A nurse from Toronto Public Health (finally) visited yesterday. When I asked if Isaac is too young for tummy time, she said he's not too young -- I just have to make sure to pick him up before he fusses.
(Side note: She initially called on the day before Isaac was admitted to the hospital again, but I was feeding and wasn't able to talk to her. Maybe things would have been different had I been able to tell her our concerns.)
After she was gone, Isaac was awake (and not crying). As an experiment, I put Isaac on his tummy for the first time. To my surprise, he didn't fuss a bit. In fact, Isaac was already strong enough to prop his own head and shoulders up half-way.
According to the note Daniel left for me this morning, Isaac was awake after his midnight meal. So Daddy gave Isaac some tummy time again. Miraculously, managed to flip himself (although it was angled at the sofa)!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Quotes of the Week, Baby Edition
Daniel: It's funny how I had your nesting instinct and your baby blues...
Cindy: LOL
Daniel: Why can't I stop Isaac's cries when I'm carrying him? I think I'm too bony for him to be comfortable.
Daniel: This whole baby thing is like a friggin' hard lab (assignment) in which the equipment doesn't come with a manual!
Cindy: My postpartum diet consists of ginger, rice (mostly with ginger), papaya soup (mostly with fish), chicken, and choi sum. None of these seem to be missing from my meals (prepared by either my mom or Daniel's mom) thus far.
Cindy: So my mom says no oranges and your mom says no bananas, persimmons, or Asian pears for me. What's left?
Cindy: LOL
Daniel: Why can't I stop Isaac's cries when I'm carrying him? I think I'm too bony for him to be comfortable.
Daniel: This whole baby thing is like a friggin' hard lab (assignment) in which the equipment doesn't come with a manual!
Cindy: My postpartum diet consists of ginger, rice (mostly with ginger), papaya soup (mostly with fish), chicken, and choi sum. None of these seem to be missing from my meals (prepared by either my mom or Daniel's mom) thus far.
Cindy: So my mom says no oranges and your mom says no bananas, persimmons, or Asian pears for me. What's left?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
When It Rains It Pours
Ever since Isaac was discharged from the hospital, he has been pooing quite a bit. The funny thing? He always pooed during a feed. Here's the lowdown:
Unlike yesterday, where the order was slightly different: when I was feeding him, he pooed in the middle of the meal. He was fussing as usual, so I covered his tummy with a clean sleeper to keep him warm. As I was wiping his bottom, he decided to pee on the clean clothes. It was frustrating for me, since I was super sleepy and he wasn't cooperating. Good thing Daniel helped with the clean-up that time.
- He starts eating, as usual, for a few minutes.
- He stops eating, seems to fall asleep.
- Knowing he isn't full yet, we keep trying to wake him up for more food. (This happens almost every meal.)
- While we're trying to wake him, or maybe have given up on feeding him and went on to check his diaper, he would poo.
Unlike yesterday, where the order was slightly different: when I was feeding him, he pooed in the middle of the meal. He was fussing as usual, so I covered his tummy with a clean sleeper to keep him warm. As I was wiping his bottom, he decided to pee on the clean clothes. It was frustrating for me, since I was super sleepy and he wasn't cooperating. Good thing Daniel helped with the clean-up that time.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Home Again, and More
After staying at the hospital for two nights over the weekend, Isaac was finally allowed to go home. Daniel and I both think he wouldn't have been discharged if he hadn't pooed in the second night (while Daniel was finger-feeding him, I may add, which became a very messy matter).
The diagnosis was "difficulty feeding" and I couldn't agree more. We are very thankful it was diagnosed early and was admitted to the hospital before it got any worse.
We are very grateful at all the help and attentive care we have received during our hospital stay. We had an unlimited supply of blankets and wash clothes (handy when Isaac was throwing up rather regularly), constant monitoring, and was able to receive aid for breastfeeding and general baby caring with the press of the call button.
Looking back, Daniel and I both broke down at the paediatrician's office when the doctor told us to take Isaac to the hospital right away. After we have arrived that the hospital and was first assessed, I quickly recovered as the doctors didn't find any visible signs of malnutrition or other diseases. However, it was still very heart wrenching to watch the nurse putting an IV into Isaac's little hand--blood was spilling all over his hand, and it was taped up very tightly around his little hand and arm.
When we first had some down time at the hospital, Daniel broke down again. Isaac usually throws up after he cries for a while, and Daniel felt it was his own fault that Isaac was crying so badly because he mishandled Isaac or otherwise wasn't able to soothe him while he cries. It pains me to see Daniel trying so hard to take care of Isaac yet feeling so helpless.
Having spent more days of his life in the hospital than not, we tried to make Isaac comfortable at home again. I cranked up the heat a little more, and dressed him in his own clothes and blankets instead of the hospital ones.
Daniel volunteered to feed him at night so I can at least get a few hours of quality sleep. However, Isaac seemed to know the best time to be fussy is when Mommy or Daddy was caring for him alone! Last night, Isaac pooed while Daniel was in the middle of finger-feeding him. He also refused to be swaddled, cried for more food only minutes after being put into bed, yet fell asleep in the middle of a feed! It was the same story for me this morning.
On pacifier: we didn't want to give him any pacifiers at all, but during the NG feeding at the hospital, the nurse said it would simulate the sensation of eating while he was NG-fed. After that, I have been using it as a last resort to calm him when he fussed, trying to prevent him from getting too upset and throw up again.
We visited the paediatrician for a follow-up visit this afternoon, and he said Isaac was doing fine. However, the doctor didn't like us using pacifier (I let him have it so he wouldn't cry too much while waiting at the doctor's office), so I decided to wane him off it today. The doctor also said, despite his hunger cues, I should only let him eat every 2 hours, 15 minutes each side at most, and just let him cry if he wants more.
Unfortunately, I can't wrap my head around letting him cry, fearing he'd throw up again. I'm working on it though: just now, I took away his pacifier, triggering him to cry, and only sneaked in to check on him. After crying (crazily) for 5 minutes, he have actually settled down without throwing up. Progress!
The diagnosis was "difficulty feeding" and I couldn't agree more. We are very thankful it was diagnosed early and was admitted to the hospital before it got any worse.
We are very grateful at all the help and attentive care we have received during our hospital stay. We had an unlimited supply of blankets and wash clothes (handy when Isaac was throwing up rather regularly), constant monitoring, and was able to receive aid for breastfeeding and general baby caring with the press of the call button.
Looking back, Daniel and I both broke down at the paediatrician's office when the doctor told us to take Isaac to the hospital right away. After we have arrived that the hospital and was first assessed, I quickly recovered as the doctors didn't find any visible signs of malnutrition or other diseases. However, it was still very heart wrenching to watch the nurse putting an IV into Isaac's little hand--blood was spilling all over his hand, and it was taped up very tightly around his little hand and arm.
When we first had some down time at the hospital, Daniel broke down again. Isaac usually throws up after he cries for a while, and Daniel felt it was his own fault that Isaac was crying so badly because he mishandled Isaac or otherwise wasn't able to soothe him while he cries. It pains me to see Daniel trying so hard to take care of Isