Trying to get the hang of things

Ryan is doing well and is growing every day. Last Friday at his doctor's appointment he had gained back to his birth weight and then some, weighed in at 7lbs 13oz. They said he was doing really well. He does have a blocked tear duct though so we have to massage his eye a couple of times a day. This past weekend Chris, Nikki, Aubrey and Hayden came down to see Ryan. It was great to see them and for them to see Ryan. Hopefully now that he is here they will have to come visit more often. Jonathan went back to work on Monday so it was my first week by myself with Ryan. Ryan and I are trying to get into a routine and figure things out. He has his nights and days mixed up a little bit so we are trying to fix that right now. It's no easy task trying to keep a newborn up when he wants to sleep and even harder to try to get him to sleep when he wants to be awake. But we are enjoying our time together. Ryan is such a blessing and I wonder if I will ever not be so overwhelmed with love when I look at him. We took him on the 11th for his newborn pictures and they are now online for viewing. Go to http://carlislephotography.smugmug.com/Proofs and search for Johnson R. Newborn, password is johnson. They turned out so well and I am so happy about them. Now comes the hard part of trying to decide which ones to buy. That's it for now. There are some pictures below of the past week and a half.

Ryan in his swing, he is starting to enjoy it more.

Sleeping on Daddy.

Tummy time. He didn't really enjoy it but he is getting better at it.

Uncle Chris holding his nephew.

Aunt Nikki showing Aubrey and Hayden their new cousin Ryan.

His umbilical cord fell off on Saturday so he can now take real baths. He likes them better than the sponge baths but still doesn't love them. I am sure as he gets older and can play in the water he will.

Swing time, notice how his hair is standing up.

Mommy and baby taking a nap. Despite this picture, he is getting better about sleeping in his pack-n-play instead of with me.

Ryan's first week

Things are going well. The first night at home was rough but I guess that is to be expected. We are starting to get into a routine and learn what he likes and dislikes. Sleeping is hit or miss. He doesn't seem to really like to sleep by himself at night but we are working on that. He is eating really well; which I am so thankful for. We had our first outing yesterday and went to see his cousin Shelby be baptized. Everyone really enjoyed getting to see him and love on him. We are getting some professional pictures taken tomorrow and I am so excited about that. And he has a doctor's appointment on Friday for a normal 2 week check-up. Hopefully he has put on some weight and is doing well. Then this weekend Ryan will get to meet his Uncle Chris, Aunt Nikki and his cousins Aubrey and Hayden when they come down for a visit. Jonathan has all this week off to help me out but I need to start getting used to doing things on my own for when he goes back to work. Hopefully we will have a good week.

Big crib, little baby.

Sleeping in his pack-n-play. He loves the vibration on this.

First doctor's appointment. Poor little guy had to have blood drawn to check his jaundice levels. I cried more than he did. If you pay close attention to the paper sheet you can see the wet spots next to him are my tears; pathetic, I know.

Playing in his bouncy seat and he is awake.

Deep in thought.

First bath. He did pretty well, cried through most of it but not too much were you couldn't get anything done.

All clean and ready for bed.

First walk. He slept through all of his walk, it was a short walk though since I am still rather sore from the c-section.

Daddy pushing Ryan's stroller.

Daddy and Ryan playing.

Mommy and Ryan. Hard to believe my little baby is one week old in this picture.

