AMAZING, FINALLY, and OUCH!

Riley is such a good little sleeper for how little he is. I heard from so many people to be prepared to wake up every couple hours throughout the night. That isn't the case for us. The first couple nights after Riley was home he woke up twice during the night, but just after a couple days that stopped. He only wakes up once and I think it is so wonderful. He will normally wake up at 5 and then sleep again till almost 10. One night he slept until 7 without waking up once. I woke up that morning because he started to cry and noticed that it was getting sunny outside...I was so confused but so very happy. I am just so amazed that he sleeps so well and is just 3 weeks old. Hopefully soon he will just stop waking up altogether until I am ready to get up! :)

Last night his umbilical cord FINALLY came off. Oh I am so happy. I opened up his sleeper to change his diaper and it was gone. I was so surprised and so very happy. I am so happy to finally be able to give him a real bath instead of a sponge bath. He hates sponge baths...but I don't blame him. Who would like to lay there all wet and naked and cold? I certainly wouldn't! I sure hope he likes real baths. Finally after 3 weeks it finally fell off. It took long enough!

THRUSH! What a deadly word. Yes that is right. After everything he has gone through my baby got the deadly thrush. I am so sad for him. After about a week of nursing I started getting this sharp pain in one of my chest. I just ignored the pain. Then the pain started getting stronger during every feeding. Riley's tongue started turning white but just looked like milk residue on it. The pain in my chest was so unbearable that I just couldn't keep nursing. It hurt too bad. So I started pumping and feeding him through bottles. After about a week of doing that I tried nursing him again and the pain wasn't there. Well after a couple feedings it came back and so much stronger. Now not only was it a sharp pain but felt as if my chest was on fire. It wasn't only one side now...it was both. And it didn't only last during the feeding...it would last for hours. The white on Riley's tongue was getting thicker. I contacted my doctor and also the Pediatrician and they said that yes we did have thrush. So now I have to put some cream on my chest and give Riley medicine 4 times a day. He is already on acid reflex medicine and now he will be taking medicine all day long. Poor guy! They have to treat the infant and the mom at the same time otherwise we would just keep passing it back and forth to each other. For those who don't know what thrush is, it is a yeast infection that babies get in their mouth and it is passed to the mom into her chest. Oh it is so painful. My chest feels like it is on fire. They say that when the mother or baby is pumped with antibiotics that they tend to get it...and since both him and I were pumped with antibiotics in the hospital thats how it started. So hopefully in about a week or so the thrush will go away. OUCH!

I have a husband?

Allen was around so much when we had Riley. I had so much company between my mom and Allen. Then my mom left and Allen went back to school and work. It also happened to be the end of the semester...so he was so busy. Between his two jobs, school, homework, finals, finishing lab hours, and his calling I felt as if I was all alone. It was so hard to have everyone leave and leave me by myself. Well last week was the final week of classes and Allen finished his lab hours. He took his last 2 finals this morning. You know what this means? I get my Allen back! I can hardly wait. He still will be working a lot, but at least he wont be cramming with finals and stuff. I am so excited for this summer. I am excited for walks around the neighborhood, spending time as a family at the park, BBQing, swimming, and laying out in the sun. It will be so nice to have more time with Allen. Yay for being a family of THREE! WOOHOO!

Photos By Maria

Here are some photos from Part two of Riley's photoshoot. I think they turned out so great. I am so excited to see all the pictures because I love every one that she posted on her site. Thanks again Maria! If anyone is the Provo area is looking for some pictures to be taken, Maria does a great job and is really afordable. Her site is http://photosbymaria.blogspot.com/

2 weeks old and wiser too!

