Summer Bucket List

It's almost Memorial Day, which in my mind is the start of Summer. In some ways, I feel like I was just working on last Summer's bucket list, but here we are, putting together another one. I'm determined to make this a fun summer as Isabelle will start school in the Fall. (insert panic attack here...) I already have some fun things planned, so here's to hoping it's a blast!

1. Go to a splash pad. 8/25
2. Go to the Perot Museum. 6/25
3. Go to the Houston Children's museum. 5/29
4. Go to Dino World in Granbury.
5. Play hopscotch.
6. Spend time in a pool. 7/26
7. Go to the library. 6/25 and all Summer long
8. Go to a Lowe's Build and Grow Workshop. 6/28
9. Do a home school Summer school with weekly themes. Done
10. Go to the drive-in theater.
11. Watch fireworks. 7/4
12. Roast marshmallows or hot dogs. 6/10
13. Camp with the girls on the trampoline.
14. Go to Bahama Bucks. 7/4
15. Go to the Saginaw water park.

Ruger at 1 Month

Does anyone else out there find it totally unfair how fast time flies once the baby is out of your body as compared to how slow time goes by when you're pregnant?? I'm trying to soak up every minute of this sweet baby boy's newborn days. He is so relaxed and calm. He rarely cries. Even when he was born the doctor and nurses couldn't really get him to cry. He is the perfect addition to our family and we couldn't love him more or be happier that he is here. For records sake, here are some things about Ruger at one month:

1. He loves to be held and to cuddle.
2. He sleeps really well, even at night. Most nights he wakes up once or twice, nurses and goes right back to sleep.
3. He doesn't like having his diaper changed.
4. He fills out his newborn sleepers.
5. His left eye has a clogged tear duct.
6. He wants to nurse every 2 hours.
7. He loves baths.
8. He does really well with being swaddled and sleeps better at night when he is swaddled. 
9. He loves to look up towards the ceilings and fans.
10. He's very tolerant of the girls holding him and petting his head and kissing it. They are very good with him and generally very gentle.
11. He smiles in his sleep a lot. 
12. Isabelle hated being in the car seat. Luckily, Ruger's totally good with being in the car seat. 
13. He refuses to suck on a Nuk pacifier even to try it. He will take Mams though...but he still doesn't generally need or want them.
14. He weighs 10 lbs 11.8 oz, is 22.25 inches long and has a head circumference of 15 inches.

 

At the one month mark, I usually do an update with me too...

• My recovery has been the best yet. 
• My belly is extremely sensitive. Even the lightest touch is painful. The hospital gave me a binder that wraps around my stomach and holds it all in nice and tight. It's been a wonderful thing and I had no pain with the pressure and it blocked the pain from touch and even having Ruger lay on my belly. I've worn it out though and can't wear it anymore so 
• It's my back that gives me the most pain. I miss my chiropractor in Fort Worth!
• Nursing has not gone well. With Isabelle is was very painful for 2.5 months. I just cried and bore the pain with her. It's been even worse with Ruger. Being a first time mom, I had no clue about some of the resources out there. This time, while I really resisted resorting to using a shield, I was pretty much forced to after bleeding all over Ruger and myself. Annoyingly, I'm still having to use it and I'm afraid we still have another month or more of using it since even with the shield, there is still a decent amount of pain. I really wish nursing came easy or even easier to me. At least it works though and I produce enough milk for him. I don't know how we would afford formula!

Welcoming Ruger

On March 27th, our family welcomed a new baby to our family. Ruger was born at 8:34 in the morning, weighing 8 lbs and 7 ounces and he was 19.5 inches long. While I didn't publicly announce I was pregnant or post blog updates, I did write a few posts and just kept them as drafts. I've since published them. Here's a link to them all:

It's A Boy!
20 Weeks
29 Weeks
33 Weeks
Pregnancy following a miscarriage was very different for me. Publicly announcing I was pregnant was one of the things I could never really do and I never felt comfortable with the idea...for several different reasons. Now that he's here, I guess I can't keep him a secret anymore and I definitely don't want to. He has been the perfect little addition to our family and we are so beyond grateful that he is here safe and his delivery was perfectly uneventful. (Especially after Emery and Ella's delivery!)

