Our Newest Addition

On October 5th 2011 we were blessed with the newest addition of our family, Reagan Ilise McNaughton. Weighing in at 5 lbs 9 oz and being 16" long she was the most perfect thing Shawn and I have both ever seen. Here is a look into her "birthday story"...

On Oct.5, 2011 i woke up early (which is like 9am to me) with cramps. Shawn had already left for work at 4am and wouldn't be home until 5pm and i was nervous that i was starting to feel the effects of going into labor.  I kept track of how often i was feeling "cramps"/contractions and noticed that they were coming every 11 minutes. I went ahead and texted Shawn saying how nervous i was and also called his parents to let them know i thought i was going into labor. Shawn's mom came home from work and stayed with me because she could see i really was in pain and Shawn wasn't allowed to leave work because he had physical testing he couldn't miss. I was praying i wouldn't have a baby before he got home. At around 3pm i called the doctors to see if i should go to the hospital. My contractions were 9 min apart and we are about 30-40min. from the hospital i would be delivering at. The nurse told me no and said to wait until they were 5 min apart or less and felt as if i couldn't talk,walk, or move anymore. I was really upset and just kept waiting and timing my contractions which seemed to get more intense each time. I was so happy to see Shawn once he got home from work, and told him how much pressure and cramping i was feeling. He told me to call the doctors again because my contractions were now 7 min apart. When i called they once again told me no not to come in yet. When i hung up i started to get teary because i didn't understand why i couldn't just go in so Shawn decided we were gonna go to the hopital anyways. In the car i continued to have contractions and by the time i was registered and in my hopital room my contractions were 4 min. apart. GOOD THING WE LEFT WHEN WE DID! We arrived at the hospital at around 7pm and when the nurse checked me informed me that i was already 6" dialated. WOAH! Only 4 more inches and i was ready to push.

The nurse was so nice and right away got someone to give me an epidural (a decision i made long before arriving at the hospital). The epidural was done in a matter of minutes and didn't hurt at all. Right away i wasn't able to feel any contractions...or my legs :). They told me that i should dialate an inch an  hour but the next time they came in to check me i was already dialated to a 10. They hurried and called a doctor by 9pm i was pushing. Because of the epidural i didn't feel any pain and was able to have Reagan without feeling hardly a thing. As Reagan was coming out though they found that her umbillical cord was wrapped around her neck and her heart rate was dropping rapidly. They needed to get her out quick so they gave me an episiotomy (which again i didn't feel) and before i knew it my baby was out. I didn't get to see her right away (daddy got to QUICKLY cut the umbillical cord though) because she was rushed over to be checked by doctors from the NICU due to some complications that had occured while inside my tummy. After they cleared her as healthy they brought lil Reagan over to me and i was able tohold my little girl for the first time. It was the most amazing experience and i was overflowing with emotions. I was so happy, tired, and still in shock that i had just become a mother.

After the delivery things are a bit hazy for me. I can't remember how i got into the recovery room but i do remember not being able to move or walk because i couldn't feel my legs. This continued for a good 12 hours...the epidural they gave me sure was a good one! :) In the recovery room we got to spend the first 2 days with Reagan learning how to watch and take care of her. Shawn was able to sleep on a fold out cot right next to me and was such a good husband getting up at 1am to get my food from the cafeteria. We loved the hospital's food! But even more we loved our new little girl and were so excited to take her home. On Oct.7th we were able to leave with our little girl. We couldn't have asked for a better delivery (although the recovery time after is tough) and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect little girl. We love our daughter Reagan and are excited to see our family of 2 now become a family of 3!