First Family Christmas!

Well this was our first year as a family with a kidlet for Christmas! I know that I was way more excited for it than either Justin or Ryker. Oh well! Ryker got presents from everyone and gave some too! We went to Rupert for Christmas Even and Christmas morning. Ryker wore his adorable red butt-flab Cabela's jammies! Then after opening presents and eating breakfast we came back to Nampa to do Christmas with my parents. It was great because everyone was there, even Mike and Micaela! I slacked off, again, and didn't take a lot of pictures. I think Merena and Candice might have more so I'll try to steal them. But here are the ones we did take!

Ryker Meets Santa

Ryker got to meet Santa for the first time on December 23, 2009. The line was FOREVER long at the Boise Towne Square Mall, but we made it! Ryker even gave a half smirk and didn't fuss! Not too bad for a three-week-old!

Guess What...

Okay, so I know that I look exhausted in this picture...I am. This was just 18 days after Ryker was born and happened to be the same day as Justin's graduation. I know I'm a nerd for loving my birthday, but I do! Ha ha, so year 24...bring it :)

Graduation

Wahoo! We made it! Justin is finally done with his Bachelor's Degree! I am so proud of him and all of his hard work. He ended up with a 3.12 GPA - which I think is pretty dang good especially with a job and a family for most of it!

Justin graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering on December 18th. We are now anxiously looking for a job and hopefully one here in the valley. Although, we are willing to move wherever he can get a job especially with the economy being the way it is!

We had lots of friends and family come to help celebrate his graduation. Thank you all for that and for your love and support throughout our lives!

 

Slideshow of Ryker's Pictures

He is SOOOOOOO beautiful!!! I love my little guy! And the photos that Bonnie and G with Once Remembered Photography took are AMAZING! Here is a slideshow of our beautiful little guy!

Just a Recommendation

Don't have a baby two weeks before finals your last semester in college! We made it through and passed all of our classes, thank goodness. But really, I don't recommend it!
We had Ryker's newborn pics taken on December 5th. Here are just a few!

Ryker John Reed

He is finally here! Ryker John Reed was born on Tuesday, December 1st at 8:05pm in St. Luke's Hospital, Meridian, Idaho. He weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 3/4 inches long.

We went to the hospital at 6:30 Tuesday morning for a scheduled labor inducement. I was actually happy about scheduling his birthday. No offense to everyone with a November birthday, but I think December's birthstone is a lot prettier...but I am bias and I know it! Everything was all setup and ready to go when we got there, it really was nice! The room they had me in was HUGE!

Getting Ready to go to the Hospital

After they got the pitocin going to induce labor I started having really regular contractions. The funny part though was that I couldn't feel them...not even a little bit! At about 9:30 my water broke on its own and that is when the pain really started pretty heavily! By 10:30 they had my epidural in and the pain was gone...nothing can explain how wonderful an epidural is!

Ryker was born later in the evening, though I didn't get to hold him right away. There was merconium in the amniotic fluid so they had to check him and make sure he didn't swallow or breathe any before I was given him. Poor little guy came out face up with his head to the left so his head was all sorts of deformed. The swelling went down pretty quickly though.

Being Weighed

 My first thought when I saw Ryker was that I couldn't believe how much he looked like MY DAD only with Justin's nose! Ha ha ha! Then it set in, I'm a MOM!!! I remember asking Ryker, "Okay Kid, now what???"

We had quite a few visitors come see us in the hospital and actually ended up staying in the hospital Tuesday and Wednesday night and came home around 2 on Thursday afternoon. Justin's mom, Merena, was there to greet us and had made the cutest little gingerbread men/women to welcome Ryker.

"Welcome Home Ryker!"

Merena stayed with us through Saturday, which was so awesome! It was great to have her here to help! 

I am so excited our little man is here...Let's get this party started! :)

Thanksgiving 2009

Where to begin? I am so thankful for so many things this year.
I have the most amazing husband in the entire world and I love him so much. He is always there for me and puts up with a lot! I am thankful to have him in my life.
I am thankful for our families and the opportunity we have to be so close to all of them. We both come from very strong families and extended families. That, I feel, is truly a blessing in and of itself.
I am thankful for the gosepl in my life and the knowledge that I have about the Savior. I am so grateful to be able to attend church each Sunday and to know what God's plan for me is.
I am thankful for my home and the things that I have that make my life more comfortable. I know that many of these things are simply for my enjoyment, and I am thankful to be able to have them.

