Carter Ryan York

Carter is finally home and healthy as of last Tuesday. He was born at 9:28am and was 7lb 13oz.

Because he was born at 38 weeks he had some trouble breathing and was treated with antibiotics, oxygen and a ventilator for a week in the NICU. Bringing him home for the first time was just as exciting (if not more exciting) than the day he was born. He is so far a really good baby and sleeps most nights besides waking up for feedings. The nurses told us how good he does at night and the first night he came home was a disaster- he did not sleep at all. I was not so sure what i signed up for after that...but since that first night he has been good. I am hoping he can stay that way but I guess we will see. He is seriously so fun and sweet - we LOVE him so so much. It is so fun to just sit and watch him make his silly faces and look around. The love I have for him is unexplainable. It's not the wife loves husband kind of love its different than that. I still haven't figured out how to explain it- I am sure if you are a parent you know what I mean.

When they took him to the NICU for the first night we thought it would be a one night thing and that he would be better in the morning. The following morning when we got word that he was not doing well, we went to see him and his sweet wide eyes looked up at us as he struggled for air and it killed me to see him in such a way. I broke down crying and holding his finger and telling him that it was going to be ok. I don't know if he understood me but somehow I felt like he did. Another hard thing was coming home from the hospital without him. Driving home with an empty car seat and sleeping next to an empty bassinet was not at all what we were expecting. After getting through those hard moments and maybe a few others unmentioned we accepted things for how they were and played it by ear day by day until he was able to come home.

I must say I really enjoyed my time with Drew. We would go visit carter early in the morning and then take breakfast, lunch, and dinner breaks and then go home for the night. Since the cafeteria would only give me a free lunch pass we would load up my plates with as much food as we could fit on it and get the largest dessert available. Usually it was a giant cup of pudding with cookies inside of it. One day we had a pudding vs water fight-OH our immaturity- but it was so fun! I believe I won when he ended with pudding all over his shirt, given my hair was wet but at least it wasn't brown.

They hospital also had amazing ice- like the best ever- I miss it. What else-I think our favorite part about watching Carter in NICU was when he would A. get the hiccups B. sneeze C. fart D. Burp. I mean I never knew such a little guy could produce such loud noises that shake his entire body. so needless to say as hard as it was-- we made it good and came home from the hospital perhaps more prepared than we would have been had we come straight home.

We love our new and improved little family!