Welcome to the world, sweet boy!

Our little boy is here! And he is beautiful and perfect! Here's the scoop. :)
-Beck Adam Ririe
-January 29, 2009
-8:50 a.m.
-7 lbs., 10 oz.
-19.5 inches
-Blue eyes
-Light brown hair
-Looks like both his mom and dad!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for us! Today has been a wonderful, wonderful day. We slept probably only three hours last night (partly because of excitement and partly from trying to get a bunch of things done!), and neither of us have taken a nap today, so we are way exhausted, but soooo happy. :)

The c-section went perfectly. I wasn't really nervous beforehand, and the staff was perfect and gave me no reason to worry, so overall I think I was pretty calm and collected! They delivered little Beck and then swept him off to get his APGAR tests and all the little protocol procedures, which Adam was able to be with him for the whole time. Afterward, they were still stitching me up, so I didn't get to hold him, but Adam brought him over by my head and I was able to kiss and talk to him! Love at first site!





Adam and Beck went off to the nursery while I got finished up. I was then wheeled back to my room and hung out/snoozed for a few minutes, and then Adam wheeled in with our baby boy! Love him! In my unbiased opinion, I think he is absolutely perfect. :) He has my nose, Adam's hairline, Adam's coloring (light eyebrows/eyelashes), and everything else is kind of mixed--good balance!





I don't even know what to say. Beck is adorable and wonderful. He's such a good-natured baby, too; not fussy at all. He freaked us out one time because he was fussing and we didn't know what was the matter. We tried calming him down for a few minutes and then decided to check his diaper, even though we had just changed him. Whoo, what a surprise! His first poop! And boy was it a good one. ;) Kind of freaked both of us out for a sec because we weren't expecting it, and I asked Adam if we should call in the nurse, and he said we'd better. Luckily she is way sweet and didn't make fun of us for calling her in about a poopy diaper. Lol, kind of funny to think about now. It was scary at the moment, though, we promise!

We've already had a few friendly visitors! My parents (who drove over from Boise last night and brought me beautiful roses!), Cody and Elizabeth, Jordan and Victoria, and Melinda and Galen. Thanks for vising, guys! Anyone else is welcome as well!

My ramblings don't give justice to this amazing day or our amazing little Beck, but hopefully you will all understand I'm going off three hours of sleep, had major surgery, and am on some lovely pain meds. ;)

I'll post more soon!

Decision

So, today has been a crazy day, but here are the results: I am having a c-section at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Thank you sooo much for all your input, advice and support. We have been thinking and praying a lot these last few days.

Going into my appointment today, we felt like going with a c-section would be the best decision. Dr. Barton came in and I explained what was going on. He checked me and agreed it would be difficult to get that large of a baby out of me naturally and that it would bring some risks, but also that he had seen it done before, and that it was just up to me. He was really helpful and took the time to answer all my many questions. He remained pretty unbiased, though, making it even harder to decide. I wished he would just decide for me! Anyway, he left me for a few minutes to make a decision. I called Adam, and after talking everything over, we still felt best about a c-section. Dr. Barton came back in and before I even told him my decision, he said although he usually doesn't give recommendations, he felt impressed that a c-section would be best for me and my baby. Relief!

So this week has kind of been insane and much different than expected, but we feel good about it all and can't wait for our little boy to get here in less than 12 hours!

p.s. Even though I've had nine months to prepare and let it all sink in, this is still so surreal. I can't believe I'll be a mom tomorrow!

p.p.s. We'll post details and hopefully some pictures as soon as possible!

p.p.p.s. Please keep us in your prayers!

C-section? I need your advice again!

I need all your guys' advice again! I went in for my 39-week appointment yesterday and "got checked" down below for the first time, to see if I was dilating or anything. I still haven't had any contractions at all, but I wanted to get checked anyway, hoping they would discover that I just have an amazingly high pain tolerance and was already dilated to a 5. ;) Hehe, just kidding. Anyway, the doctor checked me and said, "Hmmm, I'm glad we checked you. Your pelvis bone is rather small, which could make a normal delivery not possible if your baby is large."

Getting a big baby out of a not-so-big birth canal obviously can cause problems, the biggest of which would be possibly getting his head out, but having his shoulders get stuck. This could cause permanent damage to him, and I could possibly have to get an emergency c-section. They also couldn't/wouldn't use suctioning or forceps to get him out, since this would impose a danger as well, trying to pull him out of a space he can't fit through. Anyway, my doctor and the ultrasound tech said from looking at me/my belly, my baby didn't seem really big and that it probably wouldn't be a problem. They said if he was close to 9 pounds, I'd for sure need to have a c-section.

So, I got an ultrasound (which I was happy about--I hadn't seen my little boy in like four months since the last one!). Turns out my "little" boy is already 8 pounds! And he'll probably gain at least another half pound by his due date (Monday, Feb. 2). The average baby is 7 to 7 1/2 pounds. And all this time I've been thinking he'd be malnutritioned from me throwing up so much!

