She's HERE!!!

BROOKE SLOANE KAHN was born December 23rd, 2011 at 12:47 a.m. She weighted 4lbs 7oz and was 17.5 inches long. She is perfect and Ryan and I are falling more in love everyday!!!

So where to begin with the arrival of this precious little girl?

December 18th:

Ryan and I began to pack our townhouse as we would be moving out on December 27th. We took a short break to go shopping for Hanukkahn gifts and that is where the fun began. I have now learned that my water was slowly leaking.

December 19th:

I woke up and called the doctor due to things just not feeling right. After describing my symptoms to the nurse they told me to drive myself to the hospital.  Well that was not happening as I was already shaking. Lucky for me Ryan got home very quickly and we went straight to Baylor Hospital. I immediately called my parents...which resulted in my mom packing in 5 minutes and getting on the road to Dallas...she was not missing the delivery. When we got to the hospital they were waiting on me in the observation area. They quickly determined I was dilated to 2cm (I had to ask what that meant because I had not gotten that far in my baby books).  I was then sent over to Labor and Delivery where the on call doctor from my OBGYN office had to make the tough decision with me being 32.5 weeks along. In the end they decided to try to delay the labor. I was given Magnesium which was awful. The nurses said I would feel like I had the flu...I described it as someone coming off heavy duty illegal drugs!!!Then came a catheter (I might be an Occupational Therapist but I never knew how uncomfortable these things are...I mean I made people walk with these things in the hospital)! This medicine was to stop Labor and give the doctors time to give me a steroid shot that would help with the babies lung development.

December 20th:

Mom stayed the night with me in the hospital. The medicine lasted 24 hours and then my sweet, sweet OBGYN said NO MORE!!! They then transferred me to the Antepartum floor where I was told I would remain on bed rest until Baby Kahn arrived. They were trying to hold off labor for at least 2 weeks.

December 21st:

After not sleeping at all throughout the night (even making the nurse let me hear the babies's heart rate because I was paranoid) I woke up to the nurse telling me Dr. Hays (my OBGYN) was there and wanted to put me on the monitor. The monitor tracks the babies heart beat and notes when/if I am having contractions.They generally put you on the monitor two times a day.  Dr. Hays talked to me about EVERYTHING during her visit and I felt much better after she left. And about 5 minutes after she left I was told Dr. Magee had arrived for my sonogram. Dr. Magee is my high risk OBYGN I was seeing two times a week. Everything looked good on the sonogram and he determined that my water had partially broken.

I went back to my room feeling a lot more at ease.

December 22nd:

This day started off normal and ended with Brooke. I woke up did some work in bed and even took a shower. I was already tired of hospital food so mom grabbed us some delicious tortilla soup from the Baylor cafeteria. My friend Lisa came to visit and I noticed I was feeling kinda funny but attributed it to an upset stomach. Well I was wrong! I started having little contractions and the nurses tried to give me pain medicine to calm them, however that did not work. They then hooked me up to the monitor and determined I was having strong contractions. When the resident came to check me I was 5cm dilated. I then proceeded back to Labor and Delivery. Dr. Hays arrived very fast and the tough decision began again since I was still 33 weeks. She told me she had to do the magnesium again but this time to help with the babies brain development. She sat with me as it was going in telling me how sorry she was. She also told me this could stop the delivery again or contractions could keep coming. She then decided to leave. About two seconds after she left the nurse noted my painful contractions and signs that I might have an infection. She paged Dr. Hays who came right back to the hospital and they determined I was having the baby. They finally gave me my much needed epidermal and medicine to speed up the delivery. Thank goodness for that epidermal!!! After quite a while it was determined that the baby might be in distress and I might be getting an infection...so Dr. Hays decided on a c-section. It was felt like hours later but in about 30 minutes on 12/23/11 at 12:47 a.m. I heard the soothing sounds of Brooke's cry. Ryan finally got to announce her name and I got to see my precious little girl with her eye wide open staring at her mommy and daddy.

December 23rd:

Brooke was then taken to the NICU and I was taken to recovery. In Recovery my infection set in causing my temp to spike but Ryan and mom helped me through it. Ryan and I then waited patiently to go see our precious new baby. Ryan was a natural when he held her...

The rest of the day was not so fun...but each day got better.

December 24th-December 27th:

Even though I was still feeling the effects of all the medicine the day got better when my dad suprised me. He drove through the night to Dallas. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days following my c-section and each day went to visit Brooke in the NICU. She was talk of the NICU...she was the spoiled one who liked to be held.

Did I mention we sold our house and during all of this had to pack up our house and move? Thank goodness for our families to help us! On Tuesday December 27th while I waited to be discharged from the hospital Ryan and my parents helped with movers to move everything we owned to storage and our new temporary apt (while we look for a house).

Just wanted to acknowledge a few people:

Ryan (for everything), my dad for surprising me and all his help, my mom for sleeping at the hospital, helping me with everything, taking me to the NICU, and being my personal picker upper at home, Mitzi and Rick for offering to help with any and everything, and Lisa for taking care of my and mom's children (dogs) during all the craziness!