Ryker James: Birth Story

I went in for my weekly prenatal appointment at 36 weeks and 5 days. Chloe came along as she always did and all the nurses spoiled her because she had just celebrated her third birthday. I got my normal stress test and ultrasound and everything appeared to be fine. They discovered protein in my urine so my doctor wanted lab work done (...ugh). I had blood drawn and I got to take home the "glorious" orange jug for a 24 hour urine sample (my second one... gross). I left the doctors office feeling annoyed.
 At the time my phone was not active so the only way Christopher and I could contact each other was if I was somewhere with wifi (which the Dr's office did not have) and then through Facebook Messenger. Little to my knowledge the Doctor's office had called Christopher at work 5 minutes after my appointment and it was about a 20 minute ride back home for Chloe and I. - Through out my pregnancy Christopher was always terrified that my blood sugar would get low while I was out of contact with him so I usually had several missed Messenger calls when I would get home from appointments. - When we got home I laid Chloe down for a nap because she had fallen asleep in the car and made a deposit in the orange jug. (tmi...? too bad) I checked my phone knowing I'd have to call Christopher back to tell him I was fine and that we were home. I called him rolling my eyes to tell him that I did not have low blood sugar and that he worried too much, he interrupted me and told me that my doctor had called him to say that the amount of protein in my urine was dangerously high and that I needed to get to labor and delivery immediately. I was in shock and not ready AT ALL. Chloe had just had her birthday party and we had had family visiting over the past weekend so our apartment was a mess. I had just finished sewing the new cover for Ryker's car seat that morning (and had joked that Ryker could come now), and we had not packed our hospital bag yet or an overnight bag for Chloe.
On days that I had appointments Chloe and I would drop Christopher off at work early in the morning and pick him up when he got off so Christopher decided to get a ride home from a co-worker during lunch. He also called our good friends Sara and Rusty and asked them if they could pick up and keep Chloe until my mom could come up from Oklahoma to stay with her the next day. While he was doing that I was frantically packing a bag for the hospital and for Chloe. I had everything loaded in the car and Chloe and I were waiting in the car for Sara and Rusty. When they came to get her I remember hugging her so tight thinking that this might be the last time I would see her before her brother would come. They said a quick prayer with Chloe and I and left. Chris was right behind them. We drove to the hospital terrified. We didn't know what was happening.

When we got there the doctor had already told them that we were coming so the room was all ready for us. After a few hours in the labor room they finally hooked me up to monitors and an iv I was told that I had pre-eclampsia and that they would need to give me magnesium so I would not seize during labor. Rusty and Sara brought Chloe by for a little while while we waited for things to get started. We watched Big Brother and got to relax for awhile. After they left I remember the nurses taping blankets to the hospital bars (totally scaring me) in case I did seize. The magnesium started at 9 pm and made me feel like my face was on fire so the room was honestly 60*. Christopher willingly adjusted it and wore 3 blankets at a time. They started the Pitocin at midnight and something else to loosen my cervix and they would check me every 2 hours. I was having back labor so I kept wanting to sit up and it scared my nurse and it forced her to have to stay in the room to watch and make sure I didn't fall on the floor from seizing. We had a super nice nurse about our age named Taryn who was seriously the best! My contractions started around 2:30 am and they were very intense and painful. I got a continuous epidural somewhere between 10- 11 am (Oh man!! Praise Jesus!!) A few minutes after the epidural was in I felt sick and Christopher said my face was as white as the sheets (I had low blood pressure). I threw up and they turned me on my side. I felt better after a few minutes but I could tell that I had scared everyone in the room. A few hours later they ended up breaking my water and then things quickly progressed. At 1:30 pm I was fully dilated and was told I needed to start pushing. I pushed THREE times and Ryker James came into the world July 27, 2017 at 2:01 pm 5 lbs 8 oz. 19 in.

He looked so beat up poor baby. He was so tiny and perfect. He was here early but we were so happy to meet him. We got to spent two hours with him before he was sent to the nursery to be monitored for 6 hours (...yeah you read that right). I guess the magnesium I had to take could somehow make him so groggy that he could forget to breathe. During those first two hours my mom came in with Chloe and she got to meet her new baby brother. She had already loved him since before he was born and seeing him made her so happy. She loved on and kissed him so much. I loved finally seeing them together! And then they took him. I hated that he was gone. I felt like we barely got anytime with him and they just took him away. We watched a lot of TV to pass the time including Big Brother (eviction night). They brought him back in the labor room at around 10 pm but I had to stay in the labor room for 24 hours after the magnesium stopped. We spent a LOT of time in that windowless room and I was going stir crazy. At around 4 pm the next day we finally moved to our postpartum room.

The first night in our postpartum they were very worried about his temperature being too low. This freaked me out so I had like 5 blankets on him at all times. It finally seemed to stay up sometime during the night. The next morning he got his circumcision and came back to the room sleeping. I was so worried for him but he handled it like a champ and the pediatrician that did it was so kind and professional we were so thankful for him. Latching was not happening so he was mostly bottle fed in the hospital. Christopher's parents, as well as mine,

and my grandmother were our family visitors. Our Pastor visited as well as Sara and Rusty. On the final day he had to take a car seat test (he ended up taking two) and he failed so he was sent home in a car bed. We are so in love with this sweet baby boy and we cannot wait to see him grow up.

