By Nicole Stephen
LifeAtStart.com reporter
Our life was pretty good with just me, my mom, dad, sister, brother, and dog. My parents did end up getting divorced, life was pretty miserable after this. My mom finally found her boyfriend, Tyler, after about four years and I had never seen her happier. Then after two years of them dating, they told us the most shocking news we’ve ever heard.
My mom was pregnant! I didn’t know what to think. Would I like this baby even though we don’t have the same dad? Will it be a boy or girl? Why does my mom even want another kid when she has three already? I had never felt so many different emotions. At first, I was hesitant about the whole idea of my mom being pregnant. I told my friends at school and I think they were more excited than I was.
My mom’s pregnancy was going by pretty fast and it was very interesting watching the baby grow and my mom get bigger and bigger. I tried helping her with everything and I took good care of her. My whole family thought the baby was going to be a boy, but my friends and I were rooting for a girl. I could not wait to find out! We walked into the doctor’s office, they did an ultrasound, and of course, I was right.
It was a girl! I was ecstatic because I had a little brother and an older sister, but not a little sister. On the other hand, my brother was almost in tears because he was the only boy out of all the kids and he wanted a little brother. Now that we knew it was a girl it was time to figure out a name. My sister and I had a variety of names picked out, but my mom was only set on one and didn’t want to change it. She liked the name Penelope and I hated it! I thought that was a horrible name and tried to do anything to convince my mom not to name her that, but she wasn’t budging.
One day my mom came home from work and told us that she really liked this other name. I didn’t even care what it was, I just didn’t want the baby’s name to be Penelope. She told us she really liked the name Brooklyn and I fell in love. I knew that was the perfect name and everyone agreed. As it got closer and closer to my mom’s due date, I was getting more and more anxious because I couldn’t wait to meet her. It was almost a month after my mom’s due date, and the doctors started to get nervous because she was getting too big so she set up a date to induce her.
It was a very early on October 26, 2016 and we were headed to the hospital to induce my mom. My brother and I decided to go to the hospital, but my stubborn sister didn’t want to miss school. We had been waiting for hours and this baby wasn’t even close. I just wanted to see her already. My mom’s water broke, but nothing happened. As more hours passed, the doctors started to get nervous because the baby was running out of oxygen.
The doctors rushed my brother and I out of the room and I was so scared. They nearly broke my mom’s bed because it was attached to the wall and they couldn’t get the latch undone. They were rushing to get her to an emergency c-section. We were all praying for my mom and the baby to be okay. Shortly after, Tyler walked out with a tiny baby girl in his arms. I immediately fell in love with this human being. He told us my mom was okay and I felt the biggest relief knowing both of them were okay.
Brooklyn ended up being perfectly healthy. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces. It was definitely a change having a new baby, but it was definitely for the better. Brooklyn just turned two years old. I’m so blessed to have her in my life and I can’t wait to make our bond even stronger.