I was crying at the drop of a hat (for no particular reason) and I was sure I (as a person) was gone now that the baby had arrived. I particularly remember crying and feeling like the world was ending the first day N went back to work and left Everly and I alone for the day.

Many told me that things would get back to normal following Everly’s birth and I didn’t believe them. I thought for sure I would forever be a sleep deprived, tunnel visioned shell of a person who was just living to fulfill the needs of their child. I imagined my own interests, needs and routines were forever killed now that I had a child to care for.

I am pleased to discover that this is not the case! Sure I am still fulfilling needs and often deprived of sleep but remarkably it all seems normal and perfectly manageable now that she’s 10 weeks old. We’ve adapted and are now fulfilling her needs in addition to carrying on our day to day activities. 10 weeks ago I just could not believe this was possible!

We’ve learned almost all her signals and are doing okay at keeping her happy most of the time. She’s sleeping fine, only wakes about twice a night for feedings and does easily go back to sleep.

I’ve also gone back to work with Everly in tow and she is a trooper! She actually prefers loud sounds to soft ones and we discovered that she likes instrumental music, so hearing the marching band play is perfect for her.

She also enjoys classical tunes so we’ve been playing it at the house. I am also singing scales to her during play time and she trys her darnedest to intimidate me. She’s shreaking with excitement and practicing her sound making skills now too.

We are still cloth diapering and breastfeeding her with great success. She’s also getting the occasional bottle from daddy here and there so she’ll be able to be cared for by someone other than me when needed.

Her daytime naps are still a slight challenge, she’ll often refuse to sleep when she clearly needs to. This can create some fussy days and nights when she is allowed to become overtired.

All in all I am happy to report that things do go back to normal eventually following the arrival or a baby. All the advice and supportive words were right, it was just hard to see that far ahead while in the thick of it.

Things are so well adjusted that we even had time to perform makeovers on BOTH our blogs in under a week. Did you check out N’s new blog look and what do you think of the new look here?

The post First time parent shock and adjustment (it really does get easier) appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

She’ll be hanging out at home with N while I go to an all day marching band rehearsal.

N wasn’t jazzed about spending the day hanging around the school taking care of E (so I could breastfeed her on demand) while I am working. I don’t blame him, if I were him would rather spend my Saturday at home relaxing.

Besides It’s better that she’s not out in the heat and blazing sun for that long anyway… So the two of them will be relaxing at home without me all day.

This is why we’ve been trying so hard to get her to take a bottle lately. There are gonna be days when she’s home with him and I am out working. We also would love to have a date night once in a while. If she refuses a bottle it kind of makes it impossible for me to leave her side for very long.

N and E had another successful morning while I was left to catch up on some sleep. I guess N took her down to the nursery where she took her morning nap in her crib. Crib sleeping is not something that happens often as she’s still pretty attached to swing sleeping.

N said after her nap in the crib she took a bottle with hardly any fuss, she even smiled at him while he was giving her it. This is a great change from the frantic screaming she was doing during bottle time days before.

It appears N and Everly are geared up for tomorrow and this makes me pretty happy. I love her to death but it will be nice to go to work and have 2 hands to teach with as opposed to only the one (since I’ve been holding her the entire time I am teaching).

Now I need to get back to my BPA obsessing, I’ll post more about that in a few days though, stay tuned.

The post This mom is flying solo tomorrow. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

She ended up taking the Adiri BPA Free Natural Nurser Bottles I won via a blog/ twitter contest back in May.

Unfortunately I hadn’t pumped that much milk the night before so the bottle didn’t fill her up, she did drink all the milk that was in it though and I breastfed her afterward to be sure her tummy was full.

It took N about an hour of her fussing and refusing before she was tired enough to doze off in his arms. Once she was dozing he could get her to drink the bottle.

It’s a good thing she’s getting the hang of occasional bottle feeding because I have some all day weekend rehersals coming up with the colorguard and N will be home with E the entire time, ideally He’ll be able to bottle feed her while I am off teaching all day. Woot, she wont starve!

Also, we bought Everly this Cradling Bouncy Seat and to our surprise she like it very much! It’s nice to be able to spend time with her without having to hold her the whole time.

Oh and we dealt with some very maddening health insurance/ birth cost crap today. Remember how I had a 4th degree tear after Everly was born?

