Family and Friends

Meet Our Mom: Sarah T

Sarah and her two children

The following is a first-person account of a real family's labor and delivery experience at AdventHealth for Women.

My husband and I got married Nov 3rd, 2018. We went to Arizona for Thanksgiving, and I had a feeling I was pregnant. I took 5 pregnancy tests that all came back positive, so I made an appointment with my family doctor to confirm. I did not have an OB/GYN at the time and asked for a recommendation. They gave me a name of a doctor in the same building through AdventHealth, however that doctor had not appointments available within the month. Instead they asked if I would be ok seeing a different doctor, which I said of course. From the first meeting with Dr. Reed I knew I was going to be ok.

We found out later on he started in the office the week we saw him. He made myself and my husband feel so comfortable about what was about to happen in our lives. I have high blood pressure and he immediately started putting a game plan together to ensure I would have a smooth pregnancy. I had regular appointments with him until we were able to come up with the perfect plan to keep my blood pressure at a safe level.

Anytime myself or my husband had a question, he had the answer for us right away even if we did not have an appointment. My due date was 8/10/2019, however due to my high blood pressure and the recommendation from the High-Risk doctor, I was induced at 39 weeks. Dr. Reed walked me through exactly what was going to happen and ensured he would be there for it all. As soon as I checked into the hospital the nursing staff took great care of me and explained everything they were doing and why they were doing it. They ensured my husband was comfortable as well.

As soon as I was ready to push, Dr. Reed was there, even joking that he could still not see the hair color. The ongoing joke in my family is my dad wanted me to have a red head (yes, I have red hair and all the personality that comes with it). Just that little joke makes the room feel so much more relaxed. On 8/3/2019 after 30 minutes of pushing, my beautiful baby girl Hailey Lynn was there. Dr. Reed even came the next day to the recovery room (we had to stay an extra day as Hailey took in some fluid on the way out and they just wanted to monitor her one extra day) to check on us.

Flash forward to November 2019 and my husband and I are on a cruise for our anniversary and I again thought I may be pregnant. I only took 2 tests this time with both coming back positive, I knew I had to see Dr. Reed as soon as possible to get back on my high blood pressure medicine. I called to make an appointment, but he was booked for the next 3 weeks. I put in a request online and the nurse was able to make me an appointment right away.

The start of the pregnancy was just like the last one, then March hit and everything changed. My appointments weren’t as frequent, they did not do as many ultrasounds, and my husband could not join at my doctors’ appointment. As much as it was different, I knew I was in good hands, Dr. Reed again was there any time I needed him, I was even able to Facetime my husband during all my appointments with him.

This time they had me go in to be induced at 38 weeks. Again Dr. Reed said no matter he will be there to delivery my baby and kept us updated on hospital rules due to COVID. As the nurse was getting me ready, I remember her from the year before, and sure enough she went to look at the schedule and she helped deliver my first little girl. About 8 hours later on 7/26/2020 (our little girls will be the same age for 8 days every year, our little Irish twins) my beautiful baby girl, Hannah Paige, was again delivered by Dr. Reed.

Again, the labor went smooth and this time only took 2 pushes to get her there. About 2 hours after Hannah was here, I felt something was wrong and called a nurse in, right away she realized I was hemorrhaging and called for additional help. Within minutes I had a whole team there, making sure I was ok and doing all they could to ensure I had the least amount of pain I could. They were able to get everything under control and I was able to go to recover a few hours later. Dr. Reed again the next day came to check in on me and make sure me, my baby and husband were all doing well. Dr. Reed from the day we met him made me feel like I was his only patient and he would do anything for me. He explained things to me and husband in a way we understood and knew exactly what was going on. I could not have asked for a better doctor to guide me through such a life changing experience twice in a year.