Rylan's Arrival

She's finally here! I say that like she was weeks over due, but she was actually 19 days earlier than scheduled - Thank God! I don't know how much longer I could have lasted in all of this hot, humid weather. Even though she was a bit early, she was a healthy 6lbs 11oz and 20.25 inches long.

The labor and delivery were relatively uneventful. My water broke sometime in the early am on the 17th and I called the hospital around 5:30am to let them know and see when I should come in. They told me to take my time and wait for contractions to start and strengthen, but not wait too long since I had a history (with Brenden) of quick labors - I was in labor at the hospital for about an hour and then he was out in less than 2 pushes. Chris and I went to the hospital around 10am after getting the boys situated with my brother - BIG THANKS to him for watching them all day! Once at the hospital they confirmed my water had broken and got us moved from triage to labor and delivery. I let the doctor's know that I wanted my epidural then and not to wait, Brenden came so fast that I wasn't able to get an epidural in time and that was NOT going to happen again. I probably could have gone a while longer without the epidural because my contractions never really got going on their own, but I'm still glad I got it early. Because I wasn't making any progress, stuck at 4 cm for a few hours, we decided to start pitocin to speed things up. I had had pitocin with Jake to regulate my contractions so I didn't hesitate at all to get it started. Once they got me hooked up everything got going and got going fast. Within 2-4 hours I was at 10cm and ready to push and about ten minutes later Rylan was out.

Now for me, its what happened the night before that makes me smile and where the real story of Rylan's birth will be told. There are two parts, the first involves Jake. Over the past month or so we've been telling the boys about their birth stories. We told Jake that he was so excited and ready to come out that he poked a hole in his water sac with his super sharp nails - the kid was all scratched up on his face in the first days from his nails. Since hearing this story Jake started talking to Rylan in my belly and telling her she should "punch a hole in that water bag". Well, on Monday night at bedtime Jake went a little farther in his talk with Rylan. As he was about to tell her once again to punch a whole he stopped and you could see the wheels spinning in his head. He had realized that she might not know how to make a fist and proceeded to tell her how so she could do it right and have it work. He also told her that he loved her and really wanted her to come out. It was really cute to watch this all happen. The next morning when he got up I told him that she had listened to him and that my water had broke and she would be out to meet all of us later that day. The look on Jake's face when I told him that Rylan had listened was priceless. He was so surprised and SO PROUD!

The next part of the story involves Chris. Chris and I had been toying with the idea of painting the kitchen for a while. Since redoing the master bathroom, Chris seemed a little extra motivated to get moving on it and to do it himself. Before I knew it, we had a color almost picked and Chris was getting all of the supplies. Chris spent Sunday taping the kitchen, then Monday we picked a color and he got the paint and began priming and by Monday night he was putting on the first coat of Paint. We had the kitchen all taken apart and Chris wouldn't let me help at all. He continued to work and had gotten the first coat on and everything cleaned and ready to go for the second coat by 12:30am. It was going great, the paint looked good and the boys and I were planning to be at the pool in the morning for practice so Chris could finish the job. Then of course my water broke in the middle of night! You know if he hadn't started painting that night there's no way my water would have broken. He even asked me while he was painting if I was going to go into labor that night and I joked that I wouldn't and thus I probably would. I like to believe that Chris' nesting instincts kicked in and he knew on some level what was going to go down the next day. Needless to say, the kitchen did not get finished on Tuesday, but since everything went fine in delivery and Rylan was healthy, he was able to finish the job on Wednesday before we all came home from the hospital! What a nice welcome home for us:-)

So here we are now on Rylan's 5th day of life and everyone is doing well. We are all enjoying the new addition to the family, the new look in our kitchen, and the fun stories of how Rylan was born. Below are some pictures of Rylan from the hospital and her first days at home and of course a before and after shot of the kitchen, ENJOY!

Before: After:

Rylan and Family: