Rebecca Jean Rex

Welcome to our lives, our home, our hearts Rebecca Jean, aka Becca!

This pregnancy was by far the hardest for me, with aches, pain and discomfort throughout the 9 months. I have never felt so miserable and so ready to be done being pregnant before!
Amen! (Dale's comments are italicized throughout this post)

36 weeks

My doctor said he wouldn't let me go past my due date this time due to my thyroid, and when I asked him to pin down a date, he suggested 1 week early, the 9th of February (my Dad's birthday), and I gladly accepted. My mom came out on the 8th and I was extremely relieved to not have to worry about coordinating our kids if our baby girl came early.

On the 9th, we woke up at 5:15, showered and headed off to the hospital...

Heading into the hospital

For comparison's sake, here she is heading to the hospital with Kimball...hardly aged at all!

April 14, 2007

The nurses got me hooked up to an IV and started me on misoprostol to soften my cervix and hopefully induce labor (I was 3 cm dilated). It wasn't long before I started having frequent, fairly strong contractions. I could still talk through most of the contractions, and could easily breathe through all of them. I honestly thought that if labor was like this, I could handle it no matter how long it took. I hadn't eaten that morning, because I've always been told not to eat while in labor, and I thought it would go fairly quickly.

4 hours later, they gave me more misoprostol because I had only dilated to 4 cm. I was crushed that 4 hours hadn't been more productive. After 2 hours, the nurse had me get up to walk around and I barely made it past the doors before I turned around and went back to my room because I felt so weak. We told my doctor this, but since I was in labor, he said he couldn't really do anything. The contractions kept coming and Dale was coaching me through each of them. By this point, I was so weak that I was falling asleep during each contraction...I would hear Dale's voice as the contraction started but would pass out before the contraction even peaked. When Dale realized I wasn't just extremely relaxed (I literally stopped coaching her for a few contractions and she was just as passed out, and I thought I had been doing a fantastic coaching job...), he told the nurse that I don't handle fasting well so she tested my blood sugar which was 65. Finally she gave me a soda to drink, and within minutes, I was up and doing laps around the maternity wing.

By 3:00, I had only dilated to a 5. I was sick of this, and Dale was bored...though he didn't take up my offer to trade spots. The nurse texted my doctor to see what she should do and heard nothing from him until he showed up at 5:30 to break my water. Immediately the contractions were intense and it was taking a lot of focus and effort to breathe through them with Dale's coaching. Before long, I felt like I needed to push and all I could do through contractions was moan loudly, which then turned into yelling and eventually screaming.

My entire upper body started tingling, and soon I couldn't move my hands because they had cramped so severely. And by cramped, she means they looked like the claw. I thought she was having a stroke or something. Her face got all slack and her speech was really slurred. The nurses had never seen this before and were trying to massage my hands and had me breathing into a barf bag. Apparently that's what happens when your body runs out of CO2 from exhaling too fast! It's kind of surprising the nurses hadn't seen this before. Medline Plus's article on hyperventilation clearly lists the following symptoms: confusion, muscle spasms in the hands and feet, numbness and tingling in the arms or around the mouth, and weakness. It even lists pregnancy as a cause. 

When it was finally time to push, I couldn't coordinate my arms enough to lift my legs and had a hard time pushing. After pushing a few times, I started screaming "Get her out! Get her out!" and finally her head came out. This went through at least two contractions. At the top of her lungs. My biggest regret of this labor is not videoing these pushes. For posterity, of course. When she was far enough, the doctor offered to let me pull her out, but my hands were still useless, so they brought her up to my chest and all I could say was "oh my goodness". I was enlisted to make sure she didn't drop the baby. She was officially born at 6:36 pm. Because I had been moved to be in the way of everyone seeing the clock, I actually got to declare the time. Yay me! 

6:39:51 pm. Pretty close to birth.

Almost right after Dale cut the umbilical cord, Becca latched on and nursed like a pro. I hemorrhaged again which was awful and took forever, but finally my mom got to bring our 3 older children for a quick peek at their baby sister. Lily didn't seem to know what to think, but the boys knew just what to do and held her proudly. After they left, the nurse took Becca to be weighed and was an impressive 8 lb, 4.8 oz, and 20 inches long! Dale got to give her her first bath and we eventually got to sleep around 1:00 am.

The next day, my mom brought Lily while the boys were at school and she did so well holding baby sister.

Then the boys got to come that night...

