Arrival Story and Lots of Pictures!

What an eventful 4-5 days we have had!

Here's the story of how Ryan made his arrival!

We were scheduled for induction on Monday and though there were some issues with whether we would get in that day or not, we eventually did and all worked out! We arrived at the hospital at about 10:30 and the doctor came at 11:15 to break my water. I was already at 3cm so we were thinking the process would move quickly. The pitocin was started around 12:15 and then it was just a waiting game to see how my body responded. It didn't take long for me to start feeling things, that's for sure!

Soon after, our pastor came to visit and prayed with us over the baby, the delivery and all that would come after. So sweet of him!!

You have to know my mom would take a picture!

As he was visiting with us, the contractions started to get a little more intense. I tried to hide the pain and focus on our conversation, but eventually Jeff saw my face and questioned how I was doing. When I said I'd like to request my epidural, Steve announced it was time for him to go! :-)

I received my epidural about 2:30 and that was a nice relief. Unfortunately though, because of my sensitivity to pain meds, I did become sick. Throughout the labor process, anytime I pushed the button to increase the epi relief, I was vomiting within minutes. Of course, vomiting is better than feeling all that labor pain, but it was still kind of frustrating. With Logan, I was able to nap once I received my epi... this time, that never happened.

The rest of the delivery was eventful. I was ready to deliver around 6:15, before my doctor was available, so they asked me to "hold him in" until 7pm... now that was an experience!! My pediatrician and all the nurses were very impressed with my ability to do so, but I just kept thinking that I had to have my doctor there and I would do whatever I could to help that happen! The issue was that he came by to visit and I was only at 7cm... within 45 minutes after he left, I was "complete" meaning baby was there! At this point I was feeling the contractions, but all was well in the end because by the time they did allow me to push, it only took TWO pushes... well, not even really two. I was only halfway through the second with the nurse counting and they told me "He's out, you can stop!" Talk about easy! (Well, that part anyway!)

After the delivery things took a tough turn for me. Let's just keep this PG and say I was losing A LOT of blood. At this point I was out of it, every once in awhile vomiting and really pretty incoherent as to what was going on. All was well with the baby and the nurses kept Jeff occupied with that as my mom stood by me, communicating with the nurses about what was going on. At some point (again, this is all what I got from my mom as I was out of it) they talked about a DNC and they were making it clear that they were trying to avoid a blood transfusion (scary stuff). After about an hour they got things under control.

Let me say right here that this was all God's work. Had I not worked to "hold him in" while waiting for the doctor and these complications had occured with nurses doing my delivery, I for sure would have ended up in the OR. Afterwards, the nurses told me what a blessing it was that the dr was the one there making all the calls in the heat of the moment. The nurse that was with me all afternoon stayed through the delivery (though she was way past her off time) and even came back the next day to see how I was doing... on her day off!! She talked to me about what could've been and how thankful she was to see me doing so well and I just thanked God right then for keeping me strong and healthy and out of that operating room.

Ok, now onto the good stuff... PICTURES!


Hospital Pictures
My mom didn't get a lot of the post delivery of the baby because of all that was going on with me, so we'll just start with AFTER everything calmed down.

Finally getting to hold Ryan- over an hour after he was born!

Daddy with his new son

Aunt Kelley, Ryan's Godmother

Three generations

Logan watching Nurse Anna give Ryan his first bath

Uncle Mike with his nephews

Grandma's Boys!

Pastor Steve came back the next day to meet our church's newest member!

Mommy hanging with her two boys!

The Turners came by to visit.
Jeremy and Laurie
Levi (Logan's friend) holding Ryan

My brother with me and Ryan

His first outfit
The shirt reads "I have arrived"

Holding his own paci

Snuggle time with mommy!

Pure delight for both of us!

Daddy and his boys!

Nurse Jennifer was Awesome!
The second night I was there she totally left me alone, even keeping the cleaning crew out of my room until Ryan returned from the nursery at 6am. I got a full 7 hours of sleep thanks to her.
Logan got a little nervous when she came in and was checking me out, so she let him play doctor and listen to my heart and my breathing.
He LOVED it, saying "I'm a doctor now!"

Daddy sharing his hat with his boy

The hat from the hospital volunteers

Chilling with mommy

Love him!!

Ready to go home!

Not a big fan of the carseat...

But better once he was bundled!

Heading Home!!!

Dylan checking him out!

Mommy and Ryan

Our Neighbors

Rosa

Enrique

He loves to be swaddled, but always manages to get out of it!

Sweet brothers!

Gift from Aunt Maureen
Go Giants!

Check out those skinny legs!

Aunt Rachel came to visit!

Best Friends!

Celebrating A Couple Birthdays!

Obviously we were celebrating the arrival of Ryan, but Grandma's birthday was this week too and Aunt Rachel's is next week, so we celebrated them all together!

Lot of love!!

Grandma with her hands full...
"When a child is born, so is a Grandmother"

So he wakes up at 4 am

and who wouldn't be ok with waking up to see this?

He was WIDE AWAKE and it was just precious!

First Bath!

Getting all ready with my "helper" ready too!


Getting all washed up
Scrub, scrub

Logan helping with the rinsing...
I love the reflection in the mirror to show it all!

All done, but still not very happy

That was hard work

Not liking the massage much either

Oh, so much better

Ready for bed


As you can see, the picture taking has not been limited! We have had such a great 4-5 days and look forward to many more updates on our precious new gift!

Oh, and if you're wondering where Logan is in all these pics, be prepared! We have so many great pictures of him that my next post (which has already been started) will be completely dedicated to his being a big brother. The next post will include all the big brother pics and details, as well as some very precious videos!