April 28, 2011... A Very Special Day!

After 10 weeks of bedrest and two weeks of waddling around in the world,  we finally have our sweet baby here safe and sound :)

I went to the doctor last Wednesday (April 27) for my 38 week appointment and was 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced and the baby was at a -1 station.  We set an appointment for Monday, but the doctor said that he'd be surprised if I made it through the weekend...



Well he must be a pretty smart doctor, because the next morning (April 28) I woke up with increased signs of labor.
I put in a call to him and he said to go on in to labor and delivery!
So we got all packed up and headed to the hospital around 2:00p.m.

Of course we snapped a pic on our way out the door...
This was our last picture as a family of three!



When I got to the hospital, I was 4cm dilated and having contractions every 5 minutes.
So we called in the troops. (Our very eagerly anticipating families :) )

Kelli, aka photographer extraordinaire, who as been on standby for 12 weeks waiting on the call that "it's time!' made it all the way from Greenville while the lil' bun was still in the oven.
But the timer was going off!!
Thank you so much, Kell, for capturing the moments of this precious day!!



They broke my water at around 4:00, which reminds me of a conversation Benjamin and I were having about "water breaking," last week, that Benson overheard, causing him to ponder...

Benson: "Mama, has your water ever broken before?"
Me: "No, my water has never broken on its own".
Benson: "Even when I was a baby in your belly, your water didn't break?"
Me: "Nope, not even then... the doctor had to break it."
Benson: "Sooo... why did the doctor break your pipes?"

:)

After the doctor "broke my pipes" and started pitocin,  I labored for about another hour, which was not fun, before they administered my epidural.  I was not nice for that hour...
Until the very kind anesthesiologist came in and made me happy again.  :)  Wish I could tip him. 

Can I just say, Praise the Lord for modern medicine!  Whew!!

Sweet little 

Thomas Hunter Ryan 

was born on April 28, 2011
at 6:41 p.m.
weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces 

and measuring 19 and 3/8 inches long. 

Oh- and his head was 14 and 1/4 inches in circumference.  

That's not a stat you normally hear people say when they tell of a new baby's "info," but I thought it worthy.  Especially since the nurse who measured him did a double take at the measuring tape and looked up at Benjamin and said, "Your poor wife."

Yep, the boy's got his mama's head. 



We are all so absolutely in love with this sweet little boy.






Benson is the world's BEST big brother!  He wants to hold him and kiss him and love on him all the time.  It's so fun to see my sweet Benson whom I love so much, love on my sweet Thomas whom I love so much.  The love's just multiplied!! 



The moment he's been waiting for is finally here!



My three boys!!!



Benson is so intrigued by everything Thomas does... the fact that his baby brother gets the hiccups, sneezes, smiles and even (one time) tee-tee'd on him! has been a never ending source of discovery and amazement.






Thomas gave Benson a couple of pirate presents whenever he arrived.
Benson was TOTALLY in AWE of the fact that Thomas knew he liked pirates.
He decided that Thomas must have heard him talking about them while he was still in mama's belly :)



Thomas Henry Ryan holding Thomas Hunter Ryan...









Benson was flipping his finger on his lips trying to entertain Thomas... 



Even though he was bigger than Benson when he was born (Benson was 6lbs 6oz),
Thomas still seems so tiny!

We are in awe of God's creation.

Thomas Hunter Ryan was perfectly knit together in his mama's womb.

The Lord formed his inward parts and we Praise Him,
for Thomas is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are the works of the Lord,
we know it very well.

Thomas's frame was not hidden from the Lord,
when he was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

In God's book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for Thomas,
when as yet there was none of them.

(Psalm 139:13-16 paraphrased)

Welcome to the world, baby Thomas!  We're so happy you're here!!!

Thomas Hunter Ryan is HERE!!!

We are so thrilled to welcome Thomas Hunter Ryan to our family!!
He was born on 4.28.11 at 6:41pm... 7lbs, 6oz... 19 and 3/4 in.
Thank you, Lord for such a precious gift!!!

Spring Break visitors!

We had some fun spring break visitors this past week :)

Nana and papa came and we went to....

The midnight rooster! 

WHOA that's a big ole belly!  

There's a PERSON in there, ya know?!

Cutie patooties...

And Lash came later on...

We love Lash!  :)

Thanks for visiting guys :) It's always great getting to spend time with yall! 

Easter Eve 2011

We had a little different Easter this year than we have in the past 28 years.  The only time that we've NOT spent Easter morning in Pageland was April 3, 1983 when I was born.  But there is a time and a season for everything and this year we changed things up a bit.  Instead of going to Pageland on Easter morning like we have in the past, we celebrated "Easter Eve" together at my Grandaddy's nursing home.

