So Much

...to be thankful for!!! We had a great Thanksgiving day at my Mom's with my parents and Jer and Ter. It has been a fabulous holiday week and I am trying to take in every moment and appreciate that I don't have to work during this busy season.

We had visits from Aunt Terese and Uncle Duke, and Ryan loved getting all of the extra attention!

On Friday, Keith put Ryan's CU Tshirt on to watch the CU play Nebraska. Aren't they cute in matching Tshirts??? Unfortunately CU lost :(

And I think Charlie is interested in applying for a babysitting job!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Ryan will be 6 weeks old on Thanksgiving Day! So far he is a great sleeper. Many of the books I have read on sleep training for babies say that they can start sleeping through the night at 6 weeks. As it stands, Ry usually goes to sleep in his bassinet between 8 and 9 pm. He will wake up twice during the night for a bottle, and then around 7 am. Keith and I have been very happy with this~ I will take one night feeding and he will take the other. Last night Ryan only woke up for one feeding, which could be a complete fluke, but could also mean that he is moving towards the goal of sleeping through the night. Wouldn't that be awesome! I do think we have a ways to go before that happens, which is really fine. I mean, he isn't even 6 weeks old yet, and Keith and I are managing to get decent sleep as it is. I have been reading feverishly about different sleeping philosophies and learning a ton about sleep for babies. Over the past couple of days we have put Ryan down for naps in his big crib in order to get him comfortable with it. He really seems to like it and has no problem spending time there. He has yet to take a nap longer than an hour in it, but baby steps!!! Soon he will be too big for his bassinet and there will be no choice!

Ryan has been very smiley lately! It is so cute. Last night when he woke up I expected him to be a bear since he hadn't eaten in almost 6 hours. Instead he was completely calm and even smiled when I picked him up. Then after his bottle he just looked at me and smiled for what seemed like minutes. We were just sitting on the glider, by the glow of his little night light, smiling at eachother like we were sharing a really good secret. It is one of the best Mommy moments that I have had so far. I guess you never know when these moments are going to pop up!

Our Little Ham

Ryan was servin' up some smiles this afternoon!

Happy Days Are Here Again!

Here is Ryan in the snuggle that Grandma Donna hand made for him. It has the softest flannel jungle print lining and organic cotton outside. Doesn't he look comfy??? Grandma Donna certainly has the touch when it comes to comforting Ry. When she is holding him all he does is soundly sleep...and always for a stretch of several hours. He definitely does not do that with Mommy or Daddy anymore! When he does fuss, she whisks him away and he is instantly happy. She has already filled his head with visions of sugar plums when she talks to him about how wonderful his first Christmas is going to be!

Curveball

Life threw us a major curveball over the last couple of days! When we left for the hospital on Wednesday morning for the barium swallow, we had no idea that Ryan would be having surgery later that afternoon. It was such a crazy day with all kinds of twists and turns. In the end everything worked out for the very best, but I must admit that it was a very stressful 24-48 hours. Here's how it unfolded....
Wednesday morning we took Ry in for his barium swallow. He drank down the barium and they x-rayed his stomach to see what was going on. The radiologist confirmed that there was acid reflux, and said that Ryan's pyloris, the valve that connects his stomach with his small intestine, seemed quite narrow. Our pediatrician had told us that pyloric stenosis was a possible diagnosis for Ryan's condition at our last appointment, but thought it wasn't all that likely. Pyloric stenosis is when that valve is too narrow for food to pass from the stomach to the small intestine. Since it can't really be digested, food stays in the stomach and eventually gets regurgitated.
Based on what the radiologist said, Dr. Murphy ordered an ultrasound and sent us to a different hospital that would be able to do it (apparently the hospital we were at couldn't). As a sidenote, Ryan threw up twice after his xray....lots of chalky barium everywhere! We were so desperate for a diagnosis! We wanted our boy to be well!
So we go to the ultrasound, and the doctors discover that Ryan's pyloris is on the threshold for what would be considered pyloric stenosis. Dr. Murphy sends us to a third hospital to meet with Dr. Liu, the pediatric GI specialist in the area, for a consultation. Keith and I are feeling extremely stressed, but also hopeful for a diagnosis and plan to get Ryan better. What we know at this point is that pyloric stenosis is somewhat common, curable by laparoscopic surgery that is usually performed within days of diagnosis, starts to appear at about 3 weeks of age, and most likely to occur in caucasion firstborn males. We also know that Ryan has almost all of the symptoms.
When we get to Edward hospital, they admitted us right away and got Ryan on an iv (one of the saddest things I have ever seen...my 4 week old son getting an iv). Dr. Liu met with us and told us he recommended surgery that afternoon. He told us that the surgery takes less than an hour, that he would go in with a scope through Ry's belly button and cut the pyloris to allow food to pass through. And that he would be eating within hours! While we were worried about our month old boy having surgery and going under anesthesia, we so badly wanted him to be able to eat!
Ryan had surgery Wednesday night and it was very successful. He is eating again and we are so relieved! We spent the night at the hospital Wednesday and he was discharged Thursday evening. What a brave little trooper he is! It was so hard for us to see him in pain, attached to his iv and recovering from surgery. We are now home and Ry is doing great. He is eating really well, has a great appetite, doesn't appear to be in much if any pain, and most importantly, keeping his food down! He does, however, fuss whenever he is put down...I think he has already learned that Mommy and Daddy are suckers! So we are holding and loving him like crazy.
The biggest piece of advice that Keith and I got before Ryan was born was to trust our instincts. We knew there was something wrong with him even though everyone, with the best of intentions, told us not to worry and that spitting up was normal for babies. We are first time parents and hardly experts, but we just knew that Ryan's symptoms were not normal. So we will continue to try to listen to that inner voice, even though it may not always point us in the right direction and may sometimes make us look like the most paranoid parents ever.
In addition, we are so thankful that Ryan's condition wasn't chronic or life threatening. Yes, surgery (especially on a month old baby) is major, but thankfully there was a cure and we can now move on. I absolutely love our pediatrician, Dr. Patricia Murphy, for taking action and getting us answers so quickly.
Thank you everyone for all of your support and concern for our boy! We are looking forward to getting back to "normal", whatever that is!