Ryan Matthew

Ryan's first night was not what I thought it would be. Since I had to have a c-section and had to take a lot more medicine than I wanted to or thought I would have to; I was very out of it. I didn't react very well to the meds and was getting sick from it. Since I was still out of it for quite some time after the surgery we went ahead and had Ryan stay in the nursery for the night. They brought him back to feed though. I was a little upset about not keeping him but I was able to spend some time with him before they put him in the nursery and realized for myself that I was just not going to be able to do it. Some time during the night, at one of his feedings, I could feel myself slowly coming around and the meds wearing off. However, I was still not able to keep anything down (and I was only allowed to have water and ice chips but I couldn't keep those down). The next morning after seeing the pediatrician Ryan came back to the room and we kept him the rest of the day. The pediatrician came in and said Ryan was doing great. He had ran a little bit of a fever right after birth but was doing great now. Jonathan and I spent the morning staring at him and loving on him. Guests started arriving shortly after 10 and kept coming for most of the day. Ryan did really well with seeing everyone. He spent the next day doing pretty much the same thing. He slept pretty well and the nurses in the nursery just loved him. There was one in particular that really adored him. We were able to leave the hospital on Wednesday to go home since we were both doing well. It was so nice to be able to go home and we were excited to show our baby his new home. The first night was rough, he didn't seem to want to sleep unless he was being held. So, against my better judgement and the need for at least a little sleep, he did sleep with me in bed for a little bit. The next night he did a little better but still has at least one fit a night. The days have been pretty good and overall I think he is going to be a great baby. He is eating well and for the most part has only one bad crying fit a day were we can't seem to figure out what he wants (I just wish it was during the day and not at night). He had his first doctor's visit on Thursday since his billirupen levels (that causes jaundice) were a little high on Wednesday. They were the same on Thursday; which the doctor said was good and meant that the jaundice would go down now (he said it levels off and then goes down). Ryan weighed in at 6lbs 13oz so he had lost some weight but that is normal and they weren't worried about it. They don't need to see him back until his two week visit next Friday. So, overall everything is going really well. Jonathan and I are starting to get the hang of things and trying to get in to some sort of a routine.

Visits from family.

Jennifer wanted to change his clothes; just had to get him in something cute.

Long night, they fell asleep together.

Jonathan had to change most of the diapers at the hospital since I couldn't move very well due to the c-section.



Just looking at him.

Loving on him.

Dr. Steele and Ryan: My OB and the doctor who delivered Ryan.

Getting all our paperwork to leave.

Car ride home.

Ryan is here!!

Ryan Matthew Johnson was born Sunday, August 2nd at 8:34pm. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and is 20 inches long. He has a head full of hair and is an amazingly good baby thus far. While things didn't go as planned, we are very happy he is here and healthy.

Now for the whole story of the labor and delivery. We came in Saturday night at 8pm to begin the induction process. They set us up in a room, hooked me up to the monitors, had some lab work done, an IV put in and then waited for awhile to start the pitocin. Finally found out at 10:30 that they were trying to get a new bed for me because the button for the nurse wasn't working on the bed that was in the room. They got a new bed in there and started a low dose of pitocin at 11. Some time in the middle of the night they did turn the pitocin off for awhile and then started a higher dose at 6am. My doctor came in at 7:30 to check me but I hadn't dilated any more than the previous day when I was at 2cm. My doctor gave me 3 options. 1) I could continue on the pitocin and they would increase the dose. 2) I could go home, wait and try again later. Or 3) I could have a c-section. I really didn't want to have a c-section. Not only did I not want to have surgery and go through the painful recovery but I really wanted the whole experience of a vaginal birth. So we decided against that. And going home didn't make sense at all. We knew that he was already a big baby and that was why my body was having a hard time progressing to deliver him, so we ruled that option out as well. We had them increase the dose of pitocin.

They increased the pitocin every 30 minutes up to the highest dosage they would give. At that point my doctor checked me again and I had dilated to a 3 and had effaced to 80%. She was happy with the progress and decided that since we had already ruled out going home that it would help to break my water. At 10:30 she broke my water to help labor progress even more. At this point my contractions got much stronger. I wasn't really feeling anything before my water was broke and was quite shocked at the difference it made. I dilated to a 5 by noon and they gave me an epidural for the pain. The epidural did not hurt at all really but my contractions were quite strong at this point so I didn't care; I just wanted them to quit hurting. It looked like things were going well since my water had been broken. I had dilated 2 additional centimeters in an hour and a half. Before my water was broke it took me 3 hours to dilate just one centimeter. My progress slowed down after this though. After two hours I had only dilated another centimeter and then after another 2 hours I had dilated another centimeter to a 7.

