Brooklyn's Birth Story

*Really long post with lots of pictures

I can't believe that my baby is going to be 5 today. I decided that since I have never written down her birth story I would do that. I still remember it like it was yesterday. About 3-4 weeks before she was born, I found out that I had Toxemia and had to go and bed rest. Those were a long couple of weeks. The last 2 weeks of bed rest- I was having to go into the doctor every day to get my blood pressure checked and to make sure there wasn't protein in my urine. So I was ready for her to come. My doctor decided that he would start me a week before was due. A couple days before, he stripped my membranes. It also happened to be my sister's college graduation. I really wanted to be there for her and got permission from my doctor to go. At the time, my grandma had a wheel chair so we loaded it into Paula's van, got my grandpa, and we were off. My grandpa, bless his heart, decided that he was taking care of me. He pushed me everywhere in that wheel chair and wouldn't let anyone else. It was really sweet. So the night before I was going to get started Sean and I were laying in bed talking. Like we could sleep knowing that in a couple of hours our sweet baby girl was going to be with us. I still remember the exact conversation we had. We were discussing about how some babies when they are first born really aren't that cute and we were worried that our baby might not be. (I know silly- but I think it is a valid concern.) We had to be there on the 27th at 7:00 in the morning. They got me hooked up to the Pitocin and started my labor. It was a slow process. They couldn't turn the Pitocin up because everytime they did, her heartrate would slow down. Eventually, I was given an oxygen mask that I had to wear for the rest of the time. At 6 PM they informed me that I was fully dialated. They informed me that most first time moms push for about 2 hours and then gave me the option to start pushing then or let the baby sit and descend for an hour. I chose not to start pushing. My nurse came in after the hour to check on me and was shocked because the baby was there ready to come our. She informed Dr. Heiner that he better HURRY. At this point I was kinda getting nervous- I had my mom come in to be with us. The nurse told me I was to relax and not to push at all. She told me that the baby had A LOT of hair. As we were waiting I really thought that the nurse was going to end up delivering Brooklyn. When Dr. Heiner got there at about 7:15, it is like you see in the movies he kicked off his shoes, ripped off some clothes, and got geared up. I pushed through one contraction waited for the next and did half a push and Brooklyn was born. She was born at 7:31 PM- she weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long. She was perfect and FAR from not being cute. The first time they put her in my arms, I was so overwhelmed that Heavenly Father would entrust this beautiful spirit into my care. My grandma Vone had died a year before and I knew with every fiber of me that Brooklyn had just come from being with her. As I looked into Brooklyn's eyes- I felt as if I were looking into the eyes of my Grandma. That was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. At that exact moment, as I looked in those eyes, I knew that my Grandma wanted to tell me that she loved me. It was a very spiritual and emotional moment in my life. My family was there waiting to see their first grandchild and neice and Paula and her family were there and brought my Granny Ila. When Sean went to give Brooklyn her first bath, we have the sweetest pictures of my Granny watching from the window and the look on her face in priceless- she was thrilled with this new baby. She came into my room and told me how proud she was of me. It was also a special time having her there. We decided to name her Brooklyn (after the Dodgers) IlaRee (after my granny). (It was quite cute my Granny couldn't believe that we would give Brooklyn her middle name and was thrilled. She would tell anyone she could that we gave Brooklyn her name. Every so often she would ask, "So what is her middle name?" She knew darn good and well what it was, but liked to hear it.)

The following day Sean had finals so my sister came to hang out with me and then my mom came. We had the funnest time playing with Brooklyn's hair and enjoying time with her. Her hair was amazing from birth. She was born with a headfull of dark curly hair. The ends looked like they were frosted with a light brown. It was such a great day with lots of visitors.

