The birth story....

I was scheduled for an induction the morning of April 12th. I was due the 14th but because my Doctor was not going to be on call my due date he agreed to induce me on the 12th. I was excited because I really wanted to know when Brooke was going to arrive and an induction was the sure way to know.

Robert and I arrived at St. Vincent's at 6 am. We were shown to the room that would be our home for the next two days. Once I got settled and the nurse had started my IV she hooked me up to all the monitors. I was already having contractions, but I did not feel them. When the nurse told me this I was very surprised. The doctor came in at 7am to break my water and shortly after I could feel the contractions. He had given Robert and I an estimate of that afternoon or early evening for Brooke to arrive. He also told me that I would probably want the epidural around lunch.

Well by 9am I was having some pretty painful contractions and decided to have the nurse check me. I was dialated to 3cm so I could go ahead and get the epidural if I wanted. Which I did by the time the doctor got there to do it it was around 9:30 or 10 am. I then dialated very fast and the Doctor moved up his estimate to around lunch for the birth! In fact in only 30 minutes I went from 6cm to 10cm! Robert's family had just arrived before I was to start pushing and my parents had not been there too much longer. It was going a lot faster than we all expected, which in my book is a good thing!

Brooke was born at 12:23pm on Tuesday April 12th. She would have been born sooner had the nurse not gone to a going away party the other nurses were having for her before it was time for me to push! But I figure from 7am to 12:23pm was not too bad!

Here are some pictures from the hospital. We were very blessed to have our families with us on the incredible day.

Brooke Ann weighed 7lbs and 10oz. And she was 20 3/4 inches long.