Brooks' Birth Story

Baby Brooks finally decided to make his grand entrance into this world! I was beginning to feel like he was never going to come. He was four days late from the very latest due date they had given me (which was the twelfth) but he finally did come. Like I mentioned before, my mom had come to Utah to help me after the baby was born. When we realized he might not even get here before she went back to NC, we let her take the kids to stay with her in Mona for a bit, which gave me time to get some things done, and some time with my hubby before we became the parents of three. My mom brought the kids back on Saturday, the 13th, and planned to stay here with us before her early morning flight on Tues, the 16th. We kept waiting and thinking for sure Brooks would get here before my mom had to leave, but by Monday night I had given up hope, and we all went to bed. My mom had to leave at 5:30 the next morning. Then at 10:45 that night, I had my first contraction. I could tell this one was stronger and different, but I didn't get mine or Tyler's hopes up because I had already had so much false labor. Then ten min later another. This one hurt too. Ten min later another. Tyler and I were getting excited but I still didn't want to jump the gun and go to the hospital too early so I kept waiting. Then the next thing I knew, they were coming regularly 3-5 min apart. At that point I got worried and hoped we would be able to make it to the hospital in time. We alerted our parents, jumped in the car, and headed to the hospital. I was still really nervous that my contractions were going to stop but the kept coming and they were getting stronger. I was all checked in and into my delivery room I think by midnight. Maybe just a little later. When they checked me I was already six cm dilated! I was relieved bc I didn't want a super long labor since I wasn't going to get an epidural.

Between contractions.

 From there I just breathed through the contractions. They were getting pretty strong but I felt like I was handling them well despite how painful they were. When the nurses finally left for a bit (I loved my nurses that night. They were so sweet and helpful) Tyler and I had some time to just be together and take in the whole experience. I don't want to go into a lot of detail about that because I felt like it was a super special experience for us and brought us even closer. I found that although laboring naturally was very difficult, it was just a very neat experience for Tyler and I. Dawson and Addy's births were also very special, but I think bc my body was going through everything this time, it felt so much more real. I didn't feel like I was a bystander at my baby's birth this time, or like I was being told what to do and when to do it. I just did what felt right. Around 1:30 my contractions were getting really intense so I asked to get in the water for a bit to help relieve the pain. It wasn't a birthing tub, just a smaller bathtub you could get in to help with the contractions. So after I asked my nurse checked me and I was already at a 9! There wasn't time to get in the tub anyway. With my next contraction my water broke, and from there everything seemed to go so fast but so slow at the same time. My midwife got there around then, and my pain was unbearable! The only thing that helped was Tyler holding my hand, and telling me I could do it. I may have got a little grumpy with the midwives and nurses at this point bc they were telling me to push, but pushing hurt so bad! Anyway, I made it through and at 2:50 am Tyler Brooks was born. He had a FULL  head of hair and was so cute!

 It was such a relief to be done with labor! A little bit later my mom arrived with Tyler's parents (Kaitlyn stayed with Dawson and Addy). She got to see the baby for just a little bit before Tyler's parents took her to the airport. I was so happy for her that she got to be there for that.

The next morning Tyler brought the kids to meet their new brother. They were so cute with him and I just loved watching their reactions. Dawson knew exactly what was going on when he showed up, and I think Addy started to understand too, when she saw the new baby and that my belly wasn't huge anymore.

She love his hair and kept touching it.

I love how Dawson and Addy are looking at each other in this picture like "oh shoot! Our lives just changed!"

Tyler and the kids brought me flowers:)

Leaving the hospital.