Spit Happens

Another week in Ryan's life and a new set of unique challenges! While Ryan was doing so well with his weight gain, there was a new issue brewing. Turns out he is a big time spitter! During the first two weeks of his life he did not spit up at all. In the back of my head I was thinking that he would be one of those babies that just never really spit up. Last week he really proved me wrong! After a bottle he spit up what seemed like the entire contents of the feeding (and then some!). We didn't think a whole lot of it, just changed his clothes and went on with the day. then it happened again a few hours later. I'm not talking about a little bit of spit either...I know that that is normal. I'm talking the entire contents of his bottle. I thought there might be something in my milk that didn't agree with him, or perhaps we didn't sanitize his bottle well enough and he got some kind of bug. I was afraid to feed him for fear of it happening again! We moved on and wondered if it would. It did- once the next day, once the next, etc. In addition to the spitting up he had a lot of gagging and hiccups at various times throughout the day. We called the pediatrician, and she said as long as he continued to have dirty diapers we should feel comfortable about him getting enough nutrition. So we continued on, suspecting acid reflux and being very careful with each feeding to ensure that it would stay down (stressful!). Some did, some didn't, and we started to seriously question if Ryan was gaining any weight at all with all of this nourishment escaping him on such a regular basis. So we scheduled a weight check for yesterday and it turned out that he only gained 2 ounces in one week (the goal for a baby this age is an ounce per day). We were crushed to say the least. We have been so diligent about his feeding schedule in hopes that his weight would be on track. He is not fussy, thank goodness, but I imagine he is in some discomfort with all of the gagging and spitting. He seems to be doing well otherwise, alert when he should be and still sleeping like a champ. What a little trooper he is. We are baffled! Dr. Murphy ordered a barium swallow at at the hospital for tomorrow to verify that it is acid reflux and to see if there is anything else wrong with Ryan's digestive system. Then we will go from there.
As of today, he has already had his major episode (and hopefully only). He does much better when we hold him for at least an hour after a feeding, so that is where most of our time is going these days. Right now it is 2:15 and I am finally going to take a shower! That is with Keith off today and helping out!
There is medication that babies can take to help with reflux and there is also special formula that we can give him to help. We will see! As parents, Keith and I feel so helpless and sad to see our boy struggling in any way. Please say a prayer for Ry that the reflux will resolve itself and he will continue to grow and thrive!

Ryan Wanna-Be!

Daddy and Me

They say "nap when the baby naps".....and Keith has really taken it to heart!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Big!

Our little sprout is getting big!! We went to the doctor today and Ryan gained one pound in one week!! Keith and I were very diligent about Ryan's feeding schedule and making sure that he got the nutrition he needed each day in order to gain an ounce per day over the past week as prescribed by our pediatrician. Well, our little chub gained 7 ounces and then some!! So we can let up a little on the feeding schedule knowing that he weighed in today at 8 lbs 12 ounces (his birth weight was 8lb 4oz). I can already tell that he is changing and I want to make time stand still! He has definitely gotten longer and I can see his face filling out. He can lift his head up when he is laying on your shoulder! I know that things will only get more exciting as he gets older, but I don't want my newborn baby to slip away! Every parent that has held Ryan, even the ones that still have babies, have all said how you forget how small they are when they are first born. It goes by way too fast!!

His umbilical cord stump fell off last night so now we can give him real (not sponge)baths!!

As far as any kind of nighttime routine goes, I think we have fallen into one. We feed Ryan every night around 9pm, then about every 3 hours after that. Since I am not breastfeeding, just pumping breastmilk, Ryan always gets a bottle of either milk or formula. The nice thing about it is that Keith can help with nighttime feedings! That is such a luxury, as it affords both of us the chance to sleep for a stretch of time at night. We are usually up around 6am for a bottle and for me to pump, then we all go back to sleep until about 8:30 am. Ryan sleeps very well in between feedings, so I would say on average Keith and I are sleeping 6-7 hours per night which is great for parents of a newborn!

Keith goes back to work a week from today which will be sad for our little family and our routine! We are so lucky that he had this much time off of work. We have been living in this little bubble for the past few weeks and it has been so much fun. We just move at our own pace, we generally don't have too much going on, just hanging out at home and looking after Ryan. We aren't on any schedule, and best of all, between my Mom and Teri, we haven't had to cook a meal yet! They have been so awesome about preparing meals for us and it is all about to come to an abrupt ending!! Reality is going to come quickly! I am trying to enjoy this time and take it all in. I have to return to work on January 5th- a topic that I am currently blocking out in my mind.

Happy Halloween!!