Reagan's a model already!

Reagan had her newborn photo shoot last week, at 7 days old. I give all kudos to Nichol Photography! They were AMAZING with her! We will be going back to them for sure! Thought I would share her slideshow!

http://animoto.com/play/5yFHPDa7SrQfZzzFvjOsxQ

Reagan's Birth Story

Well here are a few pictures from Reagan's first few days of life outside my belly. I thought I would share our story of my baby girl's birth.

After a night of not much sleep (4 hours to be exact), my alarm went off at 4:30am. I got a shower and packed up the last few min things that I couldn't pack until then and we had a relaxing morning getting ready. We had to be at the hospital at 6am for an 8am csection.

We arrived to the hospital by 6, got checked in, weighed ( I had already lost 4lbs since the weekend of being sick), and we were off to our room. We were in room 436 and I was told to get my gown on, and got all hooked up to the fetal monitors. We went over some paperwork, had some blood drawn and got my IV hooked up. We had a few doctors come in, anestesia came by t talk to me about what to expect with a spinal and a few nurses came in. By this point it was after 7am, and we were just waiting for Dr. D to come and get me for surgery.

Around 7:50, Dr. D came in and asked me if I was ready, any questions ect. I was wheeled down the hall and got into OR at 8:07am. They put in my spinal, and it was HEAVEN! The numbing cream burned but honestly wasn't too bad. Within a few min I was totally numb from the breasts down. It was better than the epidural was last time. I have never had that feeling before that I had ZERO control of the bottom half of my body.

Within about 10 min, Todd was brought in and sat beside me, holding my hand, and they started. Todd got to watch the entire thing, from first incision to last stitch. He was amazed at how rough they were with me, yet I felt nothing but a tiny bit of pressure.

At 8:30am, we heard a tiny muffled scream. The doctors and nurses were all laughing that she was still in her sack, still in my belly, yet screaming. We could hear her already while she was still inside me! I had tears streaming down my face, and at 8:31am, Reagan Eileen made her appearance. She was still screaming and it was the most amazing sound ever. They held her up for me to see her, and she looked exactly like Carter! Todd was told he could go over to the warmer with her while they finished working on me.

Within about 10-15 min Todd rejoined me with Reagan in his arms. I could not get over how much she looked like her big brother.

By 9am we were in recovery, with baby girl in my arms. We nursed within 10 min of being in recovery and she hasn't stopped nursing since :) We were back in our room by 11:30 and had our first visitors starting at 12!

Introducing, Miss Reagan Eileen

She's here! Reagan graced up with her presence at 8:31am. She weighed in at a tiny 8lbs 1/2oz, 20 in long, and a full head of dark hair. I will post more about her birth later, but for now, she is perfect in every way :)

Reflecting

I can't believe we are one day away from Reagan's arrival. This has been the day marked on the calendar for months now. This is the day we have been planning for and looking forward to. And now that it's almost here, I can't believe it.

I laid on the couch this morning feeling her move around and I thought, wow, this time tomorrow she will be in my arms, not in my belly anymore. It's so hard to believe. I am so excited to meet her, and see who she looks like and if she has as much hair as Carter did, and how big she is (she feels like she's 9lbs).

But a part of me is also sad. Sad that I won't have her all to myself anymore, that I have to share her. Sad for Carter that he won't have us all to himself anymore. And sad that this could quite possibly be the last time I am pregnant.

We had a long road getting pregnant this time, and we decided that we want a third, but only if God is willing to give one to us. We won't be going the extra mile with doctors and testing and such this time around. I might never carry a baby inside of me again, and that makes me really sad and wish I had really taken more time to enjoy this pregnancy.

We check in tomorrow morning at 6am, surgery scheduled for 8am. I am ready physically and hopefully by tomorrow, emotionally too

Not the weekend I envisioned

I woke up Saturday morning around 3am feeling pretty sick to my stomach. I then spent the next 8 hours throwing up. Todd took Carter to his moms to get him out of the house, my mom came up and took me to the ER. They sent me straight to Labor and Delivery. I got all hooked up to the monitors to see I was contracting about every 5 min.

The Dr got me hooked up with some IV's and some glorious nausea meds through the iv. I was feeling much better not long after. They took some blood, did a urinalysis, did an exam and told me to rest.

The urinalysis came back with some bacteria, blood worked showed I was severly dehydrated. After two rounds of nausea meds, 3 bags of fluids and 6 hours in triage, they admitted me since i was still feeling pretty sick and my bloodwork still wasn't clear and I had a fever. baby's heartrate was a little high for a while, so the were watching her closely and checking me for everything under the sun.

Long story short, I ended up taking 4 rounds of nausea meds, 6 bags of fluids, 1 bag of glucose and 1 bag of potassium. I was sent home just over 24 hours from getting there, and although I feel as if I need toothpicks to hold my eyes open, I do feel alot better. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be good as new, just in time for baby girl's appearance in 3 days!

Light at the end of the Tunnel

Well, I had my LAST OB apt yesterday for Miss Reagan! I can't believe I am here at this point already. Today is my last day of work, and then it's baby time! I am only working a half day today, and then I think I might go find Carter some fun outside things to play with this weekend. It's going to be too beautiful to be cooped up inside.

This week was a very trying week for us. Tuesday when I picked Carter up from daycare, he was not acting himself. When we got home he was a tad warm, but I figured since he had been playing outside he was just warm from that. Then he fell asleep on me, which is unlike him. So I woke him up around 7pm, he was on fire. I took his temp, 102, gave him some Tylenol and just watched him get more and more upset. We finally got him to bed, and i quickly followed knowing it was probably going to be a rough night. Todd and I decided he would stay home with Carter as this was my last week of work before baby. Around 11pm, Todd started feeling rather sick, threw up and had a rough night. So now I was taking care of TWO sick kids, yet I was still pregnant!

So I ended up staying home Wednesday with both of them. Carter has strep, We think Todd had either the flu or food poisoning. Thursday I was off anyway, but had a Dr apt so Todd watched carter during my apt and then home to take care of my sicko. Todd went back to work, feeling totally fine.

MY OB apt was uneventful for the most part. Everyone was taking guesses at how big she will be next week, I heard everything from 8lbs 12oz-9lbs 4oz.... I guess time will tell. I am thinking she will be about 8lbs 13oz.....

So now we wait. My cousin, Brandi, is at the hospital right now being induced with her little man Peyton. I can't wait to see pictures and hear all about him!

3 days

Take a look at the pics above. One was taken on May 20th (pink shirt) and the other on May 23rd (bare belly). I can't believe how much I have dropped in 3 days... I have been contracting for the last almost 4 hours, timeable for about an hour or so and then sporadic, then timeable, now no contractions but back pain and pain in my thighs/pelvis..... UGH! COME ON REAGAN