Birth Story of Brooks Daniel Darling

I took Friday off (one of our post-planning days) because I had been having contractions on and off for the past few days.  I would get constant contractions about 10 minutes apart, or 7 minutes apart, or 8 minutes apart, and then they would just disappear after an hour or so.  Because Zach (my designated driver) didn't have to go to post-planning, I decided to stay home with him so that if I did go in to labor, I would have him ready to go with me. 

We ended up going to the pool to let Aidan swim, went out to eat at Chow Baby in Atlanta (maybe it was the Coconut Curry sauce that sent me in to labor!) and hung out at the Darlings' for a few hours before heading up to meet my Dad at the outlets.  We wanted to celebrate Aidan's birthday with him, and decided on Ruby Tuesdays in Dawsonville.  On the way there, I started getting contractions about 6-7 minutes apart- I wasn't super worried because I had been doing this for days.  I just assumed they would go away like the others did.  I actually WANTED them to go away, since we had plans.  The whole time through dinner, they were about five minutes apart- which I was timing on my iPhone.  Apparently Dad thought I was being rude and texting during dinner- ha!  Towards the end of dinner, I had been having these contractions for over an hour at five minutes apart- so it was time.  I felt awful cutting Aidan's birthday short-he didn't even get to open presents in front of them, but I was ready to have a baby!  Good news is that we were only thirty minutes away from the hospital- which is actually less than it would have been if we were at home.

Zach flew down to the hospital and we checked in about 7:45.  They took me into a room to check and see if I was actually in labor.  I was 4 cm dilated, 100% effaced and having steady contractions- so I got to stay!  Until about 8:45 the contractions were definitely something I could breathe through and try to stay relaxed.  About that time, my water broke during a contraction- this hurt WAY worse than the last time since it was accompanied with a contraction.  With Aidan, I was asleep and just thought that I had peed on myself!

From the time my water broke, everything really increased in its intensity.  The contractions got MUCH worse and I was needing Zach during every one to help me get through it.  At about 9:15 or so, I got a little pain medication in my IV to help take the edge off and allow me to relax more during my contractions.  It helped for about 30 minutes, and then I felt the urge to push.  When I told my midwife, she checked me and I was at 10 cm.  Time to push!

With Aidan, I was pushing for 30 minutes or so.  He ended up getting stuck in the birth canal and they had to use the vacuum on him.  With Brooks, I literally pushed for about 5 minutes or so and he was here!  Labor time at the hospital was barely 2 hours- pretty easy!  Brooks was born at 10 pm exactly.

Everyone asked me if it hurt less this time around- let's get one thing straight....natural labor HURTS ok?  Whether it is 10 minutes or 10 hours- it doesn't exactly feel great.  What I will say,  is when it is pretty short,  it is much more bearable since you see the end coming faster!

Brooks Daniel Darling 8 lbs 0.6 oz

19 1/2 inches long

Precious little face!

Aidan at the Darlings Sunday night after I had Brooks to celebrate his birthday.

My goal was to make sure that Aidan's life was not totally rocked within the first few days of bringing Brooks home- so the first step was to make sure that he celebrated his birthday like we had intended!  I was exhausted and felt totally out of it, but Aidan had a blast.

Aidan and Brooks (and Woody) all hanging out on the floor

Aidan and Brooks- Aidan watching cartoons- Brooks sleeping. 

Aidan not liking the flash on the camera- we tried this picture about 5 times and every time his eyes came out like this!  He has been very helpful with his little brother.  He is always worried about Brooks when he is crying- he will walk up to him and say "itz otaaayy books, itz otaaayy."

Aidan waving and Brooks giving some power to the people.

Look at those cheeks

This is Brooks....

and this was Aidan.  Same pose, same outfit, same age.  Whoa....

Currently Brooks is sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed- he is sleeping MUCH better than he did the first two nights we brought him home.  I am having to wake him up to feed him around every 4 hours at night. 

