6 weeks post partum

I had my post partum checkup at the OB on Monday.  It seems weird, after a month of trying to get pregnant, including charting my period and ovulation prediction, and 35 weeks of a pregnancy, it is all officially over.

The exam went well.  Everything is returning to normal. The doctor gave me a bunch of exercises to do.  She checked my incision, it is healing very well.  I was given the green light to return to normal activity, and even perscribed birth control.  We brought Erbse with us, because we knew the doctor would be very happy to see him.

Most exciting though was that it way the first time I was weighed since my pregnancy.  I have 5 pounds to lose to be back down to my pre-pregnancy weight!  Of course, my body has changed ridiculously by the pregnancy, and my stomach is extra squishy, but I am really proud of myself for not gaining that much weight through the pregnancy.

I looked back into my "Mutterpass" tonight, or "mother's passport."  It documents the pregnancy from my first visit at 6 weeks to Monday's post partum visit.  It was nice looking back and remembering each doctor's appointment, especially the exciement of seeing Erbse on the ultrasound monitor.  I really loved being pregnant, and sometimes feel a little twinge of sadness when I think about the fact that I missed out on the last month of the pregnancy.  I never got to see a part of Erbse stick out from my stomach, I only experienced hicups once, and I never got to experience "nesting," or even finish the nursery (even now, it isn't finished.) I loved the excitement of it all.  I loved feeling every kick and flutter.  I loved the anticipation.   But, with all that, I wouldn't have changed a thing, I'm so happy that Ryan was born when he was.  We have a beautiful, healthy baby boy who I love more and more every day.

The whole journey started in September of 2010 with the first pregnacy.  From then until Monday, there has always been some thought in my head about pregnancy.  And now, its all over.

Ryan's first Christmas

Well, my goal is to get this post completed before Jan 25th, so if I can get this done today, then I would say that I'm doing good :)

In November, Joern and I went to the Women's Clinic in Stuttgart, to set up an appointment for my elective c-section.  I was hoping that our little Erbse would be born on December 27, because I wanted Ryan to bake as long as possible, AND, I was looking forward to Ryan's first Christmas being with an almost one year old.  With my due date being so close to Christmas I knew that no matter when he was born, birthday and Christmas were going to fall periously closely.  But when we got to the Women's Clinic, we spoke with cheif doctors, who explained that the best date for my c-section would be on December 23.  So, we left the Women's Clinic that day fully expecting to spend Christmas 2011 in the hospital with a two day old baby.

Of course, Erbse had different plans.  I'm very glad he chose his Grandpa's birthday for his own birthday, and not the 23rd of December.  We were able to spend Christmas 2011 in our new house with our 3 week old baby.  It was magical, and memorable, and well, probably the most special Christmas ever.

Ryan's first Christmas started out like this:

If you ever watched Seinfeld, the above picture reminds me of the "Puffy Shirt" episode, in which Jerry exclaims "But, I don't wanna be a pirate," before going on a morning TV show.  Joern and I joked, if Erbse could only talk, he would have said in the same winy voice, "But, I don't wanna be an elf!"  It was on Christmas morning that I found out that Ryan is not such a fan of hats, we're still working on this one.

Mommy quickly learned that hats should go high on one's head, and not come anywhere near Erbse's eyebrows, and then, things got much better, and Ryan's first Christmas became quite enjoyable.

The cutest present under the tree :)

Mommy got in a good Christmas morning cuddle.

Daddy got to open gifts with Ryan:

It was a really quiet day.  Oma was sick, so it was just Mommy, Daddy, and Erbse all day.  Christmas is usually so hectic, so it was nice to spend a very quiet day as a little family.

We got to Skype with step-grandma and Grandpa too, which was the best we could do given that we're very far from Grandpa.

Although it was unlike any other Christmas before, it was by far my favorite Christmas ever!

Where is my little baby?

So, one day this blog will not be only baby, but please bear with me, right now, my life is only baby.

I mentioned in my last post that little Erbse was eating like a champ.  Well, he is growing like a champ as well! 
I guess a little backstory is in order.  Ryan came home 2 weeks ago.  Although he was not eating the specified 480 ml per day, nor was he even eating 70- 80 ml six times a day, he was regaining some of the weight that he lost from his birthweight.  Ryan was released from the hospital weighing a whopping 2900 g, which was up from his lowest of 2840 g.  The requirements for release were that he was eating, and that he started gaining weight, both of which he was slowly doing.  We still had the problem that Ryan was falling asleep during feeds, so that he was eating about 30- 50 ml per feed, which left him with a feeding defecit at the end of every day. Yet despite this, he was gaining weight, and the doctors did not believe he needed a feeding tube again, so he was released.

Somehow, I thought that because Ryan was a preemie, and wearing preemie clothes when he came home, that we would have a little while in his super-cutie newborn outfits.  Since we have been home, Ryan has become an eating machine!  And, he has been growing!  On his second day home, I put Ryan in his brand new "Born to Play for VfB" outfit (VfB is the Stuttgart professional soccer team.)  Here is my two week old super-cutie in his outfit:

And, last week, I put on the same outfit, and realized it was the last day he was going to be able to wear the outfit, it was just long enough but the feet were a little snug.

I have such mixed emotions about retiring my little Erbse's newborn clothes.