More photos

The two boys getting to know one another. Ryan is slowly warming up to the idea that he's the big brother.

Eyes open!

For Ryan's first year I documented his growth with a huge Pooh Bear. It's currently in storage, but we have this little one so I took a quick photo anyway.

Silly husband

Adam woke up this morning upset that I hadn't gotten him up last night to help with Timothy. I told him he'd fed Timothy while I pumped (Timothy simply sleeps when put to breast and the lactation consultant suggested we keep trying, but pump and give a bottle to supplement during the night... while we're still trying, we've decided this way worked for Ryan and can work for Timothy too.). He even burped the little man, but remembers nothing.

When I asked him to help out Adam was sound asleep. He sat up, took Tim and the bottle and seemed to be gettting ready to feed him. When I looked over to see how things were going he was just holding the bottle and I had to say, "You might try putting that in his mouth so he can stop sucking his fingers and actually eat." And he did what I had suggested.

Still husband remembers none of this today. Silly man!

Best of all... Timothy has been sleeping three hours between feedings at night... so much better than Ryan ever did. I was up every hour and a half with Ry at this point. I'm really thankful for the rest. Ryan wants to play all day and when he naps I just want to be with my husband who so deserves this time off so actually getting some sleep at night and waking feeling rested, is so very nice.

Pictures

Blogger is giving me a hard time with photos, but I promise there will be more later.

So I think I have three pregnancy photos for my entire pregnancy this time. Here's the final one, right after a contraction and just before walking out the door at 5:30 on Sunday morning.

Our newest addition, Timothy James with his mom and dad late Sunday night.

This was a few minutes after birth. Timothy had a really blue face for the first day because he came out so quickly.

All snug.

He's ready to go home!

Surprise!

When I went to bed on Saturday night I didn’t expect to go into labor. I had told Adam it would be neat if both of our kids were born in May and wouldn’t the 25th be a perfect day? We really didn’t think it was possible at 36 weeks. Even though I was exhausted I agreed to watch “The Brave” with Adam. It was a Netflix rental we’d been holding on to for far too long. I feel asleep around 10 p.m.

Just before 2, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came back to lie down in bed, I was having a hard time getting comfortable. When I rolled over my water broke. Slightly puzzled (my water broke with Ryan, but it was a trickle) at the large amount of fluid, I woke up Adam and told him that I’d either wet the bed or my water had broken. He asked about contractions and I said I hadn’t had any and planned on going back to sleep.

Well, it’s hard to sleep with fluid trickling so I got up and did a few things instead. By 3:30 contractions had started and I’d about finished scrapbooking all of my 2008 photos. At 4 I tried going back to bed, but only ended getting up to take care of Ryan who had a wet diaper. At five I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart and figured I should wake Adam and have him get ready.

We arrived at the hospital at 6, the main entrance was closed, so we entered through emergency and were greeted by a security guard. Before he could ask why we were there, Adam announced, “She’s stubbed her toe.” We all laughed and then got a wheel chair ride to the maternity ward.

The nurse later confessed she didn’t think I was in labor because I was so calm. When she checked me I was already six centimeters dilated and 80 percent effaced. She warned that if I wanted any sort of pain medication that I needed to decide now because my window of opportunity was rather small. While my contractions weren’t anything like when I had Ryan, I knew there was no way I’d risk that same amount of pain again so I asked for my intrathecal.

While we waited, Adam searched the baby name book for a boy’s name. The lab tech who took my blood must have thought we were out of our minds. Adam was throwing out names like Kirby and Gandalf. We pretty much laughed the entire time we were waiting for my antibiotics.

Time went by really quickly because by eight thirty I had my iv and all my antibiotics for GBS and the doctor had checked me again and said I was about eight and almost ready to deliver. He figured I would deliver between 9 and 11. Adam made a few phone calls and when he came back into the room he was shocked to see things in motion for delivery. In 10 minutes I went from and 8 to 10 and fully effaced.

I pushed four times (incredible compared to my hour of pushing last time) and baby boy was born. We were glad we spent so much time working on the boy name. Right before delivery we had it narrowed down to three choices and we decided about an hour after he arrived that he looked like Timothy James.

So, Timothy James was born May 25, 2008 (at 36 weeks and 3 days) at 8:51 a.m. He weighted 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. They are pretty sure if I had gone full term he would have been a 10-pound baby.

Ryan came to meet his brother on Sunday with his grandparents. He ignored him for the first half of the visit and then wanted to see everything. When he left he said “bye-bye” to him. Today he’s made sure no toys are anywhere near his baby brother in case he might steal them, but he’s been helpful in getting diapers and such.

Aside from being exhausted, Adam and I are doing well and so is baby Timothy. We’re working on breastfeeding again and just looking forward to some family time while Adam is off work.

The 36th week

My visit this week was almost the same as it was two years ago at this point in my pregnancy. I'm dilated to a 2 and not effaced at all. My doc was excited that things have started because she's hoping it will mean I won't go to 40 weeks which will make it less likely that baby will be huge. I have some mixed feelings about going to early. My parents planned their trip so they could be here and not miss out, but I have so much pressure that some days I wish baby would arrive sooner rather than later.

