Rylee Rae

Introducing Miss Rylee Rae Kruse!!  She was born on July 3rd at 5:29 pm, and she was 7lbs, 10 oz, and 21 and 3/4 inches long!

So, my due date came and went with no baby.  I wasn't really surprised, but I did have a doctor appointment that day.  The induction was scheduled for the 3rd, which I felt a little conflicted about.  I think I was just still hoping to go into labor naturally, and I also had a little bit of panic set in the last week or so of my pregnancy.  I suddenly got so nervous about what life would be like with 3 kids.  I started feeling like I would never have a second to myself again, I would never be able to keep up, I would never have a clean house...basically every doubt crossed my mind!  In some ways I was kind of thinking that I wanted to attend our annual 4th of July party at my brother-in-laws parents house because that might be my last chance to have fun and relax for a while.  I wasn't quite ready to give up my "freedom" of only having 2 kids, and I didn't really want to be in the hospital on the 4th.  But, things didn't turn out that way, and looking back now, I realize that I was being a bit crazy.

Ray's mom took the kids the night before since we had to be at the hospital early.  I actually got a pretty decent sleep, and we woke up around 7 and stopped to get coffee on the way to the hospital.  It took the nurses a while to find my veins for the IV, and since I already don't do well with needles I got a little light-headed.  It took 5 sticks to finally get it in, but I was glad that was over. Within less than an hour my contractions were regular so I was able to get the epidural before I was in much pain.  It seemed to take forever even though it was probably over in about 20 minutes. I had a few shocks in my left leg a few times, which was painful, especially while trying to remain completely still.  I experienced the side effect of getting extremely itchy after the epidural, and I told Ray and the nurse that even my eyeballs itched! But, finally, all that was over, and I knew I should be able to relax for a few hours before it was time to push.

 After about 2 hours the doctor from the hospital came and broke my water, and we were told the doctor was on his way.  My sister came up, then my parents got there, then Ray's mom and aunt with the kids, then Ray's sister and brother-in-law, and I had a chance to chat with each of them.  The doctor came in to check me out, and he said I was ready to push!  It happened pretty quickly, and I wanted to see the kids one last time before they would meet their sister. I kissed them and they rushed out because I was starting to feel the need to push.  I was thinking that it would be under 10 minutes of pushing since this was my 3rd baby and the other 2 had come out in less than 20 minutes.  After a half hour of pushing I started getting worried.  The nurse started having me push about every 2-3 contractions instead of every one.  She made a comment that the doctor may be getting a little worried about the baby's vitals because the heart rate was going down a little bit during pushing.  I was just praying they wouldn't say I had to have a c-section.  Finally, about 45 minutes in Ray and our nurse could see the baby's head, and they told me she had a lot of hair. Every time I pushed I just kept asking if she was getting closer to being out.  I was just so concerned that it was taking much longer then I expected.  Finally after a little over an hour of pushing, Rylee was born! She came out facing up, and my doctor referred to her as "sunny-side up." I guess that is what made the pushing more difficult and harder to get her up, but I was just so happy and relieved that she finally came out!

It took about a full hour to get her cleaned off, and I had to get stitched up.  Then, Ray and I spent about an hour just us, and I fed her.  Then, finally it was time for our families to get to see her.  We let Kenley and Charlie come in first for about 10 minutes, which was truly a precious moment.  The excitement on their faces was priceless, and they both couldn't wait to see and hold their baby sister.  Charlie asked, "Does she know how to give kisses?" and said, "She's so cute!" and Kenley did not want to let go of her.  Finally, the rest of the family got to come in after being so patient and waiting almost 3 hours. Everyone got to hold her, get a few pictures, and celebrated the arrival of our newest family member.

We spent the next day in the hospital, and we got to go home early on Tuesday. It took me a few days to recover, which was a little bit harder than my recovery with the other kids.  I hurt my back from trying to push her out with all my might, so I was a little sore for about a week.  Rylee has been awesome!  She has been such a good baby, and she sleeps great!  She sleeps for about 4 hour stretches at night, so I'm up twice to feed her, and then she goes back to sleep.  Ray was home the first week with us, which was really nice.  We were able to get out a lot, and we took the kids out to eat a few times, went shopping, went to an outdoor market...we did the things we would usually do, and Rylee fit right in!  I haven't really slowed down since, and made it a point to take the kids out and do something every day since then.  I'm so glad that she has been such a good sleeper at night and during the day so far.  Everything I was so fearful about those last few weeks didn't happen.  I have truly enjoyed myself these last few weeks.  We pretty much carried on staying busy and seeing friends and family with the bonus of being able to snuggle our precious little girl.  The only downside has been that breastfeeding (for the third time) isn't going great, but I was prepared for that, and I'm just doing what I can.

The kids are so in love with their sister.  Charlie makes it a point to give her many kisses throughout the day, and he helps as much as he can.  Kenley loves holding her and has even given up her I-pad time many times in favor of holding her sister a little longer.  She really has been a great helper and has fed her bottles, (helped) change a few diapers, and comforts her when she cries. I just keep thinking that I am so happy we decided to have a 3rd baby.  I know our family is complete, and I just want to enjoy these moments because I know they go by too fast!