Birth Day! {Reese Caroline edition} - Part 1

When I started writing this post, I intended for it to be a story about Reese's Birth Day; however, once I started writing I realized I had a lot more to say about the time leading up to her birth! So, I'll call this Part 1. More to come! 


When I was trying to think of a title for this Blog post, I decided to look back to the post I wrote about Jackson's birth. It's so hard to believe that day was 3 1/2 years ago! It seems like Jackson has been with us for a lifetime, yet as I'm writing this it all seems so close together. Time really passes fast with sweet little ones. I realize as I look at Jackson next to tiny little Reese that they really do grow so fast, and I want to be better about writing down the details of daily life for us to look back on. Now...where to start with Miss Reese's big arrival...


I really didn't blog much about my pregnancy with her--or in 2011 in general. It was a busy year! I would attempt to do a quick re-cap, but I think 2011 deserves more than that. It was such a FULL year. So, for now, I'll stick to writing about Reesie girl. It was so fun planning a nursery for a baby girl (even though I was not convinced she was actually going to be a girl until she was born!) I have never been one of those females who was dying to have a girl, but let me just tell you...the moment I found out I was having one, the inner "Girl Mom" I didn't know I had came soaring out. I instantly became craftier and started noticing all the fun girly clothes and things I had never paid attention to. I finally had an excuse to have a Shabby Chic room in my house! I have always said I would eventually have a Shabby Chic guest room, but that's last on the list at this point (sorry, guests.) I had so much fun finding ideas on Pinterest and doing fun little projects for Reese's room. I was really happy with how it all came together, too, which is a big deal for someone like me. ;)


In late September and early October, I was blessed with two showers. One was given to me by my close friends in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and the other was given to me by my close friends here in Houston. I was BEYOND grateful, ecstatic, and in a state of shock that I was being blessed in this way by such sweet friends. I truly cannot express the JOY these two events gave to me. I felt so undeserving and so, so loved. Reese was blessed to receive so many fun gifts. I hope she always knows how many people love and care for her.


In the couple of months leading up to Reese's birth, we really splurged on date nights (calorie wise and budget wise...), and every single time our excuse was the fact that we had a newborn coming. Any excuse will do. ;)

Two weekends before Reese was born, we decided to have a special "Big Brother" day for Jacks. It was so fun to plan and have a special day in honor of our big boy. I know it's sort of the "thing to do" to go to Build-A-Bear and make a bear for the soon-to-be older sibling. For this reason, I really wanted to find something different to do; however, I couldn't stop thinking how much fun Jackson would have picking out an animal and watching it get stuffed, dressing it, etc. He looooooves stuffed animals, specifically bears, and to get to have that experience would be so exciting for him. When Jackson woke up that morning, he knew it was his special day. We started off at one of our favorite (if not the favorite) breakfast places in The Woodlands, The Black Walnut. I don't think I will ever forget that I had the most amazing pumpkin pie flavored coffee that morning. As we sat there eating our breakfast, it was hard to believe we were doing this as a family of three for one of the last times. Those feelings were so bittersweet. In the weeks leading up to this time (and until the little miss arrived), I cycled through so many different feelings. I would look at Jackson and burst into tears, scared that I wouldn't be able to divide myself between two children well. I reminisced of all the days Jackson and I spent together, and all the memories we made as a family of three. Trips taken, holidays, firsts, lasts, ups, downs, and everything in between. It was a FULL three and a half years. Jackson has blessed our lives in more ways than we ever thought possible over these last few years. He has truly been a joy to raise, and we are both so honored to be his parents. The thought of having another child to love really became a daunting one. How could we possibly love another child as much as we love Jackson? My mom has always said that you never know how much love your heart can hold, and I knew the moment we met our baby girl our hearts would grow to accommodate that love. It was just painful to think that Jackson, being old enough to understand what was going on, might feel slighted in some way. I prayed and prayed that he would know how much he was loved and that having a baby sister would be a happy time for him. Woah...I got off track. :) Back to Big Brother Day: 

After breakfast, we headed over to The Woodlands Mall. There was a birthday party going on at Build-A-Bear. We decided to avoid the chaos in there and told Jackson we were going to go ride the Carousel. We got down to the Carousel and it was out of order. Kyle and I looked at each other like "Are you kidding me?" We had been talking up this Big Brother Day and were starting to think it wasn't going to go as planned. We decided to pay waaaay too much money to let him ride some of those 10 second rides near the Carousel. I bet y'all didn't know those things cost $3.00 for ONE ride these days. Yikes! We walked around the mall and made a return to Dillards and headed back down to Build-A-Bear. Luckily we were able to start a bear. Jackson picked out a precious one (the ONLY one that can go in the washing machine, go figure for our little neat freak) and named him Max. He had SUCH a fun time building his bear. He picked out a cute outfit and some little Bear Chucks for shoes. We took some pictures and Jackson proudly carried his bear back to the car. He took a great nap that afternoon! Fast forward a few days... 

On Tuesday, November 8, I spent the morning running last minute baby errands. I was gathering things for the hospital stay and trying to take care of things so that everything would be in order before Reese arrived. I had lunch with a co-worker and was thankful that I didn't have time to sit and think about how nervous I was about my doctor's appointment that afternoon. Dr. White told me the week before that we would see how things had progressed over the week and talk about a possible induction. This had me VERY on edge. I was so anxious to know when we would be meeting our baby girl. I grew way more uncomfortable at the end of this pregnancy than I did last time, so I was extremely ready. 

When I got to the doctor's office, I sat waiting for a while. I had a feeling this would happen! I just knew that because it was the day we were going to discuss induction, it would be the day that Dr. White ran late and I wasn't able to see him. Ha! I waited nervously for a while in the waiting room, knowing I couldn't stick around forever because I had to pick Jackson up from school. I ended up getting in a room only to wait even longer only to be told that Dr. White was still attending a delivery and would be back in 30-45 minutes. I was offered the chance to see the Nurse Practitioner, but knew I needed to see Dr. White if I wanted to have a BIRTHDAY on the books. :) I asked the sweet nurse if I could run get my son from school and come back (even though I said Jackson Kyle Silvio would never set foot in my OB's office again after the last time...but desperate measures.) Her reply was, "Yes, mijo, not a problem mamacita. Go get your son and be careful." Did she just call me mamacita? Not only did that make my day, but now I want some chips and salsa. 

With Mexican food on the brain and love for that sweet nurse, I raced to Jackson's school to pick him up. I immediately started giving him a pep talk about how we were going back to the Doctor to check on baby Reese and that he needed to sit still and quiet and not ask questions. He did really well, besides the fact that when Doctor White walked in he said, "Hey Doctor White! Why were you taking so long?" Haha. Anyway, Doctor White said I was still about 1.5 cm (no change from previous week) but that the baby was really low. The way he was talking led me to believe we were not going to be scheduling an induction, but apparently I was confused. He ended up asking me if I wanted to talk about induction. I tried to act natural and said something like..."Sure, I mean...if you want to." He said that even though I was only 1.5 cm dilated, I was a prime candidate for induction due to the baby's position and this being my second baby, etc. So...he left the room and had nurse Kelly call Willowbrook to see what they had available. I was so excited I started sweating. My fingers were shaking as I sent Kyle a text. Of course my phone was dying, so I was only able to get a few texts out. Oh, the agony! Doctor White's nurse came back and handed me a card that read "November 14, 5:30 AM". I could NOT believe it. All this time, I had hoped that Reese would come on November 14 because that is the birthday of two of my very close friends. I could not stop smiling. So it was all set. We started calling our families and letting them know what the plan was. This time was a little different because Jackson was in the mix, so we were thankful to have something scheduled so that we could make arrangements for him. 

We kept busy the days between Tuesday and when our families came in on Sunday night, so the time really flew. Sunday came and I had a huge burst of energy. I was buzzing around baking and cleaning and getting last minute things in order. I for some reason decided that I needed to have baked goods to give my visitors and ended up making cake balls, cupcakes (regular and mini), and a pumpkin ice cream pie to have at home. I was cracking myself up because I knew just how silly it was but couldn't seem to help it. I was nesting--bakery style. I had so much fun making little girly desserts with pink sprinkles galore. 

Granny was the first to arrive at our house and started unpacking and getting everything ready for dinner. She and mom cooked taco soup, and we had both of our families over (those who were in town) to celebrate the impending arrival of little Reese! It was a fun night of eating and hanging out with the fams! I ended up finally getting in bed around 11:15 or so. I had planned to go to sleep much earlier but got wrapped up in excitement, visiting with family, and of course there was that huge burst of energy...

...that apparently was a sign that Reese was not going to wait for her scheduled induction. I woke up to my water breaking in bed around 12:45 a.m. Silly enough, I was not convinced it was my water breaking right away. We fumbled around trying to decide what to do for a few minutes and then decided it WAS my water breaking and scurried out the door, so thankful that our families both decided to come in on Sunday night! We got to the hospital around 1:15 and of course the entrance near Labor and Delivery was locked. There was a sign on the door that said to go around to the ER during those hours. We got back in the car and drove (behind a reallllly slow security guard) to the ER parking lot. She drove up beside us and asked if we were trying to get to Labor and Delivery. UM...yeah. She replied, "Oh...I thought y'all were just trying to visit someone." Yes...with this huge belly...at 1:15 in the morning. Haha. She was sweet and came back around to unlock the door for us. We headed on in straight to labor and delivery. I kept saying, "I cannot believe we are having a baby today!" It was so exciting that I got to go into labor on my own AND have the families here for the birth. I love that Reese chose the same day for her birthday that we did! So fun. 

When we were admitted, I was not having any painful contractions. We were taken to a triage room first to be assessed. It turned out it was my water, and we were given a "golden ticket" (as the nurse said) to a labor and delivery room. Yay! :)