Ryker McKay Shuldberg

We now have TWO children!! It's been a little crazy this past week with the baby, holidays, and all of the family in town, so I am just getting around to posting this, but finally here are pictures of our new little guy Ryker.

On the 20th I started having contractions, but they weren't that close together. This continued until the 22nd, when they started to become more regular, but still nothing I would normally go to the hospital over. However, our hospital was an hour away in Salt Lake, (Due to our insurance) and it started to make me nervous that we were so far away. Since I was dilated to a 3 at my last Dr. apt, I thought maybe we should go in to get checked out just in case.

So the evening of the 22nd, we drove up to the hospital. On our way there it started to snow pretty hard, which made me even more nervous. When we showed up we got into our room so they could hook me up to the monitors to check me out. I was dilated to a 4 at this time, but my contractions were not close enough together to keep me there (Which is what I expected.) However, when the nurse called my doctor, she said with us being so far away, and with the nasty weather, she didn't want to send me home, and since we had a date to induce on the 30th anyway, and labor was already starting, she thought we should just induce that night. So that is what we did! It was a little scary, since I was expecting to be sent home, but at the same time I was so ready to meet this little guy!

So right away, they started the pitocin, and got me all hooked up. A few hours later they broke my water, gave me my epidural, and that is when some excitement happened. After the broke my water, his heart rate dropped quite a bit. The Dr. came in right away and stopped the pitocin, and gave me a shot to stop the contractions. They said he was most likely stressed, and stopping everything would give time for his heart rate to come back up. Of course that was super scary. They were giving me oxygen, and told me that if his heart rate didn't come back up fast they would have to do a c-section. Well after monitoring for a few minutes, his heart rate slowly climbed back up so that was great. They waited about an hour before they started the pitocin again to give him time to rest.

This labor was so completely different than Hudson. It took me a while with Hudson to get to 10 cm, but once I was there, 10 minutes later he was born. With the guy, it took quite some time to get to a 10, and then it took hours more for him to move down enough to get to a point where I could start pushing. Once I did start pushing however, it was about 35 minutes, and he was here, on Dec 23, 2009 at 3:26 am. He started crying immediately, which was also different than Hudson, he was so calm when he came out.

The emotions were so different this time too. I think with Hudson we were both in complete shock, and didn't know what to think. When Ryker came out, it was less shock, and just so happy to see him! He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz, and was 20 in long, almost the same as Hudson who was 7 lbs 6 oz, and 19 1/4 in long.

After they weighed, and measured him, Andy went with him to the nursery to give him his first bath. That is something that is way different than in Arizona. They didn't have a nursery there, so we were absolutely exhausted because we never got to rest! It was so nice to have the nursery to send him down there in between feedings, at least we got a little sleep.

First peek at my new little guy

Wondering why he has been taken from his warm and comfy home

7 lbs 9 oz

Relaxing in the tub

Resting with daddy

View outside our window the next day, the snow had actually melted quite a bit

He was born with the longest fingernails ever! The nurses actually think that maybe he was closer to 40 weeks than we thought cause his nails were so long, and his skin was peeling a bit.

He has so much blond hair, and it makes a great mohawk!

Sweet sleeping boy

You are all so lucky I decided to post this.....looking as cute as possible after just giving birth. (So tired and swollen!)

All dressed up and ready to go home.

Because of the swine flu, they didn't allow anyone under the age of 14 to come into labor and delivery, so it was a bummer that Hudson didn't get to come an visit, but a I guess good that they are trying to keep the illness out.

We could have stayed in the hospital until Christmas morning, but we wanted to spend it with Hudson of course, so they allowed us to leave Christmas Eve afternoon.

He looks like a little jail bird

We were so nervous about how Hudson would react to Ryker, but we were once again pleasantly surprised my our little man. The second he saw him he ran over to the car seat and tried to unbuckle "My baby" so he could hold him. He kept saying "My baby," and "Hold it," it was so cute. So we let Hudson hold him, and he just kept giving him kisses and hugs, and then kept leaning his cheek over so Ryker could give him kisses...it was so sweet.

Overall he has done really well. He does have his jealous moments, such as whenever we change Ryker's diaper, he has to have his diaper changed too, or whenever we feed Ryker, he needs to eat too, but other than little things he has done so well. He likes to hold him, gets concerned for him when he cries, and likes to help feed him.

I think he is going to make a great big brother.

Trying to get him out of his car seat to hold him

My three guys....so cute!

First bath at home

Here is a little video of Hudson holding Ryker, I missed the really cute part when he was giving him all the kisses and saying really loudly "MY BABY," but it's cute nonetheless.

Recovery has been going well, and besides being more tired than I ever thought possible, everything is going great.

It was a little crazy over the holiday's with all of the family in town, but it was also nice to share it with everyone.

Thank you for all of your calls, messages, and well wishes, and sorry if we don't get back to you right away. We are adjusting to life with two little rugrats, exhausted, and trying to enjoy this time together as a family....they just grow up so fast!

Love to all of you, Andy, Naomi, Hudson, and Ryker