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!

Ryan has Arrived!!

We are now a family of FOUR!

Ryan Thomas Is Here!

Monday August 17th at 7:17pm

7lbs 5oz, 20in

Baby is perfect! Very healthy!

He looks A LOT like Logan did when he was born.

Mommy had a tough time post delivery and took awhile to recover but the worst is behind her now, so little to worry about. We will be staying in the hospital until Wednesday to make sure that mommy is continuing to recover. Once we get home we will post more pics, but here are a few for now!

Our healthy boy!

Can't see baby, but great family picture...
toasting to our newest family member!
So nice to have everyone here!!!


Family of FOUR!


Big brother... SO sweet!

Arrival on the Calendar

We had our 38 week doctor appointment today. All is well with the baby and progress is still continuing. I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced and baby is down and in position. Doctor has decided to relieve me of the pain I'm dealing with if baby is not here by the end of next week, as he scheduled an induction for Monday the 17th, just 6 days before the actual due date. I'm a little fearful of that whole process, but am trying to trust that all will go well and appreciate being able to plan. We are praying that he comes on his own before that, but trust that God is growing him strong and healthy and that he will come at the perfect time!

Can't wait to meet him! So excited!
Will be sure to blog with pictures at the first available moment!

Ready for Ryan

As my last post said, baby Ryan can come any day now. We are anxiously awaiting his arrival, especially me who is really ready to be done with the pain that a separating pelvic bone brings. I do keep telling myself that this is temporary, but honestly, that only helps me mentally- not physically.

We have had a lot of fun creating a new nursery this time around... no more safari animals! This time I wanted simple textures and patterns with a neutral color pallet and I am very happy with the turnout. Here are some pics of the nursery.

This is what you see as you come down the hall to the room

The crib wall

A close-up of the crib

We are awaiting the arrival of vinyl to go over the crib...
a reminder for me during those late night wake-up calls! :-)

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father in heaven. James 1:17

The dresser wall

The new window treatments

His own little "lovie"

I just love this piece from my mom.
It hangs over his closet.


Logan is very excited about the arrival of his little brother. We have prepared him that when God is ready to share baby Ryan with us and is done growing him big and strong, mommy will go to the hospital and Logan will come visit me there to meet his brother. He seems to get what we're saying and is now talking about it non-stop. Yesterday, he told me that when I go to the hospital he will stay home by himself and wait for Grana or Grandpa to get here to play with him... informing me that he'll take care of Dylan too! How precious is that!?! We have had lots of fun listening to him talk about the baby and he just loves his nursery... he told me that "baby Ryan's bed is beautiful, mommy!"

Today, he told me he had to tell baby Ryan a secret... he lifted up my shirt and gave my belly a zerbert!! Then he said that probably tickled the baby! :-)

Can't wait to meet our new little one and get to see Logan as a big brother! What great times we have ahead of us!

A final visit to Grandma and Grandpa's

Our new addition could come any day now. After my dr appt on Friday and being informed that I was progressing and dilated to a 1 1/2, my parents decided they wanted one more weekend alone with Logan before he is no longer an only child. Of course, no objections from me!

Working on learning to swim WITHOUT any floaties.
He'll give it a good go, but then is very happy to have his security (some sort of floaties or tube) back so he can be more independent!

Giving it a shot at their neighborhood pool... in the kiddie pool where the water level allows him to be in control!
Slide time at the "big" pool with Grandpa!
Have to give my mom the credit for some great timing on this shot!

Taking a break for popsicles

Calling home to talk to mommy...
if you look closely you'll see the phone in his hand- he was giving me kisses!

And how did Jeff and I spend this alone time?

The honey-do list:
Hung curtains in nursery
(nursery post to come soon!)
Hung curtains in master
(after living here 3 years we finally have our room complete!)
Re-painted our accent wall in the upstairs hallway
Vacuumed entire house
Painted and hung R-Y-A-N letters in nursery

We also had a dinner date night from my brother for our anniversary and rented a movie. Probably the last time for awhile that we'll get that much time alone together to be so productive and enjoy each other's company! Thanks mom and dad for our little break!

A Visit with Michele

Last week a good college friend of mine was in town with her family for a youth church camp and we got one quick visit in together. Logan was very excited about baby Asher, so I had to post a couple pics from our visit. Hopefully another good sign of things to come.

Lots of hugs

Taking all of him in and giving compliments!
"Oh baby Asher, I like your shirt and I like your shorts"
"What a cute little chin"
Yes, he did say these things.

Unfortunately we never got a picture of Michele and me together, but I'm hoping it's not another 2 years before we see each other again!

Thanks for making time for us during your busy week Michele. It was great catching up and Asher is just adorable!

Logan's First Baseball Game

A couple of weekends ago, Logan attended his first baseball game. Though it was in Houston and we are typically fine with cheering for the Astros, if they're playing the Mets it's a whole different story! Logan was very excited and the adult/child ratio was 3 to 1, so the day went off without a hitch. He enjoyed plenty of treats (as my mom says that part of going to a game is enjoying all the great food that a stadium has to offer!) and came home talking non-stop for days about all that went on in that 4 hour afternoon.

My little Mets fan!

I was supposed to go too, but being 36 weeks pregnant, I opted to stay home and enjoy some time alone. Don't think all that walking was going to make me feel any better.

Logan and Daddy

Using his "own" ticket

The people that made this all possible,
with tickets and food galore!
Gotta love grandparents...
and Logan sure does LOVE his!

Ordering his lunch

He had to wait awhile to get any ice cream.
My mom told him that they didn't serve it until everyone finished their lunch, and he was ok with that answer... but once he saw someone else returning to their seat with ice cream he had to announce, "Grandma look. They're serving ice cream now!"
Let's go Mets!

His first experience with "noculars"
How cute?

Oh, and with Cracker Jacks... Yummy!

A couple great shots of Grandpa and Logan

Logan was very interested in the train with all the oranges (see top of post) and told me repeatedly that he didn't get to PLAY baseball... he just got to watch. He does love to play ball, so that must have been pretty important to him for him to repeatedly inform us of this fact. When asked what his favorite part of the game was, he quickly said, "The twist! Look mommy, I'll show you!" and then put his hands on his hips and did his own little version of the Twist!

Great memories for sure... and I'm sure my Grandpa was very happy looking down from heaven at our family's newest Mets fan!