Oh, the joy of eight straight hours of sleep!

So, for the past two nights, my dear husband did something that was completely wonderful, he got up with Ryan the entire night and let me get eight straight hours of sleep. Actually, I think it ended up being nine straight hours of sleep both nights and all I can say is that I feel like a completely new person. Typically, we will split up the night and take turns taking care of Ryan. However, the last two nights, Dave went above and beyond and let me sleep, it was heaven! I don't know how he does it and for him to let me sleep a whole bunch has been completely wonderful, thanks honey, I love you!

Super Dad and Ryan...I don't know what I would do without Dave! :)

Now, what I've learned during Ryan’s first three weeks of life is that sleeping and taking care of a newborn do not go hand in hand. Like, not one bit, not at all and one piece of advice that I want to debunk in this post is that whole deal about you need to sleep when your baby sleeps stuff.  In the last two or so months, I think I’ve heard that comment from more than 20 people and guess what, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to sleep when Ryan sleeps and it has yet to stick. Why? There are a variety of reasons. One, I need to eat and when he’s asleep, it gives me a prime opportunity to do so. I mean come on, it’s not like I can make a sandwich with one hand while I’m holding him with the other. Thus, when he’s snoring away, I can head to the kitchen and get some fuel to keep going. My favorite foods to snack on are Golden Grahams, string cheese, carrots, and peanut butter and jelly. They are all really fast and easy to make. Oh, and I really enjoy being able to drink as much coffee as I want too! :) When I was pregnant, the caffeine intake had to be limited, yet now, I can go nuts if I feel like it!

Anyway, another reason why I can’t sleep when Ryan sleeps is I like to stay clean. When he’s awake, he needs my soul attention and that means, no taking my eyes off of him. Sure, it’s not like he’s running all over the place, but I can’t let him sit in his crib or in his swing for 20 or so minutes (Yes, I take long showers now because that’s my relaxation time) and expect him to stay happy and occupied. He needs to be watched when he’s awake, even when he’s in his crib or swing, so, the only time I have to shower is while he’s snoozing.  Even then, I have his monitor in the bathroom with me to make sure he’s okay and if he starts to cry or whatever, I cut the shower short. That’s only happened on one occasion, so, I’ve been lucky.

I also can’t sleep when he sleeps since things need to get done around the house. People always say, “Oh, just leave the housework and take care of yourself.” Well guess what, that’s definitely easier said than done due to the fact that if it doesn’t get done, then things get chaotic and extremely messy. For instance, as soon as Ryan goes to sleep the first thing I do is check to make sure he has enough formula to eat, if not, then that needs to be made and if his bottles are dirty, then those need to be cleaned so he has something to eat out of. That takes about 15 or so minutes to get done. Then, if he has dirty laundry, that needs to be started and that takes another 15 or so minutes to get done. After that, there are our dirty dishes to take care of and if the Beaver our dog doesn’t get some attention at some point, he freaks out so I need to play with him.

Poor dog hasn't been adjusting well. :(

When I’m done playing with Beaver and have let him out outside, which takes about a half an hour, then it’s time put Ryan’s laundry in the dryer, and in a blink of an eye, an hour, hour and a half has gone by and that leaves me about an hour to take a nap before Ryan starts to wake up for his next feeding. That may sound like enough time to get some sleep, yet it really isn’t because more often than not as soon as I fall asleep, he wakes up and I feel worse than I would have without even going to sleep at all. So, I would rather just kind of veg out for that time, like play on Facebook or watch TV, and wait until I need to get Ryan’s laundry done and then eventually get Ryan to change and feed him. It’s just easier than falling into a deep sleep only to wake up 30 or so minutes later.

Basically when it comes down to it, sleeping when your newborn sleeps just doesn’t seem to work for me and it’s not advice that I would pass along myself to new parents. What I would suggest to new parents would be to simply take turns taking care of your little guy or gal with your partner. If you split up the duties, then, everyone will get some rest and for me and Dave, there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel with Ryan’s sleeping habits. Last night, Dave told me that Ryan slept from 10:30 pm till a little after 4 am straight. Dave stayed up to check on him once and awhile to make sure that he was okay and tonight, we have our fingers crossed that Ryan will sleep through the night again. All I know is that we just have to stay the course and if we do, we’ll all end up getting all the rest that we’ll need at some point! Sweet! And yes, Dave is taking a well deserved nap right now and I have every intention of doing something nice for him for all the support he has given me! There will definitely be some eight or nine straight hours of uninterrupted sleep for him in the future! :) Just saying!

Well, that’s about all I have for today. I’ll let you know what happens with Ryan’s sleeping in my next blog post. So stay tuned and until next time, it’s Carla the new mom and tomboy signing off!

Can’t believe it’s been two weeks already…

Mother's Day flowers, they've grown a lot the past two months just like our two week old baby boy!

It seems like just yesterday that Ryan was born and now the little man is two weeks old already! Super crazy!

