WOW!!! Where did the summer go?? Being 8 months pregnant during the summer sure made it seem long... however, looking back on the summer it seems to have gone in the blink of an eye.
Trevor and I welcomed to our family Brinley Southwick on August 21. Bringing her into the world was one of the greatest experiences of our lives. We have loved having her here with us, and cannot believe that she has been with us for 2 weeks already! The time sure is flying by very quickly, and I want it to slow down! I wanted to document her birth story before I forget it. This is one very very long post, so please feel free to skip it! But I had to document every second of this awesome experience.
On Monday, August 20 around 3am I woke up to some very very strong contractions. I had been having Braxten Hicks for awhile now and I knew that these contractions were very different. They just felt a lot different than the Braxten Hicks I had been having. I woke up Trevor to inform him that I was having contractions and he immediately began timing them for me (he was so cute and sweet through all of this!). My contractions were about 10 min apart, but never stopped from when they started at 3am. Trevor kept asking me if I wanted to go to the hospital, but I knew they weren't close enough together yet. Also, I had just recently gotten a new job and was starting that in the morning. I didn't want to miss my first day at my new job. Well morning finally came, with ZERO sleep for the both of us and I was off to my new job.
During the entire day, Monday, at work I was constantly having contractions and they were only getting closer together. However, I wanted to make it the entire day at work. I was timing my contractions the entire time I was at work and they were slowly getting closer together. At around 6:30pm my contractions were about 5 min apart and hurting me very bad. Sadly I was not able to last the entire day at work, however; I made it with only 30 min left. I left work and quickly called Trevor to tell him it was time to head up to the hospital. He left work and we met at home to grab a few things and then head up to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at around 7:30pm. They monitored me for about 20 min, asked me tons of questions, told me I was dialated to a 1 1/2, and then sent me back home. They stated I was not in active labor, I was in pre-labor and that this could go on for a couple more days before I reached active labor. I was super sad, mad, and really upset because they were sending me home.
Once we were back at home the contractions did not stop. They only continued to get worse and I knew I was in for a long night because I could not sleep through these contractions. While at home my contractions became so intense that I was having a difficult time breathing and my body was beginning to shake uncontrollably because of the pain. I could see on Trevor's face that it was killing him to see me in so much pain, and he tried to convince me multiple times that it was time to head back up to the hospital. I did not want to go back up to the hospital though because I was just there and I didn't want to be sent home again. At around 3:30am and after no sleep for now 24 hours, we decided it was time to head back up to the hospital. I was very hesitant and nervous about this but my contractions were now 2 min apart and I knew I needed to head back up. Once we arrived at the hospital I explained to them that I was there earlier and had been sent home, but I really thought I was in labor. The nurses at the hospital all looked at me very hesitantly but decided to at least humor me. They again monitored me, and asked me all the exact same questions again. They then checked me and I was dialated now to a 5!!! I don't think I could had been told any greater news than that at that moment! I was not going to be sent home and we were finally having this wonderful, precious baby!
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| Right after being admitted. Please excuse the way we look in this picture. We had been awake for over 24 hours straight! |
After being admitted into the hospital I received my epidural. What a great thing those are!! Right after receiving my epidural I immediately felt so much better. Trevor also felt better and was a lot more relaxed because his wife finally was relaxed and no longer in pain. Trevor was so cute, sweet, and awesome through this entire process. I am so glad that he was there for me through it all and was trying everything he could to help me out. After a few hours of waiting around and only 30 min of pushing, we welcomed Brinley Southwick into our family at 11:00am exactly! She weighted 6lbs. 11 oz. and couldn't be more beautiful!
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| Minutes after she was born |
We were in the hospital for 2 days and loved that a lot of our family was able to come up and see us during the exciting time in our life. We feel so blessed to be able to have this little girl and love her more than anything! It was such a wonderful, special, and sweet experience to welcome this little girl and I am so happy that I was able to experience it with Trevor. It is something we will both remember for the rest of our lives!
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| One very very VERY proud Daddy! I love these two so so much! |
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| Bringing our sweet girl home! |
