Ryans first hike

It has been a busy Memorial Day weekend for our family. Saturday, we decided to take him hiking. We drove up Millcreek Canyon and started up desolation trail. I only made it about 30 minutes before I couldn't do anymore. I am so out of shape :( The funny thing was to watch Ryan, he slept the whole time. I thought that he would love being outside (he is definitely an outside baby). He slept the entire time. So, we went hiking again today with Kara, Andrew and Nicole. Ryan again, slept for a good portion of the hike. It was much longer today than it was Saturday. Today, we hiked up to Dog Lake. I think that we were rather ambitious. Kara & I were dying and we weren't even carrying the kids. We have some fun shots of that hike.

I can't wait to take Ryan camping. I really think he'll enjoy that.

Ice Cream

So, today has been a monumental day for Ryan. Eric and I decided it was time for him to try ice cream. I put a tiny bit on my finger and put it in his mouth. He loved it. It was so funny to see his face when he realized it tastes good.

He is growing so fast and is so cute. I think that he is starting to get another cold. His nose is getting congested. Lets hope this passes quickly. It's been difficult for him to sleep the last couple of days, so needless to say, Eric & I haven't been getting much sleep. It's all worth it though!!!

Also, a big congrats to my brother-in-law, Wayne. Today is graduation for him. He is now an M.D. He graduates from UVA (University of Virginia) today. Also, congrats to Haley & the kids. You guys made it!

Mother's Day

Well, it has been a while since I last posted. Thankfully, we have not been to the hospital since then. Ryan is doing so much better and growing like a weed, He is probably close to 11 pounds and is so cute. He is usually a content little baby, unless he is hungry or sleepy, in which case watch out!

We are having so much fun with him. Haley was in town with her kids for 5 weeks and it was hilarious to see how her youngest, Trevor, was with him. He was alright, unless Haley was holding him. He would walk over to him and say "baby" in a very unpleasing way. It was so cute to watch him warm up to Ryan. I think Ryan was a little nervous when Trevor would come near him, but he handled it well! Trevor got to the point where he wanted to hug and kiss Ryan. I just wish I had a camera to capture those images.

Speaking of cameras...Eric gave me a new camera for Mother's Day. Luckily this one doesn't have a delay so it is so much easier to get pictures of Ryan smiling. Before, the smile would be gone before the camera shot the picture.

It has been fun for me to stay home with the baby. We spend all day together and it is great to see how Ryan responds to me. I love being a Mother!

Here are some fun pictures of Ryan with my new camera. There were so many fun and cute pictures it was hard to decide on only a few.

Rough Days

Well, our live has been a rollercoaster ride!! Ryan started getting a cold and once a cough developed Eric & I took him to the doctor. It was discovered that he had a double ear infection. The doctor was giving us a prescription for his antibiotics and while she was filling those out, she had the nurse check Ryans oxygen. It was low! She said that she wanted us to go to Primary Childrens Hospital and since he required oxygen, she didn't want us to wait in the ER until they could get to him. So...she had an ambulance come and transport him. It was so pathetic to see our little boy in his carseat on a stretcher, with an oxygen mask that just drowned his little face.

We made it to the hospital, where they started suctioning, his nose to get all of the stuff out, and then they put him on oxygen. They ran the secretions from his nose to test them and it ended up being RSV. The thing that I have been so concerned about since he was born. Yesterday was great! Ryan was so happy and was keeping his oxygen level up. So, they took him off the oxygen, but after several hours it started dipping again. So, they put him back on the oxygen yesterday late afternoon. Well, then...the saga continues.

I was sleeping last night and the resident doctor came into the room and said that Ryans blood culture grew out bacteria, so they needed to do a lumbar puncture. Not a good way to be woken up in the middle of the night. So, I got up and sat with Ryan for a couple of minutes, they then took him into the other room. It was so sad to hear him just screaming knowing that there isn't anything I could do for him. They ended up hitting a vessel and so blood got into the fluid they took out, so they couldn't use it. Well, we talked with Dan ( the pediatrician) this morning. We get the results of the blood culture from the lab tomorrow which will let us know what we are dealing with. If it ends up being a valid bacteria (instead of contamination) they will do another lumbar puncture tomorrow.

