The Big Arrival

The bean has arrived! We welcomed Ryan Durrance Blalock at 8:03a on Friday April 20th. Here are the baby stats:

Date/time: 4/20/12 8:03am CST
Weight: 8 lbs 1.8 oz
Length: 19.5 inches
Head circumference: 14 inches
Chest circumference: 13.5 inches

Ryan's arrival is a long story! As expected, I was induced due to the high blood pressure. It wasn't ideal since I wasn't progressed as far as they like to see for an induction to be successful, but the doc didn't want to risk the BP. So we went to the hospital at 1am on Thursday April 19th to start the process. They got me hooked up to Pitocin to get labor started, but it took a very long time for things to progress. There were a couple times where the doctor said if things didn't get better in X amount of time then we would have to do a C-section which I definitely did not want. But thankfully, whenever we got that threat I managed to progress enough that they let me keep going. It was a very, very long 30 hours before Ryan was finally born. He did great though, and only got distressed at the very end so while I was pushing the doc had to do some magic to get him out quickly. As soon as he was out he let out a big cry! They put him up on my belly right away and Mark was able to cut the umbilical cord. And then we got to see our little man for the first time!

We were at the hospital until yesterday afternoon. He came down with a bit of jaundice so they kept us a few hours longer than normal so they could check him and monitor his feeding/diapers. We had to retest at the hospital this morning and see the pediatrician and he's doing better so we're in the clear as long as he keeps eating well. After 4 days in the hospital we were VERY excited to come home.

Here's what we know about Ryan so far:

1) He has very long toes and feet
2) He hates being cold
3) He loves being swaddled
4) We aren't sure what color his eyes are at the moment; they are either very dark blue or brown
5) He inherited my difficult veins, so he has lots of band aids from the nurses trying to get blood for the various newborn tests

But of course what everyone wants are pictures!

Ryan's Arrival

We'll have lots more to share over the coming weeks/months I'm sure.

We're doing well now at home. We're still figuring thing out of course, but everyday we figure out a new trick or get better at something. He's not sleeping great at night, he likes to sleep during the day a lot. So we're both pretty tired. But loving every minute!

40 Week Update

It's been an eventful week leading up to my due date (which is on Tuesday 4/17)! At my doctor's appointment on Tuesday, my blood pressure was officially high. The doctor was pretty concerned, so he wanted me back in on Thursday to recheck it and said that if it was still high they would do some additional testing and possibly induce me. I was also ordered to bed rest until then to keep the BP down (which I wasn't too happy about!). On Thursday, the BP was still high (in fact it was higher) so he sent me over to labor & delivery for some blood work and a contraction stress test. And since the BP was so high, he basically said be prepared to stay for an induction.

So, Mark and I headed over to the hospital. They took some blood and then hooked me up to an IV with low levels of Pitocin to induce some contractions. They were monitoring the contractions, the baby's heart rate, and my BP (which was down when we got there but stayed a bit erratic while we were there). The goal was to see how well he tolerated the contractions. One of the risks with high blood pressure is that the baby might not be getting enough oxygen from the placenta. If the baby's heart rate drops during a contraction it indicates that he's not getting the oxygen.

So we sat at the hospital for about 6 hours while they kept upping the dosage of the Pitocin trying to get a consistent pattern of contractions (apparently I'm not very sensitive to it). Meanwhile, my blood work checking my liver function came back clean which was good. The baby tolerated the contractions very well indicating that he's still getting enough oxygen from the placenta. Once they got the data they took me off the Pitocin to see if the contractions would stay and they stopped almost immediately. And after all those contractions, I had no more dilation. So the bean wasn't ready to debut and they sent me home under bed rest orders. It was the right move to not rush the bean, but we were a little disappointed that

So that's where I am! I'm very sick of resting and getting quite bored. I see the doctor again tomorrow afternoon to see what the next step is. If there is more cervical progression, then I'm thinking they will want to induce. So who knows, we may have this baby sooner rather than later!

Here is the 40 week bump pic and I'm hoping it's my last :)

39 Week Update

With a week left until our due date, I'm quite ready to have this baby! While I'm still feeling pretty good, this week brought some new discomforts since he's dropped. Mostly hip and some back pain. I'm not moving too quick these days!

At my doctor's appointment last week the baby was at -1 station (which is good) and I was 1 cm dilated. So there was some progression. I've had an increase in the number of Braxton Hicks contractions this week too, so I'm hoping there will be some more progression this week when I see the doc on Tuesday.

