Ready for the holidays

Raegan's got her party dress on! After searching for a holiday dress that wasn't too decorative I finally found one I really liked at Wal-Mart. I bought her some tights but didn't attempt to put them on as getting the dress on was work enough. It's amazing how her temperment can change on a dime sometimes. I couldn't wait for Christmas so we had to put the dress on today and took lots of good pics, probably one will wind up our Christmas card.

The Littlest Reindeer

A night out...

Friday night we went to friends house and Raegan joined us. She did really good. She ate soon after we got there and slept the rest of the time, which was really amazing since playing video games was involved and at times was a little loud. It's interesting though what does startle her when she's sleeping. Little things will jolt her but big noises most of the time don't faze her one bit. No pictures since I forgot the camer so how about one of her being content.

Road Trip

We have returned from our first big road trip. It was to visit Grandma. The trip is usually a good four hour drive but took us about an hour longer. Raegan did great. She loved meeting her other Grandma and all of her aunts, uncles and cousins. Everyone was glad to see us. Who am I kidding? They were really glad to see her! heh. The picture was taken on the way back. I can't imagine that can be a comfy way to sleep. Everytime I tried to reposition her it was met with much resistance.

Tummy time

I know it's a big no no to let her sleep on her stomach, but I only let her when I'll be no more than a few feet away. It's amazing how sound she'll sleep like this.

Yesterday I put her in her crib on her tummy and came back to check on her. She had moved herself about a 45 degree angle in a circle. I had laid her one way and now she was laying a totally different way. I don't think I'm ready for her to start being mobile. She uses her legs a lot to squirm into a comfy position while we're holding her. Guess the crib has a little more room to move around in than the bassinet.

Family Resemblance?

I found a picture of me taken when I was in the hospital. People keep saying she favors me with this feature and Joe with that one. I'm not sure who I see in her. But I do know she's one beautiful bundle of joy.

Those Faces

Raegan has a thousand (it seems) different expressions. She has down pat the cutest fish face. I think she is beginning to imitate faces as well because I can make the fish face and she will mimic me. It's so cute. Her cock-eyed smile from gas is now a full blown gassy smile. Hopefully soon she'll be smiling from comic relief instead of just relief.

The Playyard

Since we'll soon be travelling to see Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and cousins on Daddy's side of the family we thought it'd be a good time to get one of these. Also since we've been spending more time downstairs it'd be nice to have a place to lay her down besides the couch, which I'm not sure she finds that comfortable. The Playyard is pretty cool with the bassinet and changing station. It also has a mobile, plays music and vibrates. I liked this one because the sides have covers or you can roll them up so baby can see out. Thought that might be a nice feature when we start spending more time outdoors. She's still adjusting to it though. She usually wakes up not long after being put in it. Hopefully she'll get better this week before our big road trip next weekend.

One month old!

My baby is already one month old! This has been the greatest month of my life. Motherhood has been everything I thought it would be and so much more. This month we can expect more activity from Raegan including laughing and more in the world. Her Daddy can't wait. He is already giving her raspberries. They are received with mixed emotions. Sometimes it stops her from crying other times it causes her to cry.

To sleep per chance to dream...

Everyone keeps asking how is she sleeping? Well at times she sleeps really well. Too bad most of those times are during the day. Nighttime is still a little rough especially on us who aren't nightowls anymore. It's slowly improving though. At night she seems to want to eat more. Last night though she seemed to eat less. She's hard to get back to sleep though at times. She'll play opposum in my arms for 30 minutes or so and then wakes right up when I lie her down. So we're still working on the whole sleeping issue...

Raegan's Birth Story Daddy's POV

Well October 19th couldn't arrive quickly enough so Raegan Mae Little forced us to move things up ... move them up to 9:21 AM October 4th, otherwise known as Tuesday morning.


My wife woke with contractions and "signs" (I won't go into details). We weren't sure if her water had broke or not and called her doctor. It was too early and we got an after hours number instead. She left a message as I was cooking breakfast. The doctor called back and said "Come on in so we can take a look just to be sure".

It took us 10 minutes to get on the way with me packing bags just in case, grabbing bags already packed, getting supplies purses etc, and her just finishing getting dressed. It took 15 minutes to drive to the hospital and she had contractions (harsh ones) the entire way

I pulled up to admitting, jogged in, and got a wheel chair. We were directed to an office to fill out paperwork. !?!?!?!?!?!? My wife was about to burst and we had to fill out paperwork !?!?!?!?!?!? Well they gave us the express job and we were heading up to the 3rd floor within 5 minutes. We had our room number, and I was driving her wheel chair like a NASCAR pro. (Years of pizza delivery has prepared me well for baby delivery )

Once in the room they did the nurses did their thing. I ran downstairs to park the car legally. When I returned I passed the nurses station near her room, and nurses were eagerly discussing who could perform a C-Section. I get into the room and my wife is laying back with frequent contractions. I notice on the "contraction measuring machine" that the baby's heart rate dropped every time Lynn got over a contraction. The heart rate would bounce back up but it was ... un-nerving.