Poor little boy has just been put through the ringer. He is such a brave little boy and we are so hoping that he will pass through this quickly. As soon as he doesn't need suctioning for 12 ours and oxygen for 24 hours we can take him home. Quite honestly that is the least of our worries right now. I am concerned about the blood culture. He could end up getting a pic line inserted and have to take antibiotics through that line for up to 21 days. Eric and I are going to be eating rice and potatoes for the next year to pay for all of the bills this is going to create. But it will all be worth it. He is worth every penny!!! How can you argue with his beautiful little face.

On the upside, he is gaining weight great (up 2 pounds from birthweight) and he is just an alert attentive baby! Eric and I feel so lucky to have him in our family.

Settling in at home

Well, it has been a very adventurous week. I was discharged from the hospital a week ago today, but Ryan wasn't discharged until the day after. After he was born, he couldn't get his temperature up and had an apnea episode, so they kept him in the NICU until he was discharged. Luckily, Ryan is doing awesome. I took him to my office today and he weighed 6 lbs 10 oz. He gained 4 oz since he was born. Way to go!! I wish people would praise me when I gain weight.

He has been so much fun. Right now, he basically sleeps most of the time, which is nice for me because it lets me get lots of things taken care of.

Our nights have been somewhat rough, but last night was great! I am hoping that maybe we are moving in a positive direction as far as sleep goes. The poor thing doesn't ever burp, so I think that he has some painful tummy aches and I think that is why he has a hard time sometimes. Luckily, we can feel it coming out the other end. At least it gets out somehow!

It has been so much fun for me to be able to stay at home with him. It seems that he has already changed so much since he was born. I couldn't imagine missing all of the little changes that occur everyday! I feel so good and am just loving being his mom!!

The HAPPY day has come!!

Yesterday we were in the hospital again for the fourth time this week. Ali thought that her water had broken on Tuesday, but they sent her home after testing so we thought all was ok. Then on Friday she thought it might have broken again, but she decided to wait until yesterday to go in because of the first negative test. We went in thinking that we would be here for about an hour, but after checking they realized that it really was her water that had broken. That meant that the labor was going to start.

Her contractions weren't all that bad so they decided to start her out on petossin to get them going. It worked. She was dilated to a 3 when we first went in at 5:00 and it took until 12:00 to get to a 4. Around that same time she decided to get the epidural so that the pain of the contractions could be controlled. This allowed us to go to sleep on and off between checks from the RN and this continued until 5:00 a.m. when the RN decided to check her dilation again. In just 5 hours Ali dilated 6 centemeters to a 10 and was ready to start pushing!

She pushed from 5:20 to 7:20 and then at 7:23 a.m. on Sunday March 18, 2007 Ryan Dean Jones was born. There was a bit of drama in the beginning as they tried to get him breathing, but then his blue skin turned to yellow and he started to whimper.

Because we was born at 35 1/2 weeks they took him to the newborn ICU to make sure that everything was ok. They did all of the checks and everything worked out alright! Now we are just waiting in the hospital to have him brought to our room.

Here are the pictures!

Week 3 of Bedrest

So...I have been in bed for the last 3 weeks. I have somewhat cheated this last week. It is too difficult to never get out of bed. My doctors appointments have all been so good. Everything is looking really good. Part of the reason I want to get up a little bit is so when 36 weeks come hopefully my body will be ready to deliver. I don't want to go too much past that. I am certainly ready to have this baby! Eric has been so good while I have been down. He takes care of the heavy duty cleaning and the laundry. He is also very good at grocery shopping.

Things that I have come to do very well this last while. I have gone through 4 sudoku books and am working on my 5th. I am downloading music onto my ipod because I have lots of time to do that. I also have a lot of bonding time with the baby. Although he is still in the womb we have some quality time together. He'll cuddle up to my hand when I put it on my stomach. I can't wait for the real thing. I am so grateful to have so many friends and family helping out during this time. We live in the best ward. They have been such lifesavers by bringing us meals and also support.

I really like adding pictures, because it gives me an excuse to look through the photos we have. Although there are no recent ones (can you blame me??) it is fun to put some pictures on.