Ryan Patrick Bland was born on June 22, 2010 at 2:35 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. What an amazing day! Just to re-cap the wonderful event...
Peter and I went into the hospital at 7 a.m. on the 22nd. At 8:30 a.m. I was given petocin to start the contractions (this was after starting a does of antibiotics for Group B Strep). At about 10:30 a.m. I received my epidural. at this point my blood pressure dropped significantly, which caused the fetal heart rate to drop. So then I was administered ephedrine. Yes, this is all very similar to what happened when Charlie was born. All seemed to be going pretty well. We got to the "it is time to push part" and push I did. Thank goodness for strong ab muscles! We had some complications, as Ryan's head came out but his shoulders seemed to be stuck. Not to mention that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his head and chest. At 2:35 p.m. he arrived, but the poor little guy was not breathing. The NICU staff was called in to resuscitate him. I was an emotional wreck...in fact, I tear up when I think about it. My heart felt like it might just break. Thank goodness for the NICU team. They were amazing and had him breathing in no time. Both of my boys liked to give me a big scare after being born.
Ryan is absolutely perfect! He has lots of dark brown hair and these big, beautiful eyes. I am not quite sure who he looks like at this point. All I know is that he is truly perfect. I always wondered if I could love another child as much as I love Charlie. It almost seemed like an impossible feat, but as my friend Heather said, "Your heart expands to this huge capacity." I know mine certainly has. One night in the hospital, Peter came by with Charlie. I was sitting there with all of my boys, and I thought to myself that I was the luckiest person on the face of the earth. I really do feel blessed.