Well soon the room filled with medical types doing everything at once, like an episode of ER but in a 10x10 room. One doctor kept getting hit by the door every 15 seconds as someone came in or out. I was informed that when we arrived that my wife was 6-7 cm dilated ... 15 minutes later it was more like 9cm. They had to move so fast that they couldn't give her a typical spinal block where her upper half would be awake and we could both be there when the baby was taken. Instead they put her under completely and I had to wait in the now barren 10x10 room.

Agonizing minutes (years) later, a nurse returned with an update. Everything was going well. I could wait in the hall to see the baby as she was wheeled past. Lynn would take longer to come out since she had to go through all that other stuff (that I really don't want to think about). For a good 5 minutes I teetered on the edge of calm and hysteria (it's a very short distance it seems). Then a nurse came and asked me how I was doing and I fell towards hysteria just long enough to make her worry about me for the rest of the day.

Soon the baby rolls out. They have her swaddled so tightly she looked like a head and body, no arms or legs. The doctor tells me she was 6lbs 4oz. She didn't cry much at all, just whimpered some. Remember the calm hysteria line? Because then the doctor says "She's a bit small for 37 weeks". Jerk. Like I needed THAT! Anyway, after a bit more waiting they allow me to see my baby girl as she's being measured, immunized, etc. She was 20 inches long and then they drew blood, stuck her with more needles, and basically tortured my little girl, but it was all ok since I knew they were actually helping her and she barely cried at all.

About 10 - 20 minutes later my wife is being wheeled to her new room. I quickly follow. She's recovering quickly. Two days later and she's up and about. Raegan doesn't eat much yet but shows signs of really wanting to eat. The only problem being she drowses off as soon as she's in my wife's arms

I've changed 4 diapers so far (eeeuuu) and if Raegan had been a boy I'd have been peed on at least once (phew). I smell like baby, and I like it

So that's the Very Long of it. I was drifting very close to the Very Very Oh Just Finish This Long of it a few times. Sorry, it's just fun to tell.

It'll probably be a week or sixteen before I'm back. I just wanted to drop in and share my news.

Daddy.

Birth Story from Raegan's Mom

I woke up to my alarm October 4, 2005. I probably even hit snooze a few times. As I began to wake up I noticed a pain in my back that seemed to last for 20-30 seconds and then would disappear. It would come back a few minutes later. Luckily I knew enough to know that this is probably a contraction but thought they may be Braxton's Hicks. Well that is until I started timing them. They were coming pretty regularly.I told Joe, who was at this point making breakfast, that I probably need to go to the hospital. I called my doctor's office and got their after hours service.

The woman took my name and told me the doctor on call would call me back. It wasn't even 5 minutes later that Dr. Cromartie called me back. I told him my symptoms and he said to come to the birth center and they would check me out.So off to the hospital we go. I threw up twice on the way to the car and had some really strong contractions on the ride to the hospital.

We got to the hospital about 8:15am and had to go to admissions to do some paperwork. I do have to say the woman seemed to be moving pretty swiftly to get things taken care of. God bless her. We were done there a few minutes later and to the third floor we go.We finally found the room we needed to go to. It was a small examination room and the nurse was waiting for us. The first thing I had to do was pee in a cup. That was really difficult. After that she strapped some monitors on me. One for baby and one for me.A few minutes later the doctor comes in and checks me. I'm 6-7 centimeters dialated and the monitors definitely show I'm in labor.

Since I was scheduled for a c-section that's what the plan was. Soon after this the room got really crowded. The nurse put in my IV, two nurses from JCJC worked on a catherter(sp) while the anestegiost(sp) quizzed me about if I smoked, drank or did drugs. heh. All the time I kept thinking "I'm pregnant! Even if I did any of those things before I wouldn't be doing them now!" Another woman came in with paperwork for me to sign. Some of it had to do with Raegan. The doctor checked me again and I was 8-9 centimeters. Time to go to the operating room and get Raegan!

They wheel me into the OR, I move to the table. The nurse had given me something in my IV to make me sleepy because I kept wanting to nod off. They put up the blue curtain and I remember the anesteiglost(sp) given me something to drink and then I remember the oxygen mask being firmly held onto my face. Next thing I remember is a nurse asking me if I wanted to hold my baby..:)Raegan was born at 9:21am...I keep saying it was like an episode of ER...in almost the same amount of time!