The next morning when the pediatrician, Dr. Visick came to check her out he mentioned that she looked really yellow and probably had jaundice. He wanted to get her blood checked to see what the levels were. When the results came back we found out that our perfect baby girl had a blood incompatability and had a disease called Cummes Positive. What happens is that my body created antibodies against her blood cells so when she was born they attacked her blood. This disease only effects babies at birth- and has no long term effects. They immediately put her in the NICU under lights and started these treatments from Primary Children's. (It was kinda funny to see- because she was in by all the premies. Here she is this 7 pound baby- she looked like a horse next to them.) It was so hard to watch her. She had a tiny IV in her arm. At first they would bring her to my room when it was time to feed her and then we would take her back when she was done. Then they told us that she needed to spend as much time as possible under the lights- so we would walk down there to feed her. Then right back under the lights she would go. One day I was walking down to feed her with my mom and when we got there- she had an IV coming out of her head. I had never seen such a thing. At this point I lost it. (I had been strong up until then.) I would have given anything to take her place. The nurses felt really bad because they thought I knew they had moved it there. They informed me that her little hand just couldn't keep the IV in any longer and that the head is really a better place for the IV to be. After the first intial shock of seeing that- I realized that it was better for it to be in her head. At this point I was released from the hospital. They offered us a hotel stay where we could get one of the rooms at the hospital and stay there. I couldn't imagine having to leave my baby. I felt for the moms whose babies had been there for weeks. We had quite the routine while we were there- we would go every 3 hours to feed Brooklyn and get to hold her for a half-hour. All I wanted to do was to hold and rock and love my beautiful little girl. It was torture not being able to. She was given a blessing by Sean and my Grandpa and told that she would overcome this quickly and be a healthy girl. Every day I waited for this to happen. I learned then that this was all on Heavenly Father's timetable and not mine. I had to learn a GREAT deal of patience in the following days. Days went on and Sunday came and we were told that the hospital had filled up and that we would have to leave. On came another breakdown! How could I leave my baby? I couldn't talk without bawling. We became close to the nurses that were taking care of Brooklyn and Mel told us that we should go home and get a good nights sleep because we wouldn't be any good if we kept going the way we had been. We went home and did sleep relatively well. When we got to the hospital the next day- we got the news we had waited 6 days for. She would get to come home. She still had to stay under the lights at home, but we got to have her home. We were ecstatic. Watching Sean and I bathe her and get her ready to come home was comedy central.

We lived in my Granny's basement at this time and I got to help take care of her. It wasn't long before her and Brooklyn became the best of friends. Granny would sneak Brooklyn licks of her popsicles, give her tastes of her "Krispie", and sneak her anything else she could. When Brooklyn was walking every night after we got Granny in bed Brooklyn would go walking in there and we would hear my Granny say, "HELLO THERE!" This soon became a fun game for Brooklyn and would go in there multiple times. I know that Brooklyn gave my Granny an extra year of life.

I feel so blessed that Sean and I are the parents of this beautiful, sweet firecracker. She has touched so many lives in our family and is the light in our lives. She is such a good big sister to Gracie. A great cousin. And a good friend! She is 5 going on 18. She is STILL in love with Troy from High School Musical and informs everyone he is her husband. When she turns 18 she informed us that she is changing her name to Gabriella. She loves all animals- especially our dog, Sandy. She loves to hold my hair. She is ALL girl- she loves lip gloss, necklaces, bracelets, purses, pink, make-up, high-heels, dresses, etc. Happy Birthday Sis- WE LOVE YOU!

7 lbs. 1 oz. - 19 inches long

First Bath

I love how Sean is adoring his beautiful baby girl and you can see my Granny at the glass- the look on her face is priceless.

I Love my Granny

Finally to our room- you can see how puffy and swollen I had gotten from the Toxemia

Meeting Grandma Sue and Pops

I think this is my favorite picture of at the hospital. Brooklyn looks like a little Eskimo.

Brooklyn meeting Grandma Gisele and Great-Grandma Harris

NICU

NICU

The day I came down and found the IV in her head. She still has it in her hand too.

NICU

Day 6- we get to bring her home

Her blessing day

Birth

1Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

5 Years Old