Cyrus' Debuting Photoshoot

Once again my dear friend Courtney came and did a photoshoot for me. I had to post them to show how stinkin' cute they turned out. Cyrus is so precious in these. He's only 3 days old so he's still practically brand new.

This was one thing that I have regret not doing with Ryker. I waited WAY too long. Who knew as a new mother that your child would look so different at 7 weeks old compared to 1? Hmm...So learning from my mistake I had Cyrus' done within his first week of life. They change so fast I wanted to capture these first precious weeks of his life.

2 Weeks Down...

...and many more to come.

The past 2 weeks have been really good considering we have a newborn in the house. Cyrus really has been a good baby. He's been a great sleeper at night and during the day he's just so chill. I've really enjoyed having him around.

I love how much Ryker loves Cyrus. They are going to be some fun together when Cy gets older. But for now Ryker continues to be my little helper.

It's amazing how quickly times goes by when you aren't pregnant anymore. I felt like 2 weeks at the end was an eternity. But now it's nothin' really.

On Friday Mar 18th I took Cyrus in for his 2 week checkup. I had to be there bright and early at 8:20am. I kept wondering how I was going to get 2 kids fed and ready to go and still get there on time. But thankfully Heidi offered up her services to come out and watch Ryker while I just took Cy. What a huge help that was. Thank you Heidi!

At the doctors appointment Cyrus when weighed and measured. They measured him to be 21 1/4 inches long...which goes to prove how WRONG the nurse at the hospital was when she measured him to be 18 inches long. So careless.

His umbilical cord fell off Thursday night and his circumcision is all healed and looking great. Yeah for full on baths!

Also he had to get the second PKU testing done. So his little heal had to be poked. He only cried when the nurse poked him, but after that he was just fine sucking on his hand while she squeezed the blood out onto the card.

Dr Reese said Cyrus is looking great! Which is always good to hear!

Here are his stats;
Weight: 8lbs 6oz---36th percentile
Height: 21 1/4 in---69th percentile
Head Circum: 37.4cm---55th percentile

Coming Home

Being born on a Thursday Morning, the hospital wanted us to stay the full 48 hours till Saturday. But I just couldn't sit in that hospital bed any longer. And poor Jesse just wasn't sleeping well on that couch bed...do you blame him? So when we got permission to leave on Friday afternoon, we were thrilled. I was feeling really well and Cyrus had passed all his labs and tests, so we really had no reason to stay any longer. And there is nothing better than the comfort of your own home.
Since we have been home almost a week now, things have been going really well. Family, friends and ward members have brought us dinners. Which is much appreciated. There is nothing nicer than a warm meal brought to your door step. I wish I could have that happen all the time. haha

Cyrus had his last bilirubin test taken on Sat (Mar 5) and his circumcision done Mon (Mar 7). Jesse was so dear and he took Cy to both of those appointments. His circumcision went much better than Ryker's did. It's already looking great and healing well. But Ryker's on the other hand wasn't done right the first time. So he was in pain for a couple of weeks. So having a well done circumscion is a major relief for us to and I'm sure if Cyrus knew otherwise he would feel relieved as well.

Cy has been a pretty good sleeper. He has been going about 5 hours in between feedings at night. And 2 1/2- 3 hours during the day. We did find out that when I eat a tuna fish sandwich it makes him be colic. Sunday night from 8pm till 1am he just fussed and cried, unless I was feeding him. But then after I fed him again at 1am he slept clear till 8am. I couldn't believe it. I wonder if crying for that long just made him feel so tired that he slept for 7 hours straight being 3 days old.

Ryker has been a big help with his little brother. He just loves him. Ryker is always saying how cute Cy is. We have to remind him occasionally that he needs to be soft and quiet around Cy, but for the majority of the time Ryker does great with him.

The first time Ryker saw me nursing Cyrus he asked me 'What's that?' and told him 'Milk'. Then he pointed to my other breast and asked 'Does that one have water?'

Bath time at home isn't exactly Cy's favorite time quite yet. It'll be better when he can be submerged in water, but for now sponge baths are the key to keep his umbilical cord dry.

Of coarse Ryker was right there to help Daddy give Cy a bath. Handing Jesse the soap, rubbing Cy's leg to calm him down, and lathering up his belly. After they finished up the bath, Jesse took Cy downstairs to get him dressed and Ryker followed. While they were down there Jesse told me that Ryker grabbed the baby safe Q-tips and was cleaning out Cyrus's ears. Once that was done, Ryker brought in more towels for him. He is just a helpful big brother. He's doing alot better than I thought he would. I didn't expect him to be so into helping and soothing his baby brother. I feel blessed to have 2 wonderful boys.

As for me, I have been feeling really REALLY well. The recover with this birth compared to Ryker's birth is night and day. With Ryker I had a serious episiotomy which for 2 weeks afterwards pretty much put me on my butt. I couldn't do anything. I was living off the pain medication. Versus this time around with no tearing, no stitches, and no episiotomy I feel AWESOME! I have been up and moving around since I came home. I am so grateful to my midwife for caring about my body and not treating me like I am another number.

It really is so wonderful to have a sweet newborn in the home. I had a hard time imagining what it would be like to have 2 boys around, but now that Cyrus is here I can't imagine it any other way. I'm grateful to a wonderful helping husband who is a great dad to his boys. I surrounded by boys and I love it.