I am well aware, though, that baby will arrive when he/she wants to arrive. I'll keep walking and eating spicy foods in hopes that this will help speed up the process, though not too much. I was eight days early with Ryan and some number around there would be fine.

I've been having lots of cramps, which doc says are contractions, though for me they are different than any I've had before. I know each pregnancy and labor can be completely different so I take her word for it. Whatever happens, happens.

Well child check-up

Ryan had his two year well child check up today. We waited 45 minutes before ever making into the room. He'd been up since 5 this morning so he was pretty cranky and I kept praying we were up-to-date on shots so we wouldn't leave in a horrible crying fit.

Thankfully, there were no shots and Ryan is doing incredibly well. It's amazing what a difference five months can make. He's now int eh 25th percenitle for weight as opposed to the fifth percentile so we don't have a million more blood tests to take. I seriously would have done the happy dance had I not been so tired.

Ryan, however, will be going for a speech evaluation. While we all hope it's just that he's slower than most at speech, we would like to nip any issue in the bud. He hasn't been putting two words together. If you ask him to say down please or up please he usually opmits the first word and just says please. If you pester him to say the first word, he says that one alone too. He also substitutes easy words for harder ones or just simply calls EVERYTHING a car. Of course, it doesn't help that the words he wants to say all sound similar, though he uses car for cars, trucks, color, crayons, chalk, cup. He loves to read and responds VERY well to instructions he just can't use his speech the way I think he wants to.

This visit with a speech therapist makes Adam more happy than it makes me. I do want him to advance, but I guess I'm not ready to admit there might be something wrong that needs therapy just yet.

I go for my 36 week check up on Thursday. But I want to share my wacky dream with you guys. Last night my dream was that I gave birth on Friday, May 23 (this was Ryan's due date) to a boy who weighted 10 lbs and we had no name picked out. I doubt any of it. I think it all has to do with us still not having a boy name picked out.

Our little helper



These photos just may be proof that Ryan really is my sister-in-law's child. We joke that my SIL has OCD and Ryan seems to be the same. Last week he got down and dirty and helped his grandmother clean the mini-blinds. The bubbles and water were really fun and having a scrub brush just his size was even more exciting.

Our little boy is two

I can't believe that Ryan is officially two today. Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem like it was that long ago we were looking at him on my belly in the delivery room trying to figure out which of our family members he most resembled.

It had been raining for days on end when he arrived. Someone said we should have named him Noah, but that never crossed our minds. On our way to the hospital we were almost in an accident, not by anything we did, but because there was construction on 111 and some guy decided to drive off road and into some construction cones. We made there safely and six hours later Ryan was born.

On the way to the hospital we discussed boy names. He had no name until the following morning. I still have the list of names we considered that night as we looked at him in the recovery room.

It's hard to imagine life without him. While some days are a true challenge, I'm glad he's ours. He's become quite the practical joker and reminds me of my brother in that respect. I love watching him play with his dad and I love how he calls out "night" to everyone as he goes down the stairs to bed at night.

I excited to watch him continue to grow and learn and though I know it won't be challenge-free, I'm sure he's going to make a great big brother.

Week 35

Week 35 started out really bad. Ryan was in a bad mood and gave me a run for my money on Monday that lead to a major break down when Adam got home. I was glad to have a Pampered Chef party to go to that evening to get away for a few hours.

Then yesterday, I went against my better judgement and let Ryan go outside in his PJs (it's a long story, but basically the rule is he has to be dressed to go outside to make getting dressed less of a struggle) with his grandmother and then he got a big boo-boo and we didn't sleep so well last night. I was ready for major break down number two this morning because I am so tired.

But there is good news...

The week 35 visit was short and sweet. I got to miss out on the Group B Strep test. I'm really thrilled about this because there's nothing worse than having that test at this far along in pregnancy. I understand it's necessary, but it's a really bad joke. Anyway I apparently have another bacteria they already know about growing so they will spare me the test and I get antibiotics anyway.

And Adam has the day off tomorrow after working way too many days in a row. He will be studying most of the day for his NCLE, but at least he'll be around. It's a nice feeling.

Second Birthday Party



We had Ryan's second birthday party this past weekend. It's a little early, but we had no other free weekend and we figured he really wouldn't know it wasn't his birthday yet. Last year, we had the party a week late so both of our parents and as many of our friends as possible could be there to celebrate Ryan's first year. This time, I'm glad I was smart enough to realize I'd be tired and I only invited a few people.

Ryan had a lot of fun playing with his cousin Madison while we waited on his godparents to arrive. They were late due because of their work schedules. Ryan loved opening his gifts, but got stalled after he opened his Mater toy from his Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Nick. They also got him a dust pan and broom as a gag gift because Vanessa and Ryan both like to clean (case in point, I was doing laundry when he woke up and he told me "what a mess!").

Ryan was enjoying everyone singing Happy Birthday until he realized they were singing it to him so he hid under the table. He managed to blow out his candle with a little coaching from his dad.

At the end, I was beat and glad I didn't wait till later in the month. I still have a few weeks left to go (three to six, depending on if I deliver at 37 or 40 weeks, I guess), but I am really, really ready. My back hurts and I'm at the point where sleeping is difficult because belly is so large. I know there is an end, but I am ready.