Breakfast On The Go

As you can tell by the lack of posts I have been very busy with Owen. Today I managed to get out for a good long walk early, before the rain was supposed to come, which meant that I needed to feed him but skip my breakfast. I made up my favorite breakfast smoothie instead, two bananas, two shots of espresso, two scoops of protein powder topped off with almond milk and out the door we went. It has been so very long since I have had any caffeine and savored every moment of it...still am! He loved the walk along the harbourfront and I was sure to point out all the swans, ducks and most exciting of all the fire department boat. As you can see above he was very entertained by it all.

Owen has been growing like a weed and is getting heavier to lift out of his bed during the late night feeds while I'm still half asleep. He is able to hold up his head and look around while on his belly now and does pretty well to push himself along the floor or up our chest, soon enough he will get the hang of it and start crawling. He was always moving around while inside me and now is no different, help!

He has finally grown big enough to fit into the cloth diapers so stay tuned for an update post on that soon. It has been very interesting to try out different styles and see the results. 

One Month

This past week Owen reached one month old. It's amazing how quickly time is flying, it could be the sleep deprivation, the excitement and joy of it all or just a fact of being a parent now.

It has been so amazing to see all the changes that happen in just a month. The obvious one is his growth. Breast feeding had not always been easy, Owen was born with his tongue tied making it almost impossible to latch on and eat. He dropped just over 10% of his birth weight in the hospital making it a very stressful time trying to leave, luckily the nurse on duty gave us a bottle of formula to feed him and said she would come back in a bit to weigh him again thus allowing us to leave with his weight at an acceptable level. We met with several different lactation consultants as well as help from our midwives and was having success finger feeding him (with a tiny tube and pumped milk) as well as using a nipple shield (basically a third nipple). A couple of days after leaving the hospital we had an appointment to get his tongue tie snipped and it made such an immediate improvement. I noticed right away he was able to latch on, he always wanted to just never really could because his tongue could not reach past his lower lip.

We were able to stop pumping shortly after but I was still using my third nipple, mostly because it was easy for me and I felt comfortable knowing he was eating. He was gaining weight but not enough said the midwives so I was told to stop using the third nipple cold turkey and that they would see us in one week to weigh him. Well, they were right and in a matter of seven days he put on 19oz, no wonder my arms suddenly were going numb, all that weight gain! I am happy to say that since then there have been no problems with feeding and he is awake and hungry every two to three hours looking for food.

With his fantastic weigh gain we have seen him change before our eyes, his hands and feet are becoming bigger, his legs and arms are getting some meat on them, his chest is filling out and he is growing out of some of his clothes already. Very exciting!

A Day To Never Forget - Part Two

Arriving at the hospital I was brought into the triage area to be assessed. My midwives arrived shortly after and Rob was very close behind them. I was immediately hooked up to a fetal monitor to watch the babys heart rate as well as monitor my contraction levels, not that I was feeling any but they were registering. Next I was hooked up to three different IV bags, not that I remember what any were for, and was then given a quick ultrasound to confirm the position of Pip. Sure enough he was still breech as well as on a diagonal resulting in the OB stating that I was going in for a c section as soon as they could get the anesthetist to administer an epidural.

I looked over to Rob who was sitting beside me and grabbed his hand, shed a few tears, then was all good with the situation. This was not going any where near what I had thought it may but that really didn't matter, all that mattered was that our Pip was on his way, on his terms and that he arrived safely.

We had some time before the anesthetist was ready so Rob and I shared some laughs while suppressing the nervous energy that was filling us both. I did have a couple of minor contractions and at least one that I would say was uncomfortable, Rob watched the monitor as the numbers rose and I dealt with the sensations. A nurse arrived with scrubs for Rob to put on as my turn was up, he very quickly went and put them on and was back by my side within minutes, thank goodness. I was starting to feel a bit nervous but still surprisingly calm.

I was then wheeled into the operating room, Rob was instructed to wait outside while they prepped which felt like an hour, then brought in and was right there with me. The epidural was already in full affect as I could not feel anything below my chest and I was beginning to shake quite hard. This is a normal side affect but still concerning to be experiencing.

Within minutes we heard the doctors proclaim "it's a boy" quickly followed by some very loud crying and as we turned our heads to see we both saw tiny arms and legs flailing in all directions. I was in complete awe that that was our little Pip. I told Rob to go over and see him as I was being put back together, he came back with the tiniest little bundle in his arms and introduced me to our very sweet little son.

Yesterday Pip was three weeks old. It has been quite an amazing three weeks full of love, surprises, emotion and amazement. We have learned so much in such a short period of time and know that this is just the beginning. We are very blessed.

A Day To Never Forget - Part One

Wednesday April 18, 2012

Having come back early from travelling down south, my parents were back in town. My Mom was staying with us for a couple of days while my Dad was at their place getting everything sorted to start construction again on their home. As I was getting big and awkward it was nice to have someone else around to hang out with during the day.

Rob had left for work around 7am so my Mom and I had a quick breakfast and latte and headed off to the St. Lawrence market to meet up with Leanne. The three of us walked around, grabbed some groceries and just hung out. Mom was heading back home in a couple of hours so grabbed some juice for the trip back while we all sat outside in the sun. I was feeling quite tired as well as agitated so decided it was best to part company and go home for a rest. They went shopping!

I didn't think much of it other than I must be tired, my belly was feeling quite hard but that was nothing really new either, so I sat in my comfy chair and had a nap before my midwife appointment. After about an hour of sleeping it was time to get up and get ready so I hopped into the shower hoping to shake the feeling of agitation that was still there. Little did I know that this was the last time I would be having a leisurely nap and extra long shower for a very long time.
It wasn't even five minutes of getting out of the shower and my water broke.

My first reaction was of fear very quickly followed by a good dose of holy shit reality. I paged my midwives to say that I would not be making my three o'clock appointment due to the fact my water had broke. They called back within minutes and instructed me to get on my hands and knees, call 911 and they would be meeting me at the hospital, end of story, no questions, do it now. By now I was quite calm (surprisingly) and agreed to do that after I had put some clothes on, well, Bianca put the law down and forbade me from doing anything else at all.

So, the first thing I do is call Rob! Asked him how his meeting went in the morning, assured him that I am all right but that my water had just broke and I needed to go to the hospital. I'm pretty sure that before I even finished telling him I could hear him packing up his laptop and clearing off his desk. Telling him I was going by ambulance, the midwives were going to meet us there and to please drive safe, there was a pause where we suddenly realised that this was really happening.

First to arrive was the fire department of at least two possibly four guys all standing in our front entrance with me on my hands and knees in the bedroom with only a towel between my legs. How glamorous. Shortly after them the two ambulance attendants arrived and they did the hand off. I was still obsessing about getting some clothes for some reason but was not allowed to move while they asked me questions and assessed the situation. Well, situation dictated that I get to the hospital asap so I was taken out to the gurney, which was in our hall, and wheeled out to my waiting limo, I mean ambulance. The attendants were kind enough to finally grab my robe, wallet, cell and house keys and we were off with sirens wailing.

Part two to follow shortly...