Brooklyn K. Marie's Birth Story
Submitted by BKCRAY16
I was a teen mother—I had my first baby at 15. As such, I knew nothing of childbirth. I had enrolled in classes, but when I attended them, I felt sooo sooo out of place. It was like every other parent was shocked and startled about my age and it just took a toll on me because I really hated being judged.
So on Monday, August 2, 2008, I went to what I thought would be a normal doctor's visit. Well, I left my urine sample and about 20 minutes later my doctor told me that I was going to have go straight upstairs to their birthing center, for they had detected protein in my urine. So I went upstairs and explained to the doctor how nervous and shocked I was. She informed me that my levels were low enough to allow me to go home for the night and take it all in and prepare, get a bag ready and grab the baby bag. On one condition: I was to be on bed rest the entire time and not get up unless I had to potty or was going to the car to leave for the hospital. So of course, I was scared, nervous and worried. I felt bad for going home. I kept thinking, what if my selfishness of wanting to go home for one night causes harm or even a stillborn baby?
Well, on Saturday, August 3, I woke up, left for the hospital and talked to the doctor about how I felt for choosing to leave the day before. She made me feel better when she said that she was glad I did because delivering under stress can make labor complicated. Well, the stay at first was very nice. Then the potassium started on Sunday. They waited till then just so they could be sure that I was a little calmer. About 2 AM Tuesday, my contractions started and boy, did they come on strong! I was hyperventilating. I did not know how to breath properly, and the night nurse was not much help. She didn't try to explain anything, but rather just wanted to put oxygen on me. Oxygen is good except oxygen made it harder for me to breath. I don't understand it, but maybe it was just a one-time thing.
Then I finally got my epidural at 7:00 AM on the dot. That was scary as well. I did not look at the needle because I knew if I saw it, I would black out. I felt the little lightening shock that most moms have reported with it and that was it. It made me finally pass out and get a little bit of sleep. I woke up at 9:18 (I know all the exact times due to my faithful journal where I logged it all when I had time to) and felt like I needed to push or maybe go number two. And this time I had an awesome nurse. She checked me and said, "Oh Lord, don't push! I have to get the doctor—your baby is almost pass crowning!" I told her I didn't think I could wait and she said, "OK, if I have to deliver the baby, I can, but I prefer not to," and pushed the nurses button and told the other nurses to get the doctor quick. After about 20 minutes of pushing, at 9:48 AM, Brooklyn arrived.
Now for the really scary part: When she was born, she did not cry or open her eyes and her skin was a little faint looking. The doctor thought I had a stillborn, when all of a sudden, she let out a catlike meow and nurses quickly started doing their thing on her. After I rested a bit, I went to see her and found out she had to be in an incubator because she had thrown up mucus, would not attach and weighed only 5 pounds. Let me remind you, I did not smoke or drink anything or do anything wrong with her, but I was induced one month early and after they did some testing, they found out I was group B positive and it had caused an infection in her. It was very scary. I was crying the whole time. My fiancé was crying, too, because he thought he was going to lose his baby girl, as did I. She just looked rough, you know, just unhealthy.
Well, she had to have an IV in her head, and for a week we could only touch her through the incubator. If we held her, it was only for five minutes a piece. We stayed in the tree-house thing that was for family members who had someone staying in the hospital. It was a place to sleep and eat so you could be there for your family members. My baby, however, made an amazing recovery on Tuesday, August 12, when she was moved from the incubator to the normal crib. She was eating amazingly, breathing great and made a full recovery. And by Thursday, August 14, she was released and free to come home.
She is now almost 3 and is doing great. She never lacked in learning anything—in fact, she was always advanced for her age. She was walking at 8 months and could answer and carry on conversations by 8 months as well. I was so blessed with her and thank god every day for giving her the strength to pull through.
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So on Monday, August 2, 2008, I went to what I thought would be a normal doctor's visit. Well, I left my urine sample and about 20 minutes later my doctor told me that I was going to have go straight upstairs to their birthing center, for they had detected protein in my urine. So I went upstairs and explained to the doctor how nervous and shocked I was. She informed me that my levels were low enough to allow me to go home for the night and take it all in and prepare, get a bag ready and grab the baby bag. On one condition: I was to be on bed rest the entire time and not get up unless I had to potty or was going to the car to leave for the hospital. So of course, I was scared, nervous and worried. I felt bad for going home. I kept thinking, what if my selfishness of wanting to go home for one night causes harm or even a stillborn baby?
Well, on Saturday, August 3, I woke up, left for the hospital and talked to the doctor about how I felt for choosing to leave the day before. She made me feel better when she said that she was glad I did because delivering under stress can make labor complicated. Well, the stay at first was very nice. Then the potassium started on Sunday. They waited till then just so they could be sure that I was a little calmer. About 2 AM Tuesday, my contractions started and boy, did they come on strong! I was hyperventilating. I did not know how to breath properly, and the night nurse was not much help. She didn't try to explain anything, but rather just wanted to put oxygen on me. Oxygen is good except oxygen made it harder for me to breath. I don't understand it, but maybe it was just a one-time thing.
Then I finally got my epidural at 7:00 AM on the dot. That was scary as well. I did not look at the needle because I knew if I saw it, I would black out. I felt the little lightening shock that most moms have reported with it and that was it. It made me finally pass out and get a little bit of sleep. I woke up at 9:18 (I know all the exact times due to my faithful journal where I logged it all when I had time to) and felt like I needed to push or maybe go number two. And this time I had an awesome nurse. She checked me and said, "Oh Lord, don't push! I have to get the doctor—your baby is almost pass crowning!" I told her I didn't think I could wait and she said, "OK, if I have to deliver the baby, I can, but I prefer not to," and pushed the nurses button and told the other nurses to get the doctor quick. After about 20 minutes of pushing, at 9:48 AM, Brooklyn arrived.
Now for the really scary part: When she was born, she did not cry or open her eyes and her skin was a little faint looking. The doctor thought I had a stillborn, when all of a sudden, she let out a catlike meow and nurses quickly started doing their thing on her. After I rested a bit, I went to see her and found out she had to be in an incubator because she had thrown up mucus, would not attach and weighed only 5 pounds. Let me remind you, I did not smoke or drink anything or do anything wrong with her, but I was induced one month early and after they did some testing, they found out I was group B positive and it had caused an infection in her. It was very scary. I was crying the whole time. My fiancé was crying, too, because he thought he was going to lose his baby girl, as did I. She just looked rough, you know, just unhealthy.
Well, she had to have an IV in her head, and for a week we could only touch her through the incubator. If we held her, it was only for five minutes a piece. We stayed in the tree-house thing that was for family members who had someone staying in the hospital. It was a place to sleep and eat so you could be there for your family members. My baby, however, made an amazing recovery on Tuesday, August 12, when she was moved from the incubator to the normal crib. She was eating amazingly, breathing great and made a full recovery. And by Thursday, August 14, she was released and free to come home.
She is now almost 3 and is doing great. She never lacked in learning anything—in fact, she was always advanced for her age. She was walking at 8 months and could answer and carry on conversations by 8 months as well. I was so blessed with her and thank god every day for giving her the strength to pull through.
Read more birth stories or share YOUR birth story now!
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