Ryan Edward...

Ryan Edward was born on August 5, 2012 at 10:50 PM via an emergency C-section. He was 19 inches long and weighed 5 pounds 11.8 ounces.

And he came six weeks early.

You might remember that I spent the better part of last week in the hospital but was sent home on Friday (a week ago today) with instructions to take it easy and return to the hospital on Monday morning to see how things were going. But, God had other plans for us and decided to send us back to the hospital on Sunday morning at 5:30. We spent the majority of the day doing more tests and finally at 9:00 PM we discovered what the problem was.... placenta abruption- the placenta was tearing and it was time to get this baby out. After he was born daddy got to hold him just long enough to bring him to my side so I could see him and then he was quickly wheeled away to the NICU.

But, our little guy is a fighter. He is doing well and we have a lot to be thankful for. In fact, we expect to bring him home in about a week.

I cannot begin to describe all of the thoughts and feelings and emotions that I have had over the past week.
And through it all we have been blessed.

We feel blessed because...

1. Ryan may have been born almost 6 weeks early but he is relatively large for his age and was born with few health problems. Right now he is just working on getting his lungs more developed.

2. We have very good health insurance. The other day I had to call our company to verify a few things and I can honestly say that the conversation was actually quite enjoyable. As I was reading through the folder of information that is given out to NICU parents it broke my heart to see that the majority of the information was for those who are in need of financial assistance. We may not have a lot but I am so very thankful that on top of everything else, we don't have to also deal with financial issues right now.

3. We live close to the hospital. We live only 15 minutes away from one of the best hospitals in the Midwest. We can come and go as we please without having to worry about paying for a hotel or taking out a loan to buy gas.

4. We live close to family. I do not know what we would have done without the support we have received from our family. My parents (bless them!) have been taking care of Rachel, my sister and her family have been helping us out when needed, and Jake's family was able to visit us in the hospital several times which was certainly a huge blessing.

5. God is in control. Yes, he is. He has been in control of this situation from the beginning. Even his timing has been incredible. There is a three-week period during this entire summer that Jake is free from classes and that time is now, like right now. I'm not sure what we would have done if this had all happened when Jake needed to be in class. I certainly couldn't have done this by myself as he has been at my side every day and every night since this all started almost two weeks ago.

6. Our friends have been amazing. I know they're praying for us and thinking about us because we can feel their support. If ever there is a time that one needs to feel the support of their loved ones it is now.

7. We were (almost) ready for the baby to come. Because of the previa, which eventually corrected itself, we had been told to be ready for baby by August 1. We took that advice to heart and when July 31 rolled around (the day this whole ordeal began) we were almost completely ready for a baby to arrive. Except that....we weren't ready for baby to arrive quite like this.

8. Our little guy is perfect. He's beautiful. He was named after his daddy (Ryan is my husband's middle name) and his great-grandpa (Edward is his great-grandpa's middle name) and when Jake's family heard his name it made them all smile.

9. I'm doing well. I'm sore and very tired and an emotional train wreck but at least I'm healthy.

10. We get to hold our son. We held him for the first time on Thursday afternoon. I cried (of course I did). The nurses saw me crying and quietly closed the curtain so that I could cry in peace. Bless them.

And here he is.....

Our beautiful baby boy.