Our Little Turkey's Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving in Troy at Great Grandma Mary and Great Grandpa John's house and in Auburn Nebraska at Paula's house! It was a day full of food, Family and fun! Graeme was able to meet some more of his family and everyone loved him so much!

Two of my three boys wore out after a day full of turkey!

We traveled to other Great Grandparent's house Saturday after mass since we did not get to see them on Thanksgiving. Graeme was able to meet Greg, Lori, Morgan and Mallory. Cousin's Mitch, Amy and Jake also came to visit. We had a wonderful weekend in Troy but it sure was good to get back home.

First day at Church

On Sunday November 20th Graeme made his first trip to church. We attended mass at St. Charles Catholic church in Troy. Graeme was amazing and did not make a peep. After church he was able to meet some of the ladies of the church. After church we headed to Hiawatha to celebrate Uncle Neil's Birthday! It was a wonderful day and we can't wait to show Graeme the importance of attending Mass, Thanking God for all of our blessing and praying.

Church made Graeme very very sleepy.

One Week Check-up

Yesterday we ventured out for Graeme's fist doctors appointment in Topeka. He did great until it was time for the doctor to check him out and then the crying started! His current weight is 7 lbs 5 oz and 19.8 in long. Doctor said that everything else is looking great and sometimes breech babies have hip trouble but he has solid hips. :)

Waiting for the doctor.....

Since I have not been able to drive my mom has spent sometime with us and that means Grandpa Darrel gets to come and see his boys!

Two of my three boys! Love them oh so much!

Big Brother Barkley!

One Last Photo of my sweet baby boy sleeping after eating!

All in a few days....

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and had our first appointment at the breastfeeding clinic at 11:00 am on Thursday. Graeme lost about 10.8% of his body weight while we were still in the hospital. This met we had to go to the clinic for him to be weighed and he need to not only get breast milk but formula as well. The first night of supplementing we were in the hospital and I had a nurse that would help me with each feeding. Then once we arrived at home it was just us. It was more difficulty then I thought because I was not use to having to get a 10cc syringe and a feeding tube ready each time I need to feed Graeme. At the clinic they weighed him and he was up 1 oz from the previous day and then gained one ounce after he ate while at the clinic. They did not think he needed to supplement but thought if would be good to come in the next day for another weigh in. The next day he gained an ounce and a half! Way to Go Graeme.

After all of that we made it home and decided to go out to lunch at Emerald's Diner! This was Graeme's very first time going out to eat. We were joined by my mother, Grandma Sharon and Aunt Shari. We had a great time. After some resting we made our way to Manhattan for some quick shopping at GTM, Graeme needed some KSU clothes to wear while watching the game on Saturday. Post shopping we went to Jesse and Colin's house for a visit. It was a wonderful evening but wore us all out!

Saturday some of our family came down for a visit if they had not meet Greame! It was a great day full of family! We loved every minute of it!

Just a few of my favorite pictures!

1st of Many week's with Graeme Ryker

One week ago our lives changed when Graeme decided to make his way into the world. This past week has been full of many emotions and we have learned so much about ourselves and life with a baby.

Top ten things we have learned this week

10. One little cry or whimper can wake us from a dead sleep.
9. At one time the thought of baby poop use to make Jared gag but now we both do our best to get Graeme all cleaned up with little to no crying.
8. When changing a little boys diaper, make sure that its pointing down or Covered at all time. If not you will be changing his outfit more then his normal 10 times and not because you need to see him all his cute outfits.
7. Teamwork is not just something that has to take place in a sporting event. Jared and I work great as a team and this has made the past week go as smooth as it possibly could go.
6. Patience... We had never had it until now!
5. When people tell you that you should nap when the baby naps... DO it! you never know when you will be up all night with a gassy baby.
4. When planning to go someplace it is important to make sure that you allow plenty of time for the whole family to get ready. Just when you think everyone is ready, someone has to be changed due to a dirty diaper. Not sweating these minor set backs helps!
3. Our family are Amazing. Our family has shown so much love for Graeme for us over the past week. My mother has helped us get through the week and helped us out a ton. No words can truly thank her for all that she has done for us.
2. Creating a home with lots of love is what we want our son to grow up in and it all starts with the love between Jared and I. We have to continue to work on our relationship even though we are now parents.
1. Being a parent is the most amazing thing in the world. People tell you how great it is but you never really understand it until you hold your child in your arms or kiss his sweet chubby cheeks.
God has blessed us with a wonderful baby boy and family. We are so very blessed and thankful for all of it.

Graeme Ryker Sutherland

Our Saturday was a nice but unusual day spent at home watching TV, cleaning, doing baby laundry and finishing up some last minute baby projects. I was such a nice day that we had planned on relaxing on Sunday as well... :) Sunday morning I work up with pains at around 4:30 or was it 3:30 silly time change. The pains were every 10 minutes apart so we called labor and delivery. The nurse said to watch them over the next hour and if they get close to call again. Well we watched them and they didn't get closer but kind of went away. We were able to go back to sleep and then woke again around 7:00 am with the same kind of pains but nothing real close. After getting ready for the day at 8:30 just in case and eating some oh so healthy Mac and cheese. (Yes I know it was early in the morning but it was my first craving.) After eating and just hanging out on the couch with Jared, I experienced two very long and painful contractions. I just had a feeling that I needed to call into the doctors office and that is what I did! After speaking with the answering service I found out that my Doctor was actually on-call that day and she gave me a call back. With that call we realized that we might be having a baby sometime soon. Dr. Morrison did not ask many questions but said come to the hospital and that she would meet us at Stormont-Vail. After this phone call the day went by at an exceptionally fast pace. Being a planner most everything for Graeme and I was already in the car but we had to grab those last minute items and the camera. We arrived at the hospital a little after 12:00 pm. We got all of our paper work and headed off to triage to be monitored. The nurse told us what to expect and what would cause them to keep me or deliver the baby that day. After hearing all of that and being checked I was still dilated to 5 cm I really thought that I would be going home. The thought of this kind of made me sad because I had already told Jared and I was tired of being pregnant and thought it would be nice if Sunday was my last day as pregnant woman. :) After being checked they continued to monitor my contractions and I did not think they were consistent. Well guess I was wrong because they were coming 3-4 minutes and some of them lasting up to 4 minutes. This made my doctor worried and being in active labor was not a situation that she wanted be to be in due to Graeme being breech but remember my lovely bowl of Mac and Cheese that I had at 9:30 or 10:00 well they worried that I would get sick while in surgery, so we were told it would probably be no earlier then 6 pm. This is when Jared called our family and friends with the news. Well the other doctors did not see it as an issue and when Jared returned from making it calls, he was greeted by the nurse telling him to put on his scrub clothes for surgery. I was able to walk into the OR and our sweet baby Graeme Ryker Sutherland was born at 1:30 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long. We do not think the length is correct due to the nurse having trouble getting his legs to stretch out but oh well! All I know is that his arms and legs are long and he does not get that from his mother. We were blessed to have a large number of our family members waiting in the waiting room to meet our little guy. They were even allowed to watch him take his fist bath. Below is a few of the pictures of from our hospital stay!

Make a photo slideshow

Full Term and less then 2 weeks to go!

Baby Sutherland is as long as a stalk of Swiss chard. Our baby is as lofty as a stalk of Swiss chard and weighs 6 1/3 pounds. (Length: a bit over 19 inches, head to heel.)

We had our 37 week appointment today and his little head is still up and his bottom is on my bladder. Now dilated to a 5 and doctor says if I have any strong contractions to make my way to the hospital. That is exciting and scary all at the same time. I had gotten use to the idea of just strolling in at 8:00 am on the 16th for my planned C/S. We will see if Baby Sutherland holds off or decides to enter the world when he wants!