Born December 7, 2012 at 5:33 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and measured 20 inches long. He’s adorable.
Good story: (It’s a birth story, how could it not be good? Also long, you’ve been warned.)
So Brandon was working as a contractor for The North Face. Great company, good job, kind of stressful, ended in September. Begin again the search for a job. Sigh. This time around it took 6 weeks instead of the incredible 2 weeks he was unemployed in May. I loved it though. And so did Maggie. There is something to be said for having Brandon home all day every day. We missed him a lot when he went back to work in November, this time as a contractor for The Gap Inc. Much better job, less stressful, and he’s got great coworkers. Crossing our fingers and saying our prayers, but it looks like he’ll be able to stay on more permanently!
So 6 weeks, no insurance. I didn’t mind so much skipping the awful glucose test or not getting on that scale that obviously doesn’t know what it’s talking about. It did start me worrying a bit though when we found out he had to work 4 weeks before insurance kicked in… which meant December 1st. Now, I wasn’t due til the 15th, so we were counting on everything being ok, but I got a temporary PPO plan to cover that month where he might have come and we would have been unable to pay for him.
Brandon so kindly demanded that I take that last week of November very easy. I had to spend time watching Netflix and sitting my butt on the couch doing nothing and feeling no guilt. The no guilt thing didn’t work out so well, but I did watch some great shows and movies. North and South, Into the Woods, Mirror Mirror, From Time to Time and I started Sherlock. December 1st rolled around. Woo Hoo! We’d made it! We had insurance! I went to our ward Relief Society Christmas Brunch. And started contracting.
They were just Braxton Hicks, because they didn’t hurt, but they were 3-7 minutes apart. I thoroughly worried Brandon by sending him a text that he needed to get the baby seat out of storage just in case. I got home 3 hours later and proceeded to do all those things you’re supposed to do the weeks ahead to prepare for a baby coming. I had avoided doing them before fearing he might come just because I was ready for him, even though we were uninsured. I continued to contract regularly all day but since they didn’t hurt I went to sleep for the night. I woke up the next morning still contracting, but irregularly and found out my mom was on her way, driving down from Boise. I love her! I’m so glad and grateful she came and was able to help out so much. Over the next 5 days I continued to contract, had a doctor’s appointment (dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced) Monday, and a false alarm trip to the hospital (still only a 3) on Wednesday. I was determined to be in real labor before we went to the hospital again.
I woke up at 2:30 Friday morning very uncomfortable. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I took a shower, which woke Brandon up. By the time the hot water ran out I was officially in pain and bleeding. Not something you’d normally be happy about, but I totally was! I wanted to try to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t lay down, so I told him to wake up my mom and we’d head to the hospital. Our wall sharing neighbors had our baby monitor from Wednesdays trip to the hospital, so we turned that on in Maggie’s room and texted our neighbor to say we were leaving. She went over and got Maggie when she heard her wake up in the morning. Thanks again Monica!! By the time we were getting in the car I was done. I could not fathom why anyone would purposefully go through that pain when there were perfectly good epidurals to be had.
We arrived at the hospital at 4:30 where I plopped myself in a wheelchair that barely fit through the doorways gripping the armrests and grinning through the pain at security guards and nurses congratulating me. Why did they insist on talking to me when I could barely think coherently? And all the nurses in Labor and Delivery were chatting at the nurses station when we got there looking all surprised to see me. Hello?!? Having a baby! Get up and get me drugs! To receive an epidural you have to have an IV so you’re hydrated…I look like I was in one crazy intense volleyball game from the bruises on my forearms. After they finally got a line into my hand and the instrument table set up they called the doctor. Shouldn’t she be there already? Amid the crazy amounts of pain, frustration at being poked so many times and anger with the doctor for taking forever, Brandon says, “So this seems like a good time to decide his name, right? You aren’t too busy right now or anything…” Lucky for him I know he was being sarcastic, but really all I could think was, “FRICKIN FRICKER! That’s all I got for a name right now.”
The nurse checked me again before calling the anesthesiologist because I told her I felt like I needed to push, turns out I was fully dilated and basically about to explode. Sigh, guess I was having this one natural after all. It’s what I wanted, right? I could totally do this. Women have been doing it for thousands of years. My body was made to push this baby out! Yea, I gave myself a pep talk. I needed it! I’d never shook from pain before. It was intense. I had to stop looking at my mom when I was in the middle of contraction because she had this awful worried look on her face. I tried to hide how much pain I was in because I didn’t want to worry my mom and Brandon. Later she told me it was really hard to see me going through that pain, since she knew what it was like.