During the first two weeks of his life, Ryan has been a champ when it comes to doing what babies should do, which is eat, sleep, look around, pee and poop! The eating part is what he has down best because at our two week check-up Monday at the doctor, Ryan, drum roll please, gained one pound and one ounce since we were discharged from the hospital. On top of that, he grew a half of an inch for good measure. The doctor said that typically, they just hope that newborns will maintain their weight so the fact that Ryan has grown so much is pretty impressive! And yes, I'm a proud Mama, can't you tell! :)

There have been a lot of other milestones during the first two weeks of his life too. The biggest one of them all is how he holds his head up during tummy time already and even swings it from side to side. Then, when he’s about done holding up his head, he’ll plant his face in my, or Dave’s chest, and sigh from all the energy he just exerted. It’s freaking hilarious. I mean, he’s like all over the place and then wham, face plant! He’s also starting to recognize our voices and loves to look around as much as he can to check out what’s all going on. He even keeps himself occupied when we’re not holding him and will sit in his swing, or in his boppy, and will look around, just chilling. I mean, he’s so easy going that sometimes I wonder if he’s mine since I’m so high strung and always need to be doing something! LOL! 

My annoying bathroom friend!

Speaking of being high strung, it’s been extremely hard for me to just relax these last two weeks to focus on healing. However, I’ve done my best to calm down and not just go, go, go all the time. Dave has helped me get as much rest as I can, something that is very helpful when your body needs it. The first few nights we were home, he stayed up with Ryan and I slept like eight hours straight both. It was heaven to one, not be at the hospital and two, get a bunch of uninterrupted sleep! Thanks dear! I think that overall, my body has bounced back pretty well from being pregnant and for the most part, I feel pretty good. When I first came home, I was definitely hurting and was extremely uncomfortable. Now though, things have gotten a lot better and all I can say is, they, being all the medical professionals, don’t really tell you what you’re really in store for after you have a baby! There is bleeding to deal with, cramping, bloating that makes it hard to walk around, pain in places you didn’t even think you could have pain, and not to mention how you have to carry a freaking squirt bottle with you everywhere! Why? Well, after birthing a baby, a woman needs to rinse herself off with water every time she uses the restroom. Yes ladies, after you have a baby, you have to make sure you’re clean after you pee, or poop especially, because if you don’t, you could get an infection and then it will take you even longer to feel normal again. I’m on my way to feeling normal again, yet, it’s going to be quite some time before that actually happens, I’m sure! Oh, and speaking of poop, it’s scary after you give birth and that’s all I’m going to say about it due to the fact that I don't want to freak or gross anyone out!

Anyway, sorry for the tangent, but I needed to vent a bit! :) With that said, I want to go back to what I talked about at the beginning of this post and that is that it seems like just yesterday Ryan was born. It's just so surreal how fast time is passing by. Like, I was just in labor and now, he’s becoming his own little person. Hopefully, the rest of his growing up doesn’t fly by and it’s getting to the point where I don’t want to take my eyes off of him in fear that I’m going to miss something. Pretty soon, he’ll be rolling over all by himself and then before we know it, he’ll be walking, talking, on his way to preschool, and then he’ll be driving, graduating from high school and will be on his way to college. AHHH!

Okay, before I freak out even more about time flying by, I better shut-it down for today and go oogle over my little guy while I have the chance! Until next time, it’s Carla the tomboy, and new mom, signing off!

Interesting advice from the doctor...

This past week has been a whirlwind! I’ve had to deal with the hassles of FMLA and disability claims, insurance reps and well-being experts calling me two to three times a day about this that and the other thing, and that’s all been going on, on top of trying to figure out my little guy’s sleeping and feeding schedule. Ryan’s needs take precedence over all the other stuff that has been going on, but being bothered by these people has been completely annoying when I just want to hold and get to know my son!

Ryan sleeping! He always comes first before everything else!

So as you can see, I’ve had my hands full and now I’ve finally found some time to put up a quick blog post! It’s about the advice that the doctor gave us the Friday before Ryan was born. It still makes me laugh when I think about what he told us! Now like I said in my last blog post, I was in the first stages of labor for about a week. That day, we asked the doctor we saw about what we could do to get things progressing a little faster than they were. At the time, I was two centimeters dilated, which was the same measurement I was at earlier in the week. The doctor gave us two bits of advice about how we could get things going. The first bit of advice is something I’m sure that most of you have heard about before, which was to have sex without a condom. Needless to say, that totally wasn’t going to happen because neither Dave nor myself felt at all in the mood. We were both just too exhausted.

Then, the doctor went into the other bit of advice about what we could do and this is probably not something anyone has heard about before. When he said it, I almost busted out laughing since it was hilarious to hear. I mean, freaking hilarious! He said that we should stimulate my nipples to help my hormones get going and move along the labor process. And no, not the stimulation you would see on some dirty movie somewhere so get your mind out of the gutter! He said what we needed to do was to put hot and wet compresses on my nipples. Since we didn’t have any clean washcloths on hand, we soaked and heated up some socks. I called them my hot nipple socks and I must say, it had to have done something given that a day and a half after we starting using them, Ryan made his way into this world. I also ate some spicy Taco Bell the night before he was born too just for good measure, so, maybe that helped too. Who knows!