So, my options:
#1: Let nature take its course. Wait to go into labor naturally, go through labor, and then hope he has room to come out. If he gets stuck or in distress, have an emergency c-section. (If I don't go into labor by Monday, they'll have me scheduled for a c-section no matter what.)
#2: Schedule a c-section, probably for Thursday morning. Have surgery, and a longer recovery, but avoid any problems/worry of him "fitting."
#3: Get induced early, probably Friday. Wouldn't have to go through surgery and longer recovery; still could be a "fitting" problem, but less of a chance of one since he'll have a few days' less weight/size.

What should I do? Dr. Allred suggested I get a second opinion from Dr. Barton (they're "team doctors" together), so I have an appointment with him tomorrow. I'll obviously heed their advice, but also want to have my mind made up on certain things. Right now I'm leaning toward just scheduling a c-section. But I'm open to advice! Thanks, you guys!

Our current sleeping accommodations...

You guys are amazing--thank you for all of your advice!!! Seriously helpful.

I just wanted to share in the funniness (is that even a word?) of our current sleeping accommodations...



The funny thing is that we just got a new, beautiful mattress set (our bed was furnished in our old apartment), and we can't even sleep on it! I don't know if I've mentioned it on our blog before, but I have pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel. It drives me crazy! It started a few months back, but has only gotten worse and worse. I used to be able to sleep in a bed and just wake up a few times in the middle of the night with throbbing, numb hands, but for the last month or so, I have had to sleep in this lovely little recliner (which I am so grateful to have!) if I want any hope of sleeping. My arms/hands have to be straight down in order to not go numb, so the recliner helps with that. And Adam is just fine, but he's cute and sleeps on the couch so we can be in the same room. :)

Kind of funny, huh? I never would have thought that in my last month of pregnancy, my hands would be the thing driving me crazy!

Only two weeks and two days to go! Any advice?

Yep, I can't believe it: only two weeks and two days to go until little Beck will be here! So, all you mothers out there, and all you future mothers who probably know a lot more than I do--any advice? We didn't take any birthing classes (a million and one scheduling conflicts), although I have been reading a lot in books and such. But any advice on preparing for labor, labor itself, nursing, or motherhood in general would be definitely welcome and appreciated! :)

p.s. I've been a blogging slacker lately, but hopefully will do better this week! Hope you are all doing great!

Goodbyes!

We are both back safely in Rexburg! I had a great time in SLC and Adam had a great time in New York. I'll post about that soon, but first I need to do a few catch-up posts!



Goodbye to the ward
Last Sunday was our last Sunday in the 69th Ward, after 2 1/2 years; it was definitely bittersweet. We have loved being in this ward, and have made so many good friends in it. Things we will miss:
-Bishop Bitter
-Seeing our good friends every week!
-Sunday potlucks
-Serving as Relief Society President
-Relief Society!
-Adam serving in the bishopric
-Being surrounded by young married couples and their families!


Goodbye to University Village
We like our new place, but really do miss University Village! We'd lived there ever since we were married, almost 3 1/2 years ago. Lots of memories were made in that complex! Things we will miss:
-Storage space!
-Our friendly neighbors
-Building 1 parties!
-The Building 1 picnic table hangout
-Complex activities
-The well-maintained grounds
-The playground
-Being surrounded by great people!


Goodbye to Adam being manager
Most of you that live in U.V. have probably only known Adam as your manager! He was assistant manager the first year we were married, and was manager after that for about the last 2 1/2 years. Things we will "miss":
-People knocking on our apartment 24/7
-Adam having to fix hot water heaters during the middle of the night every night during the winter time
-Adam carrying around his emergency work phone 24/7/365
-Getting phone calls on the emergency work phone and our home phone 24/7, especially for reasons that were so not emergencies (If any of you reading this called for non-emergencies, don't feel bad! We didn't mind when you called!)
-Spending our holiday "vacation" on duty at the complex
-People stopping by for tours 24/7

Haha. Sorry, laying on the sarcasm pretty thick there. :) Being manager at U.V. honestly has been a great job for Adam! But a change every three years or so is also good! :)

We are really excited to have moved on to this next chapter in our lives, but can't help but be a little sad to leave our "past life" behind. :) Thank you to all of you for making this past chapter of our life wonderful!

We are alive and will post soon!

Just wanted to make a little post to let everyone know that we are alive! Moving almost killed us, but not quite. ;) Just kidding. We're getting settled into our new place, and although we totally miss University Village and our old ward, we are liking it here.

Adam's headed to New York for school for a week, and I'm headed to Salt Lake to have a spontaneous girls' week there with my mom and sister. So I will be posting a lot when we get back on Sunday!

Hope all is well with everyone!