Ryan: 1 Month

Happy 1-month Birthday Ryan!
You are such a sweet baby and I can't believe you have been in my life for an entire month now. I am so glad God has blessed us with you. You make me laugh and smile every single day. I can't wait until you are smiling and laughing back at me!

You already have quite the personality. Whether you're hungry, wet, or just bored, you definitely let us know it! I hate to hear you cry but I feel special that sometimes Mommy is the only one who can soothe you. (Well, sometimes)

My favorite times are when you are awake and just looking around at things. From your first day you've been very aware of your surroundings. My favorite thing you do is right when you first wake up. You stretch, wrinkle your forehead and purse your lips. It is absolutely adorable!

Likes

Taking a Bath

Staring at Ceiling Fans (They don't have to be moving)

Baby Bjorn carrier

The sound of water

The sound of the bathroom fan

Laying on your tummy

Dislikes

Getting diaper changed

Getting clothes changed

The sound of the garbage disposal

I Love you Baby Ryan!!

You Know You Have a Newborn When....

You find yourself doing the "baby bounce" when you're not actually holding your baby. (I caught myself doing this yesterday)

You go to the store with spit up on your shirt. I mean, why bother changing it if you know it will immediately be spit up on again?

A trip to the store, the gas station, heck ANYWHERE feels like a vacation!

You can do absolutely anything with one hand.

Brushing your teeth is a big accomplishment for the day.

More often than not, your longest stretches of sleep (2 hours) are in the rocking chair and not in bed.

You start calling your husband "Daddy"

Got Milk?

We've got plenty of it around here! Milk on the couch, on the baby's blankets, on my jeans, on our sheets, milk on Daddy.....you get the picture. I've got a spit-up monster on my hands!

The poor little guy is obviously uncomfortable. He gets fussy after I feed him. He's usually okay if held still at a slight incline for about 45 minutes after eating. But come on, he's a baby! It's impossible to hold him still in one position that long. So the milk usually comes back up. The medicine doesn't seem to be doing much yet.

Any advice from other moms out there? I know this is a common problem.

My Little Piggy

Does that title remind anyone else of My Little Pony? Sorry for leaving your pony at Target, Jessica! (approximately 25 years ago) Ahh the memories. Anyways, moving on.

My son Ryan is quite the little piggy! I took him to the Dr. yesterday because he has been spitting up a lot this past week. He was prescribed Zantac to take twice a day for reflux. I was afraid that because so much milk was coming back up, he might not be getting enough to eat. But over the past 10 days, Ryan has gained 14 oz! He now weighs 9 lbs.

Fur Baby

My "Fur Baby" has been a bit jealous lately of all the baby pictures on my blog, and the lack of dog pictures. So here is a recent shot of Riley.

He has surprisingly been doing well with the baby here. In the beginning the crying seemed to bother him, but now he just ignores it. I have a feeling it will become more of an issue once Ryan is mobile. Particularly when he is crawling around with toys that look very similar to dog toys. We'll figure it out when the time comes....

Meditate on This

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" - Philippians 4:8

That is the Bible verse I came across last night. It got me thinking about what it is that occupies my mind on a daily basis. Ever since I became a mom, my thoughts look something like this:

Why isn't Ryan sleeping? All he has done today is cry. He must be sick.

Why is Ryan sleeping so much today? I better wake him up, or he'll be up all night!

Ryan hasn't had a poopy diaper all day. Is he getting enough to eat?

Another poopy diaper? And why is it a different shade of mustard than the last one? Did I eat something bad?

But despite all my worrying, he seems to be thriving and growing. His monkey jammies are already getting short on him!

Confessions

So the other night I got drunk...
And somehow Ryan ended up sleeping on his stomach all night.

Just Kidding! I had you fooled there for a minute, didn't I?

In reality, I did drink a little bit of alcohol the other night, and I did let Ryan sleep on his tummy.

When we took the breastfeeding class at Kaiser, the lactation consultant mentioned that it is okay to drink a little bit of alcohol while breastfeeding. In fact, it can help the mother to relax, and in turn help her milk to come in faster. Well I've been a bit stressed out by Baby Ryan, so Adam convinced me to drink a little wine. I only had a few sips, so it didn't do anything to relax me. But it still felt a bit naughty.

I have discovered that Ryan loves to sleep on his tummy. We are told not to let babies sleep that way because it can cause SIDS. I do not let him sleep like this at night, but sometimes during the day I do let him nap on his tummy, as long as he is near me so that I can check on him regularly.

So there you go. Those are my 2 new mom confessions. What are yours?

Rub a Dub Dub!

Ryan likes taking a bath. So far it's just an every other day sponge bath on the kitchen counter.

