On Monday, December 23, 2013 at 10:48 AM, at 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant, Ryan Perry Schwartz was born into the world. Weighing 6lb, 15oz and 20.5 in. long...he immediately stole my heart.
It is hard to believe that in just 2 days, our little boy will already be 1 month old! I took a break from the blog world to enjoy the mommy world for a while...plus we had TONS of visitors fly in to meet this stud. Now that we are settling in, it is time to share his birth story and start blogging again for you to stay up-to-date on Ryan :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryan's birth story:
On Sunday, Dec. 22, Russell and I went out and about to finish up some Christmas shopping. His parents were flying in on Monday, Dec. 23 to share Christmas with us so it was really our last day to get anything done. After only a few hours, I was ready to call it a day and get home. I was really retaining a LOT of fluid by that point in my pregnancy and swelling really bad. By the time we made it home, my back was killing me and my feet were so swollen that they barely even fit into a pair of flats.
Russell made dinner (which tasted horrible) so that I could rest as my back pain was horrible and after dinner I called it a night. Russell on the other hand was not feeling well and had taken a new medicine for his Lyme's Disease and was having a bad reaction to it. At 10:00 that night, he was pale, not doing well, and asked me to take him to the ER just to get looked at. I drove him to the ER and we were there until midnight to find out he just had a bad side effect to the medicine. We got home at midnight and I crashed.
At 1:30 AM (12/23), I woke up to pee. After using the restroom, I climbed back in bed and thought I was peeing myself (no joke), I got out of bed and my water broke. And when I say broke, I mean gushed (sorry if this is TMI). I called Russell into the bathroom and he literally had sheer panic written on his face. I called the night nurse on staff at my OBGYN's office only to have her confirm my shock that my water probably broke and we needed to head to the hospital. Soooo, I threw my suitcase in the car while Russell scrambled to pack his (way to be last minute) and we headed out the door. Almost immediately my contractions started and were immediately 5 minutes apart. We called our families on the way to keep them in the loop. But, halfway to the hospital, Russell thought he forgot his wallet, so we turned around and headed back home while I was biting my tongue so hard not to say anything. I waited in the car almost 10 minutes dealing with contractions as he searched for his wallet ONLY to find out, he put it in the backseat and forgot. (Again, I continued to bite my tongue.)
Once we FINALLY got the the hospital, they confirmed my water did, in fact, break and we were not gonna leave the hospital that day without a baby! I think I was still in shock, as it didn't seem real. I mean, we were 3 weeks early and was I really going to have a Christmas baby? I was already 2cm dilated and 75% effaced and contractions were coming in at 5 min. a part and BOY WERE THEY PAINFUL! For me, they felt like extreme period pains...so low in fact, that the machines were having a hard time picking up their true strength. About 2 hours in around 4 AM, they checked me and I was 3cm and fully effaced...they could also feel the head. I requested an epidural at that point as I was getting sick because of the pain and once that hit, I felt immediate relief. At 6 AM the nurse came in and checked me and was shocked to find out I was already 6cm. By 8, my doctor came on duty and checked me again and couldn't believe I was already at 8.5cm. She still thought I had 4-5 hours so she was going to head to the office to see a few patients. I sent Russell home to check on the dog and called my mom with the news. She was furious with me for sending Russell home as she new how fast I was progressing and was scared to death that he wouldn't make it back to the hospital in time. I also called Russell's mom as she was flying into Memphis that day to give her the update as well before she boarded her plane. She had already planned to fly in that day to spend Christmas with us, so lucky her, she got to be here the day he was born. Within 45 min., the nurse checked me again and I was 9.5 cm and it was time to practice pushing. She called the doc at her office and told her it was go time. I jumped on the phone, scared to death, calling Russell to see where he was. He couldn't believe it was go time, but fortunately he was 5 minutes away. The doc came back to the hospital within 30 minutes and my 10 AM it was time to push.
Russell stood by me and was the biggest help ever. As I pushed, he rubbed my back, and as I took a break, he put the oxygen mask on me to help with my oxygen to help the baby. It was just so much low pressure that the baby's heart rate would slightly drop during my contractions so they did the oxygen to help. After 30 minutes of pushing Ryan was delivered immediately wide-eyed and crying. Just to hear his cry was the best sound in the world.
They placed him on my chest as I cried like a baby at the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. Nothing will ever beat the moment you hold your baby and see him for the first time. Ryan was just staring into my eyes and I was so so so in love. Then they took him to wash up and get his measurements and Russell followed him to take pictures.
Russell's parents made it in that night around 8 PM and came to the hospital to meet our little man. I was still so in awe at the sight of our baby boy that I didn't even want to sleep...I just wanted to stare at him.
The next day, I was healing well and really wanted to just bring our boy home. We were able to check out and take Ryan home to spend his first Christmas Eve with us that afternoon.
To come: What our first month has been like with Ryan :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...I know we sure did.
XOXO, Sherri