What I love about my little Riley:

• He loves to cuddle.  He hates not being in someone's arms.  When he is asleep he will peek his eyes open to make sure he is being held.  If he is being held he will close them again, and if he is not being held he will start screaming.  SO FUNNY...except for when it is night time!
• He loves his hands more than anything...especially his right hand.  He has to have them up by his face.  When I swaddle him tight in his blanket and put his arms straight he will find a way out of it.  It doesn't matter how tight he is wrapped his hands always find a way out and up to his face.
• A few days ago he started smiling.  Now he smiles non stop when he is asleep and it sure does make mom smile back!
• I love love love his full head of hair.  It is so soft and smooth.  I love that he has black hair like his daddy!
• He has a crooked butt crack.  Oh it is so funny.  He sure is one unique little boy! :)
• He is so very strong.  I cannot believe it.  I swear he is stronger than his mom.  I am AMAZED at how strong his neck is.  His neck, legs, arms....everything is so strong.  I can't keep him down.
• He already knows how to move himself and he is only TWO WEEKS old!  I cannot believe it.  He will bend his legs and plant them into the ground and shoot his body back.  He does it all the time and moves himself seriously like 6 inches in one push.  It is AMAZING.  He also rolls every once in awhile which is crazy that he can do that at his age.
• He is a perfect mix of Allen and I.  He for sure got the Richards gene's in his heighth!  He is 22.25 inches long and has the LONGEST feet and the BIGGEST hands.  All the nurses at the hospital were amazed by his hands and feet.  He looks just like me when he is asleep but when he is awake he looks JUST like Allen.  I love it so much.  
• I love his round face.  He got that from me.  I hate it on me...but I love it on him!

I love so many things about him but my FAVORITE thing about my baby is...

• When he starts to cry he will stretch his neck and quiver his lips and will let out the cutest little cry.  The face is PRICELESS!

Riley is doing great.  He is home from the hospital.  We have a machine that we hook him up to at night time and it tracks his oxygen and heart rate.  If it isn't where it is supposed to be then it sets off the  LOUDEST alarm.  I cannot believe how loud it is.  The company that makes the machine will download the data from it and give it to the doctor.  That way the doctor can see what he is doing at home.  Riley's breathing has been normal again.  He hasn't been breathing quick shallow breaths anymore so that is great!

Allen is working hard and trying to finish up this semester of school.  He is such an amazing husband and father.  He loves his little boy so much and loves to cuddle with him as they both fall asleep.  Riley loves his dad as well.  Yesterday was a tough day for me.  Riley did not stop screaming ALL day long.  He wouldn't sleep.  I nursed him seriously like 15 times...he wanted to eat every hour.  When he wasn't nursing he was screaming.  I had a brief second to get in the shower but then had to pull my hair back wet and thats as much as I could accomplish all day.  Allen came home at 7 and walked in the door.  I felt like a failure.  I was not able to do anything, not even comb out my hair.  The house was a mess and my baby was screaming and I looked like trash.  When he walked in, I looked at him and just started crying.  I felt like I failed as a wife and as a mom.  Allen took him from my arms and told me to go lay down and go to sleep for the night.  How thoughtful of him.  I think that was the sweetest thing that he could have done and it was much needed.  Luckily Riley fell asleep for him and then Allen woke me up at 11:30 to feed him.  Thank you so much Allen for being so thoughtful and understanding!

Today we finished Riley's newborn pictures.  We tried to take them last Friday but Riley was being too difficult.  He was a little bit better today and we were able to get some great pictures.  Maria showed a few of them to me briefly and I am so excited.  They turned out great!  Maria has a ton of photoshoots in the next few days so I will post pictures of this photoshoot when she gets a chance to edit some of them.  Thanks again Maria!  Allen and I really appreciate it!

Dude did anyone watch that jazz game last night that was so frustrating, man i hate the lakers so bad. If anyone else hates the lakers too let me know maybe we can start a club called the he man lakers haters club, or something like that. Also if you have any good club names let me know.

Change

So I changed up my blog a bit. Do you like it? Yes or no?

Thanks!

Are we getting somewhere?

