Raegan Evelyn Lilja

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, 

I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 

Thursday February 6th, 2014 at 9:07 pm we were blessed with the greatest gift ever imaginable, Raegan Evelyn Lilja at a whopping 7lbs 5oz and 21 in long. She is absolutely 100% perfect and we are head over heels in love with her. 

Wed AM, 2/5/14 (Due date) 40weeks

Rewind to Tuesday February 4th...(skip this part if you don't want to read about my induction and labor!)

I was at my 40 week apt (after a long morning working on a school project and a quick visit to my friend Bri's work) and my blood pressure was running a little high. (I wonder why?!) My Dr. was on call that day and she decided that since it was the 3rd week in a row that my Bp was creeping up that it might be a good day to have a baby! (I without hesitation agreed!!!) So I was headed over to labor and delivery to have my Bp monitored with the potential to be induced if it stayed elevated.  Well my Bp stayed up there (not dangerously high, but enough to warrant inducing me) so I was admitted to room M473 and little did I know I was going to have to get quite comfy in that tiny little room before I met my daughter... I was dilated 1 cm with a long road ahead of me!  Chad made his way down to the hospital (thanks for the ride Andy!) and we hunkered in for some fun.  We ordered Davanni's Pizza and watched some of our favorite tuesday nigh TV shows.  I was given Cervidil to help dilate me with the hope of starting Pitocin Wednesday morning. It was a long night for both Chad and I, but we had a great night nurse who let me sleep (when I could) and gave me some good meds to keep me comfy. Wednesday morning we said goodbye to my main Doctor and welcomed a new one.  The plan was to let me get up and shower (or in my case take a bubble bath), eat breakfast and then we would start Pitocin.  Wednesday afternoon rolls around with no progress made, I had sent Chad home to workout, shower and grab some things I forgot to pack (and some candy and diet coke!).  That afternoon the Doctor decided to try a cook catheter (a little balloon that is supposed to help you dilate), lets just say it wasn't fun and it didn't work.  

Thanks Blake for the 4am snack!!!

10 hrs later (3:30am thursday morning) they took it out and with no progress made the Doctor decided to stop the Pitocin and let me rest, and more importantly EAT (it had been since 8am wednesday, and I was hungry!) So I had a 4am visitor who snuck away from work and brought me exactly what I had been craving... Fruity Pebbles!!! Thanks again Blake!!! So after a few hours of amazing sleep it was 8am Thursday AM and once again we said goodbye to our 2nd Doctor and welcomed our third! When I met our day nurse Sara (most amazing nurse!!! Was with us through all the pain and never got to meet rae! Hope you are reading this Sara, you rock!!), I told her I thought today would be a GREAT day to have a baby.... it had been a rough and disheartening night and we were ready for some good news, or at least a new plan! She told me the plan was to shower, eat breakfast and then they were going to try Cytotec (another medicine to help me dilate).  So since I was STARVING I ordered a big breakfast and even sent Chad down to the coffee shop for a blueberry muffin (my favorite!).  After my shower, Sara and the Doctor came in to do the Cytotec.  (We had been told great things about this Dr. so we were pretty pumped to finally have her) She checked me and told me she had a new plan because I had dilated to a 3-4 on my own!!! Best news ever!!! So the Pitocin was re-started and around 12:30pm, she broke my water...  At that point, after a very long and uneventful 2 days, it was like we went from 5MPH to 500MPH!! The contractions were the most intense things I had ever felt and my poor husband got the brunt of it... Around 3pm I got my epidural, and shortly after that I was fully dilated! I was lucky enough to have the 2 nurses we had had the previous evening (so nice to have some familiar faces during labor!! They were absolutely fabulous thought the entire process, helped keep us calm and relaxed!!) I got to take a long nap (because I didn't feel like I had to push yet) and around 8:30pm I got to start pushing.  We had a blast with our Doctor, joking around and watching the Olympics.  We were so comfortable and our Doctor was absolutely fabulous and made us feel so comfortable.  37 min of pushing and our baby girl was born (during Olympic Figure Skating!!!).  We were so lucky to have our friend Brit there to capture some amazing pics. (See slideshow below) We made it up to the postpartum unit around 12am and promptly ordered pizza and enjoyed some snuggles with our babe! 

The last three (almost) have been the most amazing weeks of my life! While exhausting with all the visitors wanting to meet Raegan, and the lack of sleep we are doing amazing. Rae loves to nurse and actually is a very good sleeper right now.  She was pretty jaundiced right after birth but never had to have any light therapy. She dropped her weight to 6 lbs 10oz, scoring us a visit with a home health nurse and some anxiety over her feeding schedule... but she was back up to 7lbs 7oz at her 2 week apt so we are very proud of our chunky monkey, and her rock star eating skills!  

Chad and I have gone on a few dates leaving Raegan at home (the first when she was only 6 days old... yes I may have freaked out a little but but we all survived).  I have gone back to school, which while its a huge bummer leaving her all day (and having to pump in the bathroom stall) makes the snuggles in the evenings so much better!

I can't guarentee how well i will keep this blog up, as you can see it's taken three weeks to write her birth story, But I promise to try!!! Stay tuned for another post with some awesome photos!!