Birth Story of Eric Ryan

Eric Ryan
November 4, 1996
7 pounds 13.6 ounces
21 1/2 inches long

This is the story of Eric Ryan our baby who was born on November 4, 1996. After the loss of our first baby Emily and 2 very difficult pregnancies we decided that we had better count our blessings and just thank God for the 2 beautiful children the we were blessed with. So, we sent all of our baby furniture to a charity garage sale. Exactly 1 week later I found out that I was pregnant. We like to think that we were such good parents we were granted a bonus! We were thrilled to be pregnant and scared that there would be more problems. The pregnancy went fairly well. I had to go on best rest for preterm labor at 30 weeks and only meds to stop labor for 4 weeks.

The day before my due date I woke up at 6am after a very restless nights sleep with my husband and 2 toddlers. I was having contractions about 5 to 8 minutes apart. I called my Mom to come and stay with the kids then made breakfast took a shower and finished packing. After my last delivery I was very nervous.

We got to the hospital about 10:00am and I was dilated to a 4 after 2 hours of monitoring with nonproductive, sporadic contractions they sent me home, what a let down. We went home and got the kids then went to the mall to walk. We walked for miles it seemed then went out for lunch. My contractions were strong but sporadic all day long I would have a couple 5 minutes apart then 2 minutes apart then 10 minutes apart all day long. Finally about 6PM I had my husband take the kids over to my mom's house and it seemed like right after he left the contractions kicked in pretty hard but still sporadic. I finally called the doctor and told him that the contractions were still sparradic but very strong by this point. So he told me to come on in to the hospital.

We arrived at 8pm and I was at an 8. The rest of my labor was not bad, but the contractions never were regular. My husband was there the whole time massaging my back and helping me through the contractions. At 11:30 I felt a strong urge to push and the nurse checked I was ready to go. At 11:58pm our son Eric came into the world. He weighed 7 pounds 13.6 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long. The next morning Daddy went to get the other kids and we took our new baby home. Now our family is really complete!