Week One

Bill and I both knew that our lives were going to change after bringing sweet Reagan to the world.  What we didn't know was just how much ... 

We stay in the hospital until Thursday, May 4. We were glad to have some visitors to help us pass the time. We had awesome nurses who made the stay very comfortable.  Our last night there, I was having some blood pressure issues, so they took Reagan out of the room for a while and told me to sleep.  After crying because they took my baby away, I was able to catch about 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep.  It was wonderful.

We invited our Moms to our pizza dinner for 4 our last night at the hospital

Moments after birth, one of the nurses in the room told Bill and I that Reagan was tongue tied.  As long as we agreed, they would be able to clip her tongue while we were in the hospital.  Of course, we agreed. 

While in the hospital, we were notified that Reagan failed not just one, but both of the hearing tests.  We are being referred to a pediatric ENT to check in on her hears.  Also, we had noticed that Reagan's right foot turned in.  It's obvious that this is due to the way her legs were positioned while she was inside of me.  After bringing it up to the pediatrician at the hospital, he ordered xrays and we have an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.  We were assured that it shouldn't require surgery.  We hope and pray that it's something that will correct itself. 

We had our first appointment with Reagan's pediatrician on Friday morning.  She noticed the Reagan was looking a little yellow, so she sent us straight over to the lab to get her bilirubin tested.  When we left the hospital on Thursday, her level was 9.9 which was low to moderate risk.  A couple hours after the lab test, her pediatrician called to tell us her level was 15.2 which was a high risk.  She wasn't high enough to need light therapy yet, so we were to keep feeding her every 2 hours and go back to the hospital Saturday morning to test her level again. 

After the lab Saturday morning, we get a call that her number is 16.1 which was still high, but not high enough for therapy, so we were to go back Sunday and have it tested. My sister and her family made it over to meet Reagan on Saturday.

On Sunday, we took Reagan to her very first mass.  We were so excited for her to meet Fr. Joe and to experience this "first".  She slept through the entire mass.  After church, we headed to the hospital to get her blood drawn again.  Our poor baby had so many heel sticks.  A couple of hours later, we got a call from the pediatrician that her level was 18.2 and we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.  We were going to be admitted for light therapy and we could be there from 1-2 nights. 

Let me just tell you that I was a wreck.  I was frantically packing up what we had at my Mom's house and just crying.  The hospital was the last place I wanted to be with my brand new baby.  I didn't even know what to expect.  When we got there, we were placed in a room with an incubator.  The hospital pediatrician came in and told us that Reagan was to stay in the incubator.  We were to feed her, burp her, and change her while she laid in there under the lights.  They put "sunglasses" on her and in she went.  At first, she just laid there and rested.  She seemed to really enjoy the warmth, and her bilirubin was so high, she was almost like a lifeless baby.  That night was HARD.  For about 2 hours, Reagan was fussy and cried.  It killed my Momma heart that I couldn't just pick up my baby girl and comfort her.  I cried so many tears that night.  I knew that this was a common thing for babies to be jaundice and to need therapy, but that didn't help me at that moment when all I wanted to do was snuggle my baby girl. 

On Monday morning, they came to stick her heel again to check her level.  About noon, the hospital pediatrician  came in and said her level was 13.6, so we were going to take her out from the lights and just hang out until about 6 to check her level again.  I said "so you mean I can hold her?" and he said yes.  That was all I needed.  I jumped up, took her out of the incubator and just held on to my baby so tight. Bill and I just hung out in the hospital that day.  We both tried to catch a nap when we could, and we hoped and prayed her level stayed down so we would be able to go home.  Around 6 that night, they came to stick her again and we waited (For what seemed like forever)for the results.  Finally, around 8 pm on Monday, we were discharged and headed home!  It sure was a long day, and the worst news was that Bill had to head back to work the next morning. 

The moment I could finally hold my baby again!

On Tuesday, I called the pediatrician to set up a follow up appointment.  We were to go back there on Wednesday for a weight check. Tuesday afternoon, Grandma Laury and Debby came to meet Reagan.  It was such a sweet and precious moment to watch Laury snuggle on Reagan.  

