Breathtaking!

Day two. Just cuddling up with her mittens!

I just cannot believe how long I just want to sit in my hospital bed and stare at my precious daughter. So many people told me you will just want to sit in a room with her all day, well that does not sound like me. I tend to be more active. However, I find myself sitting in my bed holding Ryan for hours at a time just covering her in kisses. She eats every bit of it up. I do have to update everyone on a couple of stories.

1- Water Breaking
Well, my first fear came true, my water broke in front of my kids, while I was teaching diagramming sentences. It was during my third period class and I just suddenly got this urge to pee. I quickly exclaimed to my co-teacher, Allyson, "I have to go to the bathroom!!" I sprinted to the restroom and went. When I stood up I felt the back of my pants and they were wet. My first thought was that this clumsy pregnant woman had peed in her pants, well I quickly realized- I think my water just broke. So, Bill came and picked me up and we went to the doctor's office. The entire time Bill just said I was mistaken, there was no way that my water broke, he really did not want to get his hopes up. Well, the doctor ran one test and came back in the room and said, "Well, your water broke. The next thing you need to do is head over to labor and delivery, they are already expecting you!" It all happened so fast, but little did we know we would hold our daughter later that day.

2nd- Birthing Process
I was admitted to the hospital at 1:30 and was immediately started on a pitosin drip because I was not effaced, she had not dropped, and I was only 1 cm dilated. Well, this pattern did not change. They continued to up and up my pitoson, and my contractions were about 2 mintues apart, but there was absolutely no progression! So, my doctor decided to go ahead and schedule me a c-section, which I was totally fine with. I had been preparing myself this whole time for a c-section anyways, so I was actually relieved when that was her decision. By this time my parents, Bill's parents and his brother had all driven from Huntsville to be there for the big moment. I got ready to go to surgery and we were on our way around 8 o'clock to meet our daughter. As mentioned earlier, Ryan arrived at 8:54 on Wednesday night and she was absolutely perfect. Dr. Smith said I would have been in labor for three days if I would have continued to wait for her to drop. When they pulled her out, her head was just inches below my belly button. She was nowhere close to dropping. As soon as I saw her cheese covered body, I immeidately started crying and was changed forever!! Bill was amazing through everything and was holding my hand and kissing my forehead the entire time and just telling me how proud he was of me. The first thing I saw when I saw Ryan was, "Thank goodness, she has Bill's nose!" I promise those were the words out of my mouth. It was not until later when I got a full examination of her that I saw she has everything like Bill. Her eyes, her nose, her lips, her hair, I mean everything and I could not have wished for anything more! She is perfect.

3rd Painful Moment
Although everyone has said how wonderful a c-section is, I have one complaint. I was given a spinal and it began to wear off right at the end of my surgery while they were stiching me up. The drug doctor told me to warn him when I was starting to feel pain so we could get medication ASAP. Well, I told him but I was not allowed to get any other medication until they were done. So needless to say recovery was extremely painful. I was having hallucinations that my students were trying to hold my baby and I was like swapping them away. I was also writing grades in my grade book and the nurse said it looked like I was holding something and writing down information. Very strange. My first night was a doozy, but as soon as I got to hold Ryan it made it all better. She absolutely melts my heart!

Development:
Ryan is the most amazing child ever, of course. She is already holding her head up. We just cannot believe how strong she is. Everytime I burp her, she just holds her head up on her own and turns to face me. Another amazing trait of hers is her ability to recognize Bill and I's voice. Today has been the coolest. I will sit there and talk to her and she will just stare deep in to my eyes. Then Bill will come up and say, "Hey Ryan!" and she will stare directly at him. She will not make connections with everyone yet, but man she will follow Bill and I. She is not tracking us, but she follows our voice! I love that child!

Picture Updates: You know this is what you were waiting for!

Talking to Daddy about her exciting day!


Her first tummy time, she held her head up for about 3 seconds, we consider this excellent progress!


Like I said, I just want to kiss her all the time.


Holding her head up for daddy! Isn't it amazing!