Life with Ryan

Life with Ryan: he cries; he eats; he cries; he poops; he cries; he looks around for a few minutes; he sleeps. Ah, life with a newborn.

We have our cute moments that make it all worthwhile. I like it when Ryan is quietly awake, just looking around, and taking everything in. I'm starting to give him some playtime and tummy time during these awake periods.



He doesn't like the tummy time so much. He only puts up with it for a few minutes, and then he gets mad. But he is trying to wiggle his arms and legs, and he lifts up his head, which is good for his muscles. Still, he prefers to stretch out on his back during playtime.


Ryan is at the stage where he likes looking at brightly-coloured objects, so I got out some of the soft Pooh-bear toys we have. He was very interested in them, and kept reaching out to try and touch/grab them. He especially liked Tigger; when I took Tigger away for a second, he cried!

***

It took a month, but Kevin has started to show a lot more interest in Ryan. One night, out of the blue, he even asked to hold him! He said, "Kin I howd him?" so Daddy helped put Ryan on Kevin's lap.

He was a little unsure at first, but then he was watching Ryan in his lap, and smiling at the baby. He kept saying, "I holdin' my bebe Ryan!" When Ryan started stretching out his hands, Kevin was giving him high fives. It was too funny!
A few minutes later, Ryan was due for his bottle, and Kevin asked to feed him, too! So, Mommy held Ryan and Kevin held the bottle. Kevin did a great job.

***

On February 26, Andrea had a PD Day at school, and there was a big snowstorm, so we kept Kevin home, too. I put Ryan down to get some playtime, and the kids wanted to snuggle up next to him. Andrea grabbed the pillows and blankets, and Kevin wanted to be part of the fun, too.

(They are pretending to sleep like Ryan.)

It looks like they're posing together. : ))

***

Ryan has also smiled at me twice this week, and I'm sure more will be coming soon!

This One's Dedicated to Grama Marty

Look familiar?

The Tradition Continues

***

When I had Kevin, Grama Marty flew in from Montana to visit us when he was about 3 weeks old. She came for a few days to meet her new grandson and fuss over the family. One day, we forgot that we had a pot of water boiling on the stove (to purify it for formula), and we soon detected a burning smell from the kitchen. We had accidentally let the pot boil so long that all the water had boiled away, and only a smoking pot was left on the stove! We quickly took the stinky, smoky pot and tossed it out the sliding doors into the back yard. Needless to say, when Daddy got home and found out that we had "tried to burn the house down," he was not impressed.

Well, flash forward almost exactly two and a half years: Ryan is 3 weeks old. Grama Marty wasn't here, but Mommy still managed to continue the tradition of the burning of the sauce pan when the male child is 3 weeks old.

Once again, Daddy was not impressed, and gave Mommy a well-deserved lecture about "trying to burn the house down" and remembering to "set a timer" so it won't happen again. :-p

Health Nurse's Visit

This morning the nurse from the Public Health Unit came for a visit to check in on me and Ryan. I've said yes to this visit for all 3 kids because I think it's a good idea to have another medical professional take a look at the baby, plus there's always new questions I have about me and baby each time. You know how every birth/pregnancy/baby is different.

So, here's Ryan's latest stats, at 3 and a half weeks old: he is 7 lbs., 10ozs.; still about 20.5-21 inches long; and his head circumference is 14 inches.

He is doing fantastic! So, he's gained about a pound since he was born. (It's funny: at 3.5 weeks, he's still smaller than even Andrea's birth weight-- 7 lbs., 12 ozs.). He's now eating an average of 3 ozs. every 3 hours, which also right on target for his age.

I had the nurse look him over for jaundice, and she said his colour is great--no signs of jaundice at all. We talked about some gassiness/fussiness he's had, and she said it sounds normal. She checked his reflexes, and he was very responsive. He was also bright and alert while she was here (which is actually a bit unusual for Ryan!). I asked her about his dry skin, and she said it's okay to try some lotion on him now. (We held off before because the NICU nurses had warned us about sensitive preemie skin.) Actually, Ryan's got a bit of a sore bum right now because he has so many BMs--an unfortunate side effect of immature digestive system combined with newer formulas that have special (but healthy) oils in them. So, on with the rash cream and cut down on the wipes because they seem to irritate him, poor baby.

All in all, Ryan is a beautiful, perfect baby. This nurse (like lots of others) just kept saying how perfect he was, and how he doesn't look like a preemie at all!

As for me, I am doing okay. I am feeling the normal exhaustion, but the incision is healed and pain pretty much gone. I am having a little problem with bleeding. It was almost done, but I suddenly had some small clots and increased bleeding in the last few days. The nurse said it might be I overdid it and accidentally popped a stitch inside, or maybe it's part of having the tubal ligation, too. It's not really bad, but it's something to keep an eye on. If it worsens, I'll call the doctors, so don't worry everybody!

Overall, Ryan and I are doing very well. :))

Valentines

Ryan received his first valentines a few days ago. Papa is at the Olympics in Vancouver (lucky guy!), but he and Gram wanted to give the kids their Valentine's Day gifts before he left.

