Birth Story

Monday April 30^th was my first day off of work. At our 39 week appointment with Dr. Littrell that day she told me that my cervix was still high up, and guessed I wouldn’t deliver until the following week. That night I had some odd contractions that were very painful but they eventually dissipated. Dillon and I both were fairly convinced that our doctors estimation was correct, and began telling family and friends that Reese would likely go past her due date of May 5^th.

I woke up on the morning of Wednesday May 2^nd having mild contractions. Dillon went to his dentist appointment and I got ready for the day and went off to have lunch with my cousin Holly. The contractions weren’t strong enough to bother me, and they were sporadic- coming every 45 minutes to hour and a half. I talked on the phone to my parents a couple of times during the day and my mom made the decision to drive up just so she could be in town to help out, even though we told her we didn’t think this was the real labor.

My mom arrived in town around 7 pm. We decided to go out to eat at Flying Fish by our house. On the way, or shortly after arriving, my contractions really picked up. We had been using the contraction app all day, and Dillon continued to monitor the length and duration during our dinner. He started to get anxious when we observed that they were about 5 minutes apart and lasting near 1 minute. We quickly scarfed down our food (my last meal was spicy shrimp tacos) and went back to the house to decide what to do.

We weren’t at the house very long before both Dillon and my mom said we needed to head to the hospital. I didn’t need much convincing, as my pain level was increasing quite a bit. The drive to the hospital was exciting. There wasn’t any traffic and the sparkling Dallas skyline grew larger and larger as we headed downtown on Central Expressway towards Baylor hospital. Once there, my nurse Lauren checked me at about 9pm and said I was only 3 cm dilated- which came as a shock to me since the pain was pretty bad at that point. She advised me to walk around for an hour to see if I could progress a little more. So I changed into my gown and we walked around the labor floor- a fun surprise was when Justin arrived and walked around with us. An hour later I was 4cm and the doctor on call said to go ahead and admit me.

I called my mom to let her know (she was back at our house dog sitting), and told her she could come to the hospital if she wanted. She told us that Penny had been acting freaky that night like she knew something was wrong. My mom popped in a couple of times during the night and ended up sleeping in her car! My dad and Katie left Midland around 11 pm and drove through the night to Dallas.

I labored a few more hours and then we decided to call in the anesthetist.  I had asked my mom to have her CBS group pray that I would be able to receive the epidural and asked her to pray again that night. (Because of my back surgery there was a big question mark as to whether or not they would be able to find my epidural space). We had heard from our nurse that the anesthetist had full confidence that he would be able to successfully place the epidural, but we were still nervous. He was in fact, very gifted! Within 10 minutes or so, I felt the relief of the epidural. We were so fortunate to have such a gifted anesthesiologist!

That morning, May 3^rd, I was feeling great. I woke up after getting about 4 hours of sleep (to my delight!), and my family all arrived. I went on and on about how great the epidural was and how easy things were going so far. Dr Payne showed up (Thursdays are Dr Littrells day off) and said I should be able to start pushing at noon. I asked Dillon to send out texts to our close friends to alert them.

This is where the story gets a little fuzzy. Between 10 and 11 am, I started feeling my contractions. It was also about this time that my nurse informed me that I had only progressed to a 5 or 6. I requested more epidural juice which helped for a short period of time before wearing off again. I started to get very quiet as my pain increased and my family came in and out of the room very concerned. The time period between 11 am and 5 pm were filled with 3 bouts of vomiting, lots of requesting stronger medicine, and lots of pain. I am not entirely sure what happened, but it seemed that the epidural was not effective in the area that I was having contractions, but my legs were still numb so I couldn’t move at all which actually made the situation much more uncomfortable. Dillon was so sweet and helpful during these hours- as he just sat with me quietly and encouraged me as needed.

Finally, close to 5 pm, I was given the go-ahead to start pushing. My nurse Susie was awesome. She was very take charge and confident. She told Dillon to hold one leg and she held the other as she gave instructions. I did not feel any pain! I had been terrified to push because I thought that my epidural had worn off, but it worked below the contractions. At 5:29, between contractions and without me even pushing, Reese’s head popped out and with one big push she was all the way out! They laid her on my stomach and I remember looking at Dillon and we were both in awe. I was extremely exhausted but I remember feeling euphoric that the labor was over and my baby was finally here! 

Since leaving the hospital, my mom stayed with us for about 2 weeks and was a HUGE blessing. She cooked, cleaned, played night nurse and was an overall encouragement. Forever thankful for my sweet Mama!!! We were able to adjust slowly to the huge shift that a baby brings to life. Reese is a great eater, and gets up every 3 hours in the night to feed and generally goes back to sleep well. She is the sweetest baby! We are so blessed that she is ours to care for!!!