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

What our life is about to be like......

Hopefully they will be best friends.....we are so excited to bring this little guy into our family.

Get Your Vote On!!

OK people, the time has come to cast your votes on what you think baby Shuldberg #2 will be! Please use the voting buttons on the right hand side of the blog. As far as what we think it is...pretty much the same as last time...Andy of course thinks it will be a boy, but I think I have him a little bit more convinced this time that it might actually be a girl. I am totally sold on the thought of it being a girl. I am MUCH more sick this time...so my thought is...it has to be a girl right? Anyhow, I think we both have decided we will be be happy either way...having one of each will be nice, or for Hudson to have a brother will be great too. I have an ultrasound scheduled at 18 weeks to find out the sex....to stay tuned!

34 1/2 Weeks Pregnant

Only Six weeks to go, and looking forward to it!

Baby's Name

I have posted a poll on the blog to have everyone help up decide what to name the baby. We have quite a few names we like, some more than others, but we can't seem to come to a firm conclusion. So we thought it might be a good idea to get opinions from our friends and family.

Our names are not what we would consider to be common, and understand not everyone will be fans of them, but please pick the ones you like most. The middle name will most likely also be one of the names from the poll. Once we are set on a first name it will be easier for us to decide on a middle name.

Hopefully soon we will be able to make a firm decision.

Thanks for voting!

Pregnancy Weeks 20-29

So perhaps I have been slacking on this just a bit (Well for 9 weeks really) but I thought it was time for another pregnancy post.

So now that I am in my last trimester I am starting to get all the uncomfortable pregnancy side effects. For instance, my feet swell up like balloons at the end of the day. I have been told to drink lots and lots of water to help with the swelling, I do, and I still have Flinstone feet! I have now found out what heartburn and indigestion feel like (I have never experienced those before.) Also, this child, although I love him dearly is OBSESSED with my rib cage, and will not leave it alone. One morning about 2am I woke up with the WORST pain in my right side right by my rib cage. I had no idea what was going on and it was so uncomfortable I was nearly in tears thinking something was wrong and maybe we needed to go to the doctor. I got online real quick and looked in some of my books about rib pain, and found out that it is possible for the baby to lodge itself in there, and that there were certain exercises I could do to get him to move back down where he belongs. Anyway, after about 3 hours of walking around and doing these exercises I finally got the little critter to move. However, during the day he still seems to find his way over there, so I am thinking this will just be one of those things I have to deal with.

Also, this whole gaining weight thing sucks! I know you have to, but man you feel it. It's weird to feel so "Heavy" and to struggle to bend over and put on your socks! I will never take that small act of putting on socks for granted again!

However, overall I feel really good. I know so many people who have had terrible pregnancy's so I will not complain anymore, I have been very lucky.

He is moving all of the time now, and often times think that he is holding his own private aerobics session in my womb. Andy gets a kick out of watching my belly move and contort in all sorts of funny ways. Sometimes Andy will push on my belly and then he pushes or kicks back, we find that amusing anyway.

We are in the process of figuring out what we want to do with the baby's room, so over the next few weeks I should be able to post pictures of our progress.

This time is just going by so fast, I can't believe I am almost 30 weeks! Were in the homeward stretch now and are getting very excited yet nervous at the same time. I think we have both decided that this will not feel completely real until we see him, then I am sure that will be one of the most "Real" moments of our lives.

Until the time comes we are just keeping busy with the nursery and reading all sorts of book on all different kinds of topics hoping we will have a clue what to do with this child when he arrives!

Picture at week 25

Baby Shower

We took a trip to Washington last week for a few days and my mom and my mom's friend Ginger gave me a baby shower! It was so lovely at Ginger's house. She lives right on the water, and it was a beautiful day, so we had it ouside on her patio. Here are a few pictures from the occasion.

This one is a little hard to see, but this was the table of trouble makers, I won't call out any names, you know who you are!

Here is my one of my best friends Tara (Who's head is cut off) and her so cute daughter Lucy!

Here is another one of my best friends Heidi with Lucy! Aren't they cute!

Here is my mom on the left, with Julie and Janet

So this picture definitely needs an explanation.....So my Uncle Mark (AKA My MOTHER, she tried to pawn it off on my Uncle Mark, but we all know who the culprit is) decided to give a gag gift at the shower. I say gag gift because although it was very funny, I don't believe I will be allowing my child or husband to wear these in public anytime soon. What you are looking at is a pair of baby cowboy boots, along with two Davey Crockett hats, one for dad and baby! You can tell I am thrilled, and cannot wait to take a family picture with my two guys wearing their furry hats! Thanks for the laughs mom!