If you haven't read the previous post then you might want to read it so you understand this post. Riley and I spent the night at the hospital again. I am so sick of the hospital. HAHAHA! Anyways, they had Riley hooked up to a machine all night to track his breathing and heart rate. They drew blood to do some blood tests. They poked him 4 times before they were actually able to get blood. My poor baby was screaming. I couldn't be in the room for it so his dad and Aunt Maria stayed with him as I stood in the hallway with Katie. They did an X-Ray of his chest this morning. The pediatrician will be coming back later today to check on him again. Now he is saying that he needs to go back on his Acid Reflex medicine and that he doesn't really know what is going on. We will be leaving the hospital later today with a machine that Riley will be hooked up to. This machine will be able to track his breathing and heart and will also be able to show if he is having acid reflex episodes. So I will still be leaving today with no answers to what is wrong with my baby but at least they will be tracking it. I hope we can figure out what is wrong with him. I sure love my little boy and I want him to get better. I LOVE YOU RILEY!

And we are back...at the HOSPITAL!

AH I AM SO FRUSTRATED!! Nobody will give me answers. My baby was in the Special Care for a week for a reason...there is something wrong with him. Why can't anybody figure out what it is? At first when he was born he was put on oxygen because he was struggling with breathing and panting like a dog with such shallow breaths. Then they said maybe he had a heart murmur. Then they said maybe he has an infection so they put him on antibiotics. Then his heart rate kept dropping. Then he lost a TON of weight. He should have gained about 20 grams a day...instead he lost 150 grams in TWENTY FOUR hours. Every time we would ask someone what is wrong with him they would always say that they didn't know. After everything Riley and Allen and I went through they sent him home without answers. We thought things were great. Monday and Tuesday came and went. Then Wednesday we took him to get circumcised. That day we started noticing that he was breathing funny again. We kept watching it closely and he kept breathing like he did when he was first born, fast shallow breaths like a dog. Thursday we started getting really nervous. We called the Pediatrician and took him in. We had to see the on call doctor since it was after hours. The stupid guy said that he thinks Riley might have reflex and put him on medicine. Then the stupid medicine started making him throw up after eating and it never happened before. He would throw up all his milk out his mouth and it would also pour out his nose. He did that on Thursday and on Friday. Saturday I decided not to give him the medicine since it was making him throw up his food. He wasn't throwing up anymore...stupid doctor. Saturday my mom noticed that when he was breathing really shallow that he was caving in right below his rib cage and above his collar bone...which isn't good the doctor said. He also started getting really pale and turned a little blue. Today we woke up and Riley was really pale and was a little blue again. He was breathing really funny again today. I was laying with him and all of a sudden he would he would start gasping for air and start shaking a little bit. It would last for about 5 seconds or so and then stop. He did it 4 times in a row. I then called the Pediatrician again. This pediatrician said the other doctor was wrong about the reflex and said he thinks everything is normal with the baby. How is it normal to not be able to breathe and start turning a little blue and to be having your heart rate dropping? Normal? I don't think so! The doctor said he suggested Riley stay at the hospital for 24 hours hooked up to machines and see what is going on. So now him and I are back at the hospital once again. I feel like I was just here...maybe because I was. I bet after all of this I still wont know what is going on with my baby and will still have NO answers. Wonderful!

Part One

Like I said in the previous post, Riley got his newborn pictures done but after just a few minutes he was not very happy. He was screaming bloody murder and wouldn't stop. So we are going to do another try in a few days. Here is a little taste of what we got so far. There will be some more posted when we do Part Two! Thanks Maria!

My wonderful boy...the cry baby!

