Reagan Elle Jeans
August 21, 2013
10:22 am
7 lbs 3 oz
18.5 in
On Tuesday, August 20th I drove Wyatt over to his friend's house to play and decided to stay home with Kenley. I figured she and I could just hang out and give my mom a little break. After I dropped Wyatt off, I quickly ran into the grocery store (breaking bed rest rules slightly, but we needed just a few things). When I got home around 10:30 am I thought that I might have leaked some fluid. I wasn't sure, so I called the doctor and told the nurse. They told me to go into labor and delivery to get everything checked out. I first had to run to Chris's office to drop off Kenley and then I went over to Baylor McKinney. I was pretty sure I'd just be wasting time and then get sent home feeling silly. They were pretty sure I wasn't losing fluids and so they decided not to send any tests to the lab. Baby girl was sounding great and so I felt good and headed home.
By the tune I got home Chris had picked up Wyatt and put him and Kenley to bed for their nap and then went back to work. I took a nice long nap while they slept and then woke up around 4:30 when a friend came by to drop off dinner for us which I quickly put in the oven. Then I was once again pretty sure I was leaking fluid. This time I was almost positive that my water had broke, but I had no other signs of labor and I was paranoid that I'd be going in again and they would think I was crazy. So, I decided that I was at least going to be prepared if this was my water breaking. I took a shower, started packing my bag, and in between was texting Chris and my mom to decide what to do. I decided to call labor and delivery. They said to call the after hours number for my doctor. The on call doctor said that I had to go in because of several different reasons. So I told Chris after dinner we needed to head back over to the hospital. I also called my mom and had her come over to watch the kids. I still wasn't sure what was going on, but I was going to be as prepared as possible.
I knew that IF my water had broken that I'd be meeting my sweet baby soon, but I also knew that I'd most likely be induced since labor hadn't started on its own. I was induced with Wyatt and I am not a fan one bit of Pitocin. I swear it could be used as a torture drug. Who wants to sit in the hospital being pumped full of meds that make your body contract. I was dealing with a number of mixed emotions.
This time the Labor & Delivery nurses acted like there was no doubt my water had broken and after checking things out with some tests it was confirmed, my water had in fact already broke. I was told I would be staying the night. My nurses were great and I was feeling fine so we got to hang out quite a bit while they got me set up with an IV and everything else. We were moved from the L&D triage room to a delivery room and after getting settled in were told my doctor had ordered the induction for 5 am. Once we were settled my mom and friend, Ashley, came to visit and hang out while Ashley's mom stayed at my house with the kids for a bit.
My goal was for my body to take over and labor to start to avoid being induced so Chris and I walked around the hospital. We made several passes by the nursery and this definitely got us excited to meet our girl. I prayed and prayed for things to start. I was really scared this time. With Wyatt, I had no idea what anything would be like and that might have been a blessing. I was induced with him and ended up with an epidural. With Kenley, I was sent home early in the day and told that when I couldn't walk or talk I was in real labor and it could take a week longer. I was so afraid I was being a baby that I ended up staying home too long and ended up at the hospital dilated to a 9.5. Yikes, but I made it without the epidural, which was what I really wanted. However, I didn't have a choice at that point. So this time I knew what induction felt like, I really wanted to not use pain meds (I'm not against pain meds, but I don't like how I feel after the epidural), and I was SCARED. So I prayed and I googled. I don't recommend googling for support in this situation, because you will get lots of info about how painful Pitocin makes labor!
So then it was time to get some sleep for the big day ahead. I started feeling contractions, which are always felt in my back, but the nurse couldn't see them on the monitors. So I assumed I was just making myself think I was contracting. But I couldn't sleep either way. It wasn't too painful, but I was excited, nervous, and it was enough to not be able to focus on sleep. Luckily, my blood pressure was cooperating and looking good. This was huge because I wanted them to let me move around during labor and if my BP was high I wouldn't be able to.
