School Work

Owen's 1st research paper.
The (2 night) assignment was to choose a zoo animal, draw it and write 3 facts about it.

His class is going to the Zoo on Tuesday.

Week 3

Here's little Ryan at 3 Weeks old!

He isn't really smiling yet, I just got lucky.

Ryan is still difficult to feed b/c he is so sleepy. I am hoping we turn a corner soon. Our 45 minute routine is frustrating and getting old. Especially when I am alone with all 3. We have places to go, people to see :)

Back in the Game

Slowly but surely I am getting back in the game. And it feels oh so sweet. The joy in my boys' eyes when I throw a baseball or dance around the living room or even make dinner is priceless.
It feels like I am constantly doing things again for the "first" time. If only I could keep this appreciation for the simple everyday things, but I know it won't take long before I take them for granted, or even worse, dread them.

Unplugged

As of yesterday evening, Ryan was allowed to be taken off the photo therapy. His numbers had dropped from 15.75 to 13.5. We kept him on the lights a little longer just to be on the safe side ;) The agency will come by this morning and take it away!
Now I can cuddle my little guy without sitting by the electrical outlet. Or move him to another room without unplugging him and carrying his equipment. Or even leave the house with him again.
As inconvenient as this was, I have been reminded what a blessing it is to have a healthy baby. A NICU baby or a baby with special needs would be "hooked up" to so many machines all of the time. And I thought this one machine made it difficult to feel close to Ryan, I can't even begin to imagine.
Now we just need the little guy to gain some more weight. He has barely reached his birth weight and he'll be 3 weeks tomorrow.

More Excitement

The day started out great. This was my first morning downstairs with the kids before Owen left for school. We were all so excited. Ryan even joined us.

I had to capture Mason's crazy morning eyes and hair.
If the hair tells all, he must have slept really good!

I took Ryan to the Dr. all by myself! EJ's mom arrived last night so she watched Mason. Then the day started going a little downhill. I had to take Ryan to a Lab to get his Bilirubin tested for Jaundice. The woman screwed up and had to draw blood twice. I came home in a panic. The Dr. also wants me supplementing after each feeding with formula. Formula breaks down bilirubin and breast milk does not. (We learned this with Owen) I had no idea if he would even drink it. But he chugged it down. What a blessing!

Here he is soaking up some sunshine.

At 5:10 this evening the Dr. office called to say his levels were high enough for medical attention and the home health agency would be coming by tonight with his photo therapy. Thankfully the nurse was AWESOME. She feels sure the woman at the Lab screwed up and said she thought he'd only need the lights for 24 hours. Another nurse will come by the house tomorrow morning to draw blood and we should know by tomorrow afternoon if his levels are dropping.

Here's our glow baby.

I am less panicked after the nurse came by tonight and now that I know he'll drink the formula. I feel terrible that I didn't get him checked earlier. It certainly doesn't help to beat myself up about it, but I can't help it.

Mim has been a good distraction for the older 2.
She came bearing "big brother" gifts.

And it's only Monday! At least the older 2 are feeling better.

Family Bonding

This has not been the exciting weekend I was hoping for now that I can actually do something if I wanted. For some reason, I imagined fun outings with my family. Silly me. That was before Mason's lymph nodes swelled 3 times the normal size and a trip to Kids Med yesterday afternoon diagnosed strep throat. Oh and the Dr. felt certain Owen had it too, so they are both on antibiotics and under house arrest until tomorrow. I am still debating whether EJ and I need to be tested even without symptoms.
Then this morning our washer stopped working mid cycle. EJ got on the blessed Internet and solved the problem. This is not what a new mom wants to see when she walks in her laundry room. Fortunately the problem is temporarily fixed until we can get a new part. Phew! We have laundry coming out of our ears!

A Blur

Can you tell by my lack of posting that the honeymoon is over? We are now in the "how is this going to work?" stage. Around here we like to call it survival mode. I can't say for certain the last time I really looked at my husband. We are ships passing in the night. We have barely remembered Owen's homework each night and Mason often walks around with a diaper that hasn't been changed for a very long time.
The boys were very sad this week not to have daddy at their beckon call. I have done very small spurts of time by myself with all 3 boys. Oh my goodness, how will I do this every day all day long? Their needs/wants are so different.

