So, I figure it's about time I updated the blog now that my baby girl is over 2 months old! Brooklyn Grace Merkley joined our family on Febru
ary 9th at 2:15 PM weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. She came pretty quickly and unexpectedly 2 weeks early! I woke up around 4:30 that morning with pretty mild contractions 6 minutes apart and continued to track them as I packed a hospital bag and Chris installed the carseat (as I said, unexpectedly early!) Chris continued to get ready for school because I couldn't decide what to do, but by the time he really had to decide to leave or not my contractions were three minutes apart and I could no longer talk through them. So we decided to leave for the hospital at 9 and left Jake with one of Chris's good friends Aaron Stoker and his friend Whitney who happened to be staying with us for a dental school interview (that was lucky!). When we got to the hospital I was in a good amount of pain (I don't know why, but my contractions were much stronger than they ever were with Jake) but unfortunatel
y I was hardly even dilated to a 2. Because I was 2 weeks early, they would not do anything to progress my labor and made us walk laps around the hospital for an hour to see if it would help. After this frustrating and painful hour of walking (during which I became increasingly grumpy) the poor nurse who was trying to be so nice had to inform me that I was still only at a 2 and they were going to have to send me home to wait it out. Luckily, my doctor was in a surgery and was unable to confirm their decision, so we were stuck waiting for his approval for another hour. When it came time to try getting a hold of my doctor again, they decided to check me just in case and were shocked to find that I was now dilated to 6cm. I was finally moved into a delivery room. All I wanted at this point was an epidural (my contractions were now less than 2
minutes apart and strong!) and I'm afraid I was not being very patient or kind. Because they were planning on sending me home, I now had to wait for them to really check me in and for a full bag of fluid from the IV to go through before they would call in the anesthesiologist. I don't think I've ever been more happy to see a stranger before. I love epidurals. Once the epidural got working I was much happier and actually had to be put on oxygen because I was apparently TOO relaxed! Throughout all of this my water had remained unbroken, and we were now just waiting for my doctor to leave his surgery so that he could come up and break it for me. Unfortunately, he was very willing to let me just wait. So we waited and waited until I began feeling an increase in press
ure and asked a nurse to come and check me again. She was very surprised to find that I was fully dilated and Brook was all ready to go! They called my doctor and told him he HAD to come up now, so he came and broke my water (and commented that he thinks my water will never break on it's own, bummer) and we got ready to push immediately. After waiting so long for him to come up, Brook was already as low as she could have possibly gotten on her own, and it only took a couple good pushes to deliver her. I think it was only a total of about 4 minutes from the time the doctor broke my water to the time she was born! I did end up needing a couple stitches for a small tear, but other than that it was a pretty smooth delivery. They handed her right to me and I couldn't help but cry. She was so tiny and beautiful and i
t was just as special and miraculous as Jake's birth all over again. She had a good amount of brown hair and big blue eyes. She also had a little crooked nose (smooshed a little to one side), but that straightened itself out after a few days. It was pretty cute while it lasted though. Jake came to meet her a few hours later and was very interested for about 5 minutes and then got bored. But he has turned into such a good big brother since! He still just calls her "baby" and will always look for her when he wakes up and remember to say goodnight to her when we're putting him to bed. He LOVES to snuggle with her and give her kisses (which often end up as smothering, but his intentions are always good!). He is also very good at sharing with her and I w
ill often find little cars and other toys in her bouncer or balanced on her head. Luckily Brooklyn is a much better sleeper than Jake was so I have been able to get some rest. She is a very sweet, good little girl and we love her so much! She's got Chris wrapped around her little finger, and has already learned to save her best smiles for him (how come the mom never gets these little victories??). It's a little crazy sometimes as I'm still trying to figure out life with two kids, but we are loving our family of four and feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful, healthy children. There really is no greater blessing!
ary 9th at 2:15 PM weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. She came pretty quickly and unexpectedly 2 weeks early! I woke up around 4:30 that morning with pretty mild contractions 6 minutes apart and continued to track them as I packed a hospital bag and Chris installed the carseat (as I said, unexpectedly early!) Chris continued to get ready for school because I couldn't decide what to do, but by the time he really had to decide to leave or not my contractions were three minutes apart and I could no longer talk through them. So we decided to leave for the hospital at 9 and left Jake with one of Chris's good friends Aaron Stoker and his friend Whitney who happened to be staying with us for a dental school interview (that was lucky!). When we got to the hospital I was in a good amount of pain (I don't know why, but my contractions were much stronger than they ever were with Jake) but unfortunatel
y I was hardly even dilated to a 2. Because I was 2 weeks early, they would not do anything to progress my labor and made us walk laps around the hospital for an hour to see if it would help. After this frustrating and painful hour of walking (during which I became increasingly grumpy) the poor nurse who was trying to be so nice had to inform me that I was still only at a 2 and they were going to have to send me home to wait it out. Luckily, my doctor was in a surgery and was unable to confirm their decision, so we were stuck waiting for his approval for another hour. When it came time to try getting a hold of my doctor again, they decided to check me just in case and were shocked to find that I was now dilated to 6cm. I was finally moved into a delivery room. All I wanted at this point was an epidural (my contractions were now less than 2 
minutes apart and strong!) and I'm afraid I was not being very patient or kind. Because they were planning on sending me home, I now had to wait for them to really check me in and for a full bag of fluid from the IV to go through before they would call in the anesthesiologist. I don't think I've ever been more happy to see a stranger before. I love epidurals. Once the epidural got working I was much happier and actually had to be put on oxygen because I was apparently TOO relaxed! Throughout all of this my water had remained unbroken, and we were now just waiting for my doctor to leave his surgery so that he could come up and break it for me. Unfortunately, he was very willing to let me just wait. So we waited and waited until I began feeling an increase in press
ure and asked a nurse to come and check me again. She was very surprised to find that I was fully dilated and Brook was all ready to go! They called my doctor and told him he HAD to come up now, so he came and broke my water (and commented that he thinks my water will never break on it's own, bummer) and we got ready to push immediately. After waiting so long for him to come up, Brook was already as low as she could have possibly gotten on her own, and it only took a couple good pushes to deliver her. I think it was only a total of about 4 minutes from the time the doctor broke my water to the time she was born! I did end up needing a couple stitches for a small tear, but other than that it was a pretty smooth delivery. They handed her right to me and I couldn't help but cry. She was so tiny and beautiful and i
t was just as special and miraculous as Jake's birth all over again. She had a good amount of brown hair and big blue eyes. She also had a little crooked nose (smooshed a little to one side), but that straightened itself out after a few days. It was pretty cute while it lasted though. Jake came to meet her a few hours later and was very interested for about 5 minutes and then got bored. But he has turned into such a good big brother since! He still just calls her "baby" and will always look for her when he wakes up and remember to say goodnight to her when we're putting him to bed. He LOVES to snuggle with her and give her kisses (which often end up as smothering, but his intentions are always good!). He is also very good at sharing with her and I w
ill often find little cars and other toys in her bouncer or balanced on her head. Luckily Brooklyn is a much better sleeper than Jake was so I have been able to get some rest. She is a very sweet, good little girl and we love her so much! She's got Chris wrapped around her little finger, and has already learned to save her best smiles for him (how come the mom never gets these little victories??). It's a little crazy sometimes as I'm still trying to figure out life with two kids, but we are loving our family of four and feel so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful, healthy children. There really is no greater blessing!
