Welcome to the world, little Hayes!!

Your mama had quite a different plan for your birth, but you, my sweet boy, had other plans.
Michelle was such a trooper…..going with practically every change possible to her birth plan.
Originally she was set to have her birth at the beautiful Origins Birth Center in Dallas.
However at 42 weeks gestation, and after 10 days of prodromal labor, Michelle’s care was transferred from her Midwives to the OB’s at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
She began induction to start labor at 42 weeks, 1 day.

I got the call on the afternoon of July 4th that everything was heating up, and it was time to join them at the hospital. Once I arrived, they were walking the halls, and she was coping through labor contractions like a boss! She was about 6cm, and doing amazingly listening to her body, rotating her hips to help baby come down, and breathing & relaxing through her contractions like a pro!
Unfortunately, when she was checked several hours later, she was still 6-7cm and the anterior portion of her cervix was starting to swell. Never a good sign for progression of dilation in labor.
Since it had been many hours with relatively no change in dilation, Michelle was exhausted and decided upon getting an epidural in order to get some rest and relaxation, and save her energy for pushing.
A GREAT decision! At this point, her birth team decided to let her rest for as many hours as she could, and we all left the hospital to get some rest too.
Since my home is about an hour from BUMC, her sweet husband opened up their home for me to rest at.
(Seriously, THE sweetest couple on the planet…)

After an evening of rest, at about 8:30 in the morning, July 5th, I got a call that Michelle
was finally 10cm and ready to push! So, I grabbed my things and rushed back to the hospital through the morning rush hour traffic. Unfortunately, baby Hayes had pooped overnight, so there were thick meconium precautions & extra nursing staff at delivery…. and like many first-time moms, Michelle had to push for a couple hours, which we later came to find out was due to baby’s head being asynclitic in the pelvis (making it more difficult for him to navigate the pelvic outlet).
However, despite all of this, Michelle did have a BEAUTIFUL vaginal birth, bringing baby Hayes safely into this world and into his Mommy’s arms! After quick stimulation & some deep suction, Hayes let out a scream and the whole room was relieved! The nurses did a quick exam, and he was placed immediately back skin-to-skin with his Mama.

This adorable couple was so overcome with emotions (as was the rest of the room), and just so elated to be FINALLY meeting their sweet, perfect baby boy. I could not be more proud of Michelle.
Her fierceness, her strength, tenacity, perseverance, and grace through every obstacle that was thrown her way, was just an amazing sight. She held herself together through her crazy, but beautiful birth journey….and looked gorgeous as always all the way through it! Her husband, Rick, right there by her side…the amazing supporter that he is.
I can’t wait to see where life takes this sweet little boy of theirs!
They are amazing parents, and I know little Hayes will be even more amazing because of it!