He's here! Our long awaited miracle baby joined our family on January 11, 2016. Weighing an unexpected 9lbs 1oz and 21 1/2 inches long. In these first 3 weeks of his life, Thomas Wylder Ulm has brought us all a crazy amount of joy! I am so in love with his little face...I just can't get enough of him! He is absolutely perfect! Just to clear the air, if you are a friend of Tom's, you can call him Thomas (the 8th or 9th, we aren't positive on this yet), and if you are a friend of mine, he is Wylder. So just call him Wylder so he isn't confused, thanks in advance!
The birth was not as easy as I had imagined it might be (based on my first labor with Nolan). In fact, what I've learned from this pregnancy to delivery to life with a newborn so far...I know absolutely nothing even though I've done this before. Wylder has thrown me many curve balls already. For example, my labor where, fast forwarding, by the time I started pushing, his heart rate was so high and he wasn't budging, the only option was to have a c-section. I never in my life would have dreamt I'd require a c-section which made for a bit of a traumatic delivery experience. I held back my tears as they wheeled me down to the OR. It's sad on a lot of levels for me. It was my first surgery, then the recovery is daunting and all I really wanted was to be at home and not in the dirty hospital being poked and prodded every few hours. I am however thankful that it all happened so fast. Aside from meeting our baby, the highlight of the c-section was the doctor telling me I had nice abdominal muscles as she cut me open, how many people that get cut open get told that?! When our precious boy came out, everyone in the OR was just as surprised as us at how big Wylder was. I wasn't a big pregnant person so even still, I don't understand how I grew a baby so big in my little womb, but it explains my constant back aches! Not only was I sad I had a c-section, but I didn't mention that my water broke at home which was also not a part of my plan because that only happens in the movies!
We stayed in the hospital for 3 days because Wylder had a few minor health issues that needed to be addressed before we could bring him home but today he is a very healthy almost 10 pounder. He never fit newborn clothes and is almost outgrown 0-3 month clothes already! He eats lots, poops lots and sleeps pretty good for a new guy. Dare I brag about our 6 hour stretch last night...so SO good! Let me be real though, he changes daily and is quite particular, we just don't know about what because he changes daily, we can only hope tonight is as good as last night! Pray for us.
I'm currently 3 weeks into my 6 week recovery. I'm not to lift anything heavier than my giant baby, I can drive but I can't carry the car seat, groceries, do laundry, vacuum... I get out of the house once a week for an hour between feeds, otherwise I am housebound. It's killing me. Confession...I've broken some rules already... Kind of hard not to. I can't wait to feel normal and be able to rock my baby without my body hurting or be able to get in and out of bed without having to brace myself. It may be a good thing, but one of the hardest parts of this for me is accepting help from people because I've needed help more than ever in the past few weeks. Our friends and family have been incredible with driving Nolan, bringing meals and treats, helping clean my house. A huge shout out to my husband who is busy enough without all of the added responsibilities that have landed in his lap, he is amazing, he never complains and I am a very lucky to have someone so great as my best friend and partner in life! Hands down, the first couple weeks were the worst for me, but on the bright side, I've been able to focus solely on my new baby and I'm all caught up on my trashy reality shows!
I'd like to talk more about our infertility journey another time, but I can honestly say, there were so many times when I thought this time in our life would never come. My heart ached for years grieving the idea that Tom and I may never share this experience and be able to raise our own babies together. Thomas Wylder is so incredibly special to all of us, we have literally talked about him for 4 1/2 years before he came along and we are so excited to watch him grow up and see what his little personality is going to be! Faith and hope in the infertility journey are both so tough to hang onto and I gave up several times, but my hope now is that our story can give hope to others who are going through the same thing.
I played 'photographer' with our handsome little man the other day. We did good considering he gave me 5 minutes to mess around with him before he cried! Oh I just love this guy like crazy...