. . . but we all know who Ryan's REAL sweetheart is . . .

and here's the reason why! ;-)
***
Andrea had her Valentine's Day party at Lassaline (JK) yesterday. She was all dressed up in Valentine's Day-themed items, and came home with a decorated mailbox containing Valentines from her JK friends.

She wanted me to take a video of her, so I asked her to sing a song with the word "love" in it. She chose to sing the END of "Skinnamarink." My favourite part is the little flourish she throws in at the end.

Funny & Cute

Kevin: "I in da bass-ket!"

He carried this basket out of my bedroom, plopped it in front of the TV, and curled up inside. He is getting such a weird sense of humour!

***

I recently discovered that Kevin likes broccoli! Rod was talking with Andrea, and the word broccoli came up. Kevin ran into the room, all excited, saying, "I want some brocc-li!" We had some in the house, left over from the Super Bowl party, so I gave him a piece. He sat down and munched it up! Mmm . . .

Kevin: "You want some?"
***
Ryan makes a lot of cute faces in his sleep. My favourites are when he tries to smile and laugh. In the first video, Ryan is kind of doing his laugh. If you combine the funny breathing at the start with his grin at the end, you'll have a better idea of what his "laugh" is about, like the one I posted in that photo a few days ago.

This second video has clips of Ryan "smiling" in sleep. They're pretty subtle--more of a smirk--so you have to watch closely for them.

***

Kevin and Andrea were making me laugh so much last night. We were watching a Dora movie with the "pirate dance" in it, and they made me play that part about 20 times in a row! They were both singing and dancing along.

Chronological versus Adjusted Age: Kind of Funny

I have noticed that Ryan doesn't follow a lot of the patterns and behaviours that Andrea and Kevin exhibited in their first few weeks. It makes me a little worried, but I have to keep reminding myself that Ryan did arrive almost 5 weeks early, even if he looks like a full-term baby.


So, I just did a little research on how we should evaluate milestones for babies who were born prematurely. First of all, it starts with a reminder that every child develops at their own rate--even the ones born full term (well do I know that, with Andrea and Kevin!). Then, I read about how health care providers may look at a premature baby's Chronological Age versus their Adjusted Age.


The Chronological age is the baby's age from their actual date of birth. For Ryan, that would be January 23, 2010.


The Adjusted Age is the age of the baby based on his due date. For Ryan, that would be February 25, 2010.


If you do the math: today Ryan is 18 days old; he was about 34 days early; therefore . . .

Ryan's Adjusted Age is . . . negative 16 days old.

That explains a lot. I guess I shouldn't expect him to do anything, considering he's technically not born yet! ;-)

Super Bowl and Babies!

Because Ryan and I are doing well, we were still able to host our annual Market Family Super Bowl Party. Daddy and the family did all of the work, so for me, it was more of a chance to introduce everyone to Ryan. Most people hadn't met him yet because of his stay in NICU.

At our Super Bowl party, we had three new babies to enjoy in our family: Patricia had Mikenna 3 months ago, Pauline had Nathen 3 weeks ago, and I had Ryan 2 weeks ago.

Cousins: The Next Generation

Papa was REALLY enjoying his time with the babies. There weren't too many times in the evening that he was without one!

Nathen & Ryan--only a week apart.

Nathen was full term, and Ryan is almost the same size as him!

Addie (Nathen's big sister) and Kevin (Ryan's big brother): they used to be the babies! Now they are getting to be big kids, but they still love to snuggle with Uncle Fred/Papa, too (and get their cheesy Doritos on him).

Here's our first photo as a family of five.

Ryan "Laughing"

As promised, here is a picture of how Ryan "laughs" in his sleep. :-)

Pictures: Ryan's Birth and First Week at Home

Here's Ryan in the NICU, just after being delivered.

He's already hungry. Ryan quickly found some fingers to suck on.

Mommy finally got to hold Ryan, in NICU, after coming out of recovery.

Mommy finally got to come and feed Ryan, for the first time, the next evening.

Proud Daddy

Time for a burp!

Little Guy!

Mommy finally sees Ryan open his eyes.

No more pictures, Mommy!

Going home! Tiny Baby in the car seat

Snuggled up in bassinet at home

First Bath at Home--it's cold, Daddy!

A snuggly towel after the bath--much better!

Hi, Everybody!

I'm ready for my close-up; is this my good side?

Relaxing with Big Sister Andrea

Andrea loves her new baby :)

Cousin Brigitte comes over to see Baby Ryan
Although Ryan sleeps in the bassinet, he likes laying in the crib and looking at the colours when he's awake.

Kevin always peeks in the bassinet to look at Ryan. It's the perfect height for him to rest his chin on the edge--too cute.
Great Grandma Maurice meets her new great-grandson.

Ryan went in the swing for the first time today. He seems to like it as much as his sister and brother did, but he needs some extra padding to hold him in a good position! Although he doesn't look too impressed, that's just his general expression right now--"Why am I not sleeping/eating?"

Actually, he often "smiles" and "laughs" in his sleep. It's hilarious. I've tried to catch it on film, but it is so fleeting. You will definitely see a picture of that as soon as I capture one!