googling signs and symptoms of labor and landed on a contraction app that he quickly downloaded. I texted my sister asking if she was awake. She wrote me back immediately saying yes because there was a bad storm that was passing thought North Carolina so she couldn’t sleep. That was a total blessing y’all! I called her and she talked us though every contraction with them getting closer and closer together. I finally felt like I had to pee so I got up and noticed I was sitting in a puddle of blood. My sister said have Michael go wake mom and dad, get dressed, pack, and head to the hospital! You’re in active labor! She was so excited and stayed on the phone with us until we checked into Northside Hospital at 3:30am. I was at 4 cm dilated and all I could think about was making it in time to get an epidural!
We were sitting in the room for what felt like forever before anyone came in to check on us. At 4:55am we were finally signing waivers. While we were signing they informed me that they needed to test my blood and administer one bag of fluids before I could get an epidural. I had a team of nurses trying to find a vein that wouldn’t immediately blow. They finally found a vein and I was finally given an epidural at 5:45am. After being in natural labor for over 7 hours I was absolutely exhausted!
After the epidural was administered my blood pressure dropped and I had come down with a fever. The nurse had to give me a shot of medication. I immediately felt nauseous and so weak. It was scary for everyone in the room. Around 7:30am I started feeling better and my blood pressure was back to normal.
Once I started to feel better we asked our whole family to guess the weight of the baby. Trying anything to keep calm and rest.
Here’s what we guessed: Me 7lbs 5oz; Michael 7lbs 14oz; Dad 7lbs 1oz, Mom 8lbs; my sister 7lbs 6oz; Barbara 8lbs 5oz; Fred 8lbs 10oz; Bryan 9lbs 3oz; and Tiffany 8lbs 2oz.
My sister, Amanda, came closest!
Since my OB was on vacation I had no idea who the Dr. on call was. At 8:30am the Dr. came in to introduce himself. I immediately felt calmer and absolutely loved him! He was light hearted, funny, and had such a positive attitude. He said he would be back in an hour to check me. While he was checking me my water broke. The plan was to check me again at 12pm. By 11am I began to feel a lot of pressure. By 12pm I was 9.5 cm dilated. The nurse looked at me and said I’m going to do a practice push with you, but when I say stop I want you to stop until the Dr. gets here. I don’t want to deliver your baby and you look like someone who will be a good pusher. Within an hour the room was set up and the Dr. came in. We started pushing at 1pm and after a couple of rounds of pushing the babies heart rate went down. They gave me oxygen and said give us a few more good pushes and you will have a baby! They would count to 10 and I would keep pushing until I couldn’t anymore. Determined to get this baby out! At 1:34pm our sweet Brooks Lawson Fisher was born! Michael and I both crying he was placed on my chest and from that moment our lives changed forever! My mom and dad left the room to grab us lunch so we could bond with our baby during the golden hour. It was such a special time. The nurses were great and were monitoring baby Brooks on my chest so we could have that time, until they said we have to take him to the transitional nursery for grunting. This is common in newborns, but of course anytime the baby has to be taken away it’s scary. Since I had gestational diabetes he had his blood sugars being monitored as well. He passed all but one value so he had to stay until 7pm. Michael never left his side and held his little finger the whole time. At that point I was so glad I had my parents with me! They helped me transition from the labor room to the recovery room and since my epidural had worn off at 3pm. I was grateful for the help and company!
I fall more and more in love with Brooks everyday. I am pure waterworks over here finishing this blog post. I can’t believe I return to work next week after being with him for 14 weeks. Once I got home from Christmas break it hit me hard. I know the transition won’t be easy at first, but will be the best for both of us. Would love to know what made the transition easier for you in the comments below!
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Thank you all for the love and support! Brooks was the highlight of 2019 and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2020!
Inspired, Maryashley