Look-A-Like

Something in the parenting book I'm reading really interested me! The book, On Becoming Babywise, says, "A child inherits 1/2 of his genetic self from his 2 parents, 1/4 of his characteristics from his grandparents, and 1/8 of his distictiveness from the great-grand parents". This statement got me thinking, and researching!! We went to our parents and grandparents and sifted through old pictures. We had a blast in the process hearing all the stories that they all shared! I love hearing the stories of how things "used to be".

While looking through the pictures I decided to do a blog on the likeness of Ryler to his immediate family and I thought it would be fun to make it a vote. So check out the pictures and vote for the relative you think Ryler looks most like!! I can't wait to see what you guys think!!

4 month updates

It has been a little over a month since I last posted and a lot has happened!

Ryler is mobile! At 3 1/2 months he started rolling from front to back and it didn't take him long to figure out how to go back to front. If left on the floor, he can roll all around the room. Mostly he rolls to whichever corner of the room his best friend, Dixie, is in. Dixie, however, is still very unsure about that little talking moving thing that is now forever rolling toward her. I think she's still wondering when we are going to bring him to back.

He went to his 4 month check up and is doing great. The doctor is very impressed with how strong he is. She was so impressed that she sat him up to see if he could sit on his own, and to my disbelief he sat up by himself for 5 sec. (His next big milestone is to sit up by himself for 10 sec.) We were both amazed.

Ryler has also started solids! We started with carrots b/c he has been on cereal for about 3 weeks to help him gain weight. He made some funny faces, which makes me think baby food carrots taste worse then the roto-virus vaccine, but he sure did gobble it down!



In other awesome news, Ryler and I were part of a Guinness World Record a couple weeks ago. The record was for the most CLOTH diapers changed simultaneously and we were one of over 5000 parent/baby couples around the world that participated in this event. It was so much fun! If you have children in diapers you should give modern cloth diapers a chance! It's not your grandma's cloth diapers anymore!!



Get Ready, Get Set.....Change that Diaper!!

Easter was a fun filled time with a lot of first for Ryler! It was a very tiring weekend for a 4 month old though. Some of his first Easter weekend included: setting a world record, a crawfish boil, Easter with the Mahler's, Easter with the Billeaud's, Easter with the Oertling's, and going to the beach. My favorite of all was seeing his little eyes light up when we stuck his feet in the sand. He didn't mind it at all though. He just curled his little monkey toes up and smiled.

Was That a Dream?

So it's been a couple weeks since Ryler had his surgery and now that I look back on that week it all seems like a dream.

Ryler did really well in surgery and everything went as planned. They were able to give him an epidural so that he didn't have heavy anesthesia which is great for a baby his size and age. They ended up stitching the valve off which is great too. This means there is no foreign object (the clamp) in his body. His ultrasounds and x-rays after surgery show that his heart is decreasing back to it's normal size! Dr. Yeh says Ryler has a normal healthy heart now!

It is simply amazing to me that About 60 years ago children with this problem (PDA) would eventually die from congestive heart failure because there was nothing the doctors could do. And about 10 years ago they had to crack the chest cavity and stop the heart to perform this procedure. Ryler has a 3 inch scar on his back and was pretty close to his regular self within 3-4 days taking only Tylenol (or Tyenol as the nurse would say) as needed. Thank God for medical advancements!

right after surgery

4 days later

Hopefully none of you ever have children who need to go to Tulane University Hospital but if you do their staff is amazing! This includes every person that works at this establishment that we encountered! Everyone was super helpful and happy even the lady that hit our car (worked there)! She was super helpful in the fact that she turned herself in.....thanks lady!



This was a very trying time for us but Chris and I discovered we can handle way more then we ever thought possible! This was the single most gut wrenching experiences of our lives. All of my friends and family who are more experienced parents tell me, "there will be more times like this when they..." but man did we start off with a heart stopper. Hopefully we are good for several years at least!

Special note from Chris:
(Hi all, Chris Here) I think I can speak for both of us and say we never imagined being parents would be this hard. I have never shed nor had to hold back so many tears in my life. Crying is not "manly" but I can honestly say it is different when it comes to your children. My heart hurt at just the doctor saying that my child needed heart surgery, let alone having to go through with this surgery so far from home and with so much drama (accomadations, mardi gras, car accident,...) surrounding it. No matter how strong we tried to be we felt so broken and helpless. I am sure I added some unnecessary years to my heart.

We made it through thanks to our super support system and for all they did! To both of our work places, friends, and family thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. And to our parents thank you so much for everything! We really needed you and you really helped us through that rough time!!

Ryler's Surgery

For those of you who don't know, Ryler is going to be undergoing a heart surgery on Wednesday of next week.

Ryler has Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), which is a heart problem that occurs soon after birth in some babies. In PDA, abnormal blood flow occurs between two of the major arteries connected to the heart. Before birth, the two major arteries the aorta and the pulmonary artery are connected by a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus. This vessel is an essential part of fetal blood circulation. Within minutes or up to a few days after birth, the vessel is supposed to close as part of the normal changes occurring in the baby's circulation. In some babies, however, the Ductus Arteriosus remains open. This opening allows oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood from the pulmonary artery. This can put strain on the heart and increase blood pressure in the lung arteries.



