Welcome Riley Bryan!

We welcomed our new addition, Riley Bryan McKinnon, to our family on October 6th, 2012!  It is such a blessing to have him in our life!  Crazy and different but totally wonderful at the same time.

So here's the story for those of you who want to hear and for me to document:

At 5:30am we were off to the hospital.  This was how we left and the final belly pic.  I was SO ready for some relief and for the little guy to come.

 We got to the hospital and they got me all hooked up to monitors and got everything in place including IV, epidural (which I was so grateful for not only because I was in pain sitting on the bed and needed relief but also because the position he had me get in to give the shot was so much more comfortable than how I was), and all the "paperwork".

Then they were ready to take me to the OR.  I had been pretty nervous and Bryan was coming with me and was planning on being by my head the entire time.  They got me in the OR and moved me to the table and did all this stuff to me, which was weird because I had no control of my body and so they were moving me around like a sack of potatoes.  They set up the blue screen in front of me and a tube of warm air across my chest and under my chin so that the effects of the epidural wouldn't be as bad.
As they were getting ready to go in, Bryan's curiosity got the most of him and he watched the entire thing which I was grateful for because I feel like I was more connected to what happened.  He tried to keep me calm and not freak me out but I was so excited at this point.  He finally said that they were ready to go in.  Now pause:  Not only did they tell me I was having a huge baby, but also that I was filled with lots of amniotic fluid.  So as soon as they cut in to my uterus the liquid came out and I felt a physical feeling of relief.  All of a sudden I had more space to breathe and I was way more comfortable.  Then I got the butterflies as I realized that I was about to have a baby!  So the doctors started pushing my stomach around (I could feel the pushing but no pain).  Bryan said that the doctors were pulling from both sides in the hole to get enough room to pull him out.  Then they were pushing and out came my little boy.  It again was a HUGE relief I can hardly describe.  I couldn't believe the relief and then I couldn't believe as they pulled down part of the screen in front of me and lifted the boy up so I could see him and it was unbelievable thinking that he was inside of me.  The doctor said "I usually can pick the babies up by one hand, but I have to hold him up with two" and then the other one said, "Bronco Mendenhall (BYU's football head coach) will be in shortly to talk about his future". Then I sent Bryan off with the baby while I sat waiting for the stitches and listened to my new baby crying.  I was anxious to hear the weight since they had been estimating 11 lbs.  I was hoping for ONLY 10 lbs-- who thought I'd say that?!  So Bryan came in holding him for me to see after they had cleaned him up and said he was 10 lbs 3oz!  I was so happy!  It was bizarre!

Unfortunately Riley was having some breathing problems so they had to take him to the NICU and they put him on CPAP.  I'm sure he looked very out of place in the NICU.  Bryan walked by thinking "they only got half a baby"!  They ended up having him on CPAP for about 3 hours. By the time I was done and in recovery and Riley was off CPAP it had been 5 hours since I had seen him and I hadn't held him yet.  It was so amazing to hold him and think he was mine.

It was such a wonderful experience and we were blessed to have my mom and Bryan's mom stay with us for the first two weeks to help us whenever we needed (especially when they took him during the night except when I had to feed him...amazing!).  I was extremely grateful.  We also had wonderful visitors at the hospital that we were able to share our little miracle with!

So here's picture time:

Bryan showing me videos of Riley since I hadn't seen him yet.

One of the first pictures we have.  First shirt!

Cute little man.  He's got a "stork bite" birth mark on his forehead.  It only looks that prominent when he cries now!  It should go away within his first two years.

In recovery.  I was so happy to be laying on my back!!

Little Riley on the CPAP.  So sad!! And it was the first way I had really seen him other than the quick shows while I was on the OR table.

Picture with mommy

Picture with Daddy!  He LOVES his daddy!

He sleeps amazingly well (which they all said he would because he was a big baby) and this is his first time holding a stuffed animal.  It's so cute!

I know that they don't smile yet on purpose, but he smiles a lot and I captured some good ones!  This is just a simple one.

Game day.  Looks like he's shouting "touchdown"!!  

I have so many more but these are the first of, I'm sure, several more in the future!