My sister in law is a great photographer and we scheduled to get Riley's newborn pictures today.  My boy never cries.  He is such a great baby and just loves being snuggles and warm.  Well we were trying to get cute naked baby pictures and he HATES with a passion being undressed.  We were only able to get a few minutes of him calm and then he just cried and cried.  He wouldn't stop.  It was so sad because that's not how my baby is.  He did pretty good when his dad got there to get pictures with him.  Riley LOVES his dad, and his dad LOVES him.  It sure is fun to watch them together.  This morning I walked into our bedroom and found Riley in bed with Allen and he had Riley snuggled so tightly in his arms.  I asked Allen if he wanted to go get in the shower and he said no that he wanted to be with Riley.  Oh it was so cute.  I love my two boys!  Well, anyways...back to the photoshoot story.  I cannot believe how difficult my little guy was.  She was able to get a bunch of pictures of Dad and Baby together, Mom and Baby together, and Dad Mom and Baby together.  So she said to bring him back again soon and she'll get more pictures of him alone.  I am just so sad that he wasn't being good.  He just likes to be dressed and warm and snuggled in our arms.  Maria was so patient with him and I appreciate that so much.  She always does such a wonderful job on all her photoshoots so I am anxious and excited to see the result of our photoshoot.  She said she'll try and edit some of them tonight so I will probably have some of them posted on here tonight or tomorrow morning.  And then you'll have to wait to see more pictures of him alone.   So check back! 

My poor baby!

This morning Allen and I took Riley to the dreaded circumcision appointment.  Allen was in there with him during the procedure as I waited outside the door.  I heard my baby screaming and it was so sad...but the sadest thing was walking back into the room and seeing my baby laying naked on the table screaming in pain.  This morning was hard for me!

My boys

The boys are cuddling right now.  I just had to take some pictures of it because they sure are cute together.  My heart just melts seeing them two together.  Allen is such a great dad and loves playing with our little guy.  Being a wife and mom is the best thing in the world!

Baths

Today my mom helped show me how to give Riley a sponge bath. He cant take a normal bath until his umbilical cord falls off. He has gotten sponge baths before in the Special Care, but it was my first time giving him one at home. HE HATED IT!

Grandma taking off his sleeper.

This is what he thought of his bath!

Mommy sat on the couch with him and put lotion on his body. He smells so good!

THIS IS MY FAVORITE FACE! He does this sometimes and it makes my mom and I laugh soooo hard. He will stretch his neck and he looks like a turtle popping his head out of his shell. We call him Mr. Turtle face. Oh he is sooo funny!

I sure have enjoyed him being home with my today.  He has peed on himself twice today already.  He loves to sleep and sleeps for LONG periods of time.  I have to wake him up after awhile because he wont even wake up when he is hungry.  Him and I spent a lot of time today sleeping and cuddling.  I love laying in my glider chair and sleeping with him in my arms.  He is such a good boy!

All 3 of us...together at HOME!

Riley was able to come home today. Allen and I spent last night with him in the hospital room! He struggled a little bit at the beginning but then he slept for 5 hours straight. Mommy sure was happy. Last night Allen changed his diaper and Riley peed all over...I laughed so hard. I guess I shouldn't have because I got pay back today. We were home and I had him laying in my bed to change his diaper and I opened it up and got a nice surprise. He started peeing, but not just a little...A LOT! It was like a fountain on full blast. It shot up and all over...all over mommies bed, pillow, his clothes, himself, and...IN HIS MOUTH! The poor guy was screaming and then I started screaming for my mom's help. We washed him off, got a new diaper on him, new clothes, swaddled him up, and then he was nice and calm again. Boy was that an adventure. I just felt so bad that he peed in his mouth! We took all these pictures dressing him up in his outfit to come home...and then realized there was no card in my camera. So now I have no pictures of that. I was so sad. We put Riley in his car seat and boy did he love it. He hated it the first second and then he started to really like it. My mom bought me this wonderful blanket that goes inside the car seat. There are holes in it that velcro so that the straps come through and he is still buckled in his car seat. You aren't allowed to have blankets wrapped around the baby in the car seat because they cant be all buckled in, but with this they can. I am so glad that he has a little thing to snuggle in that is approved! :) A lady in my ward back home makes them and I think they are just wonderful. He gets to sit in his car seat and be all swaddled in and comfortable...and it keeps them quiet...BRILLIANT! So we put Riley in the car and Allen drove home as I sat with my little friend in the back and played with him. When we drove up Allen ran in the house to get the card for my camera so we can at least have pictures of us walking into the house for the first time. So here are some pictures. I sure love my little man!

