Raegan

Raegan Alexa made her grand entry into the world on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013 at 11:40 pm weighing 7 lbs 2oz, and 20.5 inches long.
Friday night I started having mild contractions about 10 minutes apart, I was sure they were the real thing right from the start, these were very different from the ones I have felt before! They lasted pretty much all night and most of the day on Saturday which was fun since Josh had to work and it was just me and Liam all day. By 4pm they were getting to be stronger and about 6-8 minutes apart, when Josh got home at 5:30 we decided to go ahead and call our friends from church who were going to watch Liam just to let them know we might be going to the hospital later. We ate supper, got our bags together, I took a shower,then called Amy back to let her know we needed them to pick up Liam. We got the the hospital around 8:30 my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart and had been for 2 hours so we got checked in and the labor & delivery nurse came and got us and took us up to our room. My blood pressure was super high, 185/90, I was still only 1 cm dilated but I was 50% effaced, they wanted me to stay a few hours to see what my blood pressure was going to do, after an hour I was 1.5 cm, and my blood pressure was still high. I got a bag of fluid and had to walk for an hour. My blood pressure was better but not perfect and I had made no change so they gave me a shot for pain and sent us home. We were supposed to monitor my b/p and come back if it got too high. We got home about 3 am my pain shot lasted for almost an hour then the real pain started, this was even worse than before, but I didn't want to go back to the hospital just to be sent home again so we waited it out...practiced our breathing, Josh did much better at this than I did, but I guess it helped some. By 10 I could not take it any more so we went back to the hospital, this time I went in my PJ's all I did was brush my teeth, I guess that's how you know you are really really ready to go to the hospital. This time I was 80% effaced and 3 cm so I got to stay. After an hour I was 4 cm and by 1 I had an epidural which is AMAZING! No pain at all and I got to sleep for the first time in 3 days it was wonderful! Around 6 I was at 5 cm still so they gave me pitocin to speed things up wow it did by 7 I felt like I had never had the epidural it was awful! Finally after trying to increase the dose and give me a separate dose the anesthesiologist came back and gave me another dose of the 1st part of the epidural which is the part that numbs you, the one you are actually hooked to the whole time is just to keep you numb. After that I couldn't feel anything again thank God but within an hour I was shaking so bad and I couldn't stop and I was throwing up, great...the nurse checked me and hour before I was 8 cm and now I was 10 and ready to push, no wonder I was shaking apparently throwing up is a great way to speed up labor. My doctors were there in no time, I pushed for an hour and we had our angel. The whole process was so much faster and easier than I had ever dreamed.
They took Raegan to the nursery to do her newborn workup and give her a bath, Josh got to give her the first bath and stay while they got all her measurements. I got to eat finally!!! They moved us to our postpartum room around 2:30 and we got Raegan back around 4:30, the doctors and staff started their round about 6 so no sleep that night but we got a few naps during the day. After the 2nd dose of epidural I wasn't able to feel anything until around noon so I was in the bed most of the day but I eventually did get to get up and take a shower and walk a little.
Raegan is doing amazing, she is starting to sleep at night for about 3 hours at a time which is so much better than the 20-30 minutes we were getting. Her newborn check up went well, she is just perfect. She is now 6 lbs 6oz.
Liam is still not to happy about sharing his mama and daddy, he is very whiny and clingy and keeps getting himself into trouble trying to get attention. He is adjusting pretty well though, he got to hold her and that really helped, he likes the help with her pacifier and give her kisses (it is too cute).
I am doing great, I didn't have any trouble, I have not really been any different from before, I have been up and moving since I have been able to feel my legs. We went for a walk around the neighborhood yesterday which was great! My feet are super swollen but I think the walk helped. We are all doing much better since we have gotten some sleep! We are not supposed to be around a lot of people or let many people hold her until she is a month old since it is flu season and all so please don't be offended if we say no, we just don't want to take any chances on getting sick. It will probably be a few weeks before we are back to church, I am nervous about taking her around so many people, we may wait the whole month.

