Troubles & Triumphs of a Growing Family: Brooklyn Ann FINALLY arrived!

As many already know, Brooklyn Ann Watkins finally made her appearance on December 9, 2012 at 5:17 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs 7 ounces and was 20 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair and was absolutely perfect!

I started having contractions on Friday December 7. I wasnt sure at the time that they were contractions so I ignored the crampy feeling and went on with my day. Saturday morning I woke up and felt the same crampy pains every so often but again ignored it and Derek and I went to Elmira to Christmas shop. The cramps got more intense throughout the day and came more frequent...still I wasn't convinced it was labor. We shopped ALL day...didnt get home until around 9 oclock in the evening. At this point I was able to time the cramps which I was now convinced HAD to be contractions. I called labor and delivery and they said that it was probably labor but to try to relax and come in when they got 5 minutes apart or got too intense. Derek got ready and went to work because I figured I would be home a while. I took a bath and tried to relax as much as possible. Around midnight I knew I'd have to go to the hospital soon so I started packing my bags and called Derek to come home. He came home and we headed to the hospital about 1:30 in the morning.

They put me in a room and hooked my up to a monitor to check out the baby and contractions. After a while the doctor came in to check me and said that I was 2 cm...they wanted to keep me a few more hours to see if I was progressing..so a few hours later they checked again and I was 4 cm..they decided to admit me since I was progressing pretty steadily. I walked around the floor as much as possible to keep things moving along. It worked because the next time they checked I was 5cm. Around 11 am I decided the contractions were too much and got the epidural. It worked well at first and I was able to relax a little but soon wore off and they were not able to get it to work correctly.

I started pushing around 4:00 pm and Brooklyn arrived at 5:17 pm. It was all around a great experience! Nothing crazy and too overly painful like you hear about on T.V. The nurses I had were absolutely awesome and made me feel comfortable through the entire stay. Brooklyn was able to stay with us in the room both nights...they bathed her and did all of her testing right in our room.