Aidan thinks that this is his also.  Strangely enough the weight limit on this thing is like 35 pounds.  Considering Aidan is 30 pounds, he is technically legal to sleep in this thing.  Ummm...really?  I think they should rethink that....

Aidan, Daddy and Brooks

Look at that milk-coma face.  Precious

Tricked ya....this is a picture of Aidan.  We are definitely going to have to label every single picture, considering I gave birth to the same child twice.  They are almost identical in every picture that I look at.

Daddy, Aidan, and Brooks

39 weeks

 Went to the midwife last Wednesday and nothing new.  Still dilated the same (although she didn't mention how much I was effaced).  She stripped my membranes....and as you can see it didn't work because I am still pregnant!  Going back to her today to see if anything else has changed, but probably not...since I AM STILL PREGNANT!  Not really sure how he is even still in there- it must be pretty awesome to not want to leave.

39 weeks 1 day

In other news, we have gotten everything ready for the baby- but Aidan is still a little confused- he wants to play with all of it.  He about broke the vibrating/bouncy seat (I know for a fact he is WAY over the weight limit on that thing!)

Aidan with the boppy pillow- again, thinking it is for him :-)

Aidan has aspirations of becoming a Dr! haha!  He likes to put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses and wear his stethascope. 

And by the way, I swear our child wears clothes....sometimes.

37 weeks and 5 days

Picture Update- 37 weeks 5 days

(And apparently I need to clean my bathroom mirror!!)

37 Week Dr. Update

WARNING:  The following update is a TMI update.

Went to the midwife yesterday and found that I am already 2-3 cm dilated and 50%effaced.  The baby is at a 0 station (extremely LOW).  I was so excited- and then went back and looked on my blog only to find out that this is about where I was with Aidan at this time- so potentially another 3 weeks is on the books, but hopefully not.  My goal is to make it through May 16th and then just use my days to finish out the year rather than take official maternity leave.

The midwife said that at the next visit she could strip my membranes.  I have heard of some people doing this (the goal is to help speed up labor since my body is already ready for it) and I got on to look at what it entails.  It is safe- just really uncomfortable.  They say that if it worked, the baby will come within 48 hours of having them stripped.  Still debating whether or not I should do it- I would love for him to get here next week, but just want to make sure that it is totally 100% safe.  If you have heard of anyone doing this (good or bad) let me know!!

37 Weeks Round 2

37 weeks is here!  Lots to update all of you on!  Again, May 29th is the due date, but Zach and I are really ready to go ahead and get him here!  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, and would like to hear some good news.  Zach has already called that he will make his debut on the 25th of this month.  We are super excited and have everything in the room ready- now I just need to pack our bags for the hospital and have them ready.

This is a 35 week picture- I need to take a new one

New news- we have been working on the house- slowly but surely.  It's nothing that has been toooo much work- just asthetic remedies.  Below is our porch before our "spending spree."  I say spending spree, but we made some MAJOR cheapo purchases that you would never be able to tell!

 

Outdoor furniture was a GREAT deal and price at Lowes.  We were looking at the same loveseat at target and we pretty much got the 4 piece set for the price of the one at target.  The umbrella was only 80 dollars at Garden Ridge!  Again, we were looking at a similar one at target for over 200 dollars.We did buy the pillows and accessories at target though.

 

We totally cleaned out the front of the house- I wish I had a before picture, but you couldn't even see that we had a porch.  We ripped it all out and need to plant some new bushes.  We also bought some stones to outline the flower bed.

We had the rocking chairs, but added the hanging basket and the end table (from garden ridge)

We finally found something to put in this strange space.  We already had the mirror, and added the little sheld from garden ridge- we put some tealight candles on it and it looks great!

Before picture- I had to dig about a foot of TERRIBLE rocky soil out of this thing.

After picture- much better!

Aidan looking like a 10 year old- ahhhh.  Where is my baby?

