First Family Photos

First family photo. Tim missed the birth of Avery because I had her so fast (45 minutes after my coworker dropped me off at the hospital). He was still in his plumbing source uniform.

Reagan's birth was much slower. My water started leaking (PPROM- preterm premature rupture of the membranes) and I went to the hospital. I didn't have her until a few days later. She was almost an emergency c-section 3 different times because her heart rate kept dropping.

This was our first Family of Four photo :)

Avery was so excited! One of my favorite pics

Day 3 of Water Breaking - She's Here!!!

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 )

In this pic you can see the marks on her head from where they stuck/tried to stick the sensor.

Tim getting a lesson about placentas. It was a little gross but fascinating at the same time.

Did I say that I didn't miss pumping??? 

I got a little bit the first night!

Day 2 of Water Being Broken (Friday)--32 Weeks

So I was officially diagnosed with PPROM..(Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes)  This occurs when the membraned sac holding your baby and the amniotic fluid breaks open before you're actually in labor. According the statistics I found online, PROM (premature rupture of membranes which could happen at 37 weeks+) happens in about 15% of pregnancies. PPROM (Preterm Premature rupture of membranes which happens during weeks 24-37 of pregnancy) happens in fewer than 3% of pregnancies. Some how, I always get stuck with the awesome statistics and my pregnancy was one of the 3%.

Since my membranes had ruptured the day before, their main concern is that an infection wasn't developing. My temperature would be checked every few hours to make sure I wasn't developing a fever. I was also started on 2 kinds of antibiotics.

On Friday morning, the nurse ran in and told me to flip over. She was trying to find the baby's heart beat and was having difficulty. Then she called in some reinforcements and there were a bunch of people in the room. They had me put on an oxygen mask and take deep breaths. They had me flip on my other side and still no luck. They said they were going to go up through my cervix and stick a sensor on the baby's head to be able to monitor the heartbeat. They did a cervix check and were going to put the sensor on her head but luckily they were able to find the heartbeat on the other monitor in the knick of time. They told me my cervix was dilated to 2.5cm.

My doctor came to visit me in the hospital. He said that since I am not showing signs of infection, they are not going to speed up the labor. They are just going to let nature take its course. I had been having contractions but I wasn't in active labor because they weren't consistent enough and didn't seem to be changing the cervix at all.

I ended up having another episode of them not being able to find the baby's heartbeat that afternoon around 2pm. It was so scary when everyone comes running in. Again, they were able to find the heartbeat in the knick of time. I was still only 2.5cm dilated.

It was so hard to sit in bed and pretty much not move during this time. Everytime I tried to lay on my left side, we lost the heartbeat. When I layed on my right side, I would lay on the catheter cord which was not comfortable. I literally had to sit in one position for the whole day. I was super uncomfortable.

They said the reason her heartrate keeps disappearing could be because she has less fluid to float around in and she could be sitting on her umbilical cord sometimes. They aren't sure but I am happy they were able to find it so I didn't have to get an emergency c-section.

Friday night my contractions started to get really bad. I was rating them a 9/10. I decided I would feel better with the epidural. They ended up putting it in while I was laying down on my side.  They don't normally do that but they didn't want to lose the baby's heartbeat again. Getting an epidural isn't fun but neither are contractions.

About an hour later, everyone ran in the room again. This baby was going to give us a heart attack. They lost the heartbeat again. This time everyone seemed a bit more frantic. They stuck a shot in my leg which I was told was to stop contractions. I had on the oxygen mask. They did the cervix check and ended up putting the monitor on the baby's head. Right before they were going to wheel me away to the OR for an emergency c-section, they found the heartbeat. Things then finally settled down a little. The nurse came in later and I lost it. I told her I couldn't do this for too much longer. I was so uncomfortable and had 1 hour of sleep total in the past 36 hours. I finally fell asleep for a few hours because the epidural helped me be more comfortable.

I didn't take a lot of pictures on Friday but here is a pic of Avery at her pre-op appointment on Tuesday, 10/11. She is having more dental surgery on Oct 27. I ended up going to this appointment with her and Tim (even though I probably shouldn't have). It was good to see Dr Love after almost a year! It was very cute when we were leaving. Dr Love asked Avery for a hug and Avery actually gave her one! I was amazed. :)