At some point in the middle of the night I started getting a migraine. This freaked me out the most. I felt like I was trying to prepare for a marathon and was trying to get in the right frame of mind and now this. There was no way I could labor with a migraine. I'd totally throw in the towel and be asking them to wheel me to the operating room. Anyways, I called the nurse in and she called my doctor and he ordered me medicine for it. I've had this twice in the past few weeks because all of a sudden my migraines weren't getting under control with oral meds. Since I had the IV, she put the medicine in it and it worked FAST! Whew!
At 5am, I was surprisingly at a 2! So I was having some contractions! BUT they still went ahead with the Pitocin to make sure things continued. I told the nurse that I was ready for it to be daytime because I was hurting a bit and I wanted to get moving around. I was really kind of starting to hurt from the contractions all night and tired of laying there, but I didn't want to admit that things were hurting all ready. She was so sweet and acted like it was no big deal and I could do whatever I wanted. She went and got me a battery so that my monitors could be unhooked and I could walk around. I was so relieved. I woke Chris up and told him let's get moving. So off we went making our rounds just walking and talking. Then we headed back to the room.
At 7 am, it was shift change. We always get so attached to the nurses and are sad for them to leave, but the next nurse was just as sweet. She came in and sat down and talked to me about what I wanted. She knew the goal was as natural as possible and she told me all the things I could do - use a ball to sit on, use the fancy shower, etc. Then she discussed all my pain management options. She was a Red Raider, too, so we were a great pair.
Around 8 am, Dr. Joseph stopped by to check on me and say "hi." He told me he had a C-section scheduled at noon so he imagined he'd see me after that. The nurse told him she thought it would be late afternoon. Shortly after he left I was sitting in the rocking chair in the room just trying to focus and breathe. I was hurting, but it was way too early in my mind to be hurting so I just kept trying not to tell anyone how bad I felt. Chris was great. I think I'm pretty low maintenance during most of laboring. I rocked in the chair. He had a music playlist going and I just wanted him to be there. The pain kept increasing and the monitors weren't picking up baby very well so I had to get in the bed for awhile.
After awhile in the bed, I started wanting to discuss pain management. It was getting bad and I was DONE. At the same time, baby still wasn't being picked up on the monitor too well so they decided to have a doctor that was there come put a monitor on her head and he would check to see where we were and then we could discuss pain.
So at about 9 am, I had 2 nurses in there and when the doctor checked he said I was at an 8!!! Everyone was shocked! That gave me a glimmer of hope and everyone's encouragement made me ready to finish it out without any medication.
So then things got REALLY painful. The next hour and a half was brutal, but I tried my hardest to focus and breathe. I was so close to meeting our girl and it was going exactly how I had prayed. However, at this moment I was praying for it to be over! My mom came just in time for the worst part and she and Chris alternated cool cloths on my forehead. Dr. Joseph had been called back as soon as they knew I was at an 8 and so he was out by the nurses station ready to go.
All of a sudden it was time and once again Dr. Joseph got to come running in while throwing on his delivery outfit. The nurses thought we had a little longer, but Miss Reagan was ready and at 10:22 am we met our sweet girl.
She was my first baby that got to be immediately placed on my chest and it was so great to get to see her right away. Wyatt needed a little oxygen and Kenley had swallowed some meconium so both of them had to get checked real quick and then Chris got to hold them first.
Wyatt couldn't wait to come meet his littlest sister. He hadn't slept all night because he knew she was coming soon and asked my mom approximately every hour if she was here yet. So he couldn't wait to come in and meet her (and he needed to get home for some sleep) so he came in to the recovery room to see us. He fell in love immediately. You will never see this boy more proud than when he's with his sisters. He is the best big brother ever.
Poor Kenley was sick the previous day and still sick so she didn't get to really meet Reagan until we got home. We felt so bad that she didn't get to be more a part of everything, but knew that she was well taken care of with Grammy. I'll post more later about us getting settled in as a family of 5, but this post is already long so I'll end it here for now.
Reagan is absolutely precious and we are so in love with her. I'll be posting lots of pictures soon.
1 comment:
I loved Miss Reagan's birth story! Congratulations on your new baby girl!! XOXO
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