Daddy playing bubbles with Aidan

As of late, we are enjoying RELAXING!  I am done with volleyball- thank goodness.  But, Zach has started up at Westminster on Mondays and Wednesdays, so it is like we switched!  At least we have our weekends to ourselves!

Blurry Weeks

The past few weeks have been a blur!!

The major issue: We had a long weekend for President's Day and relaxed around the house to recooperate from Zach's long season and my volleyball filled weekends. Monday we went out to lunch at Applebees. I ordered a southwest chicken pasta with spinach leaves- it was AMAZING and ate the whole thing. Zach had the Fiesta Chicken with rice and he seemed to like it. Skip to volleyball practice that night- I felt fine until the ride home. I started having major pregnancy symptoms like cramping, acid reflux, etc. All things that I never really had that bad with Aidan's pregnancy- I was MISERABLE. I got home at 10-went straight up to the shower and then laid down in bed. By 11 I was running into the bathroom to throw up. We thought that might be the end of it, so Zach got me some cheerios and some water. Within the hour that was gone too. Pretty much every hour on the hour I spend a little time in the bathroom throughout the night- so I took the next day off. Poor Zach has gag-reflexes that made him almost start gagging from hearing me. Food poisoning while pregnant was awful for me and everyone else in the house. Every since then, I still feel like I am catching up.

Zach is starting to enjoy the quiet life, since basketball is done for now and he is able to get home every day around 4:15. We are both able to ride to school together (except for days that I have to go straight to volleyball) and save some gas money! I have been having a really hard time on Mondays and Wednesdays (vball days). I really do regret volunteering to coach this year, considering that I am driving around an hour each way to get to/from practice and I only get to see Aidan in the mornings when I meet up with Dayna. Come the time that I get paid for it, I might not regret it- but it is definitely too much on my plate right now; however, it is like genetically in my body that I am incapable of quitting something if I told them that I would do it. Good news though, is that since Zach's season is over he is able to get Aidan home early and play with him all night, so even though I am not there, he does get quality daddy time.

Last night Aidan fell asleep on Zach after playing so hard when we got home. For those of you who don't really know him, he NEVER does this. He will only fall asleep in the car seat or in his bed. He is always too afraid he is going to miss something to ever fall asleep in a different place, but Zach wore him out! And yes, he has jeans and no shirt on- we like to instill white trash in our children at a young age :-)

More in Aidan news, our goal was to try to transition him to a big boy bed in March. AHHH! It IS march! I'm not so sure he is ready, but we might try naps in there and see how it goes. But, I am NOT buying another crib so we are going to figure something out. Lord knows the child can physically climb out of his crib, but he has no desire to. He just sits in there and talks to his Illinois pillow and his blankets and stuffed animals. We will see....

He seems to have already figured it out though. I was upstairs with him doing laundry and he was playing in his "big boy room"- I walk in to see what he is doing and he is just laying on his bed with his head on his pillow talking to his toy truck.

We are finally starting to figure our routines in our house out- we did a MASSIVE cleaning on Sunday and got soooo much done. It still feels like we haven't fully moved in because not everything is perfect yet, but it is getting there.

Hence the reason why we needed a major cleaning. Hurrican Aidan destroyed our living room.

25 Weeks

Well, we have finally hit 25 weeks. Getting close to the 3rd trimester. I have been soooo busy throughout this pregnancy that it has gone by so fast. But now, the anticipation is starting to get to me- the whole pregnancy is starting to slooooooow down and feel like it's taking forever. Too bad because I still have 15 weeks. Gah! I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and will find out if they are going to move the due date up a few days.
Best story of the month- my son hitting the terrible twos and the 18 month stage. Now that he is 20 months, he is all over the place throwing out defiance left and right. This includes, but not limited to, saying "no" to everything and everybody. My current favorite was when I ran the bath water while he was in his room playing. I went to get a towel and come back to this....

He got into the bath by himself with all of his clothes on, including diaper and rain boots. At least he was prepared for the water?