Tyler Tre Rivard is here!!!!

Tyler was born at 5:30 p.m. on 2-26-09 weighing in at a whopping 9.6 oz and 19" long!! It was an easy labor with me being checked into the hospital at already 4-5 cm. dilated. I'm lucky because I don't really feel my contractions until about 7 cm. I was strep B positive, so they couldn't break my water until I had 2 bags of penicillin dripped into me (which took about 5 hours!). I could have had Ty at around 12 noon, but instead he was born at 5:30 p.m. I had a hard time pushing this sucker out! His shoulders were 2" bigger than his head, so I had a nurse pushing on my pelvis to try to open it up a little more. You can't imagine what that bruise feels like! I'm just glad he was able to come out vaginally (I pushed for about 20 mins. or so) and I didn't have to go through a c-section. My recovery has been much faster than either of the other 2 boys'. I already have cabin fever and have been to Wally World several times in the last week. I would be going to church on Sunday, but RSV and the threat of any illness is just too high, so I'll be home instead going crazy!!

There was a complication with Ty. Luckily all of the things they said might be wrong because of his 2-vessel cord did not come to fruition. He had a renal ultrasound after he was born (to check his kidneys and bladder) and everything checked out ok! He was also observed closely by a nurse for about an hour after he was born to make sure everything was functioning with his heart, etc. Ty did take a while to breathe on his own, but luckily they didn't have to intibate him.

We brought him home Sat. and I thought he looked a little orange, but at the hospital his jaundice score was fine and the pediatrician said he was doing great. On Tuesday when we went to our pediatrician for his regular check-up the poor baby looked like an oompa-loompa :( His jaundice score was 23.5, and if it's up to 20 the babies are usually checked into the hospital for 3-4 days to get IVs and lights. Luckily we've been going to our pediatrician for 9 years, she knows and trusts us, so she let us do the lights at home and he's been under close observation for the last couple of days. I've been taking him in every morning to get his blood tested and his score (as of yesterday) was down to 17! Still very high, but it's going down, which is great. Ty looks a ton better and is also eating much more and has finally opened his eyes and gotten some energy up. There still is a threat of him having brain damage from the jaundice being so bad, but we're not going to think about that and have faith that he will be okay.

So after this very long post (trust me, it could have been longer:)) here are some pictures of Ty. A little side note: he was not the cutest newborn because his face was purple from being bruised coming out of the womb, poor little guy!! We still think he's cute, though!

I can't believe I'm posting this picture!! This is what I looked like when we checked in. UGHH!!Here's Ty, purple face and all.This picture makes him look a lot better!
And this one makes him look even better!!
This is when they first handed him to me. Cole was VERY interested in his little brother!! He wanted to hold him right away. Logan, on the other hand, wasn't as interested in Ty. I think his memories of Cole were a little too strong (been-there-done-that syndrome).This is what he looked like when we were changing him to come home. As you can see he was already a little orange. (It starts in the belly and face first.)And here's Ty in his "star" outfit ready to come home from the hospital!