Carter and Mary Ryan's Picture...sort of.

This is as close as I've come to getting them posed together...oh well.

Mary Ryan's First Bath

Okay..I've bathed the child in the two weeks we've had her home, but used the "spit" bath method as my Nana would call it. This is Mary Ryan's first bath in her own tub. She did very well. She's not very fussy at all, but when she does fuss she sounds like a cat....a very angry cat.

Baby Weigh In

I took Mary Ryan to the pediatrician's office for a weigh in today. She topped the scale at 7 pounds even. That is a 6 oz gain from last Wednesday. We have our 1 month visit next Tuesday and will get more measurements. I'm curious to see how long she is now. 18.5 inches seemed really small at birth, but she's got some long froglegs. If her hiccups are a sign, she is growing like a weed!

Carter's Baby

Several people have asked me how Carter is doing with the new baby. Most of the time ignoring she exists is his strategy, when he does acknowledge her it can be cute:

• He has been getting in the bed with us in the middle of the night. Mary Ryan sleeps in her basket on a bench by the bed, so I'm sure he thinks he is missing out. The first night he did this I was feeding her and he slyly moved his hand over to hold hers. As I got Ryan to look and see what he was doing, Carter moved his hand and acted like he was asleep.
• He can handle the basics like telling her bye in the morning, kissing her goodnight, etc.
• A few days ago, Ryan and I were in the kitchen and she started fussing (which sounds like a cat). Carter came and grabbed my hand and said "Baby Needs Help". I was glad to know he cared.
• We've been piling on the couch with Carter in the middle and I will hold Mary Ryan. She has some very long froggy legs and feet and will stretch them out when he touch them. Carter thinks that is hysterical. Last night she kept batting him with her hand and he thought that was too funny as well.

We still haven't gotten a picture with them together, that would be too easy. Ryan grabbed the video camera last night to get shots of Carter "playing" with her, but Carter started playing with the camera and ignoring the rest of us.

I know the perfect picture is out there with the two of them and I will capture it... I just hope it is before they start high school.

3 weeks Old

Mary Ryan is now 3 weeks old and taking it all in stride as you can see. She is keeping us on her toes with her feedings. Her schedule for the first week at home was at least 55 mL (60 = 2 oz.) every 3 hours. Now she will get fussy and want to eat after an hour and a half, but not quite as much as a regular feeding. She basically ate an extra time yesterday afternoon, but then skipped four hours between eating during the night. Normally, I would be pleased with her stretching out her night feedings, but we've had to be some compulsive about keeping up with it (had a spreadsheet going and gave that up a couple days ago) we're always second guessing ourselves. I'll take her to get weighed again this week and as long as she is gaining I'll be happy.

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Happy Mother's Day to everyone, I'm only a week behind. I'll be about 3 weeks behind sending gifts and cards to our moms, grandmas and "other mothers", but I'll get there.

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Mary Ryan's first batch of stationary arrived so I am excited about getting thank-yous done ( I love stationary). I'm also finalizing birth announcements. I didn't get Carter's out until he was a month old, I was trying to be better with her but I don't think that will happen.

Mary Ryan's arrival

I forgot to post my "delivery" update to the blog. So here is an entry from our first few days:

My uterus and placenta held out as long as they could and finally gave up Saturday night at 9:30. We were at the hospital at 10:08 and Mary Ryan Elizabeth was delivered at 11:38 PM. My doctor plus a wonderful team was ready and waiting on me when we got there. I had to be fully put to sleep for a speedy C section. Carter's delivery was scary, but this one was indescribably terrifying. I was lucky and under anesthesia for the scariest parts, but poor Ryan had to sit outside the operating room and wait. Mary Ryan "coded" and they had to resuscitate her and Ryan had no idea if it was her, me, or both. Luckily, a friend of ours got there a few minutes later and she was able to sit with Ryan and wait.
I had the best anesthesiologist possible and he did a great job of keeping Ryan informed of everything he was doing, but telling me just enough. According to him, I came through the surgery much better than he expected. They had me prepped for blood transfusions b/c they anticipated alot more blood loss than what actually occurred. Neither Mary Ryan or I had to have a transfusion.
I got to come home today and Mary Ryan is still in the hospital. She is doing wonderfully well and progressing faster than I expected. This morning the last of her IVs were removed, she was taken off oxygen, and her feeding tube was removed so she can eat fully from a bottle. Amazingly she weighed 6 lbs and 1.9 ounces for being 4 weeks early. Her lungs were giving her problems and she had a lot of fluid build up. She is doing very well now and hopefully we'll be able to bring her home by the first of next week. Ryan and I got to hold her at 5:30 this morning and it was a treat. We can't wait to hold her without all the monitors.

Mary Ryan Elizabeth

After an exciting couple of weeks, we are happy to be home as of Tuesday the 6th and getting into a routine. Mary Ryan is eating well and is a very content baby so far. I understand most preemies are. The past two weeks have been a very large blur and eventually everything will sink in. Until then, I will continue to stare at her often and take pictures.