Brooke Rebecca Harris was born at 10:08 AM on February 18, 2019! She was born at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches! We are now a family of 4 and we are all so I love with our precious new addition!
Here is her birth story:
I was scheduled to be induced at 8 AM on 2/18 which was 39 weeks and 2 days. BUT Brooke had other plans! Around midnight on 2/18 I began having contractions every 10-15 minutes. I had these contractions all night long. They were frequent enough to allow no sleep but not frequent enough to head to the hospital. Cliff woke up around 2:30/3:00 AM. We let him sit in his bed awake for a while but around 4:00 Alden went into his room to try and get him back down. It was at this point I was able to sleep for an hour and half. At 5:30 I woke up with intense contractions that were 6-7 minutes apart. I called the doctor and he said to go ahead and head in! It was finallygo time so we called all the grandparents. My family got on the road from Houston and Alden’s mom came to our house to watch Cliff.
We gathered our bags and I attempted to get ready but was only able to do my hair. I decided to save make up for the hospital. Cliff woke up early and we got to give him one last hug and kiss and then told him we were going to the hospital, mommy was going to “pop out baby Brooke” and Dr Harris would “catch her”. These are all things we had been talking about with him for weeks.
Once we got to the hospital I was having contractions about 3 minutes apart and they were picking up in intensity. I got admitted, checked in and hooked up to my iv. I was expecting a very low key labor process because that’s how things were with Cliff. But Brooke’s labor was VERY different.
Once I was hooked up to my IV a resident came in to check my cervix and I was dilated to a 5. They said this would be a good place to start. Soon after, Dr. Harris came in to check on me. He put in my order for pitocin to keep things moving along and once the pitocin was going the contractions REALLY picked up. The nurse said it usually takes 15 minutes to fully begin working so I decided now was a good time to use the restroom. I got out of bed, rolled my iv poll with me, sat down on the potty and bam…contraction and bloody show. It was at this point my brother in law came in to say hi. As soon as I got back in the bed I began having, what I call, tv contractions. The pain was so intense and they were 1.5-2 minutes apart. The nurse called for the epidural and in the meantime I continued having the most excruciating contractions. Alden and the nurse told me to breath but breathing hardly seemed possible. The epidural was placed in the middle of two contractions but I ended up having a contraction as they were finishing up. That was frightening because I didn’t want to mess anything up! While the epidural was kicking in I felt the urge to push and told my nurse I was feeling a ton of pressure.
Minutes later a resident came in again to check my cervix and his exact word were, “Well, I don’t feel a cervix.” I don’t know why but I thought this was so funny! 🤣
So, they called Dr. Harris back and got the room ready for delivery. When Dr. Harris and the resident came in they got my legs up ready for delivery and had me do a “practice” push. No practicing was happening though…Brooke’s head began to come out. They told me to stop pushing so they could get their scrubs on and everything set. At the next contraction they had me push one more time, I felt the pressure in my tummy release and Brooke was here!! She came out crying and sneezing! They put her on my chest and I finally got to meet my daughter. My heart doubled in that moment! 
We had a brief scare with Brooke as her lungs still had a good amount of fluid in them since she didn’t spend much time in the birth canal. They took her over to the warmer and tried to use the bulb only but ended up having to suction out her lungs. All of this happened while I was delivering the placenta and getting stitched up so Alden went to monitor Brooke. My mama heart went into panic mode but my sweet doctor reassured me she was ok and talked me through each step of what they were doing to my baby girl and how she was responding. 
Once I got her back in my arms I held on tight!!! She came back to mama and latched almost immediately! Such a praise! We spent the next hour feeding and admiring the miracle we have been trusted by God with. I said it with Cliff and I will say it again…giving birth is the closest we will ever get to heaven until we get there!
Here are some other pictures from Brooke’s birthday! 