9 Months Old

Dear light of my life,

9 Months Old!!! I can't believe it!!

I love you so much Chloe! I was calculating something the other day a guess what?! You were inside my tummy exactly 9 months so that means that starting tomorrow you will have been breathing and eating (somewhat) on your own longer than you were in my tummy. I know it's a strange thing to think about but I thought is was interesting. You have been such a strong girl your whole life, even before you were born.

Y

You have grown a lot this month. You officially sleep in your crib now, which I'll admit is bittersweet. I love that you can sleep through the night but I miss hearing the sound of you breathing next to me in your pack-n-play while you sleep. You usually sleep until 7-8 am. It's awesome. I honestly am so blessed that you are such a good sleeper.







This month was your first Easter. You looked so adorable in the Easter dress that Papi got you. You also wore a pink jacket that my great grandmother made for me when I was a baby.





Eating has gotten a lot better this month. You actually like eating. You attack the spoon with your mouth, it's so funny! You still only like squash ans sometimes sweet potatoes but you make silly faces with the sweet potatoes. You drink the same amount of formula 7-8 oz. 4 times a day. You have become more independent and don't like when I feed you, you like to do it yourself. You like it best when I lay you on the floor and let you hold the bottle and feed yourself. You're such a cutie pie!





You have started to pull things off of the bottom shelf this month. I have to put all of the DVD's back where they go at least once a day.




You are growing so fast and I can't wait for the day where we can have dress up days and tea parties!

I love sweet girl!!

8 Months Old

My sweetest girl,

I love you so much honey! This last month has flown by you have grown so much!  You are becoming so independent and I am so proud of you. 

You are staring to eat a little better this month but you only like to eat squash. You won't swallow anything else I give you. You really hate sweet food, like bananas, sweet peas, or peaches.  I only hope you don't like sweets once you're older ;) You really only eat about 1/2 a jar of baby food a day. This really freaked me out at first but I know that you're just going at your own pace and I love you so much no matter what you do.

You still drink about 7-8 oz of formula 4 times a day. You take 2-3 naps a day. one at 10 am, another at 2 pm and sometimes one at 5 pm. And you go to bed every night sometime between 9-10 pm. You wake up once around 4 am, but I give you a bottle and you go right back to sleep until about 8-9.

You have also started rolling EVERYWHERE. I set you in the middle of the living room and step out of the room for a few minutes and when I get back you are almost in the kitchen. It's precious. 

Your teething has calmed down a bit so you are a lot happier than you were last month.

You really like when I read to you. You like trying to grab things inside the book. its adorable.

I am so proud to be your mommy! I love you so much Chloe. Keep growing into the beautiful girl that God has created you to be.

Simon

My (not so) baby brother is getting married this month.

Wow.

Just typing that out is crazy to me. 

I am so proud of the man he is. He was my best friend growing up. He understood (and may still understand) me better than anyone in the world. He still knows exactly how I feel with just one look. And that's one of the best things about Simon, not only does he understand, he cares. He has always been such a caring person.

I remember while my mom was pregnant wanting a little brother. He was such a cute little baby.

Even though he was a cutie, we was not a very happy baby the first year of his life. He Had pneumonia and needed tubes. The earliest memories I have of Simon were of him crying... all the time.

We were always in daycare during the week but I remember him crying all weekend long.

Once he was healthy things got a lot better. He started to be more fun to play with.

I loved being a big sister. I basically felt like a princess. I had a little helper who would do anything I told him to (Haha! I wished.). Even though we mostly played what I wanted, Simon would never let me dress him up like a doll. 

He HATED when I tried to put hats or wigs on him.

Some of my favorite memories:

When we would catch frogs Simon would always squeeze them so hard that they would pee on him.

Anytime we would go on trips we would quote our favorite movies from beginning to end. 

Mostly The Emperor's New Groove. We loved that movie.

Another thing I remembered was that Simon ALWAYS wanted to be around me. Even at my birthday parties. 

He always wanted to do what I did, sing what I sang, and eat what I ate. At the time it drove me crazy, but when I think about it now it makes me smile.

He usually went along with all of the dorky things I wanted to do. When we were 9 and 5 our parents were looking for a new house. Every time we went in to a new house my brother and I would find the biggest bedroom and roll around on the floor in the empty room while singing "roll around, roll around". We were such dorks!

I remember when I was getting ready to move away to college I freaked out at the thought of Simon learning to drive while I was away at school. I took him to a big empty parking lot and I taught him how to drive. It was so fun, and probably the most irresponsible thing I ever did. He was 14...

Any time I would come home from school Simon would always and still to this day, give me a huge hug. Those hugs are my favorite. I could always tell how much he missed me. The hardest part about moving away from home was Simon. I didn't want him to be all alone. But little did I know that Ashley was already in the picture. 

Simon was very nice and sweet to Christopher. I remember him telling us that he had planned on being a jerk to scare him off but he liked him too much once he met him.

About 2 years ago Christopher and I moved in to my parents house for a while. Simon was very good about it. I doubt it was easy living under a roof (and sharing what used to be your own bathroom) with your sister and her husband.

When Chloe came along Simon became an Uncle. I think he was kind of intimidated at first. But he is a wonderful uncle. And not only is he a wonderful uncle he is giving my daughter a sweet, kind, loving, beautiful, and graceful Aunt. 

Simon you are a HUGE piece of my life and a big part of my heart is yours, I love you so much brother. I would be so proud if my kids grew up to be like you!

Love you Simon!