The doctor did give us a third bit of advice about speeding along labor and that was about how walking doesn’t do a damn thing to speed anything up. Basically, all you’ll do is waste your energy walking around all uncomfortable like. I know this from personal experience because I tried the walking thing earlier in the week and nothing labor wise happened. So what I learned from this whole deal was to skip the walking, use the hot nipple socks, and throw in some spicy food for good measure if you’re near your due date and want your baby to be born! :) It seemed to have worked for me! :) 

Anyway, that’s about all I got for today. Ryan is starting to wake up and it’s just about feeding time! Check ya later and enjoy your Thursday!

Baby Ryan is here, baby Ryan is here, baby Ryan is HERE!!!

Okay, so it’s been a bit since I’ve posted and I do have a very, very, very good reason for why I haven't been able to post. What is that reason you ask? Like you haven't already guessed, but that reason is because baby Ryan is HERE! Look at the little guy, isn't he cute:

Ryan's going home from the hospital outfit! Nike all the way1

Ryan Charles Lee was born on Sunday, July 8^th at 2:26 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. I experienced the first stages of labor for about a week prior to his birth and was actually at the hospital on two different occasions before I “officially” went into hard labor on Sunday morning around 3:04 am. If you’re wondering why I remember the time, well, it’s due to the fact that the pain I was having completely woke me up and the last time we went into the hospital the doctor told us to time everything out to the second to make sure I was really going into labor. So, I wanted to know exactly when the pain started and after three hours of constant intense contractions, we made our way over to Aurora and eight or so hours later, Ryan finally made his way into this world!

I’m not going to lie; labor was tough and something that is very difficult to describe. It was gross, it was uncomfortable, it was intense and painful, and it was at times completely unbearable, so much so that I didn’t think I was going to make it through it. I even got all the drugs that were available to help with the pain, yet that only took the edge off and what really was unpleasant was how the epidural they gave me didn’t quite work like it should have. Not sure if that was the anesthesiologist’s mistake or what, but half of my lower body was well aware of what was going on and at one point, I was in total agony and the nurse actually brought the anesthesiologist back into the room to give me another dose. That helped a little and every 15 minutes; I was able to press a button to give myself a little more pain medication. Let’s just say, I kept pressing that button even when 15 minutes hadn’t passed. To the women who did, and are planning do this, without those pain medications, I salute you! I couldn’t even imagine what it would have felt like without getting those drugs!

When it was time to finally push, I was totally ready for everything to be over and I went into full blown athlete mode, forcing myself to give it everything that I had. I wanted Ryan to be here, so, I dug deep and pushed with all the energy I had left. After 20-25 minutes of pushing, Ryan was on the verge of being born. However, my body wasn’t quite cooperating and we needed some help from the delivery doctor who used a vacuum and an incision to basically get Ryan out. As soon as the incision was made, which Dave told me about later, Ryan was born. It was a moment in my life that I will never forget. Seeing him there, in the doctor’s hands was so surreal. In seconds, Ryan was whisked away by the on-call NICU doctor for a quick check-up since the umbilical cord was actually wrapped around his neck. The check-up took like two seconds though given that Ryan was fine and a few moments later, he was in our arms. His eyes were wide open and the little guy didn’t even cry. What a trooper. He went through a lot too ya know! Being able to hold him and love him for the first time was, again, another moment in my life that I will never forget and I’m getting choked up writing about it. Ryan is a little me and a little Dave all wrapped up into one. Man, life is so precious and beautiful. All the pain and the labor and the entire pregnancy was worth it when we got to hold him. :)

Ryan will be a week old tomorrow and there is so much more I want to write about, but with a newborn commanding my full attention, my schedule has been a little filled up at the moment. :) Before I go, I do want to thank the staff at Aurora. All the doctors were completely awesome and the nurse, Lisa, who guided me through labor process was completely amazing. There were a lot of other caring nurses who helped me recover as well and only one that I wasn’t all that thrilled with. Aside from that, my labor experience was an all-around good one, especially with my husband by my side. 

Dave and Ryan taking a little nap yesterday.

Thank you dear for your support and for helping me through it all. Your coaching during the delivery of our child and everything that you have done since then has been so wonderful that I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to thanking you. I love you so much dear. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you! I also want to thank my parents, my brother, Dave’s kids, and all our friends for their support as well.

With that said, I’m going to have to shut off the computer for the day. Ryan is due for a bottle any minute, but check back soon because I there are some fun posts coming up about a whole bunch of interesting stuff that I want to pass along! So until next time, it’s Carla the tomboy, and the new mom, signing off.