The Baby is Here!

Well Ryan Geyer Rowland is finally here! He arrived at 7:56pm on Saturday, March 21, 2009. He was 6lbs. 15oz and 20 inches long. Mommy made it through without any drugs. Here are some pictures of our little bundle of joy. Since I am no longer pregnant, our new family blog will be therowlandclan.blogspot.com. Stop by and see what we are up too.

Almost time...

I figured since my last post was January 30th, I should probably update everyone on what has been going on the last 6 or so weeks.

We have spent most of it preparing for our little guy to get here. After our wonderful baby showers (which I realize I still have not posted yet), we bought the items we needed to bring Ryan home...bassinet, car seat, etc...Thank you IRS for sending us our refund (Now can we have another one). Babies are really expensive. :) But worth it.

I have been having weekly appts. for at least the last 4-5 weeks. Since I have gestational diabetes I have to have mini-biophysical profiles (BPP) and Non-Stress Tests (NST) every week to keep an eye on the babies development and movement. These tests are scored a lot like the APGAR test after the baby is born. It's a 10 point scale. During the BPP, they check the blood flow through the umbilical cord, fetal breathing, tone and movement, fluid levels and heartbeat. The NST records contractions, normal heartbeat and heartbeat after movement.

A few weeks ago I had an appointment and the they could not get a good reading on the umbilical blood flow and the baby was not moving. So they sent me upstairs to Labor and Delivery for an extended NST...everything turned out fine, the baby was just tired. The next week my appointment was with the hospital techinicians and again the baby wouldn't move for them. So, I had to see the doctor a few days later for another test and we got a 10 out of 10 on that one... I felt that everything was fine. The baby moves for me all the time, but to see the concern on the doctor and technicians faces just made me nervous. So, it was a stressful few weeks. Justin was wonderful through the whole thing. I am very blessed to have him. He came with me each time and tried to be reassuring even when I didn't want to talk about it. Thanks babe! You're the best!

Today we had our weekly BPP and NST. They even did some measurements so we would have a better idea of when we would deliver and how big this little guy is. I am 37 weeks and he is 6lbs. 11 oz. today. That is much better than the 8lbs that Justin guessed. :) We will set a date next Monday for being induced. I'm guessing that it could be sometime next week or early the following week. Either way, he will be here VERY soon. I've been having more noticeable contractions lately to prepare for the little guy. The last couple days I have finally reached the unconfortable stage of pregnancy. Thankfully, it's only a couple weeks of discomfort instead of months.

Unfortunately I don't have any ultrasound pictures to share this time, but soon we will have actual baby pictures. I will let everyone know when the big day is after our appt. on Monday...if he doesn't come sooner.

Much Love,
Amber, Justin and Ryan

32 Weeks....Holy Cannoli!

We had a 32 weeks ultrasound, mini-biophysical and non-stress test all done on Thursday. Everything is still looking good. Our little passenger has good movement and tone. He measures in the 95 percentile (which is bigger than average, but still good). He now weighs 4lbs. 4oz. He is about two weeks ahead of schedule in size. The average weight for this time is 3lb. 3 oz. Dr. Morgan is not worried though. He said we could still have an 8lb. baby or he could just be natural big. He is not planning on taking it any sooner than the due date just yet. I'm guessing that will change and our little Ryan will be at least 1 - 2 weeks early. Ryan appears to have big feet just like his daddy. :) But everything is really good.

We are looking forward to the baby shower this weekend and thankful for all the gifts we have received so far. Thank you very much.


Love,
Amber, Justin and Ryan

My cervix is not a trampoline...

I am sitting at work, waiting for the last 15 minutes to pass by so I can go home. When all of a sudden my "little passenger" decides to pounce repeatedly on my cervix. THAT HURTS!!!!! In all of the pregnant women I have known...which is quite a few, I have never heard anyone complain about being kicked in the cervix and how painful that is. Not that hearing that would have changed my mind, but I at least would have expected it. However, none of my wonderful moms warned me. This isn't the first time the little one has done this, but let me tell ya, it doesn't get any less painful or less shocking when it happens.

I tried to have a talk with him about how mommy's cervix is not a trampoline. And I even threw in a compromise of kicking my bladder or a rib. He isn't listening though. I'm just going to pray that he gets tired real soon, so I will be able to walk out of work upright.

Fairy Tale Dragons Weren't Really Mean...

After the night I had last night, I now believe that the dragons in the fairy tales I grew up with were not really mean. They just had REALLY bad HEARTBURN 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You would be pretty cranky too if you had that going on.

Last night I was up most of the night with serious heartburn....You know the kind where only vomiting will make it feel better. Except I didn't get to that part until after I brushed my teeth this morning. Tums did not help me. Sitting up did not help me. It was heartburn like I have never experienced in my life. So, after getting myself ready for work this morning and suddenly feeling a bit better; I developed a new appreciation for the scarey mean dragons. I now feel sorry for them. Who wants to feel that way all the time?

Just my thought for the day...I hope I never have another night like that again.

Wonderful Friends, and a New Home Based Business....

I have always considered myself blessed in the friends and family department. This year is no different. I have a pretty amazing group of friends. Four of my wonderful ladies came to my house to paint the nursery for me; Laurie, Nicki, Erica and Connie. I'll post pics of their beautiful work once I get Laurie's copies :)

I provided the paint and supplies and some snacks, while they did all the work. Now when all of us girls get together or even when just one of us is paired with Laurie it is an EVENT!!!! Always full of laughs, but an EVENT!!! So you can imagine the interesting "girl talk" my husband got to overhear...It was a lot of fun and I appreciate all of them very much.

During the course of our conversations for the afternoon, we covered headstanding, cheese dip to be killed for, drunk texting, Xbox360 and a new way for me to make some money.

Nicki asked me if I was going to breastfeed....I said yes and she told me that it would save me A LOT of money since I could freeze it. She said this a few times to reinforce the idea; which is when Laurie caught on. Laurie however, only heard the words breastfeeding and money...

Out of the mouth of Laurie:
Oh yeah, you can SELL it! To which we all start laughing and Nicki added that people sell placentas too....L, in all her seriousness tells us that she is not kidding and the nurse told her when she had Brittin that people do this. So, we decided that if Justin and I get really hard up for money then I can start my own home-based business and sell my breast milk. I think I'll let the doctors take care of the placenta though. I truly love my friends and Ryan's nursery.

Thank you ladies for a very wonderful and laughter-filled afternoon. I love you dearly!