After a contraction and anxiety filled sleepless night, we woke up extra early Sunday morning to have our “hot oatmeal” breakfast and Mickey Mouse (Jayme’s favorite morning routine) before we packed the car and headed out one last time as a family of three… By 7:30, we dropped Jayme off at her “boys’” house (Connor and Kyle- “her boys” are basically her big brothers from another mother! They have been a part of her life since before she was born, and she absolutely adores them!)… After a last bitter-sweet good-bye snuggle with our little girl, we were off to St. Jude to turn our family of three into an even four!
8 am- Check-in at L&D, change, and begin an
indefinite diet of ice chips only (seriously one of
the worst parts of labor is being deprived of food!)
10 am- Finally hooked to Pitocin- and now the long
wait begins… and because there was literally nothing on TV, so does my first
ever start to finish viewing of an entire football game (pre-game, commercials,
halftime, and post-game) Ravens v Colts… Surprisingly not a bad way to pass a
couple hours!
12 pm- My mom and brother go Ryan lunch and he came
back from a full stomach of Farmer Boys to take a nap on the lounger, while I was
finally feeling the effects of the Pitocin in the form of back labor (I think
my nurse felt my annoyedness- yup, it’s a word- and she gave him a hard time on
my behalf ;-)
3 pm- Dr. Henderson
finally broke my water (I was hungry and cranky at this point and wanted to get
the show on the road already)…
3:45pm- Holy back labor! The good thing (if you can
call it that) about not having an epidural during my labor with Jayme, was that
I now had a comparison of the pain level I could handle before I wanted to cry…
and before my blood pressure got too high that labor became dangerous… after
much debate and deciding it was better this time not to let my blood pressure
rise from the pain level, I caved and got the epidural (still wish I would have
just held out, but in the moment it was the right thing to do for the baby and
myself).
4:00pm- Epidural
in, and I get a chance to take a brief nap before the “fun” begins…
4:45pm- Ryan gets a text from my brother saying his
Starbucks was ready for him in the waiting room… I give him “the look” and tell
him there is no way he is going to have time to “step out and get it”… Push
time! What was awesome this time around was that the doctor and nurses were
able to get set up in time for me to push… When we had Jayme, Ryan and one
other nurse were the only ones in the room and the doctor barely made it in
time to deliver her! Ryan got his wish this time around and was able to be at
the cheering section of the table instead of the “nurse end” ;-)
4:53pm- 3 contractions and 5 pushes later, Matthew
Ryan arrives and is a healthy crying/screaming 8lbs 7oz, and 20.5in!
4:55ish- We are still up in the air as to what he
looks like- Matthew or Joshua… Because I had the epidural, I was relaxed enough
to ponder with Ryan what his name would be-
[side
note: I wanted Matthew because I love the name meaning “gift of God,” and after
our year, I felt blessed to have the chance to have another child almost a year
to the day that we lost our second pregnancy… Ryan and Jayme liked Joshua (“God
saves”)… and honestly I figured we would just have to see which one he looked
more like when he arrived.] After a vote from the doctor and nurses- Matthew it was! Big sister
Jayme STILL refers to him as Joshua every now and then… one day she will get it
right ;-)
Our hearts and lives are forever changed by the newest
addition of our little boy, and I cannot be thankful enough that Jayme has
adapted so well…minus the to-be-expected 2.5 year old energy spewing out of her
little body at all times, she is so in love with her “baby brudder Maffew.” Two
weeks later, we have had the time to enjoy a few visitors here and there, but
for the most part we have had time to spend quality time bonding as a family of
four before Ryan heads back to work next week (super blessed that this time
around he has a secure job with a company and boss that are so accommodating
with paid time off!)
Moments to cherish:
~Matthew’s sweet demeanor, and coos when he sleeps
(which seems like 20 hours a day right now!)
~Jayme asking, “I smell him??!!” every time she wakes
up, goes to bed, or sees him and gets the urge to take a big sniff of his head
and then smoother him with sweet big sister kisses
~His beautiful blue eyes that are sure to be like his
daddy and sister’s
~His sweet little hands that love to be up near his
face and not swaddled with the rest of him
~His little feet that he loves to be rubbed by his
daddy
~The way his big sister beams with pride when she
introduces visitors to her baby brother, and when she holds him
~The way we can already tell he is a momma’s boy
because momma has the magic touch and his content face proves it ;-)
~The middle of the night and early morning snuggles
and how sound he sleeps in the bed curled up next to his mommy (and daddy
sometimes)
~The way he loves the soft swaddle blankets up against
his face (aden&anais bamboo swaddles are seriously - Worth. Every. Penny.)
~The way his big sister loves to help turn on his
swing or help with fetching or pitching out diapers
~The way Ryan has been so incredible taking over
grocery shopping, laundry, meals, Jayme routines, and almost every morning
bringing me breakfast in bed so I can nurse while I have breakfast!
We are so excited and blessed to have this sweet baby
boy in our lives, and we cannot wait to see what joys this year brings as our
family grows in our new home!
 |
| On our way to have a baby! |
 |
| After nearly 2 hours of active labor- he's here! Healthy, beautiful, and a crier (made us nervous at first, but it wore off after a few hours and he is a calm baby two weeks later!) |
 |
| family shots (including one for bebba) |
 |
| First time meeting her little brother... it could not have gone any better! |
 |
| a week later, she is still a proud big sister who is smitten over her "baby Maffew" |
