Welcome Reese Margaret Burns

It was 3 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012, and I am 4 days past my due date.  I began pacing the upstairs halls, trying to decide if this was what "true contractions" felt like.  These contractions felt different than the annoying Braxton Hicks I had been having, but it still didn't seem real.  It is now 5 am, I am in the shower, and these contractions are now 3-5 minutes apart.  Am I freaking out?  To my amazement: No!  Have I even bothered to wake Tyler? No! It's about 530 am, and Tyler walks in to the bathroom, baffled to see that I am in the shower!  I fill him in on what has been happening the last 2 hours; and we decide we should probably call my OBGYN!  I call and am told to come into the hospital to be checked and hooked up to the monitor.  Tyler is now in the shower, and I am finishing up packing, feeding our dog Bear and cat Elliot, and just taking my time.  Still not having any anxiety. 

It is now about 6 am, and we are en-route to the hospital, but we first swung through McDonald's because I wasn't about to enter the hospital with the possibility of getting admitted without having a full stomach.  Because once you're admitted all you can have is ICE CHIPS.  Not a good combination when you're 40+ weeks pregnant.  We arrive at the hospital and they hook me up to the monitor.  I am one whopping centimeter dilated and 80% effaced, and I can tell that these contractions aren't coming as frequently.  We are in the observation area til about 930 am, when the nurse comes in and says that the doctor thinks the best thing to do is go home, and see if I progress there. There is no sense in admitting me when I wasn't progressing very fast.  So back home we went.  Thankfully Tyler was able to work from home that day, because little did we know the afternoon would be one of the worst afternoons ever.

It was about two hours after we got home that the contractions started getting worse and worse.  To put it into perspective, it's like having the feeling that you have to poop really bad, but you just can't, and your abdomen keeps cramping and cramping.  However, I was told to wait til the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart.  Now this concept is very perplexing to me because there were times that they were 2-3 mins apart then they would be 7 mins then 5.  Very aggravating!  At one point throughout this horrible and brutal afternoon, I ended up cursing Eve for contributing to the Fall of Man, thus aiding in the horrendous pain I was experiencing. As you can tell I was not in a right state of mind :-).  It was about 4 pm that Tyler thought I had suffered enough, and said I should call the doctor again.  This I did, and was told to again come back to the hospital; needless to say this trip did not consist of McDonald's stops. 

We arrived at the hospital, and as I was walking up to the elevator with Tyler, I felt a "POP" then "WET"  My water had broke.  They hooked me up to the monitors, and found that I was now 3-4 centimeters and was contracting more frequently.  I could now be admitted to get this baby out!!  Within an hour of getting into my room, I was able to have an epidural; which was the best thing EVER!!  I have no idea how anyone can go through labor without pain intervention. My hat goes off to you all who have!!  But not this momma.

I labored pain free all night, and at 4 am Friday morning, I was finally 10 cm and ready to start pushing.  To make a long grueling story short.  I pushed for 3.5 hours, had a horrendous breakdown that resulted in tears, curse words, and begging to either be killed or be taken to have a C-Section! These incoherent acts was due to extreme fatigue and the pain part of my epidural wearing off.  The nurses called in the Anesthesiologist and was redosed with medication; which was complete heaven once it took affect, and I was able to regain focus on the job ahead.

Our beautiful Baby Girl, Reese was finally born at 8:32 am on July 20, 2012.  She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. and was 19 1/4 inches long. When she was came out it was the most surreal, beautiful moment that Tyler and I had ever experienced.  It is amazing that this little life grew inside of me for 9 months. She was and is perfect in every way.