Baby Brighton Belle has Arrived!

We have a baby in the house!  Introducing Miss Brighton Belle!  

Born Feb. 2nd, 3:02 am at 9 lb. 2 oz and 20.5"!  We are just so relieved that everything regarding the birth happened the way it did, because it could have gone so wrong!  

We've gotten over 50 inches of snow dumped on Boston this week, and it has really been crazy with the treacherous roads, driving bans, and subways shutting down.  Just keeping our car unshoveled and accessible has been a full time job for Jason.  The first biggest storm hit last week, and knowing there would be absolutely no way we'd be able to make to the hospital without an ambulance and a monster plow in front of us, I made sure to sit down with every contraction and took several naps to make sure this girl didn't get delivered at home!

Last Sunday, contractions started coming every 15 minutes throughout the entire three hours of church, and even though they weren't painful yet, I was sure this was the beginning of the end.  They continued throughout the evening, but stopped completely by 11pm so I went to bed.  Two hours later, I woke up, definitely in labor with strong contractions every two minutes.  We called Marc & Diana to see if someone could come over to stay with the boys, but soon scratched that idea and just put everyone in the car and sped to the hospital.  I made Jason run a red and drive well over the speed limit, and for good reason.  

(Brighton was born on Jason's half birthday!)

We pulled up, I ran in to MGH and said, "I'm definitely in labor, I need a wheelchair, take me up to Labor & Delivery" while Jason handed the car + sleeping boys to Diana (bless her heart!!) who drove them home and put them back to bed.  Jason met me in triage where I could barely do anything but scream at this point.  I was dilated to an 8, and my water broke as soon as they started wheeling me to a room.  So cool!  I knew I was in for it on the pain factor after that.  

In the delivery room, I demanded that epidural, but they said I could probably have her in about 5 minutes if I wanted to hold out.  Absolutely not, give it to me.  SO MUCH PAIN!  I really felt like a diva but I couldn't stand it.  They said I was nearly fully dilated, but I decided that if I could avoid having to push unmedicated, I'd do anything, so they gave me a spinal which offered immediate numbness and I could only express, "Oh, I am SO happy!"  It took about four contractions with Jason at my side to get this little girl out (without any tearing!!), and everything was right in the world again.

I wasn't extremely surprised when she came out to be 9 lbs. 2 oz. on the scale!  I had been telling my doctor for weeks and weeks that I will have a monster child if I have to go full term!  I begged for an early induction nearly every chance I got, but no dice.  I felt like Maurice in Beauty in the Beast, who cries out in the middle of the blizzard, "Will no one help me!?!"  Everything turned out fine, obviously, and the second monster blizzard started probably the minute she was born.  All schools closed, subways shut down, cars disappeared, but we were safe in our cozy hospital room!  What a blessing!!  Even the next day when Jason tried to come visit us, he was stuck in 2 1/2 hours of absolute gridlock around the hospital.  Not even the ambulances could move, which again, goes to show that had I got into labor on quite a few of the other days this week, Brighton's birth story would have been frightfully different.

THANK YOU to all our family who have been praying for us and our safety this week and thank you a million times over to Diana for taking care of the boys!!!

Brightly is a peach, and I can't get over how happy I am to have a little girl in my arms.  From what I can tell over the last few days, she can be a little bossy and has a scream as shrill as a siren, but she can sleep for hours and hours straight at night and just loves to be held.  What fun we will have!!  Welcome to life as a family of 5!