Our Grand Finale: Jayce Ryan Garman

Our little Baby Surprise was welcomed into this world on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:37 AM. Jayce Ryan was 8 lbs. 12 oz and 20.5 inches in length. Every ounce and inch of him is as perfect as can be!

Backtracking a little bit...Sunday was just a fun, hang-out-at-home day with our family. It was our anniversary, and we also wanted to take the kids to the corn maze in the evening as a sort of last trip before leaving them (mostly) in the care of someone else for a few days. Bedtime was delayed a bit, but I didn't mind. I kept getting sad thinking about how much I was going to miss them, and in the next moment I was feeling so excited about meeting their new sibling!

We had some cleaning and organizing to do before Kris and I could think about heading to bed ourselves. I never did make time for getting the ol' toes painted--I had wanted Kris to paint them pink and blue like I did before the twins were born! A few days earlier, I selected a handful of boy clothes and girl clothes to wash up, so either way we would have clean clothes ready to go and not have to worry about laundry (for the baby, anyways) for awhile.

I just could not fall asleep because of nerves, excitement, and increasing contractions, sooooooooo I organized pictures and caught up on some blogging instead. I think I finally headed to bed around 3 in the morning and slept until 7:00. In the morning, we were able to get up with the kids, get them dressed, and start breakfast before having to say our good-byes.

We were registered and in our room at Flower Hospital a little after 9:00. Kris and my dad were there to keep me company while all the pre-op "stuff" happened: blood drawn, IV fluids started, catheter placed. They came to wheel me down to the OR a bit after 11:00. The time until then actually went by fairly quickly, but that doesn't mean I wasn't more anxious and nervous than I've ever been in my life!


I started feeling really nervous during the surgery because I could feel all sorts of pulling and tugging, and I absolutely do not remember feeling any of that when the twins were born. I think I even asked if that was normal. Jayce was born shortly after Kris came in to be by my side. My doctor said, "It's your third BOY!!" Our eyes filled with happy tears, and then when a nurse showed Jayce to us, we just started smiling and laughing because he was such a big, healthy, beautiful boy...and he looked exactly like Brody.






I will say that there were many times during this pregnancy that I felt bad for being so busy and not having time to dwell on the amazing fact that I was growing another little life inside of me, and I sometimes even feared that maybe I wouldn't have that same instant connection with this new baby that I had experienced with my other three children. It almost felt like maybe we wouldn't "know" each other as well as I felt I already knew Brody, Emmy, and Jax. I could not have been more wrong. It took all of one second for those feelings to disappear. Because in that second I first laid eyes on Jayce, I knew I loved him like crazy and that he was mine. I couldn't wait to wrap my arms around him and keep him safe.


The rest of Monday was spent spreading the news and meeting family members! Kris went home around dinnertime to help his mom get the kids fed, bathed, and put to bed. My mom stayed with me and Jayce until just before Kris made it back up to the hospital later.
























On Tuesday morning, Kris went home to get the kids ready for a visit to meet their new baby brother! As soon as they all came into the room they were asking for "Baby Jayce." Do they look like some proud big siblings or what??










Somebody stole my bed!






I could snuggle this little boy all day long!




Wednesday morning Kris went home early again to take Brody to preschool. (He had missed the day on Monday, and we didn't want him to miss anything else.) So Jayce and I just hung out in the room waiting for everything to get done in order to be discharged in the afternoon. I was entitled to stay another night, but I really wanted to get home. I also had a slightly rough morning, nauseous from too much pain medication. But after I actually got sick and sent Jayce to the nursery so I could shower, I felt much better.





Jayce's discharge weight was 8 lbs. 3 oz. He checked out great with the pediatrician that was at Flower, he passed his hearing screen, and he has been a pretty good eater. Jayce Ryan was going to be our second boy name had we delivered twin boys two years ago. Jayce is just a name I have liked for a long time, and Ryan is Kris's middle name. Our girl name we had picked out this time was Kenley Kristine. Since we aren't having anymore children, feel free to steal our name. :)

Welcome to our family, Baby Jayce!