4 weeks ALREADY!

Yep. As of today at 8:04 pm, my little one is a whole 4 weeks old! I can't believe how much time has gone by! Ryan is doing really great too. His doctor had switched him to a soy formula because he's lactose intolerant, and it seems to be helping immensely! He doesn't really spit up anymore, at least not any more than a normal baby, and he doesn't get gassy as much either. And thank GOD he doesn't stratch out and scream in pain anymore!!! That almost broke my heart not being able to help him. :-(

He's turned into a little chunky monkey too! He still has his chubby cheeks, of course, but now he's 9lbs, 4 oz to go along with them. lol He's also doing pretty well at holding his head up. It's still a little floppy, and he can't hold it up for too long at a time, but every day it gets better and better. :-) He's also starting to try to flip over. He can roll onto his side pretty easily...or at least when he's mad and flopping around, lol...but he hasn't really rolled completely onto his tummy yet. It probably won't be long!

He's also pretty dang smart! lol He HATES being on his stomach. Any time he has gas, I'll lay him on my knees or hold him upright against my shoulder, and he will throw his head towards my elbow, so that his whole body rolls and flops down into the crook of my arm. lol He's been doing that pretty much since birth, but now it's definitely a more calculated move on his part! Well, it's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to stop for now. There's more to add later I'm sure, and I need to put a few pics up...maybe tomorrow. So check back later. :-)

2 week check-up

Yep! I can't believe he's already 18 days old! I realized I had forgotten to blog about his check-up the other day, so I figured it's better late than never! lol Both Ryan and I had our check-ups the same day, so it was a pretty long day anyways.

Ryan has grown almost a whole inch since he was born! He's now 20 1/2 inches and weighs 8lbs 7 oz. He's supposed to go into a growth spurt by the end of his 3rd week, so he may get even bigger! lol He still has his chipmunk cheeks and double chin, but the neck roll is disappearing a little bit. :-( It was so cute! lol His doctor thinks that he might be lactose intolerant since he spits up a lot and gets so gassy that he'll arch his back and scream for about 20 minutes at a time. She gave me a couple of soy formula samples to try, so we'll see if it helps.

I'm doing pretty good too! My feet aren't as swollen as they were, although they're not completely healed yet. My incision is healing pretty nicely and I'm starting to regain some of the feeling in the nerves that the surgeons cut through in my abdomen. It feels weird! I've lost 15 lbs so far! Yay! Only bad news is my blood pressure is high for some weird reason, and they want me to take blood pressure meds. I think I'm going to hold off on that until I lose all the baby weight and see if it comes down some! Best of all...I actually have some energy and can move around without hurting as much! And I no longer need help! lol

That's about all the news I have so far! lol More to come I'm sure...

Wow...what a crazy couple of weeks!

So, as you all know, Ryan Alexander is FINALLY here! He was born on May 31 at 8:04 pm, weighed a healthy 7lbs, 12oz, and was 19 and 3/4 inches. He wound up being about 2 weeks early, so if he had been born at 40 weeks, he would have been almost 9lbs!!

He is absolutely PERFECT! He looks just like Dean! :-) He has brown hair of course, and the same hairline as Dean. It's actually kind of funny looking at them together! lol He also has Dean's blue eyes. :-) I'm hoping he'll keep the blue eyes, but if not, brown will be ok too. lol

His delivery was kind of nuts. On the morning of the 30th, I had an NST done at my doctor's office in Texas City. I was on the machine for almost 2 1/2 hours, and he wasn't reacting the way they wanted him to, so they sent me to the hospital for more monitoring. Of course, I got there, and he decided to wake up and kick everywhere. (figures) lol I thought they were going to send me home like every other time, but the ultrasound they did showed he wasn't as active as they thought, so they went ahead and induced me at 3:20 that afternoon.....

...28 hours later, I still wasn't dilated past a 3 (which I had been dilated to for WEEKS), and he wasn't reacting very well to the pitocin, so I had to have a C-section. That was actually the last thing I wanted, so I cried a little bit. But definitely not much! lol I was ready for him to come OUT! lol It was weird being strapped down to a table and having a doctor poke me with a pushpin every couple of minutes and asking if I could feel it. lol He had to keep upping the meds until I was numb enough. It's so weird that even though you're numb and you don't feel the pain, you feel every part of the surgery. It's a lot of pushing, pulling, and a kind of a pressure feel. I don't think I'll ever forget the moment that I felt this incredible pressure, then it went away and I heard two little cries. I didn't cry when Dalton was born...I was too exhausted. This time I did. Dean was with me the whole time, and when the doctors cleaned Ryan up a bit, they let Dean hold him. :-) As soon as I get the hospital pics back, I'll post them.

After the C-section, I went to a recovery room. I don't really remember it....They had me drugged up pretty good and I couldn't stop shaking. lol It was definitely NOT funny then, but looking back on it, I'm sure I looked crazy. lol I remember my mom brought a Sonic cup in, and I almost took her head off! Gimme a break...it was Saturday around 10:00 pm and I hadn't had ANYTHING to drink or eat since the day before around 7:00 am!!! I think everyone laughed, but I don't remember it...I think I fell asleep again. lol I didn't even get to hold Ryan until they moved me to a patient room around midnight!