He's not always sure about it at first....

But he warms up to it after a while. Oh yea, he peed and pooped right after I took this picture. Serves me right for trying to take a naked picture of him.

All clean!

I love the way his head smells after a bath. So fresh and clean! And he's usually really snuggly and cute afterwards because he's trying to warm up from being cold. So precious!

Something Greater

The most common advice I got while pregnant was something along the lines of "Enjoy every moment because the days are long but the years are short."

I can't yet testify that the years are short. But boy oh boy are the days long.

In the back of my mind I know that I'm not just taking care of my baby. There's something greater going on. Adam and I have been entrusted by God to raise Ryan. He is a gift from God. And specifically, we have been instructed to raise him to be a Godly man.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" -Proverbs 22:6

I must remember this when I am pacing the hallway at 3am, trying not to cry myself because Ryan just won't stop crying.

I must remember this when I haven't taken a shower or brushed my teeth in 3 days.

I must remember this when I am eating dinner with 1 hand, spilling my food on the couch as I nurse Ryan in my other arm.

I must remember this when Ryan poops into my hand as I am in the middle of changing his diaper.

There is more to being a mom than just changing poopy diapers. There is something greater going on that I must keep in mind throughout the long days. God's plans for Ryan are great, and I am privileged to be called his Mommy here on Earth.

gBaby

Now that Ryan weighs over 8 lbs again, there are many new possibilities for him! One of the exciting ones for me is he can now wear gDiapers!

We started using them on Saturday and so far I have no complaints! I do have to wash the inner liner when he has a messy diaper, but so far when it's just a wet diaper I've had no leaking.

Ryan has already developed a pretty bad diaper rash, so I'm hoping that switching to cloth will help with this. Unfortunately, Baby Ryan REALLY hates getting his diaper changed.

He cries, screams, and holds his breath. It starts the second I lay him down on his changing table. Is this normal?

Another advantage to being over 8 lbs now is that we can use the Baby Bjorn carrier! (Thanks sis!)

Ryan fell asleep after about 10 minutes in it. I developed a backache after holding him in it, but at least my hands were free!

Cupcakes

We got the OK from our Dr. to take Baby Ryan out into public places (as long as he's well covered up). So since today is Adam's last day at home before going back to work, I begged him to take us out on a little trip. It's been hard staying inside for the last 2.5 weeks!

We loaded up the truck with all the baby essentials (stroller, extra diapers, change of clothes, wipes, blankets, etc) and headed out on a 3 minute drive down the street to......

Let's Cupcake!

I was a bit disappointed because they only had 5 flavors to choose from. We bought 4 to try, but started eating them before I could take a picture. Here is one before we devoured it.

Tomorrow I have big plans to go to the grocery store with my mom. I won't lie....I'm really nervous about Adam going back to work. It's going to be a huge adjustment for me to stay home all day alone with a baby.

Welcome to Motherhood

The other day Adam came up to me after I had just eaten lunch and told me I had food on my face. I absentmindedly brushed my face with my hand.

A few hours later he looked at me again and said the yellow food was still on my face. I thought back to my lunch of roasted red pepper soup. That certainly wasn't yellow.

I got up and looked in the mirror. Sure enough I had two yellow spots on my cheek above my lip. I wiped at it and smelled it.

Baby Poop.

2 Week Checkup

Ryan, enjoying some "tummy time". It's crazy that he can lift his head up and move it from left to right without any help.

Ryan had his 2-week checkup this morning and I am happy to say he is up to 8 lbs, 2 oz! Pretty close to his birth weight. Everything looks good, according to the Doctor. I chose his official pediatrician who he will start seeing at his 2-month appointment. The Dr. is the same pediatrician I had, and also the Dr. who delivered me as a baby! Kind of weird but also really neat.

Here is Ryan at 2 weeks.

The Dr. told me today I can start letting Ryan dictate when he eats, rather than waking him up every 2 hours at night to nurse. He even said I can let him sleep for up to 4 hours at night before waking him up to eat! I was so happy to hear that. Hopefully I can get a good stretch of sleep tonight!

I had to post this one, because he's about to sneeze. Baby sneezes are so cute!

Muffin Top

This morning I tried on every pair of pre-pregnancy jeans I own. You know, just to torture myself.

Able to pull them up? Check.
Able to zip them closed? Check.
Able to breathe? Nope.

Even though I have lost 30 of the 36 pregnancy lbs I gained, my body seems to have rearranged itself so that all my extra fat is right around my middle. Let's just say there was a major muffin top showing above my jeans. But I'm not worried. I hope I will look slightly more normal by my 6-week postpartum checkup.

I also put on a little bit of makeup this morning. So far it is helping me to feel slightly more human.