A glimpse of Week 2
His first real bath

2 weeks oldRyan pretty much slept and ate his way through his first 2 weeks.
I have a feeling week 3 will be a little different. We are seeing a little more of this.

I have gotten out of the house a little this week. I am looking forward to the weekend b/c I might actually be able to do something with my family again. Hooray for Fridays!

In My Shoes

To say I am getting antsy would be putting it lightly. I can not believe how long I've been hanging around our house. EJ thought I should take a little walk outside. Just around our circle. So I put on my sneakers. I almost didn't recognize them. I am almost certain I haven't seen them in 3 months. Insane! I am going to have my work cut out for me. Well, I did the circle. I can't say it felt perfect. But I was standing completely upright which is more than I can say for last Sunday. Baby steps!
Monday is EJ's last day off. I am trying not to think about it. He has been so amazing and we are all so use to having him around. Fortunately, we will not be alone yet. My mom comes Tuesday and will be here through Thurs. and then I get to hang out with Lissa on Friday.

1 Week Old

Just got an e-mail reminder that I am 38 weeks pregnant.
Ha! Glad that is over!

1st Bath

Ryan's first bath was actually Tuesday, but I am just now getting around to posting.
I can tell he isn't going to get a bath very often. It's hard to squeeze in the time.

We did give him another bath last night and I am happy to report that Owen was eager and very involved. (He was at school the first time). There hasn't been many opportunities for him to help. I am glad he enjoyed it. Fortunately, Ryan was very patient while his brother's took turns.

Hear Me Roar!

EJ took Mason to Maymont this morning to see the animals.

As you can tell he got into character.

He is "roaring" at home a little more often too. I can only imagine his world is rocked. He is much less patient and quicker to show his opinion. Only natural I am sure. I think all of 4 us are doing that to some degree. It is obvious he is trying to find his place. Some moments he is a "big" boy and the next he is a "baby."

Week One

I plan on posting a 1 week old picture later today, but first I wanted to share a few more from the hospital. (the beautiful blanket was made by EJ's mom)

Several of you have asked how I have time to update the blog. Well, so far my days consist of feeding Ryan, figuring out how to best roll in and out of bed/couch and resting/sleeping/reading. I have been physically recovering a little more each day and rejoicing in the milestones. God is good! I am so glad the first week is behind me.

Lately, the hardest part is finding time with Owen. He slips under the radar if I am not careful. He is very hesitant around Ryan. It's clear they haven't bonded as quickly as Mason and Ryan.
With Owen being in school most of the day and then having daddy around to play, I have barely seen him. He seems to be handling everything very well, but it could be a facade. I am hoping today to rope him in with a few hands of War (the card game), he loves it.

My Cheerleader

I don't know how the man does it. He just gives and gives and gives. He has barely stopped since Thursday. I suppose the bed rest weeks were good training. I was thinking as we went to bed last night that we barely have time to talk right now. This is normal I know and we expected it. What I didn't expect was the coherent conversation we would later have at 1 a.m. while I fed Ryan. It's still too uncomfortable for me to nurse in bed, so EJ sat in the nursery patiently waiting in case I needed something. We talked and it was good. Nothing serious, I just thoroughly enjoyed time with him all to myself. No matter how rotten I feel he is continues cheering me on.

For Real?

Doesn't he look like a doll? I know from experience we are still in the honeymoon stage, and that it probably won't remain this amazing, but I have decided to try and not think about how hard it could get in the next few weeks, and instead savor this precious and teeny tiny boy.
Ryan is so small (6lbs, 9 oz as of today). I can't get over his tiny feet. He has the longest toes and they usually stay bent and remind us of monkey feet. As you can see in this picture, his legs are still bent funny from being breech for so long. Hmm...This post was suppose to be about how cute I think my son is and now I have described him as part monkey and frog.
Ryan is doing awesome. I can't say the same for my body. This recovery is rough. I know I will eventually feel better, but at the moment it seems like a long way off. EJ took him to the pediatrician by himself this morning. By the time I showered and dressed I could not move another inch. It was hard watching him go alone, but I knew Ryan was in great hands and there just wasn't anything I could do about it.

