Welcome Jackson Ryan!

Jackson's Birth Story:

We arrived at the hospital on December 13th around 10pm.  My Dr. wanted to get IVs going and things ready so he could get things moving super early the next morning.  We got settled into our room, and got me all set up to the machines. 

I was face timing with my mom and she was watching the monitors behind me.  I was having contractions 5 minutes apart and had no idea!  It was a good sign that things would move right along.  They gave me some Ambien and I tried to get some sleep.  The nurse had given me something for the pain and asked early that morning if I wanted a second dose to keep me comfortable until I got me epidural.  I of course welcomed anything that would alleviate any pain but little did I know the second dose would put me in a cloud for the entire day.  It all became a blur and I was talking nonsense.  Dr. Krum came in early to break my water and start the Pitocin.  I asked him if I was a good candidate for having a baby.  He looked at Ryan and said, "is she joking?  It's a little late for that!" 

Well, things were moving right along and I was ready for the epidural soon!  It was a life saver. I had been a little nervous and didn't like to think about it, but I didn't feel a thing!  It was great.  After a couple more hours I was ready to start pushing.  Pushing took a while.  We started around 12:30 and Jackson was born at 2:36 weighing in at 8lbs 9oz!  No one saw that coming...He was a big boy:
)

After Jackson was born he was checked out and quickly taken for further examination.  They let me take a quick picture with him and off he went.  I didn't think too much of it and I was so out of it and so tired.  Once things settled down, Jackson's doctor, Dr. Moody came in and told us what was happening.  Jackson had taken a quick deep breath and popped his lungs.  They would repair themselves over time, but they wanted to keep him in the NICU until the X-rays showed improvement. They planned to take another X-ray at 6 and every 12 hours after that. 



We were moved to post partum and I was finally able to go and visit Jackson in the NICU with Ryan a couple hours later.  It was so great to see him and check on his progress.  They said he was a good baby and was tolerating everything just fine.  They had him hooked up to all sorts of wires and he just looked so sad.  I hated to leave, only to go back to my room.  It was very strange.  I had just had a baby and yet I could not hold or snuggle him.  Every time 6 o'clock rolled around, we anxiously waited the results of the X-ray.  I would get my hopes up only to hear they wanted to keep him another 12 hours until the next one.  It was a tough couple of days, but thank goodness for my family who came to visit and for face time that allowed us to visit with Ryan's parents in Utah.  They even let us take the ipad into the NICU and face time with Jackson!

I was discharged from the hospital the morning of the 16th.  The hospital was wonderful and they gave us another room to stay in while Jackson was still there.  It was just a door down from the NICU where we could keep a close eye on his progress.  He had amazing nurses that kept us in the loop and took great care of us as well.  He was finally able to join us in our room after being taken off all of his monitors and watched for a few more hours.  It was a happy time...I finally got to snuggle my baby boy:)  I was one happy mom.  They continued to watch him closely for another couple of days and we finally were able to take him home. We are so happy to have this sweet boy as our son.  I have never smiled more.  He is such a good baby.  We are so grateful he is a healthy happy boy!

Our First Family photo