Ruger's c-section was scheduled on the 27th of March, 2.5 weeks before my due date because I had cholestasis. We had to leave our house at 4 a.m. to get there two hours before our 7 a.m. scheduled time. The hour drive didn't take an hour at that time of the day or with Curt driving though. :) We got to the hospital and didn't have to wait very long before being taken back to a room, even though we were early. The nurse asked me tons of questions and got me all ready for surgery. I met lots of people and talked a lot about my bad experiences with my previous c-sections and warned everyone I met to not give me any unneeded meds that would knock me out or make me sick.

37.5 weeks down, 2.5 hours to go

After being in the prep room for two hours, I was taken back to the operating room. I was very emotional from this point forward. I hated being separated from Curt...mostly because I was so terrified and he calms me down. Being in the OR is very unsettling. I sat in there on the operating table for quite some time waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in. Another girl was brought to another OR at the same time I was, so I'm assuming he was doing her spinal first. Even my doctor commented on how long we were having to wait for him and he went up to his office three floors up to wait. During this time, it's really hard to not look around and see all the surgical tools and that was very unnerving too. I don't want to picture anything that goes on in my own surgery. It really bothers me and makes my anxiety even worse to think about what they are doing. The nurse anesthetist and I talked a lot because she used to work at Baylor All Saints, the hospital I delivered all of my girls in. It calmed me some and really just proved to be a distraction from looking all over the room.
Finally the anesthetist came in and he did the spinal. He did such a good job! With Emery and Ella's spinal, it was pretty painful. This one was almost painless. Once that was over and I was numbed up, the doctor came in. He got to work before Curt was even there. Between the doctor starting and Curt not being there, I emotionally started to break down and was crying enough that the nurse was wiping away my tears for me. She was also trying to warm me up. I get so very very cold from the spinal, so she was putting warming blankets on my arms. They also had something that my shoulders and head were laying on that they could turn on and have warm air blow through it to warm me up. By the time Curt made it in the room, that was turned on too. Since he was sitting to my left, I had to turn my head to see him or hear him, which would put my ear up against the blanket with air blowing through it, so I couldn't hear anything he was saying to me. I didn't love this as he was tasked with talking to me and distracting me. It all turned out all right though.
After what seemed like quite a while after the doctor started, Ruger was finally born. I have to admit, it actually shocked me to hear a cry. It really was as if I didn't really think I was getting a baby at the end of my pregnancy. It was very startling...but so sweet too. The doctor's first words were telling us that he had very little blond hair. They actually had to work to make him cry. As much as they bothered him and tried to get him to cry, they only got one small, not very strong wail out of him. He's such a relaxed calm baby.
As soon as he was born, I was given a shot to prevent any bleeding and hemorrhaging. During Emery and Ella's birth and my miscarriage, I lost a very dangerous amount of blood and my doctor was all about being proactive and preventing the bleeding instead of waiting for it to happen and then treating it...which made me super happy.
Immediately after his birth, Ruger's nurse took him over to get him cleaned up. He was still in my room, but about 15 feet away to my left. While I could see him, the OR was equipped with cameras by Ruger and TV screens right next to me so I could see him close up as they cleaned him up and stamped his foot prints and while the doctor worked on closing me up. Curt was over with him the whole time watching and taking pictures. I finally warmed up and calmed down at this point too. He was safe, I was conscious and all was going well.

One thing very different about this birth, is that I experienced post birth and close up of my surgery. I couldn't believe how long it took from the time Ruger cried to the doctor leaving and then finally his assistant finishing with the sutures. After he was cleaned up and wrapped up, Curt brought him over to me.

I was also for the first time offered to have him lay on me and do the skin to skin contact. I never did this with any of my girls, so it was a new experience too. My arms weren't actually strapped down either, so I could even hold him on my chest...although I was very nervous and made Curt hold him more securely to me. I held him like that until it was time to go to the recovery room. 

My view from my hospital bed. He was with us the entire hospital stay with the exception of a couple hours the first night and for a few hours when the pediatrician took him. 

I just can't get enough of this little man. If I wasn't sleeping, he was pretty much in my arms the whole time. Who could blame me though, right?

That's it. That's the very uneventful birth story! Both Curt and I agree and have said for half a year now that we feel like one of the reasons we came to Houston was very specifically for my doctor, Dr. Putterman. While I saw way too much of him, he really took care of me. We both couldn't be more grateful for all the doctor's offices I originally called that would not accept me as a patient because I was too high risk, prompting me to find Dr. Putterman. He told me at my first appointment, "I like the complicated cases. They aren't boring." I'm so grateful he does, cause he was truly an answer to my prayers. And now we have our complete family and the perfect little guy who has completely stolen our hearts!