Here he is in the car seat in the car wrapped in his car seat swaddler! 

Mother and son outside the car

Riley coming through the door for the very first time! It sure was fun to welcome him to his house!

Another picture of him swaddled in his car seat swaddler. I love the little bears on the fabric. Thanks mom! Riley loves his blanky!

Riley in his car seat not wrapped in his blanket. I love my little man so much!

Riley in his coming home outfit. Man is it HUGE on him. HAHAHA! He still looked cute. I think he looks a lot like Allen in these pictures!

Allen is so excited to have a little friend to play XBox with. I have a feeling Allen is always going to win!

THE BEST EASTER

You all know how badly I wanted my baby home for Easter. I have said over and over again that I just want to wake up Easter morning in my home with my little son. Well, that didn't happen. Allen and I have been going back and forth every three hours to feed Riley and in between those hours I had to pump. They wanted tons of milk to stuff the little guy so he would gain weight. Well this morning we woke up and went to the hospital at 8:30 to feed him and we both felt like a train wreck. We are so exhausted from going back and forth. I felt like I just rose from the dead or something. Well we walked into the Special Care and didn't know we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us. The nurse opened the door for us and said she just checked Riley and he was a new baby today. They weighed him and he had gained tons of weight since yesterday and that all our hard work paid off. He gained more than an ounce and they didn't expect him to gain that much. They told us he would for sure be coming home tomorrow morning and asked if we would like to stay at the hospital tonight. Allen and I both agreed it would be best to move back into the hospital for the night for our own sanity! :) So we told them that we would like that and they gave us even better news. They said we could move into the room at any time today and that the baby could come with us. He will be moved out of Special Care and into our own care! So Allen and I fed him and left to come home for Easter breakfast. We got all showered and ready for the day and we are going to go back to the hospital. We are going to spend a few hours with Riley and then come home for Easter dinner. My mom is making Ham and cream potatoes...Allen's and my FAVORITE! Then after our early dinner we are going back to the hospital, take Riley out of Special Care and take him into our room and keep him there....ALL NIGHT! :) It will be so wonderful to be with him all night and spend easter with him. He is such a healthy little boy and doing so wonderful. I am so proud of him for eating so much. Yesterday I was crying because he wasn't eating and Allen took him and held him up and faced him towards me and said, "Look at what you are doing to your mom, you better start eating!" And then Riley started crying, it was so sad! Allen and Marc gave him a blessing yesterday and with the blessing and everyones prayers, and all Allen's and my hard work...RILEY IS FINALLY COMING HOME! Thank you so much for all everyones love and prayers. It has meant the world to Allen and I. We love our son so much and just want him with us always. I already feel like Riley has always been apart of my life. He is such a wonderful baby that I love so much. I could not ask for a better Easter. I will be spending it with Allen and my healthy baby! I love those two more than anything in this world! What wonderful blessings I have been given...

I had to do it.

It was the HARDEST thing leaving the hospital today without my little baby. He has a low resting heart rate and it tends to drop when he sleeps. He has lost a ton of weight. They said he should be gaining about 20 grams a day and instead, our poor little guy has lost 150 grams since yesterday. They are really concerned about it. Riley needs to gain weight for 2 consecutive days before they will let him come home. So the earliest he will be coming home is Monday, and that is only IF he gains weight today and tomorrow. They are weighing him before and after each feeding and having me feed him more frequent, and pumping in between. It sure is a killer now that Allen and I are home because it's the pit to drive back and forth. Allen and I had to leave the hospital today. We were there since Tuesday and we no longer had a room. It was so sad leaving the hospital, and when I walked in the door of my house I just started crying and crying. My mom came up and hugged me and held me until I calmed down. It is nice to be in the comfort of my home, but I need my little boy!