This Thanksgiving we stayed in the Treasure Valley since I was due on Monday. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Waite's for dinner and had a good time with everyone. No baby yet, but that's okay. It was a fun day/weekend. 

Justin surprised me on Friday when he woke up at 4 am to go Black Friday shopping for one specific gift for me! We'll see what it is come Christmas :)

Me Thanksgiving Day!

Last Doctor Visit Before Ryker's Arrival!

I went to the doctor for the last time on Wednesday, November 25th. I had an appointment on Tuesday the 24th. However, my doctor was off delivering a baby, how dare he! He had a different doctor do the check up - bad idea. The subbing doctor was so rude! He told me that I wasn't even close to having the baby and when I asked about being induced he informed me that there was no way he would authorize that and that I just needed to come back in two weeks to be checked. Keep in mind, this visit was already the day AFTER my due date. Needless to say, I broke down and bawled right there in the doctor's office. I totally lost it! I called Justin and then called my mom. She suggested seeing if I could get in to see my doctor the next day. Fortunately, he was able to squeeze me in. Ryker was very sleepy and non-responsive to their attempts at poking and prodding. I had an ultrasound performed just to make sure I wasn't losing any amniotic fluid and that he was okay. Everything checked out just fine and Dr. Agrusa scheduled me to be induced on the following Tuesday, December 1st, if I hadn't had him by then! I am so glad I went in again rather than just waiting two weeks. Mama's really do know best :)

Maternity Leave Begins

YAY! I am officially on maternity leave! My last day at work was Friday, November 13th. Granted I have still been working about 3 hours a day this week just doing this and that stuff as requested since Ryker hasn't made his debut yet.

I really need to get on a daily schedule though. I find myself wasting the entire day doing pretty much nothing or going out and wasting the whole day shopping with my sister. I'm sure that everthing will change once the baby gets here. But seriously, I need a routine, flexible yes, but a routine nonetheless. That way I will make sure to accomplish a set of things each and every day and I won't be looking around at 7pm realizing that I made a bigger mess in the house than I cleaned up!

Ha ha ha! At any rate, I am super excited to have the opportunity to work from home and to be able to spend time with my baby and just simply to be Mommy! Now if he would just hold up his end of the bargain and come join me we could really have some fun :)

Stupid Hospital Nurse....

Okay, so I go to the doctor every week now...

On November 4th, my doctor measured me and told me that I was 2 cm dilated and half-way effaced. I guess this is incredibly unusual for first time mamas to be that dilated that early.

SO, when I went in on November 9th, my doctor measured again and said that I was almost 3 cm dilated this time. He also went ahead and stripped my membranes in an attempt to get labor started a little earlier. Justin went with me to this appointment and Dr. Agrusa told us that the baby's head was sitting real low and that the water sac was bulging and about ready to burst. He doubted that we would make it through the weekend. I know that I have never been in labor before, but our doctor told us that if I have contractions 3-5 minutes apart consistantly for 2 hours that I need to go in to the hospital.

Thursday night, November 12th, guess what. Contractions every 4 minutes for more than 2 hours. They weren't keel over and stop breathing contractions, but they were consistant and continued whether I was standing, sitting, laying, walking, etc. So we followed orders and went ahead and went in to the hospital.

It happened that Dr Agrusa was the doctor on call for my office that night.

When the nurse checked us in, she did her thing and then asked if I had been dilated at the last office visit. I told her yes and repeated what Agrusa had told us. She went ahead and measured me to see if I had changed since then. As she finished her exam, she proceeded to tell me that she didn't know where Agrusa got that measurement and that I was only a 1, maybe 1.5, but definitely not almost a 3. You never go backward on dilation, so we just stuck to what Agrusa had told us and she told us she was going to go give him a call.

