Baby Dallas

My due date was September 5th and we were planning to be out of our rental by Sept 15th so I was a little anxious for the baby to come early.  I had an appointment on Monday after we got back from the cruise and I hadn't progressed at all since my appointment the day before the cruise.  That made me feel even more happy that I had chosen to go on the cruise:) but I was a little bummed that it wasn't looking like I was going to have the baby early.  A couple days later though at dinner with Grandma and Auntie I was having regular contractions for about two hours.  Meanwhile we were still packing slowly and trying to get ready to move to who knows where.  At that point we were planning to head to Lehi and Garrett was going to work for his Dad as general counsel for his development company.  We were still trying to nail down housing though and nothing seemed to be working out.  So my amazing friend Erin called me right when we got back in town and planned a baby shower for me on Thursday night.

You have to know Erin to understand that anything she does or touches turns out amazing.  Seriously.  My mom met her when she came out to help us move and after a couple days she asked, "Is there anything Erin can't do?" So in true Erin fashion she came up with this adorable theme "Ready to POP".  So she took all these maternity pics of me and my huge belly the day before and had a popcorn bar and it was so cute!

It was so wonderful to visit with so many of my friends and to celebrate this little man coming into the world.  Especially since I knew we would be moving so quickly after he was born.  Knowing that we had a ton to do to pack and move by the 15th, I joked with everyone that now I just needed to have this baby the next day and then everything would be perfect.  I had a doctors appointment scheduled for the next morning at 10 and I was planning to have them strip my membranes to get things going.

The next morning started out as usual.  The kids all wandered into our bed at different times and I just kept sleeping until there were too many people to ignore.  As I rolled over I felt something snap inside me up by my belly button.  I was kind of panicked at first because when my water broke with Beckett it felt much lower.  I ran to the bathroom and sure enough my water had broken.  I knew not to rush to the hospital like we did with Beckett because they just made me walk around for hours before anything really happened and I prefer to labor at home anyway.  So since we were totally unprepared, I started packing my hospital bag and going through the baby clothes.  Garrett started figuring out a place for the kids to go.  I was walking up and down the stairs and all over the house at first, but pretty soon I was having some serious contractions and it was time to get going.  I could tell from the contractions that this boy was posterior because I was having serious back labor just like I did with Rylynn.  Boo!  So we dropped off the kids at Erin's house and I teased her that it was the lime chili popcorn that sent me into labor:)  When we checked in at the hospital they could tell I was pretty far along and admitted me right away.  When they checked me I was already at 4cm so they took my blood right away so that we could get things started with an epidural.  Unfortunately somehow my blood sample got lost in the hospital and the nurse had to track it down for over an hour.  By then I was having some really hard contractions so she gave me some drugs through my IV.  I can't remember the name of them but they were seriously strong.  I felt like the room was spinning so I just closed my eyes and kind of dozed through the contractions until they found my blood and we got the green light for the epidural.  Shortly after that the nurse checked and I was already at 6cm.  I always ask for the lightest epidural possible but this time I could tell something was wrong because I could pretty much feel everything on my right side.  I just dealt with it for awhile until it started really killing and I started panicking because they had started a tiny bit of pitocin when they did the epidural and I was worried that I was having a uterine rupture.  I know that was me just being a worrier but pitocin does increase the chance of rupture in VBACs and I didn't have any with Beckett so I was nervous.  The anesthesiologist came in and they upped the dose but that just made my left side more numb and I could still feel everything on the right side.  So he decided to add some extra drugs to the epidural line and that seemed to fix it.  Luckily right after that the baby turned so he was no longer posterior!  Really quickly after that I could tell I was complete and I needed to push.  I told the nurse to check and sure enough I was at 10cm.  I told her that I only push a couple of times and that the doctor better hurry.  Garrett and I were a little panicked when she said that she still needed to call him and that he was still at the office.  She told me I couldn't sit up and not really to even move because she was worried he would come out.  The doctor ran over and got in his gown and got Garrett all suited up so he could catch the baby.  Then I pushed six times and Garrett caught him.  I didn't tear or anything.  It was the easiest and fastest labor/birth for me and it was kind of crazy how well it went.  Honestly, Garrett and I kept looking at each other like that was too easy.  

As soon as he came out the nurses all kept commenting on how big he was even though he looked tiny to me.  I could not believe it when they weighed him and said he was 9 pounds 8 oz!  That was way bigger than any of my other babies. 

Dallas Reddick Hall was here safe and sound and we were so happy to meet him!  He was born at 5:12pm.  The labor was only 9 hours from the time my water broke which was a record for me.  Beckett had been my shortest birth and that was 12 hours so 9 hours seemed so fast to me.

Garrett went to pick up the kids and they were so excited to come meet their new baby brother! 

Carter was so sweet with Dallas and so excited to hold him.

Rylynn couldn't get enough of Dallas and was so sad she had to leave him.  The kids were pretty starving by the time they came to visit so they couldn't stay long.  Since my Mom wasn't going to be flying for two more days, Garrett had to leave with the kids.    

So it was just me and Dallas that first night.  We was a champion nurser and even slept for six straight hours!  I think it was because he was so big but I was so thankful since I knew how much stress waited back home for me.  I was also very happy he slept so long since the hospital had no nursery due to budget cuts!  Seriously?  I had never heard of that.  It was actually fine though and I was happy to get to snuggle with my new baby all night long.

Here he is all ready to go home the next morning.  Since I didn't tear and he was so big we were pretty anxious to get home so we basically just waited around all morning while we got cleared by the pediatrician and had all the final tests.

I loved being able to just sit and hold and little perfect baby again.  Dallas and Beckett are the farthest apart of any of our kids so it felt like it had been so long since I had held a newborn and heard their tiny little squeaks.  

The kids showed up around 5 to pick us up.  Rylynn could not wait to get her little hands on her baby brother again!

Beckett was so sweet with him too and seemed more interested in him this time.

Carter was very excited to hold him again too.

He looked so teeny in his car seat all ready to go.  I was very happy to discover that he was a binky baby too!  Beckett had had horrible reflux for the first year and wouldn't ever take a binky so I was really worried Dallas might be the same way.  I listened to him swallow very carefully the first couple days to make sure he didn't have reflux and he didn't so that was a huge relief!  Back home it was a bit crazy and I was pretty anxious for my mom to come the next evening but I was glad to be home with all the people I loved.  And just like that we became a family of six!!