Ryan Robinson Brown

We are so excited to welcome Ryan Robinson Brown to our family!  He arrived on Thursday, January 16 at 5:05pm, at 38 weeks and one day.  Ryan is named after John's godfather, Mike Robinson.  The week he was born was a tough one - I was so huge and swollen that I could barely move, and I had stopped going in to the office because I was so uncomfortable.  On Thursday morning, at my OB appointment, my blood pressure was unusually high and the baby wasn't moving as much as he should have been during my non-stress test.  My doctor sent me over to the hospital to be monitored for a few hours and John left work just in case this was going to be the day.  By coincidence, once they hooked me up to the monitors at the hospital, I immediately began having real contractions that were just a few minutes apart.  After a few hours, my doctor decided that it was time for Baby Brown to arrive, and we happily agreed.

We knew that the baby was going to be really big and had already determined that it was best for him to arrive via C-section, so they wheeled me down to the operating room and started my epidural.  Once that was done, John joined me in his scrubs and RRB was born about twenty minutes later.  We couldn't believe our ears when the nurse announced that he was 11 pounds, 1 ounce!  We had expected a big baby but not that big.  Thank goodness for C-sections!

Ryan had a few issues immediately after being born that caused him to be admitted to the NICU.  He was "grunting" (labored breathing due to fluid in his lungs), had very low blood sugar (common with big babies with gestational diabetic moms), and he has a minor heart murmur.  The breathing sounded scary but quickly got better.  The cardiologist checked out his heart murmur and thinks it will go away by itself in a few months.  The blood sugar issue was another matter.  Although common, it's a problem that is very slow to resolve itself.  Ryan's body had to figure out how to regulate insulin production so that he didn't have too much.  He was put on a dextrose IV and his blood sugar numbers went up and down for several days.  Once they finally stabilized, he was moved to the intermediate nursery while they slowly weaned him from the dextrose.  He was finally discharged on Friday, January 24.

Now that he is home, we are having so much fun being a family of four.  Mimi and Grandpa are here to help and G. Jill and Papa Charlie will arrive in a few days.  We are lucky to have family to help out while we get adjusted to having a newborn in the house again.

Here are a few photos from Ryan's first week and a half.  He is the sweetest little guy and has the chubbiest cheeks you've ever seen.  He's a good eater, and although the first night home was a little rough, last night was much better.  We're all in love with him!

We are also lucky to have great friends who helped take care of Elizabeth for the first few days after Ryan was born.  Elizabeth had so much fun at her best friend Ella's house and loved playing with the boys at Benjamin and Carter's house, where she discovered their new Christmas present: