From the begining until now...

A year after Ellie was born I had that itch to have another kid (oh all you girls know what I'm talking about) So I brought it up to Brian and he was having none of it. You see, he is the practical one in the family, whereas i am the emotional one. He gave me the list of "cons" as to why we shouldn't have any more kids (and it was long!). And I gave him the "pros" (there was one)...I just didn't feel like our family was complete. We talked and talked and decided that he was right. We had two great kids that kept us on our toes. We could afford everything we needed and most of what we wanted for them.

Fast forward to Aug 2007. I am off the pill for one week (it was interfering with some other meds I was taking) Isn't it supposed to stay in your system for a while? SURPRISE - pregnant. I wont go into the details of how it happened, but lets just say that the chances of it happening are about one in a million.



I bought a test...positive. I freaked out, and called my Mom. As always she calmed me down, and somehow I found the words to tell Brian. Actually I had left the stick downstairs while I was upstairs on the phone. Brian came home from the gym and saw it. He was on the phone with Darric and I hear him say "Oh no...There is a pregnancy test sitting on my counter!". So before Brian and I say even one word to each other, my Mom and Darric already know. I go downstairs and the look on his face is not happy. I go back upstairs and start crying. Crying because I know Brian was done, crying because we had no health insurance, crying because I was going to get fat again, crying because I was scared to have three. He comes upstairs and tells me that it will all be OK, and things will work out. Surprisingly he just holds me and lets me cry.



Fast forward to six months later. Even though I had wanted more kids, I had come to terms with the fact that we had decided to leave it at two. It took me a while to get there, so when I found out I was pregnant it took me a while to get back. I'm not saying that for 6 months I didn't want the baby, I just couldn't believe it was real. THEN...I got excited.



Fast forward to May 16th 2008. We arrive at the hospital at 9am. They hook everything up and start the pitocin at 10:30. I am 3 cm (as I had been for the last 3 weeks). At 12:45 I am still only about 4cm, so they crank up the pitocin...I go from 4 to 10 in about 20 minutes. They call my doctor and he is across town. So I sit, at 10cm, and wait 40 minutes for him to get there...thank God I had an epidural! Brooklynn is born at 1:53pm. Almost exactly 5 hours after arriving at the hospital. They wipe her off and hand her to me, and she didn't leave our side for over an hour.

Fast forward to today. I can't believe it's been a month, and I can't believe I am the Mom of three girls. Brooke is so alert and looking all over. She randomly smiles (can't make her smile yet). She is sleeping in her crib and feeds about every 4 hours. If I time it right at night I can get away with only waking up once in the middle of the night. (As long as the other girls don't need me). She weighs 8lbs 9 oz and is in the 50% for height, weight and head. Everyone comments on what nice ears she has (kind of random) and that her head is perfectly shaped :o) She has my long toes and the same thin upper lip that the other girls had. She completes our family it feels like we were always meant to be a family of 5.

Alison is THE BEST big sister. She is amazingly helpful and runs to Brooke's side as soon as she hears a peep. We were laying in bed this morning and Al says "Mom, I just love her SO much, I cant explain it. I love her thirty-three hundred years!". And I love that she has emotions so strong that she can't put it into words. She is so thoughtful and caring.

Ellie is doing better than I expected with Brooklynn. She is cross with me and defiant, but loves her baby sister. She does things like offer the baby her fruit snack or stuffed animal. She tries to pick Brooklynn up "to bring her in my room to play with me". She imitates me with her own dolls. When we are out, she likes to tell people that she has a baby sister.and that she is a big sister. She still keeps me on my toes and so fun to watch every day.

Brian is having a bit of a harder time with this surgery than the last one. He is in pain a lot of the time, but tries to not let it show. It's been a little rough being the only caregiver for the kids, but he does all that he can. (he is the story reader at bedtime and holds the baby for me a lot when he is home). Obviously the nights are the hardest without help. Last night Al woke up with a fever, Ellie fell out of bed, I was up with the baby three times and she was up for the day around 4:30. I get drained not having any time to myself. But its really nice to be getting this over with, and hopefully he will back to his old self in a couple of months. He has a good attitude about it and does what he can to get better as fast as he can.


So overall, not exactly how I pictured my life, but perfect none the less. I can't wait for all of my and Brian's family to meet Brooke and see the girls in a couple weeks. We have a busy summer planned and its nice to have Brooklynn here to enjoy it with. I'm not anxious for the milestones like with the last two (except maybe for her to smile) I am just enjoying each day. As tired as I might be, there is no other life Id rather have and no where else Id rather be!

STATS at 1month

height: 21in / 50%

weight: 8.9lbs / 25-50%

head: 37in / 50%