Anyhow, it was a lovely shower. Thanks to everyone who helped put it on, and to everyone who came, I had a great time!

Pregnancy, Week 18 and 19

Time has just been flying by! I can't believe I am half way through the pregnancy! HE'LL be here before you know it! Ahhh, it's so nice to be able to say him! We had our ultrasound in week 18 and found out we are having a boy so we are very excited! It was so crazy to be able to see him in the ultrasound and be able to see legs and arms, and a profile. The ultrasound tech was pretty funny, she pointed to his "Area" and said "See it's a boy!" Well I couldn't really see "it", so she took a picture of "it" and drew some arrows to it and put "Boy" next to it and printed it out for us. I still don't really see it but if she says so I guess we'll believe her.

We are pretty sure we have a name picked out, we are just having troubles with the middle name. We can't seem to agree on anything for the middle name, so when we come to a conclusion, we will be sure to let everyone know.

These past few weeks I have been feeling great, and feel him moving and kicking me all the time! Here is a bit from i-am-pregnant.com about what has been going on the past few weeks.

Thumb sucking at 18 weeks

19 Weeks

By week 18 of your pregnancy, your baby's crown-to-rump length is 5 to 5.5 inches long. Your baby continues to develop fat layers and weighs about 5.25 ounces. Your baby will continue to grow and develop, but the rapid growth will slow down for a little while. You will be able to feel your uterus just below your bellybutton. If you put your fingers sideways to measure, you can feel your uterus about two finger-widths below your bellybutton. At this point of your pregnancy, your uterus is approximately the size of a cantaloupe. Although weight gain varies from woman to woman, your total weight gain at this point should be 10 to 13 pounds.

Around this time, your baby becomes more sensitive to the outside world and shows her presence through powerful kicks and prods. The bones through which sound is passed to the inner ear have hardened and the part of the brain that receives and processes nerve signals from the ears are developing. This means that your baby can hear now. Your baby will get used to familiar sounds, such as your heart beating, familiar voices, blood rushing through the umbilical cord and other daily routine sounds. Your baby will become startled if he hears a loud sound.

One of the most amazing aspects of your baby's growth and development is that of the fetal brain. Your baby's brain is one of the first organs to appear. Your baby's oversized head shows the brain's importance in his development. Because the nerves that connect the muscles to the brain have grown into place, your baby's movements are consciously directed. Your baby's ears stand out from the sides of the head and the buds for your baby's permanent teeth appear. Your baby's arms and legs have reached their relative proportions and his feet are approximately one inch long.

So many things are changing and going on right now with the pregnancy. My belly is starting to get so much bigger, I can't really hide the belly bump anymore! Well......here's to a good week 20!

Drum Roll Please!!!!!

Well we went to the doctor today for our ultrasound. She said everything looked good, and that all the measurements were right on, and still looking at a due date of December 24th.

Before we went in, Andy and I put a wager on whether it will be a boy or girl. I knew it was going to be a girl, so if I won he had to massage my feet for one hour, in addition to two nights a week letting me watch watch whatever I wanted on TV WITHOUT complaining. He knew it was going to be a boy, so if he won he got to watch all the football he wanted on Saturday's and Sunday's without me complaining about it. So we walked into the doctors office both hoping that we were the winner. The ultrasound tech thought it would be fun to keep us in suspense until the very end, so after about 20 minutes, she finally said "Do you want to know the sex?" And we were like get on with it already! So............

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

Looks like I will be watching a lot of football this year!

Pregnancy, Week 17

Well week 17 is now passing me by. Here is a bit from i-am-pregnant.com about what is happening in week 17:

Your baby's weight has doubled in two weeks and now weighs about 3.5 ounces! The crown-to-rump length of your growing baby is 4.4 to 4.8 inches. If you spread your hand out opened wide, you can see about how big your baby is.

Your uterus is moving up and is now approximately 1.5 to 2 inches below your navel. You are showing more now and there is a noticeable swelling in your abdomen. At this point in your pregnancy, a 5 to 10 pound weight gain is normal. Other people can probably feel the difference in your lower abdomen if they were to rub your tummy. To be the most comfortable, you should be wearing maternity clothes or clothing that is too large for you. You may have felt your baby move already. However, you might not feel it move every day at this point. As your pregnancy progresses, movements become stronger and more frequent. Feeling your baby move can help reassure you that your baby is doing well. You might also notice that your gums or nose bleed occasionally. This is from the increased blood volume that puts pressure on small blood vessels and capillaries.

