Reagan Nicole Clark was born December 26, 2014 at 10:59pm. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. I was 41 weeks and 1 day. She is so perfect! Here is the birth story according to me…I will have Bryce try to write his down because his is a different version ;)
Before Induction:
When I was 36 weeks I had my doctor check me and I was not dilated at all. I was sad but I was still early that it wasn't a big deal. I skipped being checked at 37 weeks and was rechecked at 38. Still not dilated. I wanted to have her on 12/13/14 since that was the last consecutive date ever, but she didn't like that idea. Then at 39 and 40 weeks I still wasn't dilated! I was really nervous because I didn't want her to be born on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and my mom and sisters were coming on the 26th! I talked with my doctor and she said I could potentially be induced on the 23rd (FESTIVUS) but it was risky since my body wasn't showing signs of being ready and I could possibly deliver on the 24th or 25th. When it came down to it we decided Friday morning would be the day of induction.
Dec 26th: Bryce and I head to the hospital at 7:15am. Fill out paperwork and go get things started. The first step was to use Cytotec to see if we could get my cervix to start dilating and then start pitocin. With using the cytotec we had to wait 4 hours and then decide what to do next based off my bodies reaction. At 12:15 I was having contractions pretty consistently but when I was checked I was still not dilated. They couldn't give me another dose of cytotec because of the contractions being close together and they couldn't start pitocin because I wasn't dilated yet. My doctor decided to just wait a little longer to see if my body would make progress on it's own. Also, at this time Taylor went to the airport to get my mom and sisters.
Around 1:30 my mom got to the hospital so I filled her in on what was happening. The nurse came in and went over a couple of options on what we could do since my cervix wasn't changing but we were still waiting to see if my body would do it on it's own. Around 4:00ish my doc came in and wanted to check me and said I was a 3-4! She then decided to break my water! Reagan was just waiting for her Granny to come before she could come out :)
Contractions started to come longer and harder so I decided to get an epidural. That happened around 6:00. Everything went smoothly! I was so nervous though my legs were shaking but it was super easy and not painful at all. But, once they got it in it wasn't working and only made my feet numb and the anesthesiologist wasn't happy with how I was reacting to my contractions so he took it out and replaced it. (He is also in our stake). After that one was in I was all numb and was happy! Between changing out my epidural I was checked at was 5 cm and 60% effaced. A little bit later I was rechecked and was 5cm and 90%. Things were progressing!
Around 9:45 my doctor came back and was nervous because my contractions were slowing down so she wanted to see where I was at and when she checked me she looked up and said "You're Complete! Let's have a baby!" I went from a 5 to a 10 in about 4 hours! I was so nervous I started shaking again and started crying because it all seemed so surreal! I was also nervous it was going to hurt even though I couldn't feel anything!
We started pushing and I was sooooo numb it was hard. I would try to push and it wasn't ever the right push so I had to change what I was doing even though I couldn't feel it. After a little bit I realized if my mom and Bryce could hold my legs and push my back forward I could get the push just right. After about an hour of pushing Reagan was born! Bryce was able to cut the cord and they laid her on my chest while they finished up down there. She was just crying and crying, it was so cute! After I was all cleaned up they took her and weighed her (my moms guess of her weight was right). Bryce then took my mom home and I started to breastfeed and she latched on like a champ! We haven't had trouble with it, so I'm excited about that!
Around 1:00am We were put in my postpartum room and things have been going well since! She is so sweet and so loved by her grandparents and aunts and uncles! I am obsessed with her and so glad she is here and so glad she wasn't born on Christmas!