My recovery in the hospital went pretty well. I hurt a lot of course, and I had some pretty WICKED swollen feet! (Omg! I've NEVER seen swelling so bad!!) The surgeon had bruised a nerve in my abdomen, so I couldn't really bend over at the waist for a week and a half, but that's a little better now too. As of right now we're all doing pretty well. :-) We're all exhausted though! I think the only person around here getting any sleep is Dalton! lol

A little update

I'm getting pretty lazy about this blog thing. lol Sometimes there's so much to say, but I don't feel like writing about it, so of course, the next time I blog, I have to backtrack days...sometimes weeks!

So..what's been going on lately??? Wellllllll.......of course, there was that 3rd trip to labor & delivery (I am SOOOO getting tired of that place! lol), but I think I blogged about that. Oh yeah, and now my doc says that because of the singular umbilical artery, they won't let me go past my due date at all! Yay! Dalton was 2 weeks late, and I really don't think I could handle that again! lol She said that most likely, at 39 weeks (if I haven't already delivered) that they'll set an inducement date. In a perfect world they wouldn't have to do that (Pitocin is the devil....literally), but at this point I could really care less! Give me drugs before you break my water, and I'm a happy person! lol

It feels like there's still so much to do. It's almost never ending! lol And before you ask........nooooooooooo we still haven't picked out a name *irritated sigh.* And no, it's not by MY choice that we can't decide. As it is, the name I WANT isn't going to happen, because Dean hates it, but I keep telling him that if I go into labor without his input on names, then it's tough shit. I'll pick a name, and he just has to deal with it! lol

We still need to do some baby shopping too. All the major, necessary stuff is taken care of, but I still want to get some more onesies and outfits. Rebecca and I are going to hit up some resale shops. :-) I totally LOVE resale shops! :-) :-)

Well, I think I'm about ready for breakfast, and it sounds like Dalton is destroying something, so I'll have to finish this later (I don't really think there's a whole lot more anyways. I seem to be a hermit lately. lol).

I HATE contractions :-(

I'm really, really, REALLY getting sick of being pregnant. Ughh. I went into pre-term labor again Sunday night...yeah...at least he waited until AFTER the baby shower. lol This time, I was having contractions so intense, I was having to breathe through them. Good news: The doctors say I'm far enough along that they're not going to stop the contractions. Bad news: They're not changing my cervix much, so they keep sending me home...with NO pain relief. Double bad news: Early labor can take anywhere from hours to weeks. So far, it's Wednesday, and I'm STILL having contractions. Ughh.

They're not 1 1/2 minutes apart anymore...they definitely slowed down a lot, and they're not QUITE so intense either, but having consistent contractions for so many days now makes it feel like I have a vise wrapped around my back and stomach from tailbone to shoulderblades in the back and from crotch to ribs in the front. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, and I can barely even turn over on my own. Uggh. I'll be so glad when this over and I can be happy (and medicated) again. lol

So much to do!

I'm in full panic mode now! lol I'm 35 weeks and 2 days now, so that means a little less than 5 weeks left! And of course, NObody thinks I'm going to make it even that long. lol There's still SO much left to do, and I have no idea where to start! lol

Of course, most of the baby-item shopping can't be done until after the baby shower. And I'm definitely not the type of person that likes to sit around and wait! lol I keep hoping that I won't go into labor until afterwards! (And of course, there's a part of me that wants to go into labor NOW, right this second! lol)

But there are still so many IMPORTANT things to do, like picking out a name! Yes, you heard me...we still have no clue what to call our son...*sigh*. Well, DEAN has no clue. I have a couple of favorite names, but he's still being uncooperative and not helping in the slightest. I told him a long time ago that if this baby comes and he hasn't helped me with names, then I'm going to name him whatever the hell I like, and he can get over it. So there. Thpppbbttt. (Or whatever the equivalent of sticking out your tongue is)

Dalton's starting to get excited about his new baby brother too. lol He still has no idea what it REALLY means that a baby is going to come out of my stomach and come home. lol We set up the crib today (FINALLY!!), and he is absolutely fascinated with it. It kind of makes me a little nervous though. He's actually tall enough to reach over the bars and down to the mattress. We'll definitely have to watch him like a hawk for a while! lol He even offered to share his cars with the baby. lol That was so sweet of him too....Dalton REALLY doesn't like to share his cars. He keeps saying that the baby has to come out and come play with him. lol It's going to be a shocker when that actually happens! :-)

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about the baby shower on Sunday! :-) I'm still pretty nervous that no one will come, because stupid me set it on Mother's Day...uggh...I swear...everyone and their dog has called to ask me if I know what day that is. I do....NOW anyways. lol I never had a baby shower with Dalton, so this is kind of new to me. Of course, I've been to a kajillion of them, but it's a little different. lol I just wish my sisters and Ashleigh, and the rest of my family actually lived in the area...*sigh.*

The baby has dropped now, and I am COMPLETELY uncomfortable, so I'm hoping it goes smoothly. lol I'm not sure if my hormones can handle the heat, the pain, AND something going wrong! lol We've got some fun games planned (even a couple special ones for the guys *hee hee*), so I plan on making the best out if it...miserable or not! lol :-)

No sleep

It's 3:45 in the dang morning. Yeah. I've been up for about an hour now, and I guess sleep is going to be an impossibility...*sigh.*

Well, I guess I can blog a little about yesterday. :-) My mom and stepdad brough Dalton home after church, and it was such a pretty day, I convinced Dean to go to the park. lol Dalton LOVES to play on the slides, and since it wasn't all that hot outside, I figured the equipment wouldn't be too hot. :-)

I've got some pics from the park, but I'll upload those later. I have a doctor's appointment and an NST test in the morning, so I'm going to try to go back to sleep....