Rylan Ann Palmer

This post about Rylans birth is very long overdue seeing as how she is already 3 1/2 months old but better late than never right... After much contemplation I decided that getting started was the lesser of two evils. Having the doctor that gave me my epidurals for both Jackson and Benton really scared me. With Benton my right leg didn't have any feeling until 24 hours after I had had him and I can't imagine anything worse than having 3 kids and being paralyzed in one of my legs. When I talked to my doctor about my concern, he told me that the only way to get around not having Dr. Patel give me my epidral was to schedule my labor for a day that he was not on call. But, I was also very nervous to get started. Part of me always worried that maybe Rylan wouldnt be ready to come yet and that there could be some complications caused because of my decision. At my last appointment my doctor said that Rylan was ready to come and that I was already starting the labor process on my own and so we chose a date to have our baby. Mo and I dropped the boys off at my parents on Sunday night to go to our 9 o'clock PM appointment. It was kindof crazy just showing up to have our baby. I was actually really nervous- when you are already having contractions the pain counteracts the fear but because there was no pain for me there was lots of fear. For the most part everything went fine. The only scary part was that when they gave me my epidural my heart rate dropped and Rylans heart rate took a big dive which was a major concern to the labor and delivery nurses. Three of them ran in and one of them gave me a big shot in the arm to immediately stop the labor. I had a moment of panic that maybe there had been a reason for my hesitation to get started but very quickly Rylans heart rate was under control. I had to wait about an hour until they hooked me back up to the pitocin to help my contractions along. The only bad part about that was itching like crazy from the epidural. But, I would taked itching and being able to feel my legs any day over being scared that I wasnt going to be able to walk. The epidural was actually really cool- I could feel that I was having a contraction but there wasnt any pain until the very last couple of pushes as Rylans head came out. She was born at 3:09 AM... she was exactly 7 lbs and 20 inches long. She was a beautiful baby right from the beginning. We both thought that she looked just like Jackson but we are not so sure anymore. She was definitely really alert like he was where as Benton preffered to sleep. Mo was such a proud husband and daddy. After they hooked me back up to the pitocin she came so fast that my mom didnt have a chance to make it down before she was born. She was pretty shocked to come into the room to see that we had already had her. After about 10 minutes I started to feel really sick... I had to throw up a few times and I guess that is not uncommon? When they took me to my room all I wanted to do was sleep. And, they had actually changed a few things since I had had Benton- one of them being the skin to skin right after they are born which I chose not to do. And the other was that they gave Rylan her first bath right in my room. I feel really bad because I was so sick and so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep it off and I wasn't paying much attention to bath. Kathi and Gary came down at about 6? I think and my mom and dad brought the boys down about 9 or 10 after I had a chance to get a little rest... I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story as you can see from them how wonderful we all thought it was to finally have Rylan as a part of our family.