Welcoming Cyrus Robert

2 days late, but he made it. And I didn't have to get induced after all. Wednesday night I went into labor around 10pm all on my own. Sing Praises! Then around 1am I had one big contraction and my water broke. There was no turning back then, off to the hospital we went. My dear dad hurried to our house to watch Ryker while he was sleeping.

Once getting to the hospital we were settled into our room and I was checked. Only at a 3, but hey it was progress from the day before. I opted to get my epidural as soon as I could. Jesse was able to get some sleep once I was able to relax. I tried to get some sleep, but it wasn't happening. I would doze in and out every few minutes but never really could get to where I could sleep. Around 5ish the put me on pitocin because my contractions seemed to not be strong enough to get me to dilate.

Then around 6am my midwife came in and she checked me and I was at about a 5 1/2. But the baby was still posterior (his head is down but he was facing towards the ceiling). That is why I wasn't dilating because his head wasn't putting the right pressure on my cervix. So she got me situated where I was almost on my stomach to get him to turn face down. After about a half hour or so she came back to check me...he had flipped and I was ready to push. YEAH! I pushed for about 20 mins. And thanks to my dear midwife I didn't tear or have an episiotomy. He was born at 7:45am on 3-3-11, weighing 8lbs 4oz and measuring 21 inches long.

The only scary part was when his head came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times and he wasn't breathing. They had to unwrap it like a hose from around his neck. It was so long. Because he wasn't breathing real clearly they called in a nurse from the Nursery and a Respiratory Therapist to help get his lungs clear and help him breathe. He got his color back real fast and was doing fine except for some gurgle in his breathing. After a minute of them suctioning and Cyrus crying he calmed down and was wrapped up and finally I got to hold him.


After a few minutes and unhooking me from all the tubing and stuff they got me ready to move to the next room. Our nurse was helping and then all of a sudden left the room. As she left she almost fell flat on the floor but caught herself. Jesse went to check to make sure she was ok and she was sitting on the ground with her head between her knees. Some other nurses approached her and asked if she was ok and Jesse overheard her say she has had the flu for a month now and it makes her dizzy! After that little mishap Jesse did all the baby handling and most of the lifting when it came to helping me switch beds and move.

We got to our next room and our Nurse introduced herself and gave us a few guidelines. She then proceeded to ask me what Goals i had for my stay here. She suggested breast feeding so I went with that one and couldn't think of much more. My Dad in law was the only one of our family who had made it at that point because he had a dentist appointment downtown. He suggested mowing the lawn and Jesse suggested that I have dinner ready for them tonight! They think they are so funny haha. Grandma Heidi showed up next and was so excited to see Cyrus. She was so sweet and just raved over him. Like a good grandma. Then my family showed up with Ryker! Jesse and I were so excited to have Ryker hold his brother and see his reaction. He seems to have mixed emotion. Excited to have a brother and baby here but not sure what to make of all the change going on. My Mom, Grandma & Grandpa Schrader, Tyson and Alexa were there as well. Chantel had to go to school and was sad about that and my Dad had to go to work and is feeling sick so felt like maybe he should stay away for a little bit anyway.

We were all having a great time loving and adoring this brand new beautiful baby when the nurse came in and said some people needed to leave. We were only allowed to have 4 visitors and Jesse counted as one of them. So really only 3. Grandma, Grandpa, Alexa and Tyson had to leave anyway, so they left at that point, and shortly there after everyone filed out and we were left alone for a while.

Grandma Heidi Stayed a while to take pictures of Jesse giving Cyrus his first bath. Everything went smoothly, he had done this before. Ryker loved watching his little brother get a bath. Cyrus of course cried when he was unwrapped and cold but did calm down and stop crying when he had the nice warm water pored over his body to rinse him off. He has so much hair. He looked like a balding 40 year old with a comb over when his hair was wet. When it was dried, the Aid combed it into a cute little fluffy faux-hawk.

We are so happy to finally meet him in person. He is so beautiful and calm. He has only cried when he is unwrapped, which is so easy to take care of. He is such a good little baby already. We are so happy and blessed that he is healthy and that all things during the pregnancy and delivery went smoothly. Jesse has been a huge help and is willing to do what ever I ask of him and I am so grateful for that.

We now have two wonderful healthy beautiful boys and are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for them and the joy and happiness they bring to our lives and will continue to bring. We love you Cyrus Robert Smith!

Over Due

It's a rather strange feeling to wait so long for your due date to come, and then to watch it pass by and still be pregnant.

I went and saw my midwife yesterday morning and after checking my cervix, she said I was at a 2 and that my cervix had softened, but that's it. She thought it would be best to do some testing over at the hospital. So that is where I went next. After registering and waiting for about an hour I was then hooked up to a monitor and they listened to his heartbeat and measured how much amniotic fluid is in there. In order for him to pass the test they had to see his heart rate go up twice for about 15 seconds and then come back down. After 20 minutes he was just staying at the same rate she came over with a loud buzzer thing and buzzed my tummy to wake him up. It did the trick. And he passed! Also there is a good amount of fluid for him. So thankfully that all is well.

My midwife gave me the option of being induced on Thursday if I want to. I was thinking that I don't really want to be induced if I don't have to, but since I'm only taking 4 weeks off of work, I don't want to go too far into that break. So the plan is to call the hospital in the morning and they'll tell me when to come in. Apparently I'm the 5th one on the list, so they very well could bump me to Friday. Who knows?

So fingers crossed that he'll just come on his own in the next few days.