#nelsendays2014 Weeks 31&32- Our first two weeks with Ryan

Time is flying by. I feel like we were in the hospital just yesterday, and here almost an entire month has gone by. We couldn't have asked for a sweeter or more content baby. He has been the best and sweetest gift.

For a list of my recommended products for the first two weeks, click here. 

For more of Ryan's story from the beginning and what we've been up to this past month, click here.

Day 211: Leaving the hospital!

Meeting his future bestie ;)

Day 212: Proud cousin :)

So tiny!

Day 213: Dinner is served- new centerpiece and all ;)

Day 214: First bath at home- I'm crazy about a cute bath towel! (or 7)

Teagan came over for dinner with her mama and daddy and spent some sweet time with "Baby RyRy"

Ryan and Tally. Melt.

Day 215: Rockstar :)

Day 216: A day of firsts! Ryan's first outing to his Aunt Gretchen's house, the boys' first day of school, and Maddox's first day of kindergarten! All on his one week birthday. :)

Sweet snuggles at Aunt Gretchen's

Day 217: Our 75lb lap dog making sure he still gets good time with daddy. ;)

Ryan's first meal out after a successful pediatrician appointment. The best part was having one of the workers walk up to me and say, "You come here with your belly? And now this is the baby? Can I see?" hahaha... oh that belly was memorable!

Day 218: I could look at that face all day...

I loved walking in on this sweet, sleepy snuggle time!

Day 219: Swaddle master and daddy pro. ;)

Day 220: A sneak peek of Ryan's newborn photos!

The new Friday night :)

Day 221: Roar

Day 222: First family walk at Chastain!

Ryan was a champ

Day 223: Ryan meets his future best buddy Finn!

First grocery run- we zipped through the store and were at the checkout in less than 15 minutes. We almost took out an elderly shopper and mama was sweating when we got back to the car, but Ryan never made a peep. Sweet baby. :)

Day 224: Bedtime snuggles

What we actually USED from our over-packed hospital bags ;)

Okay, so remember this post? Y'alls comments cracked me up- they were a nice way of saying we had WAY over prepared for our hospital stay.

So now, being on the other side, I can say that y'all were right. We did indeed way overpack.

And because some of you let me know that you shared the post or pinned it for yourselves for later, I thought I would do you the service of showing you the updated version- the very shortened list of what we actually used. ;)

Changes to the original post are in blue. (You like how I did that there? ...just in case you didn't know what color blue was). Items we didn't use are crossed out, and added items are in red. :)

So here goes:

Carry-on suitcase with wheels:

This contains everything for me and the babe

I still recommend using a carry-on suitcase with wheels- much easier for bringing in and out

For Me (some of these items are written on the green list for adding right before we leave):

• 3 Nursing tanks (purchased from Target)- I used ONE- the purple one on top to be exact, which also happens to be my favorite one that I've purchased. You can get it here (if the page doesn't work, hit reload and it will appear).
• 1 night nursing bra that’s comfy (all nursing bras purchased from Motherhood Maternity)
• 1 regular nursing bra with shape (for visitors and going home)
• 1 sports nursing bra- this is my favorite nursing bra- I want to get more in other colors.
• Nursing cover
• Regular sports bra to wear during delivery (I don’t see myself wearing the gown- I’m a minimalist with clothing (TMI?)... especially when I’m hot and sweaty (TTMI?)- true and I'm glad I had it
• 5 pairs of granny panties that I don’t mind donating to the cause- I say rock that massive mesh underwear they give you all day long and stock up for when you're home. 
• 3 pairs of socks for walking around during labor and otherwise
• Disposable slippers I took from our Babymoon resort
• 1 black sweater/cardigan wrap I can throw over a nursing tank when visitors come
• Lightweight hoodie from Target for the same purpose 
• Comfy boyfriend tee from Target
• Gap maternity stretchy leggings that hit at my ankles (and won’t drag on the floor)- love these for when we got home, but I was so HOT in the hospital, I guess from all of the changing hormones. One morning I was in a tank top and these shorts and asked Matt if he could turn the air down. He (who had apparently shivered through the night but didn't tell me, poor guy!) said, "Well it's on 58 now, did you want it to go much lower than that?" hahaha... WHOA! Hormones are a crazy, crazy thing. It was basically an ice box in our room and I was close to sweating. That day we had Matt's mom bring him extra blankets for sleeping that night. So maybe keep some extra blankets in the car in case the same thing happens to you!
• Black stretchy comfy silky (can you tell I’m a texture person?!) shorts from Target that will probably get a lot more wear than the pants
• Comfy flowy spaghetti strap dress for going home or wearing when visitors come I definitely recommend something flowy, and a dress was just easy. You basically leave the hospital with a 6-7 month pregnant belly, but with the no baby inside, so wearing anything fitted just felt weird to me. I was glad I packed this so that I had something with some give to wear home.
• Black maxi skirt from Target for going home or wearing when visitors come
• Blanket to bring back to Tally with baby’s scent- I'm so glad we did this! We sent the blanket home with my parents (who stayed with Tally ay our house) on the day Ryan was born, and our sweet pup who tears up every toy we give him carried this blankie around the entire time we were gone. My mom sent us these pictures of him taking it everywhere with him- crazy how a dog just knows! And by the way, we just used an old cloth napkin- we didn't actually buy a blankie. ;)

• Camera and charger
• Phone chargers
• iPod and speakers
• iPad
• Eyeglasses for both of us
• Hairdryer & diffuser (for quick & easy drying) The hospital had a hair dryer in our room! And I didn't wash my hair for three days, so the diffuser wasn't needed. :)
• Hair brush
• Eucalyptus Spearmint room spray- If I remembered I packed this, I probably would have used it.
• Roll-up bag with toiletries & medicine (skincare items, toothbrush/paste, deodorant, razors, contacts supplies, extra contacts, Downy wrinkle spray (love this stuff!) haha, who cares if  you're wrinkly?! Not the person who just delivered a baby, that's for sure... prenatal vitamins, hair gel, travel bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, lotion, chapstick, Motrin You can definitely take your own, but I made the mistake of starting off taking theirs, so then they kept bringing it every six hours. Just so you know, the prescription version they give you for pain and inflammation is 800mg, so that's equivalent to 4 OTC pills. If you're trying to save money, bring your own and take four every 6 hours (at least that's what they did for me, but I'm not a doctor so don't go on my word alone!), heartburn medicine My heart burn went away right after delivery and hasn't returned! Woohoo!)
• Extra empty bag for stocking up on hospital supplies- yes! We left with tons of diapers, wipes, those lovely mesh undies, ice packs, heat packs, gigundo pads- everything a new mom could want. ;) When they ask if they can get you anything, say yes and stock up. You've paid for it already anyway... those items are not itemized on your bill like medications and other supplies are (or at least they weren't for us).
• Birth plan

For Baby (most of these items aren’t necessary, but I want to have them there!): 

• 2 sleepers
• 3 pairs of mittens
• 3 hats
• 3 onesies (newborn and 0-3 months)
• 1 newborn shirt/bloomers outfit
• going home outfit
• Aiden & Anais receiving blanket

Yeah, he pretty much looked like this the whole time we were there:

Snack & Miscellaneous Bag:

If you plan to nurse, you will be HUNGRY!! I munched through the night and every time I nursed. Having your favorite snacks accessible is super important for a hungry mama! I didn't have time to write any thank yous in the hospital and had my mom help me remember who brought what when we got home rather than keeping track on a note pad in the hospital, but I do think those items are good to have in case you do have time!

• Ritz crackers (mini cheese crackers and my favorite Sour Cream & Onion crackers)
• Granola Bars
• Protein Bars
• Bananas
• Sour Patch Kids
• Lifesaver wint-o-green mints
• Sound Machine
• Thank you notes
• Notepad and pen
• Overnight Maxi pads provided by the hospital, but great to have for when you're home and run out of the ones you stock up on before you leave (plan on needing these and a thinner day version for at least three weeks post delivery)
• KY Jelly (for delivery) provided by the hospital
• Disposable nursing pads provided my milk didn't come in until the very end of the last day so I didn't need these until I got home. And then I REALLY needed them. So stock up!
• Lanolin Cream

Cooler Bag (to pack right before we leave):
You can store things in the hospital's refrigerator and freezer. They'll show you where it is on your floor and will have labels there for you to mark your items with your name and the date.

• frozen grapes
• popsicles for hospital freezer (recommended by a friend for during labor in case I want a little something other than water or gatorade- plus they're refreshing!)
• string cheese
• uncrustables PB&J sandwiches loved having these for the middle of the night!
• favorite spreadable cheese (to go with my favorite crackers) ;) 

Other Items:

• Boppy
• Pillows & blankets for each of us (I didn't need a blanket, but remember, extra blankets for your hubby or whoever is staying with you in case you freeze them out like I did!)
• Sturdy box in the car for flower arrangement
• Carseat with blanket for the ride home (Eeek!!!)

Okay the other big thing that we highly, highly recommend is bringing an air mattress for the person who stays with you. Matt and I thought of this last-minute and he was SO glad we did! We have this one (but you can also get a twin if your hospital room is smaller) that blows up easily and is not huge so it fit perfectly on the floor next to my bed. So much more comfortable than the window seat "bed" that he would have slept on.

Our hospital stay

As I mentioned in Ryan's birth story, we could not have asked for better doctors, nurses, or a better hospital experience all together.

Matt and I were both born at Northside Hospital, so it seemed fitting for us to deliver our own baby there as well.

Because Ryan was born at 12:30am (thank you buddy for holding out for July 28th! You know your mama loves those even numbers), we actually got to stay three full nights. Two where we really slept in the room. The first night after delivery, I think we made it to our room around 5am.

Point being, we had enough time for things to go wrong if they were going to go wrong, but they just kept going right.

The nurses and staff were so helpful and considerate. We were so grateful to each of them for making our stay such a positive one!

One of our favorite parts about our stay was having family and friends come to meet Ryan and visit with us.

Matt and I are both extraverts, so the idea of having people in our room all throughout the day energized us. In fact, it wasn't until we came home that we finally crashed and felt like we had just had a baby.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of each visitor holding Ryan so that he could see all of the people who came to love on him in his first few days of life, but alas, I had a baby and went straight from preggo brain to mommy brain. Yeah, I forgot.

If it weren't for our sweet nephew, Noah, this post would contain less than 10 pictures. Thankfully, he has taken quite an interest in photography and wanted to document everything while he visited. ;) And we're so glad he did!

To those of you who came to visit, THANK YOU!! We loved loved loved your company and appreciated you taking the time to come!

So to other mommas who are close to delivery, make a note to have someone remind you to take a second to document your visitors with a quick photo. It's so fun to look back at the pictures we do have!

Dr. Graham! 

One of our favorite nurses, Courtney, who came up with the ideas the help Ryan make progress when he was stuck and help us avoid a c-section. Her shift ended right as I had begun to push. She coached me through the beginning stages of pushes and then came if BEFORE her shift the next day to find us and make sure we were able to deliver without a c-section. SO sweet!

love this :)

Remember my post about "What's in our hospital bags?!" Well tomorrow I'll be sharing everything we did NOT use plus one or two things we added last-minute and are so thankful we did. Yes, next trip the hospital will be a much lighter one. ;)