Baby Girl Ryan has arrived!

Our precious baby girl has arrived! Ashlyn was born on Monday, August 23rd at 6:06pm by cesarean section. She was 8 lbs. 15.7 oz. (we're calling it an even 9 lbs) and 19 inches long. She is perfect! Thank God everything went very smoothly. At my 37 week appointment, the doctor diagnosed me with pre-eclampsia and said it would be best for us to schedule an induction. I hadn't progressed at all, so the doctor prepared us for the likelihood that this would turn into a c-section. We went to the hospital on Sunday the 22nd to start the induction process. They started a Pitocin drip on Monday morning at 7:30. At 4:30 pm I still had not dilated at all, so we called it a failed induction and prepared for a c-section. Shortly after, we were holding our baby girl in our arms and it has been so wonderful! We got home Thursday, the 26th around 3:30pm. We introduced Ashlyn to Gracie and Bones. It really was quite funny. They were less interested in the new addition and more interested in letting us know how mad they were that we hadn't been home in several days. They have been adjusting to sharing their space with Ashlyn very well. We are so blessed to have Ashlyn in our lives! We are so excited to watch her grow into the special person God made her to be.

37 weeks

38 weeks (last day of pregnancy)

Meeting my baby girl!

Our Family.

Gracie meeting Ashlyn.

Bones meeting Ashlyn.

Catching up post

So this has been a pretty crazy week! Sunday, my Mother-in-law and her best friend hosted a baby shower for me. It was so sweet. David's Aunt, Cousin and Second Cousin were able to come, as well as, David's business partner's wife (and my friend) and her Mother-in-law, and Teresa's daughter. We all had a good visit and I got some beautiful gifts. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and they were so sweet to make the trip out. Monday was David's 30th Birthday! I told him he is officially an old man now! We went to Outback to celebrate. I was VERY disappointed that they discontinued their Crab Legs and Steak special. I am so disappointed that I will probably write in and tell them how disappointed I am. I had my 36 week OB appointment Monday also. We didn't really get a good report on my blood pressure. I was instructed to limit my work to 1/2 days. Seriously...they tell me I'm trying to do too much and that is why my blood pressure is high, then they tell me that the 8 million things that have to get done and I have to be the one to do have to get done in a 1/2 day now and ....that....is supposed to lower my blood pressure???? What world do Dr.'s live on? I have taken the instructions very seriously though. I have left work early every day and gone home and taken a nap. I am trying to rest more and keep my feet up. I have some serious elephant ankles. I tried to take a picture, but the camera just doesn't do my massive ankles (and now my calves and knees) justice. David has been thoroughly entertained by the pitting edema in my feet - he pushes down on my foot or leg and it stays for a minute. It really is quite gross to me. Anyway, needless to say time has been limited for me this last week, trying to get everything tied up in a nice little neat bow and ready for our baby girl to arrive. We'll know more about what the Dr. plans as far as if it will be better for me to be induced, etc. on Tuesday. We have an ultrasound scheduled and a non-stress test before the Dr.'s appointment. I am excited to see pictures of our baby girl again. Soon we'll be seeing her on the outside! :)

Gotta love the South!

Only in the South can you be outside at 6:00am on the dot feeding your "precious puppies" (please read the sarcasm that comment was said with) treats trying to spend some time with them and realize that you have sweat beads rolling down your face. This is NOT because I'm pregnant...this is because it is freakin' HOT down here! My prayers today are especially with all the people whose have to work jobs outside. They announced on the radio that the high today is supposed to be 100 degrees with a heat index of 108. Our humidity level is just the icing on the cake - 74% I'm dreaming of a White Christmas is all I can say!

Date Night

This weekend was pretty great! Friday night we got home from work and David and I decided we "wanted to do something fun", so Date Night it became. What better to do than dinner and a movie?!?! It's one of our favorite things to do anyway. We kinda forgot people are starting to move into apartments, etc. around campus, so every restaurant we went to had at least a 45 minutes wait. Good thing we started early. We finally settled on LongHorns. It was quite yummy and I ate way too many carbs in the Cheese Fries appetizer! We headed to the movie theater which was pleasantly not busy and got our tickets to see Inception. It was good, but really kinda freaky. We are really enjoying our alone time together. It is sinking in that this alone time together is fleeting quickly. I will miss it just being me and David, but we are ready for Miss Ashlyn to make her debut. Saturday was one of the laziest days we have had all year! We went for lunch and I wasn't feeling too well afterward, so we went home and I laid down. I ended up calling the Dr. because I knew my blood pressure was up and I started having blurry vision, but it all settled down, so I called into the office today and they will decide if they want to see me at some point this week. I feel ok now. I actually felt better by Saturday early evening and felt pretty good Sunday too. We managed to get a good bit of stuff done on Sunday and I started to wash baby stuff and plan for what to pack in my hospital bag. I had no idea this packing thing would be so hard. I've read packing lists online, etc, but I still have no idea what to put into that bag. I'm not having near as much trouble with Ashlyn's bag. I just have to finish washing her stuff before I can put the little outfits in there. :) It won't be too long now. We're getting close to being ready.

Shout out!

To my sister in "The Sooner State" - I hope your trip is amazing! I am so glad y'all got to go. Give big hugs to our Mom and Granny and Granddad and Uncle Wayne and Aunt Lyn! I miss not having you down here! I can't express how grateful I am to have such an awesome sister! Don't forget to rest a little. I'm sad you have to leave OK, but I'll be glad to have you back!

The weekend is over :(

David and I had an incredibly relaxing weekend. We took doctor's orders seriously and slept in both Saturday and Sunday. I took two naps on Saturday and a little one on Sunday. We lazed around and watched TV (even though there was NOTHING on!!!...no movies out...nothing!). We are thoroughly rested up! I think that will probably be the last weekend we EVER get to just do nothing for the rest of our lives, so I thought it would be a good idea to record it.

33 week appointment update...

The appointment could have gone better... On the bright side, I didn't have to wait very long at this appointment. David couldn't go to this appointment because he had a lot at work to take care of. My blood pressure is up. They made me lie on my left side while I waited for the doctor to come in the room. It did go down a little while I was waiting. He went over the symptoms to look for regarding high blood pressure and when to call if I notice them. I'm not too worried. My blood pressure fluctuates a lot, so I'm cutting out the bacon and hopefully we'll see an improvement. I was supposed to have one more two week wait for an appointment, but they told me they really would like to see me back next week. Blah! The doctor asked me if I needed to be "taken off work" and I said "Please, no, I have too much to do." He said he is "Prescribing more rest." Like I have time for that...but I promise I will try. I think the blood pressure may be why my hands hurt so much in the morning. Good news....I am still measuring right on time! 33 cm's this visit. Yeah! My morning sugars haven't been so great, but he said they were nothing to worry over and this morning I had a great sugar level. Well, I'm off to work and trying not to stress out :).