She was gone for a period of time and then came back in to the office. She informed us that she didn't know where I had gotten that because Agrusa just told her that he had written down that I was barely a 1.5 and not effaced at all. She then told us that he told her to just tell me to go home and wait until the contractions were so strong that I can't breathe, talk or walk through them.

So we left...I mean what are we going to do call her names?

My next doctors appointment was on Tuesday, November 17th. When I went in I had Dr Agrusa measure me again because I was really confused as to what had happened. I explained the whole situation and you should have seen the look on his face!

First of all, when he measured me again he said I was still about a 3 and everything was pretty much the same except that the baby was sitting even lower now. He explained that nurses don't always measure correctly and that she was just stupid to say I was even close to a 1, because I was way more dilated than that.

Second, I guess the nurse NEVER CALLED HIM!!! He said that if he had received a phone call about me on Thursday he would have come in, popped my water, and we would have had a baby because of how close I am and the fact that my body is already so prepared. He was livid that she sent us home and even more mad that she didn't call him.

Anyway, so we are back to square one as far as this little guy coming to join us. My body hasn't really had any contractions since then - a few strong ones but nothing consistant. I can't complain too much though, my due date isn't even until Monday...so we have a few days still!

Oh and if you happen to be in the market looking for an OB/GYN, Dr. Phillip Agrusa at OB/GYN Associates is AWESOME!!! He's got such a great personality and isn't creepy at all (yes even Justin likes him) The office number is 888-0909

Nursery All Setup

I never thought I would say this, but I think that the nursery is completely setup and just waiting for a new little occupant! Yes, I am a dork and as you look through the photos you will notice that I have picture frames up with no pictures in them. This is because pictures of Ryker and us as a family will be going in them :) Oh I guess there is one last thing that I would like to get accomplished. My mom is just about finished with Ryker's quilt and I plan on making a matching valance to go on the window. That's not done, but that's okay. I can't get started on it until the quilt is done because my mom has my sewing machine :)

Halloween Baby Shower!

Justin's Aunt Jo and her girls offered to throw me a baby shower for his side of the family in Idaho Falls. Aunt Jo was so funny. She wanted to know if it could be a Halloween themed baby shower because she really wanted to have a Halloween costume party. Ha ha ha! Of course I agreed!
The party was wonderful, the food was wonderful, the company was wonderful, and the games were wondeful! It was a lot of fun and I truly appreciate all the hardwork that everyone put into making the day so great for me!
Here are some pics from the evening:

I'm Allergic to the Baby?!?!?!

Who ever heard of such a thing?

At any rate, I am definitely allergic to our little guy. I have a somewhat rare rash all across my stomach that has spread down my legs and up my arms. It is INCREDIBLY itchy and super uncomfortable - similar to having poison ivy. The worse part is that nothing will relieve the itch except having the baby.

It's called pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy symptom or PUPPPS. It is actually an allergic reaction to male fetal DNA.

Ha ha ha. I guess if I have to have some sort of pregnancy complications, this is one I am willing to have since it does not affect the baby or me, other than irritating the heck out of me.

I do have to take Zyrtec to help with the reaction, but it just minimizes the itching, it doesn't get rid of it. Oh well!!!

Group One Baby Shower

Do you ever leave a situation and realize how blessed, loved, etc you really are?

My company threw us a baby shower and the result was just that. It was so apparent how much love and support we truly have from those who I work with! The agents and staff members at Group One really made me feel wonderful. They pooled together and almost completely bought out everything that was on our baby registries. In addition to this, they gave us some cash to spend and threw the party itself.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to such a wonderful day and for making my feel so loved!

Maternity Photos!!!!

Okay, so one thing that I have really wanted to do is get maternity photos professionally taken. I know that there is a lot of controversy over these photos. My opinion is that motherhood and pregnancy is a very intimate and beautiful thing. Because of my love for photography, I feel that this is a time that I really want to capture for myself and for my family of the beauty of this moment, but it has to be done just right.

I seriously must have looked at every single maternity photographer in Southern Idaho looking for the right look and style that was within our budget. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to find a photographer that we can afford to do both the maternity photos and Ryker's newborn photos!

So here they are, some of our maternity photos! If you don't like them, I'm sorry....I guess you don't have to look at them :)