Birth Story

Our sweet girl was born on Monday September 12, 2011 after one of the hottest summers in decades. She was due September 5th, but wanted to wait an extra week before making her grand appearance. Dave and I moved to Irving in June 2011 and decided to deliver in Waco. We loved our obgyn and most of my family lives in or around Waco, so we decided a 1.5-2 hour drive was doable as long as we immediately went to the hospital when I started to have contractions. Thankfully, our prayers were answered and we did not have to speed to Waco in the middle of the night (we had an emergency roadside delivery kit ready just in case). Dave had Army Reserve training in College Station the weekend before Sept 12 (I went with him to this), so we had the car LOADED up with everything we would need for College Station and just in case I went into labor somewhere in between Irving and College Station. We spent the night with my parents in Frost Sunday Sept 11 after getting back from CS, just so happened I had a doc apt in Waco the Monday after his Reserve training, so we stayed with my parents Sunday night instead of heading back to Irving . I had a feeling Madelyn might arrive on the 12th, because my Dad (who is very wise when it comes to predictions) thought this would be the day as there was a full moon on the 12th! Dave and I woke up early in Frost to get ready for my doctor's appointment. I was having mild stomach cramps that morning and hoped this meant Madelyn's arrival was close. When we got to the doctor I was 3.5 cm dilated; however doc said that didn't necessary mean labor was close. They hooked me up to machines to monitor Madelyn's heart rate, since I was a week overdue. I was having contractions at that point, but not consistently or close enough to warrant staying at the hospital. Dave and I were so thankful my sister, Kristi lived only 10 minutes away from the hospital. We decided to grab some lunch at George's of all places, lol, I wanted one last excuse to eat fried pickles while still pregnant, but have to admit that probably was not the best pre-labor meal!!! After that, I really wanted to keep moving to try and speed things along if Madelyn was indeed on her way (I was still a little unsure at this p0int). We went to Baylor to visit my dear friend and professor, Jane Damron. We visited with Jane for a while and went to Chick-fil-a at the sub to grab Jane lunch, as she was stuck in her office for office hours. While walking back to her office on BU campus I stopped for a second... I never would have thought all my years at BU I would be walking across campus having contractions anticipating the arrival of my first baby! It was on the way back to Jane's office I knew for sure this was the real thing! We told Jane goodbye and headed back to my sister's house so I could take a shower. Haha, seriously, I was so paranoid I was going to go to the hospital too early and they were going to send me home, so we just kept trying to occupy our time. When we arrived back to my sister's house she took one look at me and said you better skip your shower and head to the the hospital! I assured her I would be fine, after all Dave was timing my contractions with his iPhone contraction app, and the app had yet to tell us to go to the hospital. After my shower, my sis snapped one last preggo pic of me and we were off! We literally pulled into Hillcrest parking lot at 5:30 and the app said, "congratulations you are officially in labor" or something to that degree. We checked in and doc said I was 5 cm dilated so obviously I was not sent home. My parents were there in no time followed by Kera, Kristi, and Whitney. I waited a bit to get the epidural, I think until I was 8 cm dilated, just didn't want to slow down the process, but looking back that was pretty dumb! I am so thankful my sister Kristi said, "you better get that epidural" or I might have just waited too long for one. Everything went way faster than I anticipated! Madelyn was born at 9:57 pm. She was absolutely perfect and so alert! She literally came out with her eyes wide open. We were so thankful for our precious little girl. Needless to say we did not sleep a wink that night!