“I really wasn’t expecting it,” says Houston, who was already
13 weeks along. “My husband and I had just moved to Mansfield,
and I’d just started a new job. It was a huge shock.
“Most women just see a little pea pod on the screen at their first
sonogram, but I didn’t see a little pea pod. I saw an actual baby!”
The team in her corner
Houston’s comfort level with her pregnancy increased with
each appointment with Dr. Chancellor, who serves
on the medical staff at Methodist Mansfield
Medical Center.
“The nurses took a real interest in me,”
Houston says. “They joked with me, asked me
questions, and remembered the
answers the next time
I came in.”
Houston also took a childbirth preparation class at Methodist
Mansfield, where she learned from certified lactation consultants
about the importance of breastfeeding, as well as what to expect
during childbirth.
On the evening of Sept. 21, 2012, Houston came home from
work with a sore back.
“Since I was a month from my due date, I assumed it was just
normal back pain — or Braxton-Hicks contractions at most,”
Houston says.
Eventually, however, the pain got too strong. Nurses at
Methodist Mansfield’s emergency department confirmed
she was in labor. After spending the night at the hospital
with little progress, Dr. Chancellor recommended that the
couple go home to rest. Once Houston’s water broke, they
returned to the hospital.
Only an hour and 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital,
Houston gave birth to a beautiful little girl
named Kaitlyn Marie.
Ready for anything
Kaitlyn, however, was not breathing
well. In the hospital’s level IIIA
neonatal intensive care unit (NICU),
the nurses and neonatologists found
METHODIST MANSFIELD LABOR AND DELIVERY
When expecting is
unexpected
When Krista Houston visited her new OB-GYN,
Vella Chancellor, MD, for the first time in early 2012,
she had no reason to believe the visit would be an
unusual one. Then she heard these three words:
“Krista, you’re pregnant.”
6
Methodist Mansfield Medical Center
•
❁
Spring 2014