Huge changes continue to take place within your developing baby. This week fat begins to form and will continue to do so until he is born. Fat is important to the body's heat production and metabolism. Right now, at 17 weeks, water makes up about 3 ounces and fat 0.018 ounces of your baby's body. In a baby at term, fat makes up about 5.25 pounds of the total average weight of 7.7 pounds. The placenta is continuing to grow at an amazing rate. The placenta will continue to develop in tandem with the fetus and it will weigh more than a pound at birth! By this week, the placenta is large and well established with a network of blood vessels that exchange nutrients and waste.

The eyes are facing more forward. The ears are now close to their final position. Your baby is more flexible with ability to move head, mouth, lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, feet, and toes. Fingerprints are forming now.

This week I have really felt the baby move a lot. At first it was just little flutters I would feel, and this week it's full on kicking! This being my first child I find this fascinating! Andy has been able to feel the kicks a few times too. Usually when we are sitting on the couch I make him sit there with his hand on my stomach just in case, I don't want him to miss it.......they are just so cool!

We are getting excited because in week 18 we get to find out the sex of the baby we just hope he/she is not feeling modest that day!

Pregnancy, Week 16

The weeks are seriously starting to fly by! I can't believe week 16 is almost over and am now starting week 17!

Here is a little bit from i-am-pregnant.com about what is going on in week 16:

At this point of your pregnancy, your baby is approximately 4.3 to 4.6 inches long and weighs 2.8 ounces. Not only is your baby growing, your uterus and placenta continue to grow to accommodate the growing baby inside of you! Just six weeks ago, your uterus weighed about 5 ounces. This week it now weighs 8.75 ounces! The amniotic fluid that surrounds the baby is increasing and there is about 7.5 ounces of fluid. You will easily be able to feel your uterus approximately three inches below your navel.

Five and a half inches tall and only six ounces in weight. The child can grasp with his hands, kick, or even somersault. At this time, your baby is holding her head erect. Because her muscles are developing, she can make some faces now. Your baby is able to squint, frown and open its mouth. There is enough calcium in the bones that they will show up on an x-ray. Your baby's fingernails are well formed now and the legs are longer than the arms. Because your baby is moving well now, you may begin to feel his movements! Some women say that the early movements feel like gas bubbles or a slight flutter. If you have not yet felt the baby move, don't worry. Fetal movements are usually felt between the 16th and 20th week of pregnancy. You may feel your heart beating 'louder'. This is because there is a lot more blood in your body than normal. (about 20-25% more

This week for me has been a week of worries. For a few days I had been feeling the baby move, and move on a regular basis. Then the next day I didn't feel anything. I started to worry about it right before I went to bed that night, and of course had to be woken up in the morning by a terrible dream. At about 6 am I was on the computer searching to see if it was normal to feel the baby move and then not move all of the sudden, or at least not be able to feel it. I was reassured that it was completely normal, and not feeling the movement is only a concern as your pregnancy progresses.
I was happy to be feeling the movements again later the next day. They have been sporadic since then, but at least not nonexistent.

When I was up on the computer that morning, I think I got a very small feeling of what it is like to be a concerned or worried mother. I haven't even met my baby yet, and already I am worrying about it. I guess I have a lifetime of that ahead of me.

Well besides this episode and the whole registry issue (See previous post entitled Overwhelmed) things have been good. I am still feeling good, and am noticing my belly slowly but surely getting larger and larger. If I am wearing a t-shirt it is still hard to tell, but if I wear anything else you definitely know I am prego. Here's to a good "Week 17!"

Overwhelmed

I went into Babies "R" Us today, to start registering for a few things. It was nice at first, they sit you down and explain how everything works, how to use the scanner, where everything is, and they give you a list (For first time parents) of things you will be needing to register for. I'm thinking OK this should be good, and quick.....well nothing with me is quick, but at least this should be painless right?

WRONG!!! I got started, and then my mind just went all over the place! There was so much stuff on that list! This list had everything down to cotton swabs......I repeat, COTTON SWABS.....I don't think it would have ever crossed my mind to make sure I had cotton swabs handy? So then I start thinking, maybe I'm not cut out for this whole motherhood thing. I mean, I don't know how much of something to get, do I need to register for this now if I won't need it for 6 more months, do I need outlet covers if the baby won't be walking the first day they are home? I think I walked around the store about 6 times running back to scan stuff I forgot, or had decided against it the first time around and changed my mind about 15 minutes later.

