Avery's Adventure: Day 3 of Water Breaking

I apologize but this post is going to be pretty long with a bunch of pictures.

As of Friday night, after the craziness of almost getting a c-section, I was about 5cm dilated. After the whole ordeal, Tim asked them how the sensor stays on her head. They told us it actually gets screwed in her head...yes you heard that right, SCREWED IN HER HEAD! I wrote something about it on facebook and about 5 of my friends/family have had their kids had to get it so I wasn't as nervous.

I managed to get a few hours of sleep on Friday night due to the epidural. When I woke up I was still only 5cm dilated. I was told I was going to be having this baby on Saturday no matter what. They wanted her to come out because of the risk of infection and also because she kept having decelerations when I would have a contraction (Her heartrate would get lower).

So I started having some contractions and I realized my epidural wasn't working anymore. They decided to get me a new dose. Then after a little while, I realized it was only working on the right side and not the left. They then fixed it again. Around 2:30pm I was still at 5cm. There were talks of starting me on pitocin to move things along. While the doctors were deciding, I started feeling a lot of pressure. The epidural takes away the pain of contractions but not pressure so when its time, you know when to push. I started feeling a lot of pressure. They ended up checking me around 3:30 and I had progessed to 10cm. I couldn't believe it. They said I would soon be ready to push. They called in the doctor and the nicu staff and I started pushing around 3:45.

I was SO happy that Tim was there this time and able to see everything. Pushing was difficult but with the epidural, it wasn't unmanageable. Tim held my leg back when I pushed and he kept me motivated. He said I was so close with each push. The doctors said I was a really good pusher, but they probably say that to everyone to encourage them. LOL

I only pushed for about a half an hour and then she came out crying! They didn't let you videotape the birth or the first minute but once they get the baby stabilized, you can tape and photograph everything.

Reagen Coletta Svitak was born at 32 weeks 1 day on October 15, 2016 at 4:13pm. She was 3lbs 11oz and 18 inches long! I couldn't believe how big she was, especially after eating hospital food for the past month and a clear liquid diet the past few days. She looked PERFECT! It was a much different experience than when I had Avery. All of the home and hospital bedrest and steroids and magnesium had paid off. I ended up tearing a little bit on the inside so while they were sewing me up Tim got to cut the cord. She has a little mark on the top of her head in a few spots from the sensor they put on. They finished cleaning her up and brought her over to me and we got to hold her. She is on room air and didn't need any oxygen. She is PERFECT!!

(I apologize that there are many similar pics but I wanted to post them all. I will spare you the close up pic that Tim took of the placenta )