As I mentioned in my last post before he arrived, I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, January 7th. During the ultrasound they discovered that his amniotic fluid was below the normal levels. Everything else looked fine and Ryan looked healthy, so my doctor decided that it was time to go ahead and induce labor to avoid anything else taking a turn for the worse. I was pretty shocked with the news. Instead of going back to work to finish up the last few things I needed to get done before maternity leave (since my last day of work was scheduled to be the next day) I was going to have a baby. I must have looked pretty freaked out because the doctor and nurse kept telling me it was going to be ok.
I called Chris and gave him the big news. He stopped by the house to get our bags (which I was supposed to have already put in the car the night before) and then met me at the hospital. We were fairly prepared for the big day - except for the fact that the car seat was not installed yet and our hospital tour was scheduled for the following Saturday!
Once Chris got to the hospital they started the pitocin to induce labor (around 3:00 Thursday afternoon). I started having contractions, but nothing too painful. I was only 1.5 cm dialated at that point and 60% effaced. Everything progressed fairly well for a while, and then all of a sudden Ryan's heart rate dropped and the nurses rushed in to move me and him around to try to get his heart rate back up. They put me on oxygen to increase the oxygen flow to Ryan and his heart rate went back to normal. After that they didn't let me get out of bed at all and watched his heart rate very closely. We had a couple more heart rate scares throughout the night, but were able to restore his heart rate to normal by switching positions.
Around 10:00 PM my water broke and the contractions got much more intense. Not long after that I got the epidural, which was a life saver!! At that point I was about 3 cm dialated and fully effaced. Once the pain was gone I was able to get some sleep! At about 5:00 on Friday morning the nurse checked me again just to see if I'd made any progress during the night. She and I were both surprised to find that I was 10 cm dialated and ready to push! I pushed through three contractions when Ryan's heart rate dropped. She called in the doctor, extra nurses, and the NICU to assist. The doctor used forceps to deliver Ryan on the next contraction at 5:25 AM. He was 7 pounds, 2 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.
He wasn't breathing right away, and it took about 45 seconds for the doctors to get him breathing. We were pretty scared, and it was the longest 45 seconds ever, but hearing his first cry was amazing! He started to regain color and I was able to hold him for a minute or so before they took him to the NICU to observe him.
Ryan spent the first 36 hours in the NICU. He had no more heart rate or breathing scares, but they wanted to keep him there to make sure nothing else was wrong. About 6:00 PM the following day he was moved to the newborn nursery and we were finally able to have him to ourselves. We spent an extra day in the hospital to make sure he was doing ok and were finally able to go home on Monday, January 11th.
When we got home we were able to introduce Morgan to Ryan, which went pretty well. Morgan was scared of his car seat, but was much more excited about him when she realized he came out of the car seat. The first couple of days home Morgan would go to Ryan and whine every time he made a noise. Now she just sleeps through it!
We are so blessed to have Ryan with us! Here are some pictures from the hospital and coming home.
This is the sign that Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jen made for me! What great inspiration!
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