Well I transported to the local hospital for stitches since a 4th degree tear is a bit more complex to repair than anything the midwives had done.

Normally they can stitch up minor tears but since I tore straight through they wanted a surgeon to do the repair work to insure all the muscles and tissue were repaired properly, you know so I wouldn’t leak and have resulting lack of control down there…

Anyway, we paid $3500 (100% out of pocket) to our midwife for Everly’s birth. That is pretty cheap compared to what it costs to birth in a hospital.

Now guess how much the bill for all my repair work was from the hospital, after insurance discounts and whatnot…

Lets just say the bill is about 52% of what the total cost for Everly’s birth was. Isn’t that crazy? It just goes to show how super inflated hospital & insurance billing is compared to paying a alternative provider directly without the hospital or insurance involved. I thought medical insurance was supposed to help us financially…

Also, remember how much of a stink my ex OBGYN made about me not getting the RhoGam shot during pregnancy? They told me I was endangering my baby and my future fertility and that it wasn’t really an optional thing…

Well after Everly was born and her blood type was determined I did get the RhoGam shot while I was at the hospital being stitched up.

Insurance will billed for it and apparently between the insurance company and the providing physician out in Tennessee that shot is somehow not deemed “a medical necessity” and insurance is now refusing to pay for it. Nice huh?

The post Small victories and insurance battles… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Integrated medicine is a mix between alternative medicine and traditional medicine. When there is a health issue things like nutrition, life style and various alternative therapies are often explored first before prescription medications or other more dramatic solutions are used.

We prefer to take the natural route with our health care when possible, I am sure this is no surprise to you considering how Everly was born.

Anyway, back to the updates. Everly weighed in at a whopping 11.8 lbs and had a great checkup with the doc. She’s gaining weight very well and is reaching all the milestones for her age group according to the doctor.

We’ve not started her first vaccinations yet and are doing research on them right now. We know we’ll do some vaccinations. We just want to do them on a delayed schedule and spread them out more than what’s normally done.

We are so happy that Everly is doing so well. It’s a relief to have a good doctor for her too, in case she gets sick or something. Oh, this doctor is actually a family practice doctor so we can all be cared for by her, that is another plus! She’s covered by our insurance too.

That means I’ve got a handle on the baby stuff, for now… Not so much on the pet issues though.

The post Everly's first visit with a doctor, an integrated medicine physician. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Man, it’s been a stormy last few days. Yesterday evening while on the way to pick N up from work it freaking dumped on us big time! I threw a blanket over Everly’s head and we made a mad dash from the front door to the car. I jumped in the drivers seat with a diaper/ dance bag slung over my shoulder and baby E in my arms. I was soaked and I’d only been outdoors for a few seconds.

Today the storms are knocking out my satellite signal and the rain is dumping again… It’s all good though. I’d rather have some rain than the muggy, warm Indiana summer temps!

Tomorrow my students perform for the first time and today is my day off from teaching.

I’ve got all sorts of things to take care of… Cat piss on the tile floor outside the litter box (Mr. Guy’s way of protesting semi-dirty litter), extra wet cat vomit on the white carpets (probably a result of cats eating things they shouldn’t), cloth diapers to wash and hang to dry, the bathroom totally needs to be cleaned, there is clean, unfolded laundry hanging out in the laundry basket (it’s been there for several days getting all super wrinkled), gotta pay the bills, figure out a plan for dinner and care for Everly while I try to take care of everything. Fun!

Speaking of damn cats… Why is Gabby obsessed with chewing every single cable in this house? First it was the iPod/ iPhone cord, then the video camera charging cable, the Wii nunchuk cord and the balance board charging cable. Next she got the iPod dock speaker cable, almost got E’s swing power cord and she just started in on the router power cable.

If she destroys the router or modem cables and I am without internet I will not be a happy camper!

I am wondering if she is lacking some mineral or something that makes her chew the various cords and cables around here or if she’s just dead set on being an ass because she’s not getting enough attention from us these days.

Anyone want to take care of our zoo for us? It sure would help out lots! Taking care of the house is one of the things we are slacking on… Slacking sucks when you’ve got 4 indoor cats who vomit, piss in the sink or on the floor and who are basically jerks when things aren’t kept up with. It’s not pretty around here.

Gotta go clean vomit and piss now, happy day off to me.

The post Cat piss has fried my brain and I can't come up with a title for this crappy post. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.