On August 19th, Grandma made it to town to meet Ruth, and of course see the rest of us ;) We hit the fun running by taking Grandma to Pueblo Mountain Park and going on our first hike with Ruth in the mountains up to Lookout Point and down through Devil's Canyon. We finished the hike with a picnic lunch and a play in the creek before heading home. Let's just say all passengers in the back (including Grandma!) took a nap on the way home, lol. We also took Grandma to hike at the reservoir and showed her City Park (where we of course rode the rides again). Grandpa arrived late on the night of August 22 to see us all for a quick 48 hours. We made the most of it by taking him to the Royal Gorge to see the largest suspension bridge in the U.S. (and the gorge of course) and also went to another part of the reservoir for more hiking. Before Grandma and Grandpa headed home we celebrated Grandma's birthday and tried to get a picture with all three grandkids, haha! It was fun!
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As every new parent knows, the first few weeks are a bit of a sleep deprived blur of never ending feeding, burping, changing, holding, and rocking. Oh, and laundry, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the other kids, lol. So there are not a lot of fun adventures these first few weeks, but there are a lot of pictures of Ruth! And thanks to all of the friends and family for the cute girl outfits! This girl is not wanting for a good wardrobe! Nana and Grandad stayed to help for the first week, which was amazing because the boys always had someone to play with them, take them to the park, and go on walks with. Nana played a lot of Legos with Micah, and Grandad and I even managed to set up a rock pit to play construction trucks in. My friend Krista came for the weekend after Nana and Grandad left, which was fortunate, because I came down with mastitis and laid in bed or on the couch for about 24 hours with dizziness, weakness, and chills. Krista and Matt ran the show while I slept.
Then the real fun began of me learning to navigate the house with three kids by myself, including meals and bedtime when Matt worked. It was and is a constant adjustment as Ruth is fussier in the evening (during dinner and bedtime) which makes getting the boys to bed a real challenge as I try to sooth Ruth and give baths, brush teeth, and read stories. We've made it through each night, but I'm sure it looks like a crazy show! Micah and Ezra have done really well through all the transitions, and they absolutely love Ruth. Micah goes around the house talking about how he likes her better awake, and Ezra just likes to hold her and give her hugs and kisses. I have to keep an eye on Ruth to make sure she doesn't get loved too hard, haha. Ruth has grown like a weed these first couple of weeks, weighing in at 9 lb 5.5 oz at 2 weeks old and growing to 21.5 inches tall. She has her own unique sleep patterns of sleeping for 3-4 hour stretches during the day, and then being up for 3-4 hours, rather than the eat, sleep, play rotation that newborns typically go through every couple hours. So I try to get some good playtime in with the boys while she sleeps, because when she is awake... she's a bit demanding, preferring to be held and walked around a good chunk of the time. Introducing Ruth Eve Rodgers, born on July 30 at 7:58 PM!
Before we get into the day of her birth, let me start by saying, this girl did not want to vacate the womb! The week leading up to her birth Matt and I took so many walk I lost count, walking anywhere from 2-6 miles per day without so much as a false alarm from this girl, whose due date was July 24th. I even started to step on a rattlesnake at one of our dusk walks and had to jump mid-step to the side to avoid a certain bite and not even that excitement could send me into labor. Needless to say, with Matt's impending start day of August 1 and my parents supposed leaving date of July 31... I quickly became a nervous mess with what we were going to do if she didn't arrive soon. My parents rescheduled flights when it became apparent that she was not going to arrive before they were supposed to leave and, eventually, we scheduled an induction for July 30 that got moved from mid-afternoon to 10 PM that evening so Matt could hopefully be at her birth before he had to return to work. But Ruth had other plans... Starting around 4:30 PM on July 30 when were outside with the boys, I started having some short but intense contractions and some definite water leakage. By the end of dinner, shortly before 6 PM, it was apparent that I was going into labor with contractions getting steadily worse, so Matt and I headed to the hospital earlier than planned (remember induction was scheduled for 10 PM). Upon arrival at the hospital my nurse confirmed my water had broken and shortly thereafter my contractions became unbearable and occurred about a minute apart from each other. And just kept going... Thinking I was going to be in labor for a while after being told I was only 6 cm dilated, I asked for an epidural. Well, as the epidural was getting placed Ruth decided she was going to be born RIGHT THEN and started making her way into the world as I'm sitting on the side of the bed. The nurses quickly move me back, Matt barely has time to get back into the room (he had to leave while they placed the epidural), and a couple of pushes later, Ruth is born. The doctor did not have time to make it into the room, I might add. So Ruth became my second unmediated birth and my absolute fastest birth arriving 3.5 hours after initial contractions started. And to complete the firecracker story, Matt did a double take announcing that she was a girl because he couldn't believe we were having a girl after two boys, lol! Ruth Eve Rodgers weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long at birth. Matt got to give her her first bath and we settled in for the night to get some sleep, which Ruth wasn't all that keen on (the sleeping part). The next day, Micah and Ezra got to come meet their new baby (we did not tell them until they arrived that they had a sister) and they were SO EXCITED! They loved on her and wanted to hold her. It was so adorable; they wanted to bring her home as soon as possible. Due to my being positive for strep B during pregnancy and Ruth arriving too fast for me to get the full dose of antibiotics they like to give during labor, Ruth had to stay at the hospital for observation for 48 hours, rather than us getting to leave after the usual 24 hours. The boys were pretty bummed, and Matt had to head downstairs on August 1st for his orientation at the hospital, but I enjoyed some relaxation with Ruth. The Hallmark channel and I spent some time together while I cuddled Ruth, and I rather enjoyed it knowing that there would be zero quiet snuggle time at home, lol. Finally, late afternoon on August 1st, we got to take Ruth home. The boys were SO excited to have her home. It was the best :) |
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