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.