Do you think I could just hire someone to buy all of this for me, and just make sure everything looks cute in the nursery........do people like that exist? I know I have about 5 months left, but all the sudden it seems so urgent to get this all done now, and RIGHT NOW!

I am sure some of you out there understand right? Or am I in a land of my own? If anybody would like to leave helpful tips or comments on this post, they are more than welcome! I am hoping this craziness will soon pass, at least until the baby arrives, then I am sure there will be a whole new level of crazy in this house!

Pregnancy, Week 15

I decided to start a blogging journal to keep track of all the changes and things going on in the pregnancy. I also wanted to have something to look back on many years from now and remember what my first pregnancy was like.
The baby at 15 weeks

So here I am at week 15 almost 16. Here is some info from i-am-pregnant.com as to what is going on in week 15:

Dates and numbers: There are 168 days until your due date on December 24, 2007. You are 112 days pregnant. You are 3.7 months pregnant. You are in your 4th month of pregnancy.
Your 1st trimester: March 19, 2007 to June 17, 2007. (0 - 12 weeks) Your 2nd trimester: June 18, 2007 to September 30, 2007. (13 - 27 weeks) Your 3rd trimester: October 01, 2007 to December 24, 2007. (28 - 40 weeks)

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is approximately 4 inches and she now weighs approximately 1.75 ounces. Your baby is close to the size of a softball and you can easily tell that you are pregnant now! If you wear maternity clothes or a swimming suit, other people will be able to tell that you are pregnant also. You can probably feel your uterus about three to four inches below your bellybutton.

Your baby is growing at an amazing rate and looking more like a human every day. Because your baby's skin is so thin, you are able to see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo hair covers your baby's body, but it will be gone when your baby is born. The hair on the eyebrows and head continues to grow. Some babies are born with little or no hair and others have a head full of hair! If you have an ultrasound at this point, you might be able to see your baby sucking its thumb. Even though the eyes continue to move to the front of the face, they are still widely separated. Your baby's ears look like normal ears and continue to develop externally. The bones that have already formed continue to get harder and retain calcium. The baby is very mobile and flexible at this point. She can bend her arms at the elbows and wrists and she can also make a fist with her hands.

I think the fact that I am HAVING A BABY has finally registered. It's weird for the first few months, because you know you're pregnant, but you don't look it. You just feel sick and icky, and you know why, but it doesn't seem real. There's no belly or ultrasound to look at to prove your pregnant, just a pregnancy test. Now that I am starting to show, it is really starting to feel real. I also swear I am starting to feel the baby move around a bit. I just get these weird flutters in my lower abdomen, who knows if that what it really is, but that is what I like to imagine, it makes me feel like I really do have this life growing inside of me.

I felt really sick the first 12 weeks or so of being pregnant. I was lucky I was not hovering over the toilet at all, I just felt really nauseous. I also had this awful taste in my mouth all the time! It would never go away not matter what I did, so food just tasted bad. The only thing that remotely sounded good to me was fruit, so I pretty much lived off that for weeks. Then one day about my 13th week or so, it went away! The only thing I deal with now really is exhaustion. I feel really good overall, and feel very fortunate that so far things have been pretty smooth sailing.

I have noticed this last week that my appetite has started to increase. I haven't noticed any strange cravings, just some that are not really normal for me. I have been wanting chocolate, which is not normally something I like. Also, spicy food, I do like spicy food, but it's almost like my tolerance for spicy food has increased, and it always sounds good. I would have to say however the strangest thing yet was that I ate a hamburger! I don't do red meat, especially hamburger! We went to Red Robin one day, and for some reason I decided I wanted to try a hamburger because it sounded good. Andy said, "Are you serious?" Well I was, I ordered it, and the amazing thing was that I LIKED it! Haven't had that craving again, but that hamburger was sure tasty!

We have an appointment the last week of this month for an ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. I honestly have no preference whether we have a boy or a girl. Andy however, will profess to the world that we are having a boy, and because of his family genes we will never produce a girl. So because of that, I think I am secretly rooting for a girl. If you will notice I have a poll at the top of the blog to vote for whether you think we will be having a boy or a girl. EVERYONE VOTE FOR A GIRL!

We are both getting more and more excited about our soon to be baby. We constantly talk about what or who it will look like, will it have hair, and when can we find out what we are having so we can at least say "Him" or "Her" and not "It." I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband going through this with me. He has been really good at listening to my gripes and complaints, and even helps satisfy my appetite by going to Dairy Queen to get me Peanut Buster Parfaits when I ask him to........seriously those are so good, and I am not quite sure how I ever lived without them before! :o)