Reagan McCall

The baby story that I know you have all been anxiously waiting for is finally here! On Wednesday, July 28th we made the drive to the hospital to have our beautiful baby girl. We checked in at 7:15 a.m. and within the hour I had my IV in and was getting pitocin (two tries on the IV...still sore!) My contractions weren't too bad and I was 5cm and 75% effaced so the prediction was that it wouldn't take long. Since I was GBS positive they wanted 4 hours of antibiotics on board before they broke my water. Let me tell you, the pain of penicillin traveling up my arm far outweighed the pain of any contraction felt through the whole thing which is really saying something. Not a fan of penicillin administered with an IV, hot packs and a slow drip are a must! At lunch time my OB came in and broke my water. There wasn't much change in my progress from that and not much water came out so the pitocin was upped yet again and I settled in for a few more hours of contractions. Around 3:30 the OB came back to check on me and decided to break my water again. This time she made sure it was broken! Within minutes my contractions were coming one right on top of another and about 3 times more intense than they had been. It was so painful that my whole body was shaking, after about 15 minutes I was begging for an epidural. The blessed anesthesiologist was there and getting set up. Unfortunately the first site he used got a blood vessel so it spiked my pulse and he had to do the whole thing over again in a different spot. It wasn't too bad except for the freaking contractions were coming the whole time and I couldn't hold my body still. Once those fabulous drugs kicked in I was given some much needed relief! After the epidural was going the nurse checked my progress again and I was almost 8 cm, but she could tell the baby was posterior (sunny-side up) which makes delivery harder. They helped me get into a different position (jack-knife) and we crossed our fingers that baby would turn herself around. A little while later (not sure what time) the OB came back and checked. I was 9 cm and 100% effaced with the baby's head in +1 position and she was no longer posterior! Good job Reagan:) The OB was surprised I wasn't begging to push yet! I could feel the pressure, but I wanted to be sure it was time. I was not planning on pushing for 20 years and I didn't want to force it before my body was all the way ready (figured that would be less damaging!) so I told her I wanted to wait a little longer to push. By 6:45 I was ready to push and the OB was back in the room. Once they were all set up and ready I got the go ahead to push! I pushed for about 9 minutes and after 4 good pushes my beautiful little girl was born!!!!! (As a side note, 9 minutes of pushing was way better than the 40 minutes I did with Jonathan!)

The scary moments were when she came out with the cord wrapped around her neck twice and her body once and that I had "excess" blood loss (in fact it got all over my mom's white pants! Sorry mom...) Otherwise the delivery went well and the healing process has gone way smoother than it did with Jonathan.

The best moments were right after she was born and they laid her on my chest. She stayed there with skin-to-skin for about a half hour and it was fabulous! It made all of it worth it. I was so glad that so many of my family were able to share in those precious moments with me. In addition to Andrew and my mom being there my sisters: Ashleigh, Chelsea, and Taylor and my SIL Crystal were able to be there too.

Reagan was born at 7:04 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. (exactly the same as Jonathan!) and was 20 inches long with a 14.5 inch head. She is long and skinny! She has been an excellent nurser since birth and at this point has been a pretty good sleeper too:) Both things that were not Jonathan's strong suit so, so far I am a lot saner.
If you want to see more pictures check them out on FB. Blogger is taking forever and I am too tired to deal with it:) I will blog more later about the changes her arrival has made in our family and the boys' reactions to her presence, but for now know that we are all healthy and happy.