Saturday, February 3, 2018

Reese's Birth Story..

Reese’s Birth Story

 Just a fair warning..this is long and probably more than what any of you want to know but I love reading people's birth stories and want it documented because maybe someday I'll care to "relive" it.

 Where to start..

  “Have you been having any contractions?” A question I was asked multiple times. My response?? “Umm..I don’t know.” 

 I believe it was at my 36 week check up, my doctor checked me and said I was 1cm dilated! Imagine my excitement and nervousness at the thought that things were already getting started! Then imagine my disappointment when at my 37, 38, and 39 week checks I was still only 1cm :| 

 November 14th..the day we had been talking about and planning for for months..was here. I woke up that morning and started getting ready as I had my 40 week check up at 10:15. As I was getting ready I thought I had a couple contractions but wasn’t positive that’s what they were. I left and picked my mom up on the way, she insisted I not go by myself.

 We got to the office and they quickly called me back. I anxiously waited for the doctor to come in..this was it..today was the day..had anything changed? Was something going to happen? Were we still days away from meeting Little Bear? The doctor finally came in and I was surprised, excited, nervous when she told me I was 3 cm and 70% effaced! She then stripped my membranes and said if mom and I did some shopping and I started to feel more contractions I could come back in and she would check to see if anything had changed.

 We left and started running our errands. I started feeling more and more contractions as time passed. At this point the last thing I wanted to be doing was walking around shopping! All I wanted was to curl up on the couch


But knowing that it would probably slow things down and with David encouraging me to keep moving, I did just that.

Let's just say at this point I was kinda freaking out! I mean what it today was the day! You know you kinda get used to being pregnant but actually having the baby, being a mom..I mean wow!

Anyway..My contractions were averaging every 7-8 minutes.



I decided to go back to the office before heading home.

It was about 4pm when she checked me and said nothing had changed :(

I headed home. David got home around 5:30-6. 

As the evening went on the contractions got closer together and more intense. At David’s suggestion we did some slow dancing they recommended in birthing class - David was determined to keep me on my feet so as not to slow things down. 

By 9 I was averaging every 4.5 minutes but only a couple of them lasted a full minute, most of them were 35-50 seconds. We weren’t sure what to do so we called a good friend, Melinda, who used to be a labor and delivery nurse, and asked what she thought we should do. She said we should head up. 

David franticlly quickly packed the last of our things into the car and we left. 

Thankfully we made it to Dupont without me giving birth in the car - see Dad, we made it :) 

It was about 10:30 when we got to the hospital. Sure enough it was the real thing. I was 5 almost 6 cm and 100% effaced!

They got us checked in and to a room. This is were I get kinda fuzzy on the details. 

We told the nurse I didn’t want an epidural but if I changed my mind David would let them know. Shortly after we got “settled” I had to go to the bathroom and we figured since I’m up I might as well try some of the things the recommended in class. We tried a hot shower and then the birthing ball neither of which seemed to offer much relief. Things were getting pretty intense at this point. David was beside himself, not knowing how to help me. 

I think it was around 2-2:30 when the nurse checked me and I was only at 7cm. A short while later the on call doctor came in and started to tell us that we should get an epidural. She said that since things weren’t moving along very fast she was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough energy to push when the time came. 

Now at this point we had only been at the hospital for about 3 hrs and this was my first baby. Correct me if I’m wrong but women have been giving birth since the beginning of time without epidurals and it seems that they were able to push when it was time! Let’s just say I was not happy with this doctor. Anyway..

David told her no, more than once, and that it wasn’t what I wanted. She then asked if we wanted her to break my water. We said no to that too. She finally left the room and then the nurse started to apologize saying she didn’t know the doctor was going to try pushing an epidural on us. 

After they left the room we talked and decided to try the nitrous oxide aka laughing gas. I think it was around 3 am when they got me hooked up. It was a game changer! 

For those of you who haven’t heard of using this during labor the way it was described to us was with an epidural you don’t feel the pain, with laughing gas you feel the pain you just don’t care. This did seem true to an extent. I definitely felt the pain while I was having the contraction but as soon as it was over I was so completely relaxed that I didn’t care what had just happened. 

Not much time passed and my water broke. I remember later apologizing multiple times to the nurse because my water broke all over her 😳 

Now while the gas totally helped with the pain it also caused some problems. See it put me out of it enough that apparently I started pushing but didn’t realize it. David called the nurse in and when she checked she said my cervix was still in the way and every time I pushed the baby’s head was pushing against it causing it to swell. Another nurse was called in to try to get baby’s head around the cervix. Said nurse was yelling at me not to push (have you ever tried not doing something you didn’t know you were doing to begin with?!) I was finally able to not push and they got his head around. I was later told if I had pushed one more time I would have ended up with a c-section. 

I started pushing about then I believe. After about 30-45min the doctor tried talking David into agreeing to an epiziotomie. At some point David and I had had a random conversation that someone told me that you heal better if you tear naturally. So David told the doctor no..more than once “He’ll be out on the next push if we do it.” she said. David told her we would wait a little bit. And guess what..

HE WAS OUT ON THE NEXT PUSH!!!!!!

Little Bear is finally here!!!!


Praising God for our sweet, healthy, Reese Danial!! Born this morning at 4:06, weighing 7lbs 7oz and 19in long! Sooo thankful and soooooo in love♡♡♡♡ #littlebearishere #mylittlereesiepiece