39 weeks

What a very crazy time this is! We are only a week away from welcoming our baby girl into this world! I think we are pretty much as ready as we can be but I am sure we still have no idea what we will really need until she is here, I have gotten so much great advice from my friends and family, I am so thankful to have you all. I went to the doctor today, I am 1cm dilated, not that it really means much since some women spend weeks at 1 cm but it’s good to know that after weeks of contractions I have made it to 1 cm finally…..now only 9 more to go. My doctor scheduled my induction date for Friday Jan. 18^th, I will go in at 8pm and be induced early Saturday morning and hopefully have a baby by Saturday evening if all goes well unless of course she comes before then which would be great!  Josh will have a 4 day weekend that weekend so he will already be off work and then he is planning to take a couple of weeks off to stay home with me and the kiddos. I am so very thankful he had a job that allows him to be home for the birth, there are so many soldiers who have had to miss the birth of their children. We are very blessed that he is home.

Our plans have changed a lot in the past week.  Originally my mom and my sister were going to be able to come down for about a week a piece to help us out with the baby but my mom found out she had a blockage in her heart and needed to have a Cath and possibly a stent put in. When they went into do the cath they found that there were several blockages and weren’t able to do the stent. She is going to have to be sent to a different hospital to have open heart surgery; we should know more about that next week.  My sisters both live very close and will be able to help her with whatever she needs in the weeks to come which make me feel a lot better since I cannot travel right now or for a few weeks after Raegan is born. I know she is disappointed that she will not be able to visit but I am very glad that they found the blockages before there were any serious problems.  There will be plenty of time for visiting after she has recovered plus she will probably feel a lot better which will make her visit even more enjoyable. We are planning to go to KY in late Feb anyway so it won’t be long before everyone gets to meet our baby girl anyway.

I have had a lot of people here offer to help which makes me feel a lot better just knowing that if I am exhausted or feel like I am in over my head I will have someone to call. I know that it makes my mom feel better to knowing that even though she cannot be here there are people here willing to help me out. I am pretty confident that we will be fine and dandy but it’s always nice to know there is help out there if you need it….even though I am not very good at admitting that I need it sometimes.

Liam is starting Mother’s Day Out on Wednesday he was originally going to go on Monday’s but they are pretty full on Monday’s and asked if we cared to go Wed. instead which is no problem, it actually works better since I will have a break halfway through the week. I am so excited for him to start going, I think he will love getting to spend the time with kids his age and he will be learning and playing, he is so social already it will be good for him. Me on the other hand, I have not spent more than a few hours away from him in 3 months so I may just sit out in the parking lot and cry the whole time he is there hahaha it will be good though, especially with Raegan being here too. I have to brag a little on Liam, he is learning to speak English so quickly, this morning he sang all of head and shoulders, knees and toes J he also counts all the way to 2 J He has really been trying to put sentences together, so far he gets a few words like mommy’s shoes and daddy’s car but more than 2 words in a row and we are lost on what he is saying but he is really getting close. He knows what he is saying anyway. He is doing great about using the potty, loves to wash his hands and brush his teeth, he is learning to say please and thank you and excuse me,” bless you” He has down pat he fakes sneezing all the time just so he can say bless you, its cute. I am so proud, he is just so stinking smart. He got his first busted lip this week, I can’t believe it has taken his so long with all the falling he does but we had blood everywhere, he fell running through the kitchen and got his mouth good, but he only cried for about 3 minutes then he was more interested in trying to eat the rest of his cookie than the fact that mama was trying to stop the bleeding…..its healing nicely though it didn’t swell up huge or anything like I thought it would but it looks terrible. I still cannot believe he has only been with us a little over 3 months, it just seems like forever. Someone once told me I would never be able to love him like I would my “own” child well here is news for them. I cannot imagine being able to love anyone any more than we love Liam. I actually have no idea how a heart can love someone so much and I am about to find out what it’s like times 2 in a week.  We have been so blessed by having him as our child, a lot of people say its him that is lucky or blessed but I think the real blessing has been for us, he has brought us together as a family, he has brought so much happiness, he has really strengthened our relationship with each other and with God, it is amazing how much love he has brought into our lives. God chose him just for us without a doubt.