It's really not WHERE you are, but who you're with that really matters anyway... and we all had a great time being together in Cheraw.

Here's our family Easter picture... In all honesty, I think we had a few people who were kinda hoping for ANOTHER "Easter Baby" but it didn't happen.  Maybe he'll come on Papa's birthday (April 29th!)
The fact that this baby is so happily staying put, really is quite humorous.

I love the happy spring colors in this picture :)

The originals...

The lovebirds...

MORE lovebirds...
(counting down the days until July 23!)

Silly Lash, already lovin' on her nephew...

And Benjamin, helping support my ever-expanding gut...

The two most precious faces I know...

After we left the nursing home, we went back to grandmama Hunter's house
to help her with her "honey do" list.
The boys worked outside cutting grass, painting, cleaning gutters, weed eating etc.
The girls worked inside.  Except me.  I was cooking.  A baby that is... :)

Benson took off his shirt like the rest of the guys and was really "helping" BIG time...
Then he celebrated his hard work with bubbles...

And I'll leave you with this little morsel of hotness...
B was in charge of weed-eating, but didn't have any long pants, and all he could find was my grandaddy's rescue squad outfit.
I think he really rocked it... :)

It's pics like this and about a million other reasons why I love this man so much :) 

 And what keeps his BROTHERS reading the blog for ammo with which to rag him! :)

Easter Morning 2011

We spent Easter morning in Hartsville this year.  After church, we headed over to Kalmia gardens and snapped a few pictures.  I'm savoring the ever fleeting days of knee socks.  :(   My baby boy is growing up too fast!  I'm excited to have another BABY boy ANY DAY now!  He's still just-a-bakin' away in there... we are anxiously awaiting his arrival!  In the meantime, we're enjoying the ever fleeting days of having just ONE little doodle to dote on...

Praise the Lord for an Easter Sunday where we are free to celebrate His resurrection!

More pics tomorrow of "Easter Eve" with the Hunters :)  

Will is FOUR!

We were able go to Will's Fourth Birthday Party this past weekend!

Now that I've been released from bedrest and meds (as of last Wednesday/36 weeks), I'm just gallavantin' all over! :)

Will's birthday party marks the beginning of "birthday season" around here...
He just turned four, which means HANNAH is about to turn four and then...

sniff sniff...

my itty bitty baby boy is going to turn four.

It seriously hurts my heart to think that these BABIES are turning FOUR!!!

 Will {two months old} Benson {two days old} and Hannah {one month old}

They were such happy infants.  :)

It's such an incredible and special GIFT that they have each other!!! 

And Addie Grace is right in there with 'em...

 And I'm sure it won't be long before Ryan Elizabeth starts showing the newbies around... It's truly unreal to think that THESE babies (that are still in the oven) are going to grow up with the blessing of cousins the same age, too!  It looks like these babies are only going to be a couple of WEEKS or DAYS apart!  I guess they COULD even be born on the same day!!  Now THAT would be something!

Susie's due May 1 and I'm due May 12... it should be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of weeks!! 

My "sisters" :)  

We are so excited to welcome Brittany RYAN to the gang! :)

These two enjoy each other so much...
Hannah COULD NOT wipe the smile off her face, driving this little tractor around...
and BENSON had the white-knuckle-grip and his "worried" face on the whole time.

And then grandmama found something....

Think you could guess what it was??

Well.  I'll tell you this..  It was EXCITING!

Oh the joys of boys. 

Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails... it's so true. 

Roll your mouse over the picture below to see what happens when you give three, four year olds small amphibians. 

Happy birthday dear Willlllll,  Happy birthday to YOU!

The Gibbs.  

I almost didn't recognize Ryan Elizabeth!  Why do babies have to grow so FAST?!!

Benson was being a little overly cautious of the play weed-eater...

Mrs. Lula snapped a pic of me and my hunny :) 

We're about to have a baby :)  n 'case ya didn't know. 

And we CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!! :) 

We have a doctor's appointment Tuesday (tomorrow) morning at 9am. 

(36 weeks and 5 days --off bedrest and meds for 5 days -- and Monday (today) was the first time in 20 weeks that I've not received a progesterone shot!

So SURELY SOMETHING has to be changing right?! 

I'm so going to go to 42 weeks and have to remove the child by crane, after all this.) 

Every day for the past ten weeks I've thought, "this could be the day!"  But there's a pretty good chance that SOMEtime over the next three weeks, it really is going to be THE day!
Wonder if it will be tomorrow?!!  :) 
I'm looking so forward to meeting this little fella who's been kickin' me in the ribs!!

**Update: Our Doctor's appointment went great!  Everything is still the same.. NO CHANGE!  We're two days away from FULL TERM!  Praise the Lord!  Maybe he'll be an Easter Sunday baby like his mama?! :)