Due to Cameron getting Group B Strep, they kept us for observation for 48 hours, but thankfully Becca's jaundice levels didn't warrant staying longer (all of our other children had to be on billi-lights for varying lengths of time). The pediatrician did put her on lights the last day we were there just to be safe...

 On Saturday night we finally got to bring our littlest princess home! Embarrassingly, when I washed the car seat cover, I put the buckles on backwards, so the nurse and I couldn't get the buckles to latch...we were panicking that we'd have to buy a new car seat until the nurse tried latching it backwards, which worked.

I'm always in awe of how much love my heart suddenly has for our newest little baby and am so very grateful that she's here, she's healthy, and she's forever ours!

Lily Anna Rex

Much to our delight, Lily Anna Rex arrived on July 15th, 2014 (5 days "late"). My doctor refused to let me wait any longer due to health issues, so on the 14th, we arrived at the hospital at 10:30 pm to be admitted. They were going to start me on something to soften my cervix at 12:00 but I was already at 5 cm dilated, and since my doctor wanted more sleep, he said to wait until 4:00 am to start, which they did. Dale and I both slept fitfully that night...I think I got 1-1.5 hours of sleep total!

My doctor arrived at 6:30 am and promptly broke my water. He said we'd start pitocin at 8:00 and have a baby by noon to which Dale and I both thought he was crazy (Cameron was a 2 hour 15 minute labor). As soon as he left the room, I started having strong contractions every 2 minutes and Dale coached me through each one. After about 45 minutes I asked for something to ease the pain. Initially I wanted stadole (?) but found out it would make me loopy so I declined and asked for the epidural and was told it would be about 20 minutes.

Within minutes I could no longer relax through contractions and could tell that I needed to push. When I started moaning loudly, the nurses came rushing in and realized I was at 8 cm. The anesthesiologist showed up and tried to insist on giving me my epidural but by then I was completely dilated and they wheeled me into the O.R. because both delivery rooms were occupied. My doctor came running in, they threw a gown, mask, gloves on him. Dale ran back for the camera and had to put on a gown, hat and mask since we were in the O.R. Once everyone was ready, I pushed through 3 contractions and our sweet baby girl was born. All in all, I was in labor for 1 hour and 13 minutes. Everyone in the O.R. commented on how big Lily was. She weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces! I got to hold her skin-to-skin immediately and she was so incredibly beautiful.

 Thankfully my mom was in town to help with the boys. They were so excited to meet their baby sister!

 Kimball gave this bear to Lily.

 Unfortunately Lily had jaundice and had to stay an extra day to be on billi lights. 

 Finally ready to go home, in the same outfit I wore home from the hospital when I was born.

