Thursday, December 30, 2010

Product Reviews

So over the course of my year of Mat leave I have had the opportunity to try out new baby products (well new to me anyways) I started cloth diapering, I used different types of bum creams. Different teething remedies and so on. I thought I would take some time and do my own reviews. I'll try to start in the New Year! First up... cloth diapers!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The best day of my life. Hands down!

I wasn't due for at least another three weeks, but the nesting had kicked in full force. I was cleaning cupboards, was folding and refolding the baby’s clothes, and honestly kind of going nuts! My husband and I stayed at my parent’s house on Saturday. It was something we did on a regular basis. We packed everything up (including the car seat); just in case we needed it. We had a great visit with my parents but thankfully nothing happened on Saturday. Phew!

That Sunday, I alphabetized all our DVD`s, rearranged my entire bathroom and even got mad at C for the way he was making his grilled cheese sandwich. We went shopping that day. I just HAD to have a new bathroom space saver. (You know that unit that goes over the toilet. Yup I just had to get it THAT day) I felt very normal. Baby was kicking and moving and I felt good. HA!!

We went to bed around 10:00pm which was normal for us. In all  honesty I was ready for bed at 8:00! I asked C such a silly question just before he fell asleep."How many beers did you have tonight?" "Just 2" he answered. "Ok good. So if s*** goes down tonight, you can drive..." there was a pause..."yup" Ok good" and that was that.

Well little did I know that an hour and a half later my water would break.

I woke up thinking I was peeing the bed. I really didn't know what to think and then like a light bulb turned on BAM! "Chris I think my water broke!" I was shaking! He really didn't understand me, and then I said "YUP! Wake up! My water broke!" I scrambled out of bed and ran to the bathroom in my birthday suit. Chris followed me and was completely dressed already.

He asked me what he should do and I told him to call the hospital to let them know that we would be coming in a bit. I called my mom at 11:35pm to let her know what was going on. I was sitting on the toilet just shaking! Chris came back in and handed me the phone. The nurse told me to wait till my contractions were 5 minutes apart, then to call back when that happened. She told us to get some rest. Well I couldn't sleep but Chris was out cold in a matter of 30 seconds!

Around 2:45 am, my contractions started to pick up. We started to time them and they were about 5 minutes apart. We called the hospital back to let them know we were on our way in. I called my mother to let her know we were going and to meet us there. We grabbed our bags and headed off to the hospital.

I was so nervous in the car. We barley spoke the entire ride there. I just kept thinking, the next time we get into the car there will be three of us.

It was super windy in White Rock that morning. There were garbage can lids flying in the middle of the road as well and tree branches and debris. As we pulled into the parking lot I saw my mom (she got there before us!) I slid out of the car, and waddled to the emergency room. I had so much adrenaline, I was shaking! I wanted to cry but was so nervous I was laughing!

We were admitted to the hospital, and were taken to my birthing room. The nurse came in and introduced herself.  I was checked out and was told I was about 3cm. I was so happy that I was dilating. The contractions were coming on strong. I was very uncomfortable, but I just focused on my breathing. I remember asking the nurse why I was still leaking. She let me know that I would continue to leak until the baby was born. I’ll just say that in prenatal class no one told me I would leak until the baby was born. I thought when your water broke that was it... nope. Defiantly not! 

The nurse asked me what our birth plan was. I explained that I wanted to do it as naturally as possible. But if I changed my mind I’d let her know. About an hour later my contractions were SO painful I asked what I could take for the pain. I tried the gas and it wasn’t doing anything for me. She suggested a morphine shot. I agreed to the shot and shortly after getting it, my contractions were not as painful.

I really had no sense of time while in the hospital. My guess is, at about 8:00 a new nurse was going to take over. Her name was Nikki and she was a godsend! The time that I had been there I was lying down and even with the shot I was still in pain. Nikki told me to stand up and move from side to side. What a difference that made. I was no longer in as much pain as I was before. I got into a rhythm of rocking and breathing and moaning.

We had a whole brigade of people at the hospital the day my son was born. I was very picky who was to come into the room. I wanted to keep calm and stress free. I continued to breathe through my contractions and use the gas, which after the shot of morphine was working very well. I had asked for a second shot of morphine, but it never had a chance to kick in.

I was checked again around 11:30am and had progressed to 5cm. I was so happy that things were moving along! I was up and moving around and felt pretty good.

At lunch time, my nurse Nikki said she would be back, as it was her lunch break and that another nurse would be coming in to take her place. Nikki assured me that it was probably going to be another 5 or 6 hours before baby would be born. Well... she was wrong!!

Shortly after she left I asked Chris to help me to the bathroom as I needed to go. Really bad! But as I was sitting there, I couldn’t go and I had an urge to push. I went back to my bed and let the nurse know that I needed to push. At first she didn’t believe me. (Hello?! I’m telling you I need to push! Do something about it!) I was checked again and she told me that she couldn’t feel my cervix. My response to her was “Well where did it go?” She informed me that it was time to start pushing! I had gone from 5cm dilated to 10cm in about 30 minutes! Ahh so that's why I had all that pain! lol

My nurse Nikki came back from lunch shocked that I was getting ready to push! I was so scared but incredibly excited to get going. I wanted to meet my baby!

Now, when it came time to pushing I wanted to use a birthing bar, but I never got to use it. I sat in a birthing chair for about 30 minutes and made little progress. I was more afraid of pooping than pushing! I then resorted to lying down. I tried to focus on my breathing and was telling myself that if you do this, you will be so happy and that the pain would be over! I’m my head I was singing “Raindrops keep falling on my head” over and over again!


I had been pushing for at least an hour and I was fading quickly! It seemed that with every push baby would move some down and then go back in. But I had a great support team and I knew that I could do this. I pushed for another hour and my husband kept telling me, I can see its head, oh my gosh, c’mon Leash almost there. One more big push! I pushed with all that I had and then... there was my baby. Right there on top of me.

At first I didn’t hear what the gender was. Then I heard “oh baby James”

I started to cry! My son, I have a son!

They took J away to be evaluated, and weighed. All I remember was thinking to myself, you did it! You freaking’ did it!

They brought him back to me and he went straight to the boob. I was amazed that I gave birth to this little person and was thinking to myself how much I loved him. It's a love like no other.

James was born January 18 2010 at 2:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 14oz and was 50cm long. I did it without the epi and it took fifteen hours from the time my water broke until he was born. The pain was so worth it.

This was the best day of my life. Hands down!

Learning to stand on his own two feet.

My son is almost eleven months old and has been crawling for months now. He pulls himself up onto anything and everything just to stand for a few seconds and then fall to his bum. I believe he REALLY wants to walk just like the rest of us.

I'm getting so excited to see him take his first steps. Anytime he stands alone there I am "C'mon J. Walk to mommy!" He must think I'm nuts cause I do it ALL THE TIME! I get so over excited! I'm hoping that he will be walking by Christmas, but at the same time, I would like him to stay crawling. He seems more like a baby to me when he's crawling.

My little man is growing up so quick. It makes me want to cry. Thinking that my baby is no longer a 'baby' as per say. More of a young toddler. I feel that if/when he starts to walk, my baby is in the next stage of life. He's becoming more independent  and needing me less (I know I know... but he's still a baby!)

Before becoming a mother I always heard, Oh they grow up so fast! I can't believe it. And there I was, sure sure, they grow up blah blah. Now I'm the one saying it and cannot believe that he is almost one, he's talking, moving around and now trying to walk. Time does fly by and I don't want to miss a single moment.

I'm so very proud that he can stand on his own two feet. Makes me a very proud mommy.

Much love

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Over this past weekend, we got a dumping if snow! (Ok so 4 inches isn't a lot but still... we got snow!) I love Christmas time. I love decorating the Christmas tree, and decorating the house with lights and Christmas-ee stuff! I really am hoping that we have a white Christmas. It would make J's first Christmas special.

We put our tree up on Sunday and got it all decorated! I'm curious to see how long it will take my son to figure out how to pull off the bobbles! We wanted to do a 'real' tree this year, but from our past Christmas' and not taking the tree down until February, yes I said it. February, having real one is a fire hazard in our home!! I put up lights and put out all my decorations. I still want/need some more.

I have bought all my Christmas gifts already. Minus a couple for my parents. I bought ALL my son's gifts from http://www.babysteals.com/. They always have the coolest products and they are always at a great price.

As for my husband’s gift, well he already knows what it is (A San Fran jersey). Every Christmas we know what we are getting each other. It just seems easier than trying to sneak around and hide gifts and wrap them.

This is going to be the best Christmas ever. My little one get's to spend the holidays with both sets of grandparents and even two of his Great Grandma's!! I'm just so excited... and I just can't hide it!!

Time to get some baking done!

Much love

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A New Word!

Ok so I believe my son is behind on 'talking'. He learned to say 'baba' and that's all we have heard from him for two months. 'ba ba bababa'. Well not anymore. Last night while we were getting ready to go over to my parents house for dinner, my son looked at his daddy and just said 'Dada'. We both stopped what we were doing, looked at each other and started laughing! FINALLY!! We've been saying Dad to him for at least a month and nothing, and then just like that.. "Dada".  My husband was smiling from ear to ear. "He said Dada.. did you hear him?"

James (my son) continued to say "baba. dada" for the rest of the night. Even when he went to bed we could hear from the monitor, 'dada dada' and then silence.

My little man will be 10 months old tomorrow (Nov 18) and I am wondering where the time has gone! I am so proud of him. Now to teach him 'mama'

Monday, November 8, 2010

I'm working on it!

Ok so I have a bunch of posts to well post but am a little sidetracked at the moment. I WILL get to them. I hope!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Let's get started!

So I realized last night that I needed to start writing/blogging about my adventure as a new mommy. My son is now nine months old and I haven't wrote anything down! I don't want to forget the first year and all his milestones and just funny/special moments.

I'm really hoping I can keep up with this. I will try every night to get here and just write about our day together.

I'm going to start with my birth story. Let's see how much I can remember.


Leasha