Riley

Allen and I are still here at the hospital. They gave us a room on the other side of the hospital for 2 nights which means we don't get to stay here tonight. Riley was doing so well and they thought he would be able to come home on Friday, but then they said he needed to stay another night to be watched more since he had just gotten off his IV. They said he would be able to be taken home Saturday (TODAY), but that may not be happening now. When I went down to the Special Care at 3 this morning to feed him they said his heart rate has been dropping and that it dropped 4 times just from 12-3. Then when I just went for my last feeding they said his heart rate has still been dropping. He lost a ton of weight and then started gaining some more back. It keeps going in and out. When he was born he weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces, but as of right now after his last feeding he weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. My milk is completely in now and he is eating a ton, so he should not be as small as he is right now. It's hard because he looks so healthy, but he is still having some problems. It just breaks my heart. I wanted more than anything to have him home for easter morning, but that may not be happening now. I just want him to be healthy and whatever that takes is fine with me, but it still is difficult. He will be seen by the doctor again in a few hours and they will tell me more. I just hope things get better. I sure love that little boy!

Here are some more pictures of some recent activity:
Riley with his Aunt Katie

Abby is too young to be able to go into the Special Care so she has to watch her cousin through the window. She is just on AJ's shoulders having fun!
This is Riley's friend Danette. She was the nurse who he was taken to immediately after birth in the NICU and she has taken such good care of him. She is the best nurse and is so amazing with him. She checks on him all the time to make sure he is doing well.



He had an IV hooked up to his feet so he wasn't able to get his foot prints taken right away. Well now that he is off the IV he was able to get that done this morning at 3:30. I was so happy I could be there for it!

Nevermind!

Nevermind, the baby doesn't get to come home today. He will be coming home tomorrow instead but he did get his hospital picture taken today. Isn't he just the cutest. OH I AM IN LOVE!

Update from the hospital

Everything is going so well. At first there were complications with Riley and I was really struggling, but with time things have really progressed. They took Riley away right after birth and was in the NICU on oxygen. They also thought he had a heart murmur and infection. They put him on antibiotics and was not able to be held. That night was difficult for me. They wheeled me into the NICU to see him a couple hours after birth and I just had to look at him and they said if things progressed that he may be able to be held sometime the next day. I just cried and cried because I just wanted my son in my arms and I didn't like seeing him hooked up to the machines and IV and stuff. They brought me to my new room and they knocked me out with sleeping pills. I woke up in the morning and was dying to go see my baby. Allen and I went to see him and to my surprise he was doing much better and they let me hold him. It was the best feeling. I can't even express how I felt...an overwhelming feeling of love. He was in a lot of pain from the labor and everything and was swollen and bruised from the forceps. They wouldn't let anyone hold him besides me when I fed him and Allen got to hold him for a short time. He was just too fragile and needed to rest. Late that night I went to go feed him and they had moved him to Special Care which is one step up for him. They moved him from the incubator to a bassinet and dressed him. I went to go see him in his new home and he looked a THOUSAND times better. The swelling went down and he was so alert. He now could be held whenever and I could spend as much time with him as I wanted. They said that he did not have a heart murmur and there was no infection but that he still had to be watched closely and stay on the antibiotics. They told me he would be at the hospital for a few more days but that I would be leaving that night. They told me that there was no extra room for me and that I would have to go home and drive back every three hours to feed him. I just cried and cried. I felt as if a part of me died. I refused to go home without my baby. I wouldn't do it. The next time I walked into my house was going to be with my son and there was no telling me otherwise. I just bawled and Allen took care of me. My mom pulled some strings after talking to anyone and everyone and they found me another room in another part of the hospital for me to stay. Allen decided to stay with me at the hospital. So we got settled into my new room and I continued to continually go to the special care to be with my son and feed him. Every time I saw him he was doing so much better. He started eating better and he was just doing amazing. In the middle of the night I went to go feed him and they had taken him off the IV and antibiotics and they said he was doing amazing. This morning they told me he will probably be able to leave today, when originally they said he would be here till Saturday. I am just so excited. They said that the doctor was going to come look at him soon and they would tell me when he could leave. AH I AM SO EXCITED I CAN BARELY HANDLE IT! Here is some more pictures of our precious little monkey!