Cameron Dale Rex

Welcome our newest member. Cameron Dale was born at 8:52 this morning. 2 hours and 15 minutes earlier I was awoken with a kink in my neck. As I dazedly gazed out at my clock trying hard to make out the "06:37" Judy told me, "I think I might be in labor, but I don't know because the contraction wasn't very hard..." So I got some pain meds for my neck and laid back down, telling her "let me know as soon as you know for sure, I'm going to try and get rid of this headache."
Luckily the drugs worked quick, because there was no way I was falling asleep after the long awaited for labor seemed to be upon us. By 7:00 all three of us were up and I was frantically getting myself and Kimball some breakfast while coaching Judy trough contractions. She could still talk through them, so I thought we had at least 4 or 5 hours before we might be getting our new baby boy, but by 7:40, I knew I needed to call my sister to come get Kimball. Char got there within 15 minutes, and we were grabbing the last of our stuff together to get out the door. At this point, the contractions started getting pretty bad. It was probably 8:20 when Judy turned to me and said, "Maybe I'm a wimp, but I already want an epidural." You women who have gone natural will know that when you get to that point, it's already too late.
At 8:26 we were able to get Judy to the car, and I screamed out the window to our neighbors (who were still in bed...their window is right by the driveway) "Ferrels, we're having a baby!" as we peeled out the driveway. At 8:30, halfway to the hospital (University and 7th North for those who know Provo and UVRMC), Judy exclaims "I'm feeling like I really have to push." Encouraging her strongly not to push, I speed off out of the intersection and only stop at red lights long enough to know I can make it through without getting us hit. I pull up into the drop off zone, all painted red, jump out of the car and run to the entrance where I spied a few wheelchairs. Screaming in contractual pain, Judy lets me help her into the chair and as I rush her towards the entrance, she expresses her gravest concern of the moment, "Honey! You're going to get a parking ticket!"
"Honey, I'm sure they are used to this kind of thing."
Labor and Delivery is on the 5th floor here and there was someone already in the elevator. "Floor 5 please" I gasped as I wheeled her through the doors and whispered words or encouragement and patience to not push just yet. Coming off the elevator I grab the big red 'only if you are in labor' phone and scream to have the doors open. We get in and the secretary takes one look at us and realizes birth is eminent. I explain that she's been feeling pushy and Judy tells her she's starting to feel tingly. The effect was as though we'd stuck a hot iron on her as she jumped to the phone demanding a room immediately and tearing through her filing cabinet to find our pre-registration.
8:39 was our official check in time. By 8:42 we'd managed to get Judy, who couldn't move on her own anymore, up and into the bed and a nurse checked her and told us what was so clear...fully dilated and the baby's about to come out. In the next few minutes I watched in astonishment as 6 different nurses rushed in and out of our room to get it all prepped for the baby to come. They kept on telling Judy, who was screaming in agony as they did so, "Don't push yet! Don't push yet!".
8:49 Dr. Broadbent made his entrance. Luckily he was already at the hospital from another delivery. He quickly got into position and Judy pushed once as he finished breaking the water, and in another minutes time Judy starts screaming again as all the nurses tell her to hold her breath and push. Finally getting the drift she gives a good hard push and stops. "No, no, no! Just a little more, we almost have him."
8:52 my cream cheese covered little friend pokes his head all the way out and waves hello to the world as his mother collapses exhausted on the bed.
Now that was an intense 15 minutes at the hospital, but I much preferred this to Kimball's drawn out 8 hour labor with an hour and a half of pushing. Much more entertaining. Little baby Rex weighed in at 7 lbs 11 ounces (really it was 10.5, but they rounded up) and 19.5 inches long. Some tufts of blonde hair appeared as they cleaned his head off, and a few minutes later, presto! Judy's got a baby in her arms. A perfect human specimen with the usual coney head, but not nearly so bad as Kimball head at birth, was owing to the short labor (In the picture his left hand looks a little funny, but there's nothing wrong, he's just waving to the camera so his hand is a little blurry).
Judy finally turned to me and reminded me of that which I had totally forgotten "Don't you need to go move the car?" I decided I better give the firemen their lane back, just in case, and quickly made the trip in time to take my as yet unnamed son down to the nursery for further poking and prodding, and finally, a bath.
The most enjoyable part of all this was the bath as his fair skinned body turned a deep red. Not just his face, like some little league baseball coaches get, but his entire body. Like a tomato. I wanted to take a bite...not really, but you get the idea. At last baby and I were escorted to mommy's room, and after some good discussion we finally decided on the name Cameron Dale Rex.
Cameron was a name we both liked. Also as a senior in high school I had a great friend named Cameron. We played trumpet in band together, and he is going on with some great talent into the musical profession (unlike me, I got my music degree and decided I needed to go learn how to be a lawyer, talk about a verical shift down!) Any how, Cameron and I were so close that people started calling him 'Chip' like the rescue ranger chipmunk.
While I would like to claim that Dale was inspired by such a great and wonderful man as myself, it wasn't. It was really in honor of my father and uncle, Dee and Dale. See, Kimball's middle name is Dee, just like my dad. My dad is the oldest and his next sibling was Norman Dale, who went by Dale. Dale died of cancer a year before I was born, and as he and my father were as close as any brothers could be, I was blessed with his name. As I contemplated the relationship my father and uncle had before my sojourn here, recalling the many stories of my father and his brother up on their ranch, it was the relationship I wanted my two little boys to have. They learned how to do everything together: ride horses, harvest hay, herd sheep, cuss, pray, everything. Not to mention my late uncle Dale's wife, Aunt Janet, has been a great friend as I've been here at BYU (she also lives in the area). So, since Kimball got Dee, Cameron gets Dale after his great uncle, just like his daddy.
Now we've got that settled, we're all ready for a nice long nap, so I'm going to sign off now. That and we have to get Cameron ready to meet his older brother and hopefully best friend, Kimball.
Thanks to all who have been a great support through this pregnancy. Especially my sister Char who has our other little pride and joy, our neighbors who, unsuccessfully, helped me try to convince Cameron to come a little earlier, and many others who have helped, but for fear of omitting one or two, I will stop here. Most of all, however, I am indebted to a loving father in heaven who has blessed me to help bring two wonderful little boys to this Earth.

Kimball Dee Rex

Though Kimball Dee Rex wasn't due until after finals, he apparently had plans of his own!