The big excitement for us this week is that we bought a boat! It's an 2002 18 ft Edgewater center console. We were able to take it out today for a maiden voyage and it was great! Here are some pics, it was a gorgeous day for a boat ride:

Putting in at the ramp

Proud owners!

Pepper likes the boat

Captain Mark

Pretty water

There were a few bumps on the ride, we're hoping it will encourage the bean to make his debut :) Here is the bump, I don't think it's much bigger but it's definitely lower!

38 Week Update

Sorry for the late blog post! Last night we were preoccupied with homebrewing and I just forgot until it was too late I was a sleepy pregnant lady :) Mark put together a very tasty looking wheat beer for me last night. By the time the bean gets here, it will be ready to drink!

Not much to report this week. No indications that the bean will be making his debut anytime soon. My doctor did say that he is likely going to be over 8 pounds when he's born! Not too surprising since he has been measuring a little big all the way through the pregnancy. We're pretty much ready at this point, all we have left to do is pack a hospital bag and install the car seat. Very exciting!

Here is the bump!

37 Week Update

This bean is now full term! This just means that if he decides to come out early, they won't try to stop him and he won't be considered premature. But we both expect him to come late so we don't expect him to come out before April 17th. He seems to be pretty happy in there at the moment, lots of squirming around, though the movements are less severe since he's running out of room. He's probably weighing about 6.5 pounds now and will gain ~.5 lbs a week until he's born.

I now see the doctor every week. This week I had my first exam to check my dilation. The doc said that the bean is still high and I'm not dilated at all, another indication that he is quite happy right where he is! My feet & ankles are VERY swollen, though. They got pretty bad this week despite the fact that I was on spring break and not on my feet as much. As in even my flip flops don't quite fit. I wonder if the warmer weather has something to do with it. So far they haven't been too concerned about it other than to say we need to watch it. My blood pressure has been okay, so I'm hoping the swelling is just a benign symptom and not something that they will want to induce me early for. It does mean that my students will just have to deal with me wearing flops in class now since my teaching shoes aren't even close to fitting!

I'm also finding that some of my maternity clothes aren't fitting anymore too. Many of my shirts don't quite cover the bottom of the bump. So it will be lots of dresses for me for the next few weeks. Just as well, like I said it's getting warm down here! If I wasn't pregnant I would love it, but it just makes me hot now :)

We've been busy the last few weeks putting the nursery together. We are sill waiting on one or two more things but I think it's close enough to share. We are waiting on a cover for the changing pad, a different picture to put in the frame next to the glider, and I'm having trouble deciding on which cute Etsy pic to hang on the wall behind the glider. We did a lot of DIY things and I'm really happy with how things turned out! Here are the pics:

Nursery!

And here is the ever expanding bump!

36 Week Update

Only one month left! Or I should say at least one month, he may decide to show up early. We're excited to be so close to the finish. This week I started to really look forward to not being pregnant anymore. As you can see below, the belly is big and it's making me tired, hot, and uncomfortable :) I'm mostly looking forward to having ankles and sleeping comfortably again. I realize I won't be getting much sleep, but at least I'll be comfy when I do!

I had a nice surprise on Friday, my colleagues threw a surprise shower for me at school! It was very nice and I was quite surprised! Since it was a surprise, I didn't bring a camera but my friends Teresa and Erica took some with their phones:

UWF Baby Shower

We spent a lot of this weekend working on the nursery. It's still not ready to share (still waiting on a few things to get delivered), but we got a lot accomplished! I will hopefully knock out a few other baby to-dos this week since it's my spring break. This week I also start seeing the doctor every week until I deliver. Both exciting and annoying, ha.

I also finished another baby knit this week. This may be one of my most favorite knitted things ever. Meet Chadwick the Caterpillar (pattern here)!

He even rattles:)

One last picture for you, here is the bump!

35 Week Update

Hard to believe we have just over a month to go! The bean is probably weighing about 5 pounds these days which is certainly making everyday things like putting on shoes or bending over in general more difficult:) He has also taken to doing handstands on my bladder which is not helping in the frequent urination department, ha.

This weekend we went up to Atlanta to help Mark's parents put in new hardwood floors in their kitchen. That is to say, Mark helped with the floors and I worked on picking up a few things for the bean with Mary. We always seem to come back from visiting family with more things than we came with!

We still have some work to do on the nursery before I can share pics, but I am excited about one piece that arrived this weekend so I thought I'd give you a sneak peek. I ordered these drawer knobs from Etsy and they are so great!

We have numbers 1-6 for the dresser and then a B for Blalock on a side table.

All went well at the doctor this week, just the usual routine visit. In 2 weeks I start going every week until the end, yikes!

And here is the 35 week bump!