I had wanted to try using a squatting bar. I figure hey, if you’re going natural and have bothered to actually write out a birth plan why not try something different? By the time they got it on the bed I was really ready to push but the doctor had just arrived. They all kept telling me I didn’t need the bar, I could just lay back a little and he’d slide right out. I think a squatting birth causes a few logistical problems for the doctor. They have to catch the baby while kind of being underneath you…I get their hesitation to let me use it. So doc is finally all gowned and slippered and hair netted and gloved up (it seriously took her forEVER to get all dressed) she tries to get around the squatting bar to break the water, ends up going under it. Amid gushing water they convince me to just lay back and they take away the bar and I pushed. Brandon was by my head on my right, telling me I was doing great, to keep going. I pushed again and out came his head! At this point Brandon starts laughing. Doc turned the baby’s head and body to the side and he was out with one more push.
She put him directly onto my chest, gooey and bloody, all covered in vernix (the white goo) and lanugo(the fuzzy hair). I loved him. Immediately. With his purple face and huge lips and perfect little nose. Brandon came in closer, kissed me and told me I was amazing! Our little man was amazing. Then Brandon cut the cord and the doctor pulled out that nasty placenta, which hurt. I couldn’t stop staring at this beautiful baby though. I couldn’t believe he was mine! I was so happy! After weighing him and wrapping him in warm blankets, they handed him back. Only one hour in the hospital and I had my little boy! He latched quickly and ate for almost an hour and a half! He is such a good eater, and I am so grateful. Maggie wasn’t as good, and we ended up having to supplement with formula.
Brandon went home around 7 to shower and get Maggie and breakfast for my mom and him. Maggie was so happy to see me! I loved being able to give her a big hug and talk about how the baby had come out of my tummy. She did not want to share my lap with him, but we did get her to give him a kiss before she pushed him away. 
After a bit of talking and exploring the room she sat on the bed with me and opened her present from baby brother. I’d read on a blog somewhere that older siblings responded well to a new baby when you make the atmosphere as positive as possible. What could be more positive than presents? I found this Me Reader at Costco. It came with 8 books and had buttons to push to read the stories out loud. She absolutely LOVES it!! She knows it came from Brooks and every so often when she’s playing with it we’ll hear, “Thank you Brooks for my Me Reader!” 
We still weren’t set on his name until Maggie got there and she said his name was Brooks not Miles. Ok. It would be hard and confusing to convince her that we were switching his name. Plus it’s the one that had stuck the longest without being hated. We had a really hard time finding any names that one of us didn’t dislike. Eli was one we’d both liked when we were talking about names for Maggie. And Brandon pulled Miles out of nowhere about a month before the little man was born. The weird thing is, both Brandon and I felt that if he had been born the day before his name would have been Miles. Brooks grows on me every day. I do like it.
Sarah came to visit us in the hospital and brought me a delicious smoothie. Jon and Jenna showed up for a bit that evening to meet little Brooks. Then I sent everyone home around 8 to go get a good nights sleep. Someone should since we had all been up for a really long time, and I knew Brandon would not sleep well in that hospital chair-bed-thing. After a rough night with a kid who all of sudden wanted to eat every hour, I was glad to see Brandon the next morning. I convinced the doctors to let me go home that day. YAY! As good as the free food was, I knew I’d sleep better in my own bed.
If I’d known I’d have to go through 3 doctor’s appointments, one a circumcision in the next week because I skipped out of the hospital a day early, I might have stayed. Oh well. My mom was there to help out. And WOW was she a help. I don’t know how I would have made it through that first week without her. I have an awesome mom, just so you all know. She did the dishes every day, took care of Maggie, made delicious food, made me nap, helped set up Christmas decorations, and took Brooks at night until he needed to feed. We even got Maggie to school a couple days that week. I felt amazingly accomplished.
Now Brooks is 3 weeks old. It is not easy. I am so grateful to have Brandon. I would be crazy without him. He’s been off this week for Christmas, and been getting up with Maggie so I can sleep in (yesterday til 11!!) I’m storing up all the sleep I can get now for when he has to go back to work. Sigh. I am so blessed. When I look at my children I get this swelling of joy in my chest. I am so happy! I love my little family! And morning cuddles. I love those.
