so in love

It's so amazing to be a mom. I still can't believe that I am one! And I knew that I would love this little guy a ton, but I didn't realize how much. I also didn't realize how much more it would make me love Tony...knowing that we share something so special. We've had several really great conversations while staring at Ryan since he's been home, and we're both just amazing at how much having the little guy at home makes everything better...our relationship, our general outlook on life...everything.

Favorite recent picture:

I wonder what he was pondering? The kiddo just loves having his hands up by his face. I can't wait until his body temperature REALLY stabilizes...I have a ton of 8x10 frames just waiting for baby body part pictures...but I feel bad stripping the little guy down knowing he'll be getting cold pretty quickly. But soon. Soon the kiddo won't have any problems...he just needs a little more body fat.

we're home

Yup. All three of us.

Happiness at last.

catching up

Gosh, it's been a long time since I've posted! So much has happened this month! I was in-and-out of the hospital 3 times...the third time I went in on February 3 and my doctor told me I'd be there until I delivered because they couldn't get my blood pressure under control. The highest it got was 180/110. Scary. We were trying to hold off on delivering until at least February 10 to get us to 34 weeks, but I developed headaches and started seeing spots, so we started trying to induce on February 6. For 48 hours I was not allowed to eat or drink anything besides ice chips, and I got no sleep. They tried cervadil (which was very painful!), pitocin, and cytotec, but I never even felt a contraction. On Tuesday night, they asked me to try one more round of the cytotec because my doctor really wanted me to be able to deliver vaginally, but I was so tired and hungry, that Tony and I discussed it and decided that even if the third dose worked, I wouldn't have enough strength or energy to do any actual pushing, so we decided to pass. I was able to get a sleeping pill that night (although I was still woken up every 2 hours so it was pretty much a waste), and we had a c-section the next morning. This little guy was the result:

Ryan Anderson was born on February 8, 2006, at 9:12am. He was 4 pounds, 12.8 ounces, and 18.5 inches long. He started out life on a CPAP because he was having a little trouble breathing, but was only on that for about 12 hours. He's doing great...the only reason he is still in the NICU is because he is having trouble regulating his body temperature, but the doctors say that is just because he is so little. We just need to fatten him up a bit. So we're working on that.

I can't wait to get him home.

lovely

Take a look at the lovely flowers that Rug Doctor sent to me at the hospital! I haven't even had the chance to meet most of the employees there, but they were still thoughtful enough to send me a cheer-up gift! So sweet!

Gotta love that my curious kitty (Crosby) couldn't leave the flowers alone long enough for me to get a picture! :-)

So, for those I haven't had a chance to update yet, I went to the doctor Tuesday morning for the first of my twice-weekly visits and had a blood pressure of 160/110. Needless to say, I was admitted to the hospital again. This time I was put on blood pressure medication, which seems to be working fantastically (knock on wood). My protein levels came back normal and my liver function looks good, so I got to come home Wednesday night. They did go ahead and give me the 2 steroid shots in case we do have to deliver early. Still holding out for at least 34 weeks, and hopefully full term.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and positive thoughts! Since I'm on strict bed rest, I'm trying not to stay on the computer for very long each day, since we don't have a laptop and I have to sit at a desk to use the one in Tony's office.