The Hazelbush's: Brooklyn Margaret Hazelbush

Our little precious girl finally arrived on March 21, 2012 at 9:52am!!!
She weighed in at 8lb 5oz and 21.5" tall!!
I can not express how much we already love her and are smitten by her!!

This is quite the journey for me because during my whole pregnancy up till the very end I was still undecided on how I felt (or so I thought). I let the fear get the better of me. When she finally came out I started crying because I just knew I loved her all along and was just scared.
My birthing experience was a very positive one. I was scheduled to be induced at 7am on the 21st and I was so nervous about it because my OB was not going to be there and I just did not know what to expect. The only plan was to break my water and then let my body take over. I was very opposed to using pitocin and so I did not want any other interventions unless it became medically necessary. However it did not happen this way at all. I feel so blessed and lucky to go into labor on my own. I woke up around 12:15am and was having a contraction. I decided to get into the shower and see if the warm water would help them keep coming and it did. I was having them every 3 minutes while in the shower and once I was out they went to every 5 minutes. So we got all of our things and headed to the hospital. We called both sets of parents to let them know. We arrived at the hospital around 2:20am. I was dilated to a 4 by this time which was great... also I was able to have my OB Dr. Griffith come to the hospital and break my water. He was scheduled to leave for a conference till the following week at 6 that morning. He was beyond awesome and rescheduled his flight for 11am instead. Once he broke my water we found out that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. Which is not good but it is not a medical emergency either. I was having some really good contractions at this point and was waiting to get an epidural. My parents arrived at the hospital around 3am. My Mom was such a huge help during labor. My poor Dad had sprained his ankle the day before and so we put him in a reclining chair by my bed. I received my epidural around 4:30am which was AMAZING!! By this time I was dilated to a 6 so it was a welcome relief. I originally told myself I wanted to hold off on getting an epidural till I was at least 5 or 6cm dilated, which I did. I was really impressed with myself because you have to hold still in an uncomfortable position for a while and I had some of the stronger of my contractions and I held completely still. I just leaned into Bush and would squeeze his hands while they happened but wouldn't move at all. After it started working I felt the most relaxed I have been in months. I even was able to fall asleep for a little while. My contractions were slowing down though and around 7:30am they started a pitocin drip to help them get stronger. At this point I was ok with this because you are so ready to be done. Dr. Griffith came back to check me around 9:20am and I was almost fully dilated but not quite there. He told me start pushing during the next contraction to see if we could make any progress. Apparently I did and so the pushing began. It was a bit funny because Dr Griffith was getting everything set up and in his gown while Bush was telling me when to push and counting for me. Dr Griffith would just look over while it was happening and kept saying good just keeping doing that. I must have been pushing really well (it is hard to tell with an epidural) because little Brooklyn arrived at 9:52am. Between contractions I asked the Dr how long this part normally takes and he said on average an hour. I must have really wanted him to deliver because he had to leave at 10am to catch his flight. He literally ran out of the room and hospital at 10:15am. You hear horror stories about labor and birth but mine was not at all like that. I was so pleased because everything I wanted to happen (with a few exceptions) was able to happen. Now we are just enjoying out little girl and can't get enough of her!!

Daddy and Brooklyn