Brooke Lauren Pyron
November 9, 2009
11:29am
7lbs 13oz 19 3/4 in.
I know that probably every mom feels this way, but, how can it be possible that God chose me to be the Mommy to the sweetest little angel girl, our little Brooke Lauren. Just over a year ago we were happily living out our lives with our sweet Will, not even realizing what was missing. We didn't know then how dramatically, wonderfully, and beautifully our lives were about to be changed in the coming November. In March 2009, March 11th to be exact (which just so happens to be Jarod's birthday) I felt the strong need to get a pregnancy test. Even though we weren't planning another little one, I had the STRONG suspicion that one was on the way. Jarod and I had talked and decided we wanted to wait a little longer. This is a perfect example of why it is laughable to try and plan out our own lives without consulting God. God had other plans, and the test was indeed positive. I was TERRIFIED. Strange enough, I was not scared this time about losing the baby. God had given me this unbelievable peace about that part, I understood that this was meant to be by God regardless of the outcome. No, I was terrified that Jarod might be upset, mainly because I know how much pressure he feels to provide for his family. I nervously went to the store and found a very fitting gift bag that said "With God all things are possible" and put the positive test along with a note that simply said "I Love You" in a box and then into to gift bag, and added the bag to his birthday presents. When he got home from work, we did the traditional birthday things- had his favorite dinner, ate a birthday cake I made, and then began opening presents. I made sure the fate-filled bag was to be opened last. When he got to that bag I said "READ THE FRONT...MEMORIZE THE FRONT! ;)". My eyes welled up as I nervously waited for him to understand. To my joy, he started to cry and just held me...he was sooooo happy! *Phew* Now the LOOONNG wait to meet our little one began. We decided to wait till Easter to tell the family we were expecting, mainly to spare them the hurt if this pregnancy ended in another miscarriage. I was totally at peace, thanks to precious Jesus, I knew no matter what that it was God's plan and He would see us through. Easter Sunday came and I was approximately 10 weeks, and an early sono showed our little peanut looked healthy and was growing well. The doctor was convinced I had my dates wrong because "it just couldn't be". Well, we knew that God is not bound by our science, or our realms of knowledge. The baby was measuring about 12 days ahead. I got Easter eggs for each member of my family and tucked a little note inside that said " For Easter : A Thanksgiving gift to be delivered to you on or around November 19, 2009. " Our little Thanksgiving gift was on the way. What a reason to give thanks!! It took a minute for the meaning of the note to sink in, then the Easter table errupted in cheers and laughter amid many tears! As the months passed, this pregnancy proved much easier emotionally, but somewhat more difficult physically. I was SICK, from very early on till well into the fifth month when I finally got a little relief, only to have it return around month 7. Around the 20th week, we got to go to our sono to find out the gender (no, I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to this time either!) I really felt like it was a girl, but had convinced myself it was another boy. My Mom and Grams came with Jarod, Will, and of course me. The sono tech started looked at all the important things (heart, lungs, brain) and taking measurements first. After what seemed like forever, she looked and said well "It definately looks like a female!" That was it!! The tears started flowing and in that moment I realized how joyfully my heart had been wishing for a little girl to share this life with. I bawled the remainder of the sonogram to the point that I had to ask Jarod for details later on. We were in shock! There had not been a girl in Jarod's family for 48 years, and no girls in mine for 15 years. How very like our God to bless us with this child we were not expecting and to make her what we were not expecting. Immediately Jarod said, her name is gonna be Brooke Lauren, and so it was. The next few months passed in a blure of excited pink frenzy! I discovered that it is very nearly impossible to pass up the endless racks of pink, ruffly cuteness that is in every store! Everyone around us was excited to finally have an excuse to head towards the girl section of the baby stores. We asked Will throughout the early part of the pregnancy whether he wanted a brother or a sister to which he proudly exclaimed "Sisser!!" God is so GOOD!! As Fall neared I was starting to feel like this little girl wasn't going to wait all the way to November 19th. Jarod had guessed Will's birthday exactly right and his guess for this baby was November 9th. On October 27th I had a doctor appt and the doctor said I was 3 cm dialated and around 50% effaced!! Oh my goodness!! We started to wonder at that point if I would make it out of October before she came. This time around it seemed so much harder to wait for her, mainly I think because we truly understood what we would get at the end of it all. My mom vehemently DID NOT want her to be born on Halloween! :) When November 1st came, I was READY! I spent the next 8 days walking laps up and down the hill in our neighborhood in an attempt to move things along. On Sunday November 8th, Jarod and I disappointedly were going to bed, not happy to be facing another Monday. I was TERRIFIED that I would go into labor while Jarod was stuck in rush hour to or from work and he would not make it to the hospital in time. Monday morning I woke up and just felt "weird". It was around 5:30am. I put Jarod on red alert at 6ish. He called his boss and said he may be in late, or we may be headed to the hospital. I went out to walk the neighborhood and see if I could either get things going, or if it would pass. At 7am the first true HARD contraction hit. We called my mom to come get Will and take him to the babysitter. By 7:30 the contractions were coming hard and fast, about 2-3 min apart and lasting 1.5 min long. We knew we needed to hurry. Can I just say you have not truly hated morning rush hour until you have driven through it in full labor. It took us an hour to get to the hospital!! When they checked me there, I was 7.5 cm dialated. They started my IV and ordered a epidural right away to try and slow down the labor so they could get antibiotics in me to treat the Strep B I tested positive for. Ohhhhhhh...once again...bless that epidural man! After learning what it feels like to be a pincushion (first nurse could not get epidural in and poked me like 7 times) in walked the epidural King! He took maybe two minutes, and 1 poke and I was ONE HAPPY PREGGO LADY! By 11am I was ready to push. My mom had been in the room with me while Jarod stepped out to let the rest of family know the latest update. They told him to hurry back, it was time. My mom got to stay in the room and 29 min later at 11:29am on November 19, 2009 our little angel made her entrance. Jarod guessed the day right yet again!! I wish there were words to describe how it felt to hold her the first time. I will never forget when they lay her on my chest immediately after Jarod cut the cord and she reached out and grabbed hold of my finger with deliberate force. In that single moment she grabbed hold of my heart so completely I will never be the same. I cannot imagine life without this angel among us. Our hearts, and lives will never be the same as they were before this beautiful, suprise blessing from our most gracious God.
