On September 1, 2004, I went on my very
first date with a guy named Michael Westbrook. When he dropped me off at
my apartment after our date that night, I walked in and closed the door...and I
knew without a doubt he was the one I would fall in love with and marry.
And I was right ;) We got married
less than a year later on June 17, 2005...and just a couple of months later
found out we were going to have our first baby!
Gracelyn Alisa
Westbrook was born on May 24, 2006. We didn't find out what if we were
having a boy or a girl...we wanted to wait until the moment she got here to
know what our child would be. The very first time I laid eyes on her, I
fell head over heels in love. She was just perfect. Our perfect
little girl. And the night before Gracelyn's first birthday party, we
found out....
We were going to have
another baby! Once again, we wanted the gender to be a surprise and on
January 13, 2008, was the first time I wrapped my arms around our precious baby
boy. I was now in love for the third time with a beautiful, perfect
little boy we named James Ayden Westbrook.
Then on Tuesday, July
17, 2012...my world got even better. I went in to the hospital on Monday
night to be induced the next morning.
Michael and I dropped Gracelyn and Ayden off with my parents then went
on to Hattiesburg. We ate supper at
Chili’s, which I had been craving for weeks!
Unfortunately I was so miserable I could barely enjoy it. By the last few weeks of my pregnancy, I had
so many aches and pains in my whole body that I could barely walk. It was pure misery! I was actually looking
forward to going in the hospital so I could do nothing but lay there in a
bed! We drove to the hospital after
supper and was admitted to a room. As
soon as I was settled in bed, they hooked me up to the IV and began giving me a
penicillin drip. I had tested positive
for Group B Strep, so I had to be given antibiotics all the way through labor
so the infection wouldn’t pass through to the baby. They also gave me some pills to take to begin
thinning out my cervix and some Ambien to help me sleep. The Ambien definitely didn’t help, though,
because I slept maybe 30 minutes the whole night. I began having contractions around 2:30 a.m. I
had dilated 4 cm at that time. With
every contraction, I was so worried that my epidural would not work because it
never worked with Ayden. They gave me my
epidural around 8 a.m. Thank the Lord it
worked perfectly this time!! I couldn’t
feel anything below my waist, and I was quite happy about that! The nurses literally had to pick up my legs
and move them for me! I can’t remember
what time it was when I began pushing, but I felt absolutely no pain whatsoever. We heard Braysen Michael Westbrook’s first
cries at 12:37 p.m. The nurse laid him
on my chest, and knew right then I had fallen in love all over again. I was so overcome with emotion…I just couldn’t stop
crying. I looked up at Michael and
noticed he couldn’t either J I
looked at Braysen’s precious and perfect face.
He was sticking out his little tongue.
I could’ve held him right there forever.
I never wanted to let go. He was absolutely perfect. I had been dreaming of this moment...of holding him in my arms and memorizing everything about him for nine months. The moment was perfect.
My
parents brought Gracelyn and Ayden in to see their new little brother for the
first time. The first thing Ayden did
was pull a little toy car out of his pocket and said, “Hey, Braysen, I’ve been
waiting to show this to you.” It was
precious. Gracelyn just stared at
Braysen. She didn’t know what to think
or how to react. She almost acted scared at first! They each got to hold
him for a few minutes.
Immediately after I had him, I got a horrible headache…the worst one I’ve
ever had. It would not let up, so the
nurse finally gave me a caffeine drip. I
had never heard of that in my life, and unfortunately it didn’t help. I had to lay flat on my back for the rest of
the night and the whole next day. That
was the only way the pain would go away.
But, of course it didn’t matter that I was flat on my back because I had
a sweet little boy right by my side the whole time…and Michael was there, too J
We got to go home on Thursday…and we
almost went crazy sitting in that hospital room before we got to leave! Michael was so bored he started dancing
around the room like a ballerina. It was
hilarious. I even got it on video tape
to prove it ;) By Thursday my headache
had let up, but it started hurting again really bad that night when we got
home. The Friday, the pain was almost
unbearable. We had to go back to
Hattiesburg that Friday to get Braysen’s bilirubin levels checked, so on the
way up there I called the doctor’s office and told them about my headache. They said I most likely needed to get a blood
patch because somehow when I got the epidural the needle made a hole somewhere
around my spine and was causing a leakage which caused the headache. So after taking Braysen’s to get his levels
checked, we went to another doctor’s office and I had the blood patch
done. As much as I hate needles, I sure
had a lot stuck in me that week! They
had to take blood from an IV in my hand and shoot it into my back to patch up
the hole. It didn’t hurt too bad, but it
wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life either! It did take care of the headache, though, and
so I was very thankful for that!
I know that my hormones are all over the place right
now, but every time I think about my babies growing up, I start crying because
it just breaks my heart. Every day they get another day older...it's
another day that just passes by and before I know it, they will all be too old
to hold in my arms and rock, too old for me to kiss over and over and over
because it becomes addictive...without them getting mad or embarrassed.
I wish that I could just freeze time right this very second, too old for
me to snuggle with, too old to crawl in our bed and crawl their way in the
space between me and Michael.
I just love the ages
they are right now. Gracelyn is six and is just like my little best
friend. We can carry on real conversations and laugh with each other, and
at the same time, she is still my silly little six-year-old. She is
loving being a big sister. She didn't know how to act when Braysen was first
born. She kind of acted scared and in shock, but now all she wants to do
is sit and hold him and help take care of him. Gracelyn is definitely
taking advantage of her summer. She absolutely loves staying in her pj's
all day, laying on the couch, and watching TV!
Ayden is four and has
the sweetest personality in the world. Now, of course, sometimes his
"other" personality comes out, and he isn't as sweet, LOL, but most
of the time he is so loving and giving and caring. He says he wants to be a
bush hogger when he grows up. LOL!! What a dream! ha!! This morning
he pushed the coffee table off of the rug in the living room and started
pushing his tractor back and forth. I asked him what he was doing, and he
said, "I'm bush hogging the rug! Don't you see how tall the grass
is?!" It was so funny.
I am so incredibly blessed, and I take that for granted way too often. I could not ask for sweeter, more precious, more beautiful children. And all those years I spent dreaming of the man I would marry, my dreams never even came close to how perfect Michael is for me.
I am so incredibly blessed, and I take that for granted way too often. I could not ask for sweeter, more precious, more beautiful children. And all those years I spent dreaming of the man I would marry, my dreams never even came close to how perfect Michael is for me.
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