Rylee's story

Our baby girl finally arrived! I was sure she was never going to come, especially after walking around for a whole weekend dilated to a 5! So here's the wonderful birth story of Miss Rylee! 

At my last check up which was 8 days before my due date (friday) Dr. Lazernick stripped my membranes and was quite surprised that I was dilated to a 5! She was sure that I would be in labor by the weekend. She told me a few things to go home and do to get things started and I tried everything I could think of! But I wasn't having any contractions or signs she was coming soon. I didn't go to church because I was feeling bummed and too uncomfortable to sit through 3 hours of church. 

I crawled into bed late sunday night really upset but trying to think of things I could focus on throughout the week so I wouldn't be so depressed. Chad quickly fell asleep and I lay there in bed wide awake googling more things I could try to induce labor. At 11:58 I decided to get some sleep and shut off my phone and pulled up my covers. I felt a huge contraction just then and as soon as it stopped a felt my water break! It was 12:04AM. I was so shocked I wasn't quite sure what to do. I've never had this happen before! This birth was a totally new experience!

 I walked around for a while to make sure it was my water and that I didn't just have an accident. I woke up Chad and he didn't believe me but I had him call our neighbor who came over to sleep on our couch. I always thought that once your water broke then your contractions would follow very soon. But I felt fine and didn't have any contractions for quite a while. 

After getting checked in at 12:30 they did a test to see if my water broke. The test came back negative but when they checked me it was obvious it had broke. Not sure why it came back negative. They started my IV (which was awful by the way and blew the vein in my hand...why do nurses never listen to me when I ask for small needles or try to tell them its hard to get a vein on me!) By 1:30 I was all settled and I looked at the clock and guessed that we would have a baby by about 5 or 5:30. 

I waited and waited for the contractions to come....NOTHING! Around 2 or 3 my doctor asked if I wanted some pitocin to get things moving. I said YES PLEASE! I tend to get a little anxiety waiting for these little ones to get here and can't imagine a long labor! I think I had 2 contractions and then I asked for my epidural. It was the worst epidural ever and I hated the guy who administered it. He hit a nerve and I about jumped off the table. He then asked loudly, "Why did you feel that?!" Ummmm maybe you should be telling me that!!! He later seemed upset that I got an epidural when I hadn't had very many contractions....who cares buddy, you'll get your $1000 for the 10 minutes you spent torturing me! I've had 2 good ones and two bad ones so I guess he just needed to even up the score. It really didn't numb me that well either. I felt quite a bit of everything. 

About 5 I was getting uncomfortable. I had 2 big contractions where I literally felt the baby move inches downward. It was painful. The nurse checked and I was ready to have a baby! 3 or 4 big pushes and our baby Rylee arrived at 5:24 AM on Monday June 8th! She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz (my biggest baby yet!) and was 21 inches long. 

For some reason my kids have the worst APGAR scores at birth but pink up really quickly afterwards. I got to snuggle her on my chest for a second or two while Chad cut the cord and then they whisked her away to check her out. I was kinda bummed because I got to hold Brielle for a good 45 minutes before they took her from me but they were a little worried about baby Ry. 

Her feet were blue like this for 2 whole days and purplish for about a week...strange...

When I hold my sweet babies for the first time, it's the only time I remember feeling like my heart might burst of joy. There is nothing better than that feeling. 

Her lips were really swollen and Chad came running over to me to show me this picture of how big her lips were! He was a little worried she was going to have giant lips but they went back down. Her eyelashes were incredible too! Usually I dont see eyelashes for a few weeks but hers were long and thick!

 Chad was so tired that after the nurses took the baby he quickly passed out on the couch. The nurses asked if Chad wanted to help bathe the baby and he didn't respond. I had to yell at him from across the room a few times before he would wake up! But he was happy to get to do it.

We snuggled our baby in the quiet of the room. It was so peaceful and incredibly precious time that I never want to end. We tried to get a few hours of sleep at the hospital then chad went home around 9 to relieve our wonderful neighbor. 

 Carter and Mollie woke up to the exciting news that they had a new baby sister. They were so anxious to get to the hospital and see her. They brought us flowers and candy and a stuffed animal for Rylee.

 Brielle was more excited to see me than to see the baby. And was enjoying exploring around the room rather than checking out the baby. She did say "bebe!" and pointed at her but that was it.

 I tried to get some sleep that afternoon but it's never easy in a hospital. I was a little lonely since our room is usually buzzing with grandparents, parents, and siblings but also almost too tired to care. Since I've been able to plan my other births our family could schedule to be there but not this time since she came in the middle of the night! Chad was also home with the kids so their routines wouldn't get too messed up.  I was grateful for a visit from the Eash family later in the day. I stayed another night in the hospital and hardly got any sleep then! I was going on 48 hours without much sleep! Finally the next morning we got to take her home in this sweet little outfit!

 Chad and the kids came to pick me up and we all were so happy to be home. I went straight to bed!
Here we are as a new family of SIX!

 And here is the little peanut in her carseat! We just barely moved Brielle out of this car seat and she looks so tiny compared to seeing Brielle in it!!

 I am so blessed to be the mom of these 4 sweet kids. My recovery has been awesome and I have felt really great. My energy has returned for the most part and I feel so much better than I did in my last few weeks of pregnancy. I feel like our family is complete and I think this will be the end of Hymas babies unless we feel STRONGLY prompted to have another one. My feelings were completely different after Rylee arrived than Brielle and I feel content with our family of 6. Motherhood is such a blessing and I am forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting these littles to my care. Each one of them has taught me so much in life sometimes before they even arrived on earth. I hope I can be ENOUGH for each one of them. I pray for that daily. Stay tuned for bringing baby home!