BaBy RyKeR!

He's here! And what a handsome little tyke he is too!

Let me just say that I would go back and go through labor with Ryker any day! I know, I'm completely retarded but it was such a good experience and I loved every minute of it.

I've had a call for pictures of little Ryker so here they are!

1 Day old!


4 Days Old

Look at those hands and feet! HUGE!

I love Ryker so much!

Out of my womb and into my heart!

Ryker Vaughn Hoffer is finally here!

He was born Monday, November 8th at 2:26 pm.

6 lb 13 oz, 19 inches long.

I woke up monday morning at 2:00 am soaking wet. I was so convinced of the fact that I was going to be pregnant for the rest of my life that I didn't even think that my water had broke! I didn't wake up Nate either because I just didn't want to bother him for no reason! But after I went to the bathroom and realized that I couldn't possibly be peeing for that long I decided I should start to take things seriously. Nate woke up and got all excited (of course) and I called the hospital to let them know we'd be coming. I also wasn't sure that it was legit because I wasn't having any contractions. They told me to come in because the baby would need to be delivered within 12 hours of my water breaking. Nate went around the house gathering the things from my checklist that we prepared one family home evening while I called my mom who was at my cousin mindy's house in Salt Lake. I'm sure Mindy wasn't super crazy about me calling her cell phone at 3:00 am but what do ya do? I had to have my mom there!

Nice socks huh?

We got to the hospital at 3:00 am and after going to the wrong floor, we settled into our room. I started having little contractions so Nate and I walked around the Delivery floor for a while. My mom showed up around 4:30 and walked with us. I bounced on the exercise ball while we watched Bill Cosby "Himself." I was laughing so hard it was almost embarrassing.

My first nurse was awesome. She helped us a lot with different methods that would make a natural birth more bearable. We tried to sleep a little and watched Harry Potter but I was just excited to have Ryker here. 

After a few hours, nothing was really happening with my contractions so they put me on a low dose of pitocin to make them more regular... That's when I started to feel them. 

Nathan started coaching me through the contractions with breathing techniques that we learned from Helen, our Lamaz teacher. He was AWESOME at this. It made it so much easier to get through the contractions. I felt that I was in complete control and that they weren't unbearable - Just uncomfortable. 

She kept increasing the dose of pitocin and when my contractions started really hitting me, she put me on a great drug called Fentanyl. It didn't take away the pain, it just made me not care that I was in pain. In fact, in between contractions I would look and Nate and say, "Nate, I love you SO much. You're SO handsome." And then I would look at my mom and say, "Mom, Thank you for being here, You are the best!"

By this time, they had me in the bed because they wanted to be monitoring Ryker's heart beat. It was harder to get through the contractions just lying there but I never did feel that they were too painful. We just breathed through them and my nurse kept saying how awesome I was at getting through them. Sadly, she had to go into surgery about 2 hours before Ryker was born. Our next nurse was SO nice but she came in and said that she had only been there for 2 weeks and she'd never seen a natural birth before... This is where Nate took over. 

He did all of the coaching and motivating. He was a trooper! My mom kept a wet washcloth on my forehead and that felt very nice. I was just so pampered! 

Unfortunately, Dr. Kirkman was away on a family emergency and was not able to be there for my delivery. Instead, we had Dr. Blackett. She was great but I just didn't know her. She told me the day after that not many people actually make it through without an epidural and before she came in, she didn't think I was going to make it. 

I loved not having an epidural because I felt that I was in complete control. my body told me when I was having a contraction and I started to push. I only pushed for about 30 minutes and Ryker was born. Nathan got to cut the cord and they set Ryker on my lap for maybe... 10 seconds and then whisked him away to the heating table. He was completely white. Nathan was by his side the whole time as the respiratory therapist was giving Ryker oxygen because he wasn't quite breathing well enough. 

Nate wouldn't leave Ryker's side. Ryker was breathing funny when he came out so he was white as a ghost.

The nurse helped me off the bed, change and into a wheelchair. She said it was nice to have someone who could do it all herself - Because I didn't have an epidural I was standing and cleaning myself off.

First family photo.

I didn't get to see Ryker again for a while because they took him to the NICU but they fixed him all up and when I did get to hold him, it was pure bliss. 

This was my view of Ryker pretty much the first time I got to hold him.  He stared at me... and I stared back.

The Oak Tree

President Ballard used a wonderful poem in his CES fireside tonight and I wanted to share it.

The Oak Tree

by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day.

It stole the Oak Tree's leaves away.

Then snapped its boughs

and pulled its bark

until the Oak was tired and stark.

But still the Oak Tree held its ground

while other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke,

"How can you still be standing Oak?"

The Oak Tree said, I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry every leaf away,

shake my limbs and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You'll never touch them, for you see

they are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn't sure

of just how much I could endure.

But now I've found with thanks to you,

I'm stronger than I ever knew.

I've been pregnant for 6,432 hours!

Well I haven't had him yet. I know I said that the next time I would post would be when he got here but I wanted to share the thoughts that have been going through my mind the past couple days. I think it will be funny to come back and read this in years to come and to see how much of a baby I was.

Last night I woke up at 2:30 in the morning. Dead awake. The only thing I could think about was how I REALLY wanted to go into labor. (Funny right?) I started thinking about school and how hard it was going to be if Ryker came late. I actually got super frustrated and was almost mad that I hadn't had him yet! It was so stupid because I've always known that he wasn't going to come until at least the 9th but there was just this burning rage inside me about why he wouldn't come! Then... I got a leg cramp. haha! It was a sign I think saying to stop being such a retard. I screamed and Nate freaked out and I had to reassure him that the baby was not coming. I told him how frustrated I was and he just told me that it didn't matter when he came, everything would be okay.
Pretty sure that every mother I've talked to in the last week has said that they went past their due date by a week! A WEEK, PEOPLE! That's another 168 hours of being pregnant!
I would really be okay with it but school just scares me. I have done so well thus far and I hope I don't fall behind.
Also, let me just put in the record that I have not just sat around, hoping that Ryker would magically appear - I have made a good effort. I've gone to school up to this point, we've went hiking for 3 days straight and we went to the football game and I walked all the way to the top of the press box to video with Nate and back down to video on the field. I have definitely not been a lazy pregnant girl!
I know I sound frustrated but I hope to convey a lesson to those of you who are also suffering from pregnancy fatigue: The Lord has a special moment in time when your baby will be born. We went to stake conference today and the primary president talked about the Lord's timing. She said that the Lord knows when you want something but He wants you to have the faith to ask for it. So off I go to have some nice study and prayer time. :-)