Birth Story

Brodrick Christen was born at 10:18 PM on August 31st, 2008.  He weighed 7 pounds 14.6 ounces and was 21 inches long.  He's a healthy little boy!

Birth Story

Lisa began having contractions about 3 minutes apart at noon on Saturday, the 30th.  She and Lee went to get lunch at KFC.  While eating, Lisa began having a little more painful contractions and told Lee she was having them and had been for about an hour.  He wanted to go to the hospital, but Lisa insisted they go home and she would lie down to see if they would go away.

Once home, Lisa did lay down and the contractions slowed to 5 minutes apart.  This continued for about 2 hours.  Lee decided he would go into work for a couple hours to get some last minute things done.  Lisa took a nap after he left.

About 5 PM Lisa woke up and Lee called to see if she was still having contractions.  She said she didn't know since she'd been sleeping, but then started having another immediately after saying this.  Lee started timing them and stayed on the phone with her for about 30 minutes.  The contractions were still about 5 minutes apart, but were betting more painful.  Lee said he would be coming home soon and they agreed to go to Target to walk around a bit to see if they could get the contractions going a little more.  Lisa spent the hour waiting for Lee to get home doing last minute things around the house and grabbing the last minute items for the hospital.  By the time Lee got home, there was no need to go to Target, Lisa told him she wanted to go to the hospital.  Lee started laughing and jumping up and down, totally excited.

They had about a 40 minute drive to the hospital.  When they got there, Lisa was triaged.  At only 2 cm and about 50% effaced, they were told to walk around for an hour and come back to get checked again.  After an hour, she was only dilated to 2 1/2 cm, so they were sent home until Lisa's water broke or the contractions were too painful.  She was given Ambien to sleep...haha.

They went to Lee's parents for a few hours until it was time to go back to the hospital.

Lisa was admitted this time at about 5:30 am.  She was dilated to 3 1/2 cm and 80% effaced.  Once in her room, they started an IV and an epidural.  This let Lisa finally gt some sleep.  Lee and Lisa slept for the next few hours.

Dr. Bustamante came in about 1 pm and said Lisa was fully effaced and about 4 cm.  She then broke the bag of water to help move things along.  Lisa immediately dilated to 6 cm.  They also found meconium (baby poo) in the amniotic fluid, so they started an amniotic flush.

After the amniotic flush, they started a pitocin drip to help Lisa dilate since she was now stuck at 6 cm.  They ran the pitocin for about 30 minutes, but then turned it of because Brody's heart rate kept dropping.  It did make Lisa dilate to 9 1/2 cm.  By this time it was about 5pm.

The Reeves clan (Dira, Jimmy, Dana, Matt, & Gerri) showed up at about 6pm.  They kept us company, and went to In N Out to get food for themselves & Lee, the rest of the evening.

Lisa stayed at 9 1/2 cm until about 9:00, when they moved her catheter and she immediately dilated to ten.  At about 9:30, Lisa told Lee to get the nurse because she needed to push.  Lee texted eveyone to let them know, as he had been doing since Lisa went into labor.

Lisa began pushing until Brody crowned, then the nurse called for Dr. Bustamante.  Unfortunately Dr. Bustamante was delivering another baby at the same time, so Lisa had to wait about 25 minutes.  Once the Dr. came in, Lisa finished pushing and Brody was born at 10:18pm.

Brody was taken straight to the warmer to check for any problems because of the meconium.  He was perfectly fine.  After being checked out, weighed- 7 lbs 14.6 oz, and measured- 21 inches, Lisa was finally able to hold him.  Lee went out to the waiting area where the Reeves, his parents, and his sister & her family were waiting to let them know what was going on and to show them a couple pictures.

After trying to feed Brody, Lee's family and the Reeves came in to see the new family.  Nana Cheri got to hold her brand new grandson, then passed him on to Aunt Kristen & Uncle Scot.

Lisa and Brody were taken to their postpartum room.  Grandma Berta came right when they were being moved.  Once in the room, Lisa began passing large clots and was having problems with postpartum hemorrhaging.  Grandma Bet hed Brody while the nurses and Lee took care of Lisa.  She was eventually put on another 5 hour dose of Pitocin.  Lisa lost about 900 cc of blood (about 2 pints).  By morning she was feeling better.  Brody spent the night in the nursery except for feeding so Lisa and Lee could sleep.

The next day (Monday) was full of visitors- Grandma Berta, Papa Dwight, Aunt Tanya, Uncle Joey, Nana Cheri, Papa Allen, Aunt Tracy, Erika, Grandma & Grandpa Reeves, Draylin, Uncle Brian, Aunt Denise, Aunt Sarah, Katelynn, Krista, & Brad.

Tuesday Brody had a busy day.  He had his circumcision in the morning.  That afternoon he had his pictures taken and finally passed his hearing test.  Lisa passed another large clot, so they kept Lisa and Brody until about 6 pm, when Lisa was finally discharged. 

The new fmaily finally arrived home about 7pm.  Bear and Belle got to meet the new fmaily member for the first time.  They did great- very interested, but also very concerned about this new little being.