Reagan Everly Taylor. Born July 16, 2018 at 5:25 am. Sweet baby girl, you sure did test mommy's faith in your delayed arrival. You were due July 14th but since your brother was a week early I had in my mind that you would be at least a week early. I figured you'd be 2 weeks early! ha! Boy was I wrong.
Leading up to your arrival I was pretty at peace waiting on you until about week 38 - the week I thought you should be arriving :) I was soaking up time with your older brother and knew a newborn would be harder to take care of than just a big pregnant belly. But as week 38 came and went I started getting anxious and stressed. Your father and I were supposed to attend or shoot video for 3 weddings in July (July 21, 22, and 28). In my poor planning I didn't cancel any of these but assumed we'd have plenty of time because OF COURSE you'd be early. Oops haha.
I had no signs of labor up until the day before you were born except for menstrual-type cramping. When your due date came and went, I started really panicking. I don't know why, because I knew you'd come eventually, but it just killed me that things weren't going according to my plan. That's how God works though doesn't He? In the midst of waiting and failed hopes and expectations, I clung to God and prayed to Him like never before. I was begging for you to come so that I wouldn't be induced, so I could have you naturally, so we could attend these weddings we had committed to. It was a real test of faith on my part. Trusting that God was preparing your arrival even though I saw no signs of labor.
On July 15th in the late morning I believe I lost my mucus plug. I didn't want to get too excited because I knew it could mean nothing or it could mean labor could start soon. I didn't feel any contractions the rest of the day and just prayed and pled with God that you'd come. That night as I lay my head on my pillow I felt my first contraction. It was obvious it was a contraction. I got a little excited and started praying. "Lord, please let me progress. Please let this be labor. Please let her come tonight." Twenty minutes later I felt another contraction. "Okay, that's good. Thank you Lord, please keep them coming." For the next hour I felt contractions 15-20 minutes apart lasting 30-60 seconds long. I decided to get out of bed and take my mind off things since I couldn't sleep anyway. It also hurt way worse to take the contractions lying down.
I went downstairs and watched Friends while folding some of our laundry. I texted my mom and mother-in-law at 12:30am and asked them to pray that labor would progress and you would come quickly. I went back upstairs at 1am to try and rest because I figured if the contractions were still about 12-15 minutes apart, it was probably labor. By 1:30am the contractions were 10-12 minutes apart. At 2 am when contractions were 7 minutes apart and I woke up Matt to tell him I thought this was the real deal. I didn't want to mess around since I've heard second babies come quickly. I kept timing for the next half hour and once I got 3 contractions in a row that were 5 minutes apart I called my doctor. They agreed I should come in and didn't want to take chances with baby number 2. So we called our neighbor Hillary to come over while Caden slept and we got ready to get in the car. I also called your grandmother, Mimi, to come up and watch Caden the next day. She started driving from Columbia, SC at 3:00am.
I remember the car ride to the hospital was brutal. I tried to play worship music and focus on the contractions but it was so difficult with a bumpy car ride. Not to mention, the pain was intensifying. By 3:00am we were at the hospital and getting checked out in the triage room. The contractions were coming 4-5 minutes apart and were getting stronger. I was still in good spirits and able to talk and laugh between contractions. They checked me and I was 6.5 cm dilated already! Praise God I was being admitted!
We got in the delivery room and put on my worship music playlist and dimmed the lights. My IV was bothering my wrist so I asked the nurse to move it, but she couldn't find a better vein. After trying to fix that for 30 minutes or so, she gave up and I decided to deal with the IV as is. I undressed to labor in the tub for a bit. The warm water felt good but the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. I handled about 30 minutes of contractions before I started panicking from the pain. "I can't do this," I said to Matt. "It hurts too bad, I'm scared to keep going. I don't want to push again." I remembered the pain of Caden's birth and was scared to face it again. I started to feel like I needed to poop and I knew that meant pushing was coming. I didn't want to do it again!! The nurse suggested I have my water broken so things would speed up but I was too scared to do that because I knew labor would only intensify and I'd have to push soon. They finally convinced me to break my water so I got onto the delivery bed to have that done.
I have to say, through all this pain, your father was amazing! He let me lean into him to bear through the contractions and supported me physically, emotionally, and mentally. He calmed my fears and encouraged me. I love him so much!
When Dr. Kalinowski went to break my water she told me I was already fully dilated - 10cm!! I was SO happy I reached 10 cm because that meant labor was basically over, but I was also SO scared to start pushing. But once she broke my water it was like something animalistic came over me. My body took control and with a loud scream I started pushing. I pushed through one contraction and your head was crowning. I screamed and pushed again and felt the most intense pain of my life. My body just kept pushing though and all of a sudden, you were OUT! The nurse said I started pushing at 5:23 and you were out by 5:25. Amazing! And such an answered prayer after pushing 2 hours during Caden's birth.
So much joy, relief, and exhaustion set in. You were here! You had the most beautiful head of hair. Your daddy cut the cord and was so proud. He even teared up and got emotional! You were crying as you came out but we got you snuggled in with mommy and you settled down fast. You had "stork bites" on your face and lower left back. You also had a red birth mark on your right chest. You weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and were 20" long. You were such a perfect newborn with great Apgar scores and practically zero jaundice!
All the glory to God. He knew exactly when you should come and He brought you to us fast. I'm so thankful for a quick and healthy delivery. And I'm SO thankful for you. We can't imagine life without you now!
Six weeks later and you've been the sweetest newborn, sleeping so well and eating so well. You hardly ever fuss and are already smiling at us! You weighed 10 lbs 5 oz at one month old. We're so thankful you're healthy and doing well! We love you so much Reagan Everly Taylor.
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