After they left, I received a call from her pediatrician.  One of the newborn screenings done at the hospital came back abnormal.  It was the fatty acid screening.  I was to take Reagan back to the hospital on Wednesday for a retest.  After calling Bill to share the news, I got off the phone, laid on the couch with Reagan on my chest and just cried.  I felt like we'd only been receiving news about her failing tests in her first week of life.  The sweetest part was Reagan reached up and rubbed my cheek while I was crying.  She knew that I was upset. 

Week one sure was a busy one!  We didn't even have time to settle in at home before Bill went back to work.  Thankfully, he only had 14 more days until he would be off for the summer. 

We continued to thank God for Reagan as well as ask Him to help guide us through these tests and screenings that Reagan had failed.  

There's nothing like easing your way into being a worrying Momma! 

May 2, 2017

Tuesday, May 2, 2017 is a day that will go down in history as one of the best days of my life.  This is the day I gave birth to my second baby, but this time it was a crying, breathing baby. 

I just realized that I never did an "official" blog post announcing our pregnancy but included it into our "Ode to 2016" post, so get ready for a long, long post ... 

Let's start at the beginning:

Friday, September 16, 2016 - I took a pregnancy test and got a positive result.  I immediately woke Bill up. We were shocked, scared, happy, excited, nervous, and everything in between.  How did we celebrate you ask?  By eating left over birthday cake. I had a small cake left over from my birthday that we put in the freezer. I told Bill that we would eat it when we got a positive pregnancy test.  Leave it to Bill to say (after our initial shock was over) "Go get the %^$$#$%# cake!" :) 

October 14 - Exactly 3 months after Kendyn was born, we were headed to the OB office for our very first ultrasound.  It was amazing to see another little life growing inside of me, but needless to say, the nerves were going strong. Would this baby be one that we get to bring home? 

October 28 - I decided that I just couldn't keep this news to ourselves anymore.  Very few family members and friends knew, but I was ready for the "Facebook world" to know. I knew that the more people who knew would be the more people who would say prayers for a happy, healthy baby.  At this point, this was all I wanted. 

November 8 - We had our first appoint with Dr. Abrams, a high risk OB.  Our plan was to meet with him and set up a time for him to put in a cerclage.  This would hold my cervix shut to prevent this baby from "falling out" like Kendyn did.  I was so nervous, but I knew this would have to be done. 

Monday, November 21 - This was the big day.  We had to be at the hospital extra early so they could get me prepped for getting the cerclage put in.  I had the IV, the anesthesia, and I was laying on the operating table waiting for this quick procedure to happen.  Right as the Dr. was getting ready to begin, I started significantly bleeding.  The dr. had not even touched me yet.  The panic on his face filled me with fear.  Were we going to be able to keep this baby?  He immediately got an ultrasound machine and found a heartbeat right away.  He wasn't sure what happened or why, but the most important part was this baby was still alive.  After multiple ultrasounds and an overnight stay, it was determined that I had a fairly large blood clot in my uterus. This baby was fine and we were also told at 13 weeks and 6 days that we were having another GIRL!  

We made a follow up appointment and our plan was to just monitor my cervix with ultrasounds to be sure that it wasn't shortening. First, we were only going to have utrasounds every other week, but the dr. could tell how nervous I was, so he ordered ultrasounds weekly.  Every Thursday or Friday from the end of November to the end of February, I was able to go see my girl growing.  One would think we'd have these wonderful 3D images of her after all of these ultrasounds, but she ALWAYS had her hands in front of her face. 

After I reached 28 weeks, it was determined that I could continue to have ultrasounds every 4 weeks to monitor the growth.  This was hard for me to transition from once a week to waiting 4 weeks to see her, but thanks to trusting in God and feeling her move, I was able to make it through.  

Fast forward to Wednesday, April 19.  I'd officially reached 35 weeks which was a milestone in itself. At this point, Dr. Byrkit (my regular OB) would deliver the baby in Decatur. She said I could have the baby anytime, but she really preferred that I made it to May 3 when I would officially be full term at 37 weeks. 

