Madigan Reese’s Birth Story

I had my 39 week check up scheduled for Thursday, June 13 at 11:30.  My last day of work was the Wednesday before, Doug was finished working at the hospital except for doing some out processing things, my Mom was in town for the long haul, and Ellen was on her way out from Atlanta for Doug’s residency graduation.  The stage was set for everyone to be here and the little princess could make her arrival. 

I decided that at this doctors appointment if they informed me that I had a favorable cervix that I would have them strip/sweep my membrane.  When they strip the membrane the doctor goes up into my cervix and separates the amniotic sac from the uterus.  I have heard mixed reviews about having this done.  For some people it works to start labor and for others it is just a painful 2 minutes that does nothing.  After the doc checked my cervix and said that I was dilated 3cm and 50 effaced I decided to go ahead and let her do the sweeping.  It was a painful 30 to 45 seconds, but the pain went away as soon as she was finished.  I sat up on the table and she told me that contractions should start soon and when to come back to the hospital.  She wanted me to get dressed and she would be back in the room shortly.  When I sat up on the table I noticed that I felt really wet where I was sitting, but wasn’t sure if it was normal.  I showed Doug what I was sitting in and he said that he thought my water just broke!  The OB returned and we showed her the table and she confirmed what Doug had suspected.  She told us to go and get something to eat and then we should go and be admitted to Labor and Delivery.

We headed across the street from the hospital to get a quick bite to eat and then headed back to L&D.  We were admitted and placed on the monitors.  I was starting to have a few contractions so we decided to hold off on the potocin and wait and see what my body could do on it’s own.  Doug had to run back to the house to drop Wrecks off and pick up a few things, so I didn’t want anything to begin without him.  The contractions were starting to pick up some and beginning to feel like bad period cramps instead of just an uncomfortable feeling.  They were about 2-3 minutes apart.  The doctor didn’t want to continue to check my cervix because since my water was already broken I was at a higher risk of infection, so I have no idea how dilated I was at this point.  Doug made it back to the hospital and we decided to start the potocin around 6 o’clock.  I knew that I wanted an epidural, but was super nervous about the actual injection.  The anesthesiologist came by and told me that they could do the initial injection and not start the meds until I needed them.  This way I wouldn’t be trying to time the injection in between contractions.  This was awesome!  I had the epidural placed and it didn’t hurt at all!  Once my contractions became closer together I decided to go ahead and get the epidural meds started.  After this happened my legs went a little limp and all the pain went away.  I was never in much pain to begin with, but I am so glad that  I got the epidural.  It made my labor seem like a breeze!  Doug’s mom, Ellen arrived at the hospital around 8pm so the whole gang was ready and waiting on Madigan! 

The doctor returned to the room around 10 to check my progress.  I had dilated to a 6 and was 90% effaced.  She told me to try and nap if I could and she would be back in a couple of hours.  I knew that I would only be able to nap if everyone left the room.  Everyone left to go and get something to eat.  I attempted to go to sleep, hoping to get some energy for all the pushing that was ahead of me.  About ten minutes after everyone had left I started feeling a lot of pressure and felt like I should push.  Since I am a first time mom, I wasn’t quite sure if the feeling I was feeling was my body telling me to push or if this is what getting closer and closer to go time feels like.  The nurse kept coming in every five minutes asking me if I still feel the pressure and if it goes away.  The pressure would come with the contractions and then go away when they were done.  She didn’t seemed concerned, so I was just continuing on the ride.  I called Doug a couple of times and he didn’t answer his phone.  I was so afraid that they weren’t going to make it back and I was the one that encouraged everyone to go and get something to eat.  I finally got a hold of my mom and she said they were in the elevator.  I was so relieved when Doug walked into the door.  I just wanted him there to hold my hand.  The doctor came in right after him to check me.  Doug says that she said that I was fully dilated, but all I heard her talking about was pushing.  I didn’t think that I was ready to push!  It all happened so fast.  In about 45 minutes I went from a 6 to a 10 and was about to deliver this little girl that I was dying to meet for the past 10 months!  Doug did awesome coaching me and both him and my mom stayed well behind my head so they didn’t see any of the gross things going on down south!  In about 20 minutes of pushing, little Madigan made her way into the world screaming at the top of her lungs!  They placed her on my chest and she was the sweetest thing ever.  I knew looking at Doug that he was completely in love with her and she had him wrapped around her finger right then and there! Our family of two became so much more in just a few seconds.

Madigan Reese was born at 11:28pm on June 13, 2013. She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. She is a pretty chill laid back baby so far!