Four Weeks

Time is flying by just as everyone said. I can't believe four weeks has past already. We're still trying to get a grip on this whole parenting bit. Week 2 and 3 in our house seemed to go south for whatever reason. Sam was a bit of a fussy baby when he came home from the hospital but as we were settling in he progressively was getting worse. We had 3 or 4 nights where he was actually screaming for 2 or more hours in the evenings which are symptoms of cholic. If he wasn't eating or sleeping he was fussing or crying. He was not taking naps during the day either unless I put him in the car. Since it was recently 100+ degrees here in STL walks were not an option. So I told Brant that he may have to take a second job to support our shopping habit since our son would only fall asleep in the car. The problem here was that since I had to leave to get him to sleep I was not getting any sleep. This then led to a few emotional break downs on my part.

I've been with newborn babies that have had these screaming fits and was familiar with the feelings of frustration and stress. What was new to me, is that when it's your own child, there was a new feeling of helplessness and failure that I couldn't please my baby. Hearing him scream and knowing how unhappy he was, along with the sleep deprivation brought me to tears a few times now. So I finally contacted our pediatrition to get her opinion. She agreed that it was either the breastmilk, formula, or acid reflux. So we decided to put him only on Similac Sensitive Stomach and wow what a difference it has made.

Sam is now taking naps during the day and lastnight he went 5 hours between feedings. Of those 5 hours he slept for 4. I woke up at 1:30 this morning, wiped the eye boogies from my face and looked at the clock and started to do the happy dance. We are FINALLY moving in the right direction. Brant and I have been able to enjoy some time together in the evenings because even though he's not sleeping, he's just relaxed and hanging out with us....... and not screaming. It really is a fabulous thing.

In the last couple of weeks I've also had my first night out away from him. My friend Beth turned 30 so we decided to leave Sam with Grandma and leave my house-bubble for a few hours. I think I called my mom 4 times in 3 hours to check on him and have never been so excited to be home by 9:30 on a Friday night. But I did it! Haven't left him since then. Sam also had the pleasure of going to his cousin Kylie's soccer game but it was so hot out that I had a hard time enjoying that too. I made grandma hold the umbrella over us, took his clothes off, and was blowing on him trying to keep him cool. I think I may have cought about 10 minutes of her entire game. We also took I trip to Diagraph finally to meet my coworkers. He was a big hit of course and slept like a champ the whole time. Aside from that we spend most of our time in the house staring at each other.

It's funny to think how much my life has changed since he's arrived. He's become like a drug to me and I'm completely addicted to this little guy. Someone asked me what I've been up to aside from the baby and I had to laugh. I honestly don't think there is a minute that goes by in a day that I'm not taking care of him, staring at him, or just thinking about him.

"The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait"

Welcome Baby Sam

He's finally here. Samuel Brayden Rademeyer was born Friday, July 23rd at 8:02am. Weighed in at 8lb 3oz, and was 20 1/4 inches long. 39 weeks in the womb, 12 hours of labor, 2 of those pushing, and it was worth every minute. He is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen of course. Sorry for the delayed post, but we've been adjusting to our new lives and it was a bit chaotic this past week with the lack of sleep.

He's already starting to get on a schedule of eating every 3 hours, but starting last night it's already becoming 4 hours which is fabulous. I've taken so many pictures of him already and have too many to even post on here so I'm just attaching my link to snapfish and you can log in and view them all here:
http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5290843013/a=91451742/


I would like to thank all our friends and family who have been so much help and coming to visit us recently, as well as all the flowers we've recieved. It's such a great feeling to know how loved we all really are. You all mean so much to us. I will try to do better from here on out with the postings now that we're feeling better.

Love you all!
Brant, Dawn, & Sam

Here's a sneek peak of our precious little son: