Introducing Ryan Michael Miller

Ryan Michael Miller arrived via C-section on Friday morning, July 1, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 21 inches long.  He has a head full of hair and is perfect in every single way!  We are so excited to have him complete our little family! 

For those of you that were behind, I had orginally planned on being induced with Ryan on Wednesday (June 29th).  The week before my cervix had not been dilated enough to proceed with an induction so we had to return to the OB's office the day before the induction.  My cervix was still not ready (dilated at 1.5 cm and 0% effaced) so my induction was cancelled.  While some OBs probably would proceed, my OB is very cautious about inductions and prefers to only do them when the risk of them failing and turning into a C-section is very minimal.  (This is one of the reasons I love my OB so I respected her wish to monitor and cancel if need be.)  When she cancelled my induction, my OB asked me what I thought the baby's size was, and I told her that personally I thought it was bigger than Katelynn or Justin were at this point.  I figured he would be over eight pounds.  My OB said that typically moms that had prior pregnancies were actually more accurate on the baby's weight than even doctors.  She immediately ordered an ultrasound for the next day and said we may need to re-consider going with a C-section with his possible size.  (If you remember, I had a 4th degree tear with Katelynn and then a 2nd degree with Justin.  Because of my 4th degree tear and the re-stretching during Justin's delivery, I had some "control" issues following Justin's birth that took about a year to subside.  Because of this, we had considered a C-section from the start of this pregnancy but I have always had such successful and quick labors that I was really wanting the same recovery and experience I had had before so we had went with the plan of watching the baby's weight but trying to proceed with an induced labor by 39 weeks to ensure his size was as small as possible.) 

When we went in on Wednesday for the ultrasound, the baby's estimated weight was 7 pounds, 15 ounces by ultrasound.  Everyone told us that could be over or under his real weight, as it was just an estimate.  My OB checked my cervix one last time and I hadn't improved much (was then 30% effaced but still no further dilated).  While she was still not forcing or suggesting I defintely take one option versus the other, she said that there was enough background history and risk of having at least a year or two of issues if we proceeded with a vaginal delivery to warrant heading towards a scheduled C-section instead.  Because we couldn't be sure how badly I may tear with a bigger baby than Katelynn ( who was 7 pounds, 13 oz) and if I did tear just as bad the issues could even be permanent, I decided to go ahead and proceed with the C-section.  Honestly, I think I knew deep down this was what I needed to do.  I had been so sick to my stomach and stressed about labor for days leading up to the induction, much moreso than I normally had been with my other pregnancies.  It almost didn't make sense.  When my induction was cancelled, I actually felt better instead of worse even though I was dying to meet my little guy and have him here.  It just made sense that it may be a way of telling me that a vaginal delivery was not worth what I may endure afterwards.  We scheduled the C-section for Friday morning and decided to proceed.

Friday morning arrived entirely too quickly.  Jonathan and I didn't sleep much at all the night before, partially because we were excited to meet our little boy and partially because we were scared of the unknown.  I don't like meds and was a bit paranoid about the spinal I was going to have to have.  I never even had an epidural and now here I was going to have to endure a spinal.  We woke up at 4 am and headed to the hospital.  We were checked into a triage room by 5 am, and I had an IV hooked up shortly after.  We pretty much just played the waiting game from 5:00 to 7:00 when they finally came in to take me to the recovery room to prep for surgery.  Once we arrived in recovery, we were told they had an emergency C-section and my 7:45 am surgery would be delayed.  My OB was already in the OR area and came over and talked to us a little bit, saying she thought we were making the right choice going with a C-section.  I was finally taken back to the OR right about 8:00 that morning and they administered my spinal immediately.  It was way easier than I imagined.  There was no pain involved, and I was so excited to discover that I didn't have to lay back and have a needle stay in my spine.  The spinal started working immediately, and it was a completely different experience than I thought it would be.  They inserted my catheter directly after the spinal, and I didn't feel it but I could feel the nurse touch my leg.  After they made sure I was in fact numb, they brought Jonathan in to sit by my side and hold my hand.

The procedure took about 30 minutes total, but it didn't seem like very long at all.  The CNA talked me through different steps, and before they even pushed Ryan out, my OB made the comment that he had a pretty good sized head and that she was happy we were going the C-section route (I heard that numerous times from everyone that the C-section was the right choice).  The strangest feeling was probably when they put pressure on the front of my stomach and he came out screaming only seconds later.  My OB held him up so we could see him, and everyone kept saying he was a big boy!  Ryan entered the world at 8:30 a.m. weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces.  They quickly got him cleaned up and Jonathan got to hold him and show him to me while they finished my procedure.  (I am pretty sure that this made Jonathan's day.. three kids later and he finally got to hold our newborn before I did!  Haha) The one big disappointment for me is that Presby Hospital does not allow cameras in the OR at all so I did not get tha famous C-section birth picture that so many people post.  Our first pictures of Ryan are in the recovery room.  Jonathan and Ryan left a little before I was finished and they did his bath and got him all set while I was still in the OR.  I was able to then begin breastfeeding him the minute I arrived in recovery.

It took about 2-ish hours for my spinal to wear off.  It was such a weird experience.  When it first started to wear off, I could tell my brain to move my foot but the movement was not what I was expecting when it moved.. if that makes any sense.  It is just such a strange experience.  Once I was able to push with my feet and lift my rear off the bed, they moved me to my postpartum room.  We called my parents as soon as they were moving us to bring Katelynn and Justin up to meet their new baby brother.  They arrived pretty soon afterwards and both of them were completely in love with him.  Even four days later, the biggest issue at our house is the two of them both wanting to hold their brother 24 hours a day.  We have all been joking that we needed twins just to keep both of them happy! 

I am recovering pretty well.  It has been a huge struggle for me to NOT be up and doing everything I want to, but I learned the very first day we came home that I couldn't push myself too much.  I tried to jump into the routine of trying to help where I could with putting the kids down for naps, etc and ended up in so much pain that night my entire body was shaking.  So, needless to say, I am doing my best to keep myself relaxing and not doing every little thing,  taking my meds like I am supposed to, and hoping that very soon I can be active again.  Each day seems better and less discomfort when my meds start wearing off so I am on the road to recovery!

Ryan is doing great!  He is quite spoiled at this point between grandparents and his siblings so I can't say he is ever not in someone's arms at this point.  Hopefully he will adjust well to sleeping on his own and getting into a routine soon.  He returned to the pediatrician at 4 days old and was 7 pounds, 13 ounces.  They did an intake measurement to see how much breastmilk he is getting and the estimate was around 78 cc's.  The pediatrican said that they are ecstatic if a baby is taking in 30 ccs at his age, and he has doubled that so he is growing and eating quite well!  :)

We love having Ryan here finally.  I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome it feels to be a family of five.  Our family truly feels complete and absolutely perfect!  I am so in love with my little family!  <3