I stayed at 7 centimeters for 3 hours. During this time I also started running a fever. They gave me some antibiotics through my IV and had me do some rocking on my hands and knees to try to reposition the baby to see if that would help. I started feeling a lot more pressure so we thought that it was getting close to time for the big show. They began prepping everything for delivery and then the doctor came in to check me again. The baby had moved down (hence the increased amount of pressure); however, I hadn't dilated any further. At this point we had no options but to have a c-section. Since I was running a fever they weren't going to let me stay on the pitocin any longer and I had been at a 7 for 3 hours. Plus, my doctor still thought the baby's head was too big to fit through my pelvis. So, after 10 hours from the point of breaking my water they began prepping me for a c-section. I was pretty upset about it because I really wanted a vaginal birth and didn't want to have surgery (I knew recovery would be rough). But it was important to make sure that baby and I were safe and healthy.

They wheeled me back to the OR a little bit after 8 and let Jonathan come back shortly after that. I was given additional medicine to numb me and help me relax (I was having the baby shakes from all the hormones of labor pretty bad). At 8:34 baby Ryan Matthew was born. Everything went really well with the c-section. Jonathan was able to cut the cord while they were cleaning Ryan off. Jonathan held Ryan, showed him to me and then carried him to the nursery. While Jonathan was in the nursery with Ryan for his check-up they finished everything with me. I honestly don't know how long this process took because I fell asleep and I don't remember a whole lot from the c-section due to all the medicine and nerves (I was pretty out of it). I remember waking up and my doctor was telling me that there was no way the baby was going to be able to fit through my pelvis because his head was too big and a bit off centered from the birth canal. He still ended up having a little bit of a cone shaped head from being down there and stuck (but it has gone down for the most part by now).

I was wheeled back to my room and they brought Ryan in to see me shortly after. I was able to nurse him and see him for a couple of minutes before they took Ryan back to the nursery for his bath. I was very glad that I was able to see him so soon after (that was one of my concerns with having a c-section) even if it was just for about 30 minutes. During this time I started feeling sick though and ended up throwing up several times through out the night. My fever had still not gone down so I received more antibiotics and Ryan had to have blood work done because I was running a fever but everything came back negative. I was moved to my postpartum room and they brought Ryan back shortly after this. He wasn't away from me too long; which made me very happy. I will follow up with some about his first day shortly. Here are a few pictures for now.

Right before going in Saturday night.

During labor (I think this was after they gave me the epidural).

Getting ready to go back to the OR. Trying to keep a positive additude and a smile on my face.

Baby Ryan is here.

Working on cleaning him off.

He did not like the medicine they have to put on their eyes.

Jonathan with Ryan. Jonathan got to stay with Ryan for most of the time while he was in the nursery.

Mommy gets to hold him for the first time.

Ryan will be here soon!!

Yesterday I had my weekly check-up and got some great news!! We are going to the hospital tonight at 8pm to be induced. Baby Ryan will be here some time soon!! All week I was nervous about this appointment because I am really ready to have this baby. While I have enjoyed being pregnant and it has really been a blessing I am ready to have my baby here and begin the long process of getting my body back. I think working has been really hard on my body after not working for 11 weeks. Every day I come home from work with new aches and pains (and as most of you know I have been having a lot of problems with swelling in my hands, feet and ankles). So I was really hoping for a good doctor's visit and hoping my doctor would agree to induce. We had to meet with my high risk doctor first to have an ultrasound. Everything there went really well. Baby is head down and very low. They estimated he would weigh in at 8lbs 3oz (let's see how close they will be). Then we went over to see my regular OB. As we were walking back to the room with the nurse we passed Dr. Steele and she said "Do you want to have a baby this weekend?" I thought she was joking with me because I didn't think they would induce over the weekend so I said "Don't play with me." She laughed and said "No, I am on call this weekend so if you are ready we can set you up for this weekend." I was so excited and of course said yes. Right after this the nurse tried to take my blood pressure and of course it was high, lol. But since I had just had it checked at my high risk doctor's office and it was normal we weren't worried about that, I was just excited. I am so glad that my doctor will be the one to deliver our baby. I have heard mixed stories (some ok and some bad) about having other doctors deliver. We have really gotten to know Dr. Steele over the last 9 months with as many visits as we have had to go to. And she was there when we went through the scare of him coming at 23 weeks. But God has blessed us tremendously and we have made it to 39 weeks (well, tomorrow but close enough). Tonight we will go in at 8pm and they will set me up on the pitocin to start my contractions. Hopefully everything will go smooth and we should have a new baby here some time Sunday morning. I will keep everyone updated as much as possible and will post pictures as soon as I can.