To repair the PDA, a procedure know as PDA ligation, the surgeon will make an incision in the left side of Ryler's chest. The surgeon then will close the patent ductus arteriosus by tying or clipping it, stopping the blood flow across the PDA. When we spoke to the surgeon (Dr. Yeh)and Cardiologist (Dr. Recto) the other day, he said that this surgery is more common then you'd think and that he has a 100% success rate!

Aside from the obvious fear and nervousness, we are truly happy that we stayed on top of this and are able to take care of it so early in his life. Ryler will never remember this surgery and because he is so young, he will bounce back really quickly. The surgeon says that a lot of the babies this age don't even require pain medication after the surgery.



Chris and I are going to head to New Orleans (Tulane) on Monday afternoon for Ryler's early morning pre-op testing on Tuesday. Then if all of the pre-op testing comes out normal, they will operate on Wednesday. Ryler will then stay in the hospital for observation for 3-4 days. This will be a very taxing week for our family and we welcome any thoughts or prayers! We are so thankful for the great support system we have from our friends and family! Thanks in advance!

Two week pictures

We are really enjoying Ryler! He is such a sweet little guy! He had his first photo shoot the other day thanks to Tina. After he peed on almost everything....including Mommy, we got some really cute pictures!! Here are Ryler's two week pictures.


This just says it all!!


His little bitty feet! They are No doubt Mommies feet (Not because they are little though...lol)!


My sweet man! I really wanted his nub to fall off before the pictures but I guess it just proves his newness...lol


Our first family picture! And baby makes three!!


Daddy's little man!


Momma's boy!

Ryler's Birth Story

Hey everyone! So if you didn't already know, Ryler made his grand entrance on December 17th at 8:01pm!



I was scheduled to be induced on Monday December 20th at 8:00pm. Chris and I had so many plans for the weekend before the induction to get some last minute things together before Ryler came into this world. Well, he had other plans. This is how Ryler planned his arrival:

At about 6:00am (5:58am to be exact) my water broke while I was asleep. Chris was coming in to kiss me good bye before going to work when I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Chris thought it was just Ryler sitting on my bladder again. Soon after, I yelled for Chris to call the doctor and tell her my water had broke. The doctor said to come in to the hospital. So we got together all of our things, I showered, and we were on our way!

We got to the hospital around 7:00am. Where they confirmed that it was in fact my water that broke, they admitted me, and we got a labor and delivery room (room 9).



I was still at 1 1/2cm, so they gave it an hour to see if I would progress on my own. Unfortunately, I didn't, so the doctor started a Oxytocin drip at 9:00am. I was not having any contraction that I could feel and was doing great!



The doctor came in and said, "Unfortunately, you are feeling way too good. We will start upping your pitocin". And they did! By 11:05 the contractions were in full swing, and I began to understand that 1 to 10 scale in a whole new way. At 11:25 I was given a muscle relaxer which did help me to relax, but didn't help the pain.



At 12:30, the pain is at a strong 10+ and I asked begged for an epidural. The doctor checked and I was only at 2cm. She would not give an epidural until I was at least at 4cm. So they gave me Demerol and Finnegan, which did absolutely nothing for the pain of the contraction, but did help me sleep through the minutes in between.

At 2:20pm I was finally able to get the epidural. My blood pressure dropped really low (58/60) and I got horrible sick (Ryler was just fine through this whole thing). Once they fixed all of my issues, I was feeling much better and able to rest. After they gave me the epidural things starting moving really fast! At 2:45 5cm, 4:30 9cm, 5:01 10cm, and finally at 5:20 I started to push.

After a long three hours of pushing, at 8:01 the doctor placed my beautiful baby boy on my stomach. He came out very alert. The doctor roughed him up a bit to get him to cry for the crowd of friends and family listening at the door!



It was the most amazing thing I have ever been a part of!! He was then weighed and measured (6lbs. 15oz. and 20in).



Chris brought him to me after, and I nursed him while we got to really meet our newest member of the family!



Once the doctor was finished and I was done nursing, all of those fans waiting outside the door were let in to meet Ryler for the first time! I'm so glad Ryler has so many close friends and family that love him!



Dad took him to the nursery (with a quick stop to play the new born lullaby announcer) and then they took me to our new room (215 on 2East).



After the nursery was done they brought Ryler to our room (complete with mohawk super stylish hair that the nurses just loved) where he nursed again, and dad got to change his first dirty diaper. Then it was down for the night.





It was a super long day but I wouldn't change anything! It was the best experience and we can't wait to grow and learn with Ryler! Thank you to all our friends and family for their love and support through this whole journey. Now a new journey begins!!!

Ryler's Room

Ryler's room is now finished! We had such a fun time decorating it! Now we are playing the waiting game. As of today we have 9 days until my due date and we are just awaiting the day he decides to show! In the meantime here are some pictures of his room:

The clock made at the paint party by some of my closest friends. We had a blast!


Cute wall stickers that match his bedding. Thanks 1st grade teachers!!


Wooden letters over his closet. Thanks Broadmoor Support Staff!!


His name, bed, and bedding!


Whether he knows it or not his room is ready for Christmas with his Charlie Brown tree and dancing Snoopy doll!