With the end of our pregnancy in sight, we felt the need to settle on a name for our little boy. We continued to mark names off our list and we finally narrowed it down to 2 names. After much deliberation, we finally decided on Andrew Ryan. We both liked the name Andrew and I loved the fact that it meant “strong, courageous, manly.” I also liked that Andrew was one of Jesus’ disciples. We chose Ryan because it is Kevin’s middle name. I have always liked family names for middle names.
In June, we began work on Andrew’s nursery. Unfortunately, Kevin spent a lot of time scraping wallpaper off the walls in order to get them ready for paint. I didn’t feel too badly for him though since I did all the painting while he was at work. The room turned out great – with a transportation theme and blue walls, it was definitely a boy’s nursery.
In July, we were blessed to have 2 baby showers. The first shower was given by my mother and grandmother and the second was given by 2 friends from our small group. The second shower was coed and Kevin was definitely out of his element, but still enjoyed it. We were so blessed by all the gifts and thoroughly enjoyed celebrating our little Andrew with our friends and family.
Based on all the sonograms, Andrew continued to be above average for weight. We were beginning to wonder if we’d have a 9 lb. baby on our hands! My platelet levels continued to be below the level needed for an epidural, so they decided to put me on steroids at the end of July in preparation for the delivery in August. I continued to visit the specialist regarding Andrew’s left kidney and for the most part, things remained the same. We basically had to wait until Andrew’s birth to really determine what we were dealing with. The right kidney continued to thrive, so I was encouraged about that.
During the final weeks and days, I felt like a shopaholic picking up last minute accessories for Andrew’s room as well as any of the necessities that were left on our registry. I was visiting Babies R Us almost every day. Finally, about a week and a half before our due date, Kevin installed the car seat. We were officially ready. The reality had officially set in and we were ecstatic.
