Ryder Byron Harman is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of Ryder Byron Harman to the world.

While it was both a miraculous and incredible experience, it was not without some bumps in the road.

We checked into Georgetown University Hospital on Sunday Aug. 5 at 7pm. Jual and I both thought this was going to be a wham-bam lickity-split delivery, largely based on Pierce’s delivery, which was less than 4 hours. Boy, were we wrong.

After the initial processing, Jual finally received the induction drugs around 10:30pm. She was only 1 cm dilated, but we hoped that the drugs would kick in very soon and get the party started quickly. She did not respond as quickly to the petocin. Around 6am, Monday morning, the doctors broke her water. At around 8am, her treating OB (Dr. Landi) came in and joined the fray. She immediately had concerns about the baby’s heart rate, which had been fluctuating wildly since Jual’s water was broken, but we thought all along it was because they did not have the sensors in the right place. Dr. Landi brought in the entire cast from Grey’s Anatomy and ER and before we knew it, there were about 10 doctors/residents/med students in the room. They had her switch sides, put her on different drugs, took her off some drugs, change sensors, change sensors again, and perform a 30 minute pilates routine before they finally got the baby’s heart rate stabilized. We later found out it was due to the umbilical cord wrapped around Ryder’s neck.

At around 10:15am, order was restored, and Jual began pushing, which lasted 15 minutes, and at 10:30am, Ryder was born. You could tell he was upset. After the nurses unwrapped the umbilical cord from his neck, he promptly peed on a nurse and a med student. "Take that, Georgetown doctors", was the expression on his face. Ryder was crying and moving about which was a very good sign.

After a brief moment with mom, the doctors whisked Ryder away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It is customary, and may be mandatory, that all premature babies spend time in NICU. The length of time depends on how developed the baby is, how he is breathing, whether or not he eats, etc. We found out a short time later that Ryder was having a little difficulty breathing. It is not uncommon this occurs in premature babies (Ryder was 35.5 weeks…Georgetown takes any baby less than 36 weeks into NICU).

After Jual got something to eat and cleaned up, she packed her bags to go to her recovery room, which is two floors below the labor and delivery unit. On our way to recovery, we stopped by NICU to see Ryder. This is another one of those things that I hope no one ever has to experience. The NICU is a room of babies in incubators. For me, it was extremely difficult to see him in this condition. He had oxygen going into his nose, a tube in his mouth so the oxygen could escape, and an IV in his stomach. This is never a site you want to remember as your first one of your baby, even if it is all precautionary. We spent a few minutes with Ryder and away we went to recovery.

A few hours later, after I went home, and left Jual to fend for herself, Jual called me and said his oxygen/blood ratio was not where it should be, and had actually decreased since his initial test. The doctors said they would have to perform a spinal tap to rule out several things, one of them being meningitis. As another precautionary, he was started on an antibiotic. The tests for meningitis will be known in 3 days, and in the mean time, he will continue on the antibiotic. As of Monday night, Jual had been back to see him several times, and said he looked good. One time he was awake and had his eyes open. The nurses said he was a feisty sucker (that’s my boy!!) and had pulled his IVs out a couple times. He, like I, is probably sick as hell of doctors, medicine, monitors, taupe, stale hallways, and ugly nurses (sorry for the ill-timed jokes…I haven’t slept in 36 hours).

So that’s where we stand right now, as of Monday night. In my haste to leave the hospital, I left the camera with Jual. So when I return tomorrow, I will make sure to get the camera, and post pictures tomorrow afternoon.

Please continue to keep Jual and Ryder in your thoughts and prayers. Ryder has come a long way and is not about to stop fighting now. He will remain in NICU for probably a week. Jual’s surgery is still scheduled for Wednesday at 2pm.