Miracle

I use the term miracle in reference to Ryan himself, as well as the fact that he has looked like this for the past hour. I sat outside in the sun and read 2 entire chapters in a book, put away laundry, and tried out my new breast pump for the very first time.

Whenever Ryan sleeps like this during the day, it actually stresses me out because I fear he will be up all night. But this past hour was a much needed break for me, so I'll take it.

There is so much I have wanted to post, but so little time. At least, so little time that my hands are available to type.

Ryan's 2-week checkup is Friday. I'm hoping he has gained back most of the 14 ounces he lost. My checkup was today, and I am happy to report everything is healing nicely.

Again, so much more I could say but it's time to wake Ryan up to eat. It's been a tough 12 days for me, but things are slowly starting to get better.

Sleep Deprived

That is the best way to describe how I feel. I'm really struggling at night with Ryan. Because he is supposed to eat every 2-3 hours, I am waking him up to eat multiple times throughout the night. But then afterwards he is not content to lay down in his bassinet. The only way he will sleep is if I am holding him.
But I'm just not comfortable sleeping while holding my baby. As a result I'm not sleeping. Or sometimes I will accidentally fall asleep while feeding him, which I hate doing because then I don't know if he's eating.
Nighttime is one big blur for me. Any suggestions?? I'm going to go delirious soon from lack of sleep!

Birth Story

It all started Wednesday the 28th. I went to the hospital expecting to be induced, but on the way there my contractions became more intense and closer together, about every 4-5 minutes. Once there I was 3 cm and definitely starting to feel the pain. This was around 9pm. They decided I was progressing well and would not need to be induced. So I was moved to a room.

Over the next few hours the pain intensified dramatically. It felt like someone was reaching in and twisting my insides like a wet rag. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes now, often with a smaller "aftershock" after each big contraction. This was the worst part. With no chance to rest in between, I felt like I had no control over what was happening. I could see my contractions on a monitor, and they were peaking at 60. I asked the nurse how much worse they were going to get and she said "well the scale goes up to 130".

That was the point when I decided to accept their offer for an epidural. I was at 4 cm and it was about 1am. The epidural was surprisingly painless. I started to feel relief about 15 minutes later, and then for the next hour I felt nothing. It was wonderful! But then the pain started to come back and for the next few hours I felt each contraction, only on a smaller scale. This went on all night, and I was not able to sleep at all through the pain. Adam fell asleep sitting up in a chair.

The Dr. came in at 5am to check me, and I was surprised to find I was 10 cm dilated and ready to go! The baby, however, was not quite low enough, so the Dr. went ahead and broke my water and let me wait another hour before starting to push. I finally started pushing just after 6:30am. It was hard, but painless, thanks to the epidural.

I pushed for about 30 minutes. The Dr. kept telling me I was making good progress, but I didn't believe her because I couldn't feel anything. Finally she had me stop and said "he's coming out on the next push!" I was stunned that it went so fast, because they told me most first-time moms take about 2 hours to push. Finally he came out, and I could feel it. Not painful, but just a weird feeling. They immediately put baby Ryan on my chest and I got to hold him for a good 30 minutes while they stitched me up. Unfortunately I got a 3rd degree tear, which has been extremely painful to recover from.

The first thing I remember them saying when he came out was how big he was. Everyone sounded surprised at his size. After I held him for a while they weighed him and cleaned him off and then brought him right back to his mommy. Ryan James Nullmeyer was born April 29, 2010 at 7:09am, weighing 8 lbs, 6 oz., 20.5 inches long and absolutely perfect!

1 Week Old!

Ryan is 1 week old today! He is sloooowly starting to fall into a routine. Here he is in his lamby seat.On Mommy's chest.

Hanging out with Daddy.

Oh! And his umbilical cord already fell off today. A big day for our little guy!

I Never Thought.....

Adam and I could get so excited over baby poop. Ryan lost a pound of birth weight and wasn't showing any "signs" of food going into him. We let out a cheer when it finally happened. since then he has become quite the little piggy.

I could survive on no sleep for 4 straight days.

Food would lose its appeal. Seriously that just doesn't happen to me! I guess a nice side effect on my body from giving birth is the 30 lbs I have lost so far.

My body would hurt so much.

Pregnancy and Labor would be the easy part. Instead of all the childbirth classes we took, there should have been a "Preparing for Post-Partum" Class.

I would love Ryan and Adam this much.

Baby Pictures!

Ryan James Nullmeyer

Our baby boy was born Thursday morning at 7:09am, at 20 inches long, weighing 8 lbs and 6 oz!
I will post more later, when I can type with more than one hand. Ryan is doing well, and so are Mommy and Daddy, although we are so very tired!