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.