Surprise Arrival

Thursday, February 5th started out just like any other day.. little did we know what the Good Lord had in store for us..

Patrick wasn't feeling well so instead of heading to the Y to work out, we were going to enjoy a quiet evening at home. Around 6:00pm, I was standing at the sink washing my hands when I felt a small gush of water release. I looked at Patrick dumbfounded and said, "Oh my Gosh, that's the strangest thing I've ever felt.. I think my water just broke." After minutes of staring at each other in complete shock, we called our Mid-wife Heather Jordan. She said, "that sounds suspicious, meet me at the Hospital." Suspicious was right. I kept thinking how could this be, I wasn't feeling any contractions and it was too early; I was just short of 36 weeks preggo. I honestly thought that maybe I was just leaking fluid and we would go to the Hospital, get checked out, and she'd send me home until my water really broke. Not so much.

After getting to the Hospital, it was confirmed that we were well on our way to having a baby. I was 3.5cm dilated and the baby had already moved down into delivery position. Heather informed us of potential complications with me being 35+ weeks; if the baby had any pre-term conditions, she would have to be flown to Asheville's NICU while I stayed in Linville. Not exactly what we wanted to hear but we said a prayer and trusted her fate in God's hands.

Per protocol, they pumped me full of fluids and then had me walk around to see if the contractions, which I still wasn't really feeling, would increase. It worked. The pain was much different than I imagined. I thought it would feel more like a kidney stone, instead, it was like a bad menstrual cramp. As the contractions increased, I knew it was going to be a very long night and not much fun for Patrick if I didn't have an epidural. The pain was still very manageable but for fear of waiting too late, at 7cm the anethesthiologist did her magic and I wasn't feeling a thing.

Around 3:45am, I reached 10cm, it was go time. After 15 minutes of pushing, our beautiful, precious, dearest Brooklynn was born. It's hard to describe the feeling and emotion of meeting our daughter for the first time. The intensity of seeing her, holding her, hearing her sweet little noises brought tears to our eyes. Thank God she didn't have any complications, her lungs were completely developed and she's a happy, healthy 6lb 2oz and 20 inches long. If she would have gone full term, she would have been big like her mommy (I was 9lb 2oz and 22.5 inches long). We are so in love with this little miracle and never knew life could be so amazing!


To add a little irony to the situation, though my co-workers and I have talked about my pregnancy and their pregnancies before, that Thursday we had an in-depth conversation about the birthing process and I shared my anxiety regarding my water breaking. Low and behold, what happened when I got home??? Also, Ingrid shared with me that she was beginning to wonder if the Peace Lilly I gave her when her Grandmother died months earlier would ever bloom and then in a weird twist of fate, it bloomed the day Brooklynn was born. We knew this girl was special!

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts, calls, visits, gifts and for sharing in our excitement of Brooklynn's arrival!!!