Saturday, April 22 - I was having contractions pretty regularly.  I thought they were real contractions (looking back, I now know differently).  We went to Labor and Delivery and were sent home.  They said I may have been dehydrated which could've caused that to happen.  I felt real stupid for going on a false alarm (even though I know it happens often) and I told Bill we were NOT going back to labor and delivery until it was go time. 

April 26 - 36 weeks.  Dr. Byrkit assured me that I just needed to stay pregnant for 7 more days ... and also said she was going out of the country May 19 so I needed to have the baby before that .. haha

My last "awkward" pregnant pic - 36 weeks

Which brings us to Monday, May 1.  I'd had a very crazy day at work and left there very frustrated.  I actually told one of my teaching partners before leaving "let's hope my water breaks tonight, and I won't be back ... haha... that won't happen" Can we just say famous last words?

To spare the details, I felt some trickling after school and wasn't sure if it was my water breaking or not.  After checking in with some of my "go to's", I was assured that I would definitely know if my water broke.  It would be a big gush.  I had some contractions off and on that evening, but nothing consistent. 

Tuesday, May 2 at 36 weeks and 6 days (I missed being full term by 14 hours and 10 minutes) - 1:11 am - I wake up to the same trickling  feeling.  I woke up Bill and told him I guess we should go get checked out.  I just KNEW they were going to send us  home, but after having this happen twice, I just wanted to be sure it was nothing.  I told Bill we didn't need the carseat or the hospital bag because they weren't going to keep us. Luckily, he threw in the bag.  

We got to the hospital shortly after 1:30 and what do you know, the exact same nurses were there that were there on the 22 when we went.  Now I really feel dumb!  They did a test to check for amniotic fluid and let me know I was dilated to a 2 almost 3. It seemed like forever before test results came back, but in fact, my water was leaking. The whole bag hadn't broken but it was leaking.  We were being admitted.  I looked at Bill "Oh my gosh .... we're having a baby" 

We were moved to a room and were waiting to get an IV. Due to my crazy veins, anesthesia had to come in to get an IV.  I got a bag of fluids and we were waiting until 5 to see what my body did on its own.  At 5, I was still dilated to a 3 but was getting softer.  They started me on pitocin. The nurse said "now we start on the smallest dose and will bump it up every 20 minutes.  Usually, we're in here 2 or 3 more times before anything really happens"  Let's just say my body reacts to that stuff like crazy!  Within 5-10 minutes I was having HARD contractions.  These were real and painful.  Some in my back and some not ... wowsers!  The nurse came back and was shocked. At this point I was dilated to a 5.They called anesthesia back for the epidural. Of course, that felt like an eternity to me.  I was in tears at times trying to breathe through these.  Finally, anesthesia came and the epidural kicked in.  I was so relaxed, I almost went back to sleep.  Contractions kept coming but I barely felt them. Next time the nurses came in, I was up to an 8 and our girl's head was trying to come out.  Dr. Byrkit was in a csection so we called her and were just "waiting'.  Soon, the baby's heart rate dropped. They put an oxygen mask on me, and I started getting nervous.  It was go time.  After 50 minutes of pushing off and on, Miss Reagan Michelle Miller was born at 9:50 am weighing 6 lbs 11 oz and 19.5 inches long.  She came out crying and her eyes were wide open.  Oh my heart .... instantly melted looking at this precious, breathing baby that really was ours... 

My mom ended up making it to the hospital before she was born.  She recored the birth (PG) and I am SOOOOO thankful.  Bill was able to be next to me and coach me through this and my Mom was there to snap the pictures I wanted.  The first time I watched the video, I just sat and bawled.  Life is just a miracle ... an amazing miracle! 

The moments after that are such a blur.  I held and snuggled my girl, fed her, had skin to skin and just stared at her in awe.  This precious girl really was mine.  The dream of having a baby that I got to take home had become a reality .... Amazing! 

Bill and I with both of our miracle girls

I will stop here and create another post on her first week.