Breaking Out

Ryan and I passed our tests this morning with flying colors, so we got to leave the hospital! 3 nights was definitely long enough, although I will greatly miss the mechanical bed that helped me sit up and lowered me down to help me stand. Didn't think about all that. Stomach muscles are important, don't take them for granted!

Oh, my heart. I feel our team is complete.
Thank you Lord for blessing me with so much.

Thank goodness my mom is here for awhile. I can do absolutely nothing except feed Ryan. Bed rest is starting to look easy. At least then I wasn't in so much pain and could move if I needed to. Ugh! At least I am not heading in for my scheduled c-section tomorrow. It's all behind me now.

Meeting the Family

Aunt Lissa and Uncle Alex

Grandma

Sir

Ryan's Birth Day

My pre-planned Dr. appt on Thursday, April 8th, at 11 a.m. revealed that I was 4 cm and having small contractions every 7 minutes and that the baby was still breech. The contractions were enough to send me to labor and delivery for monitoring, but b/c he was not full term they could not automatically send me to the O.R. Instead, I needed to "declare" myself. Meaning, my water needed to break on its own or I needed to continue to dilate. So we waited and waited.
Initially in L &D my contractions slowed down, so the nurses felt sure I would go home. Little did they know how easily I dilate :) I felt sure things were happening. I hadn't felt contractions for the first 4 cm, so once I started feeling them, I knew it wouldn't be too long. Gradually the contractions got bigger and more painful.
By 3:45 p.m. I was 5 cm. That is all it took. The tough decision was made for us. By 6 p.m. I walked (yes, with my own legs) into the O.R. leaving my husband behind. One glance at the room full of medical staff and I burst into tears. They prepped me for surgery, something I would soon like to forget and once the Dr. arrived they brought EJ in. The wait to see each other felt like the slowest 20 minutes of both our lives.
The baby was out very quickly. They had prepared us that he might not cry, b/c of the c-section and b/c he was not full term. Thankfully he came out mad and crying well! Music to our ears. We saw him very briefly.
After convincing EJ I would be okay for a few minutes, he bravely walked past my lower half and took pictures of the baby getting cleaned up. I was pretty sad about not holding him or even being able to see them work on the baby. After quick thinking, it occurred to me that I could view the pics he had taken. Thank goodness for technology. It was a good distraction while they put my gut back together.
Nausea soon set in and continued on and off all evening and night. Hence the reason for our slow announcement. I started feeling much better around 10 a.m. on Friday and was able to eat some "real" food for dinner, if you can call hospital food "real."
The real pain didn't set in until last night, but thankfully the pain meds also helped me sleep. If you know my history with newborns this is a huge answer to prayer. At this point, we will be leaving the hospital on Sunday.
They are keeping a close watch on Ryan's jaundice levels and he is doing fine for now. He is eating great.

Dr. Fogarty reporting for surgery

My mom brought the boys over Thursday night for a quick peek at their baby brother. Friday's visit with them was great. Mason is really excited and wanted to hold Ryan the whole time. I'll have more pics as soon as I get them off the camera.

Introducing

Ryan Davis Fogarty

Born Thursday, April 8th
6:33 p.m.
7 lbs 19.5 inches long

We are all doing well. I'll have more pics and updates soon.

Making Room

We didn't change much in the nursery, but I wanted to make it extra special for our 3rd little guy, so we added the monkey wall decal. My sister graciously spent a good bit of a Saturday afternoon sticking it up.

His room is ready! We are ready! His brothers are ready! We can't wait to meet the newest member of our family.

Mountain Top

The boys had a great time with Grandma and Sir. Lots of adventures to share when they got home. Their 2 day trip was busy with Go Carts, Putt Putt golf, playing on the snow, a hike and dinner out. I enjoyed hearing all about it!