Reagan's birth story

Reagan Lee was born on Saturday, April 16, 2011. I was awoken on Saturday morning at 5:00am with very light contractions. They were so light and infrequent I wasn't sure if they would go on for days or if this would be the day our second baby girl was born. At about 8:00am the contractions started to get more intense but were still about 10 minutes apart. I wanted to labor at home where I was most comfortable until the contractions got closer together. Nate went out to mow the lawn and I read books to Aubrey (Nana was there to help) enjoying a final time together with her as our "only child." By 8:30am the contractions got REALLY intense and I could tell my body was doing a lot of work during each one. I felt like I had  ran a marathonn after each contraction, but they were still inconsistent ranging from 5 to 10 minutes apart. This was strange to me because with Aubrey my contractions were not as intense early on but were consistently 2-3 minutes apart. In no rush, we finally decided to go to the hospital around 9:30am because Portsmouth Naval Hospital is about 40 minutes away and I heard the second child comes a lot faster (little did I know how true that would be!).

On the car ride to the hospital the contractions were still inconsistent but were even more intense and I started to feel a lot of pressure "down there". By the time I waddled halfway to the elevator I knew this baby was very close to coming because I started to feel like I needed to push. We got to the labor deck at 10:15am and Nate told them I felt like I needed to push so they rushed me into triage. The nurse said I was 9cm dilated and the next thing I knew doctors and nurses were rushing around like crazy people trying to get me hooked up to machines and ask me all the pre labor questions. At this point the urge to push was so strong but they kept telling me to hold her in until we got into the delivery room. In a lot of pain, I turned to the nurse and asked "can I get my epidural?" and she very sweetly said "honey there is no time, you are going to have a baby any second!". Three pushes later Reagan Lee was born at 10:49am. Good thing we left for the hospital when we did or Reagan would have been born in the car! Right away Nana brought Aubrey to the hospital to meet her new little sister. 

We consider Reagan our miracle baby because the Lord brought us through a bad car accident the Tuesday before she was born.  The Chevy Tahoe I was driving was totaled, on its side in a ditch, but my tummy had a bubble of protection and wasn't harmed at all. I was taken to the ER in an ambulance and Reagan and I were monitored most of the night.  Aubrey was in the car as well but didn't have a scratch on her (I swear by Britax car seats now!). It was a life changing event for me and really shook my world. The accident helped me during my contractions/labor because while I was in pain I just focused on how blessed I was to even be having this baby. It was such a sweet moment to hold Reagan in my arms for the first time, we love you little girl.

 

Cuddle Bug

French Braids

While Nana was here we put Aubrey in front of Sesame Street so Nana could attempt french braiding her hair. It worked and Aubrey sat very still for her. Nana showed me how to french braid so my goal is to do Aubrey's hair like this next week. We will see. With two girls I need to get better at doing hair!

And yes she is on the potty in these last two pics, I figured out it's a great way to get a picture of this busy girl!

The big TWO!!

Our turtle turned TWO today!! Daddy is away so we are excited to continue the celebration when he gets home. In the meantime Aubrey had a fun day with Nana, Mommy & Reagan opening gifts, skyping with Mimi and Pa, playing with her new toys, and going out to dinner at Red Robin. I can't believe she is two, it doesn't seem possible. She went from being 7lbs 12 oz and 21.5 inches to 29.5 lbs and 35 inches in 2 short years. Happy Birthday Aubrey Lynn!!  Here are some pics to remember today by....

She got her first play-doh set, she played with it for hours outside!

Reading the card Nana gave her

She loves her new sit & spin, thanks Rach!

 

Aubrey loved her sundae at Red Robin, she savored every bite!

Strawberry Picking

Today Nana and I took the girls strawberry picking at Culpepper Farms. I have never tasted strawberries so ripe and delicious in my entire life, they were amazing! We picked a huge basket full and Aubrey probably ate more off the vine than she put in the basket. We couldn't make her stop eating them! They were so juicy she was covered in strawberry juice from head to toe by the end, good thing she wasn't wearing white like mommy! Here are a few pics from our morning at the farm, I don't have time to edit pics these days so what I take is what I get...

 I put Reagan in the Baby Bjorn, she loves that thing and will sleep all day in it!

 Reagan made an appearance out of the Baby Bjorn:)

 Leaving the strawberry patch with Nana

One of the beautiful strawberries we picked

More bubbles

We are getting serious about our bubbles these days! She is either really focused on blowing them or chasing them around like a wild child. This girl could never have enough bubbles....

Aubrey also can't get enough of sissy! 

Reagan's loves to listen to Aubrey play around her. It is so neat to watch them interact already!

Bubbles in our PJ's

Aubrey loves to play with bubbles. Today while Sissy was sleeping we played on the back porch in our PJ's with her new bubble gun. She had so much fun. These pics are for Daddy, we miss you!!!

Crazy Hair

I wanted to show a picture of Reagan's crazy hair that I referred to in the last post...

I swear I am not trying to make it look like this, I can't get it to lay flat for the life of me. For the first week it laid flat and then one morning I picked her up and it looked like this and hasn't laid down since. I wonder if Johnson & Johnson makes a product for baby hair that can control it, ha ha! I thought it would fall out but it just keeps getting longer, at this rate she will have a pigtails by 3 months!!

Newborn shots

We had some newborn pictures of Reagan taken with C.S. Photography, you can view some of the shots here on Christene's blog.  Christene is extremely talented and got some great shots of our sweet baby girl. We had the pictures taken the day after we got home from the hospital, it's amazing to me how much Reagan has grown in the two (almost three!) weeks since then. Her long hair now sticks up straight in the air, its crazy, I can't get it to lay flat. Anyways, Aubrey wasn't into taking pictures that day so we weren't able to get any of her and Reagan or all four of us. We didn't want to force it with all the changes going on for Aubrey right now. Taking pictures with a busy toddler is not easy, I can't keep that girl still:) I will try to post a recent picture of Reagan's crazy hair and the crazy toddler soon, they are growing too fast for me to keep up with.

2 weeks old

Reagan had her 2 week baby well visit on Saturday morning and doc says she looks great! She weighed 8lbs at birth, left the hospital weighing 7 lbs 10 oz, and at her two week visit weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz! She still has some crazy hair but I have a feeling it will fall out and she will be bald like I was as a baby:) Reagan seems to take after me more while Aubrey takes after her daddy. This may change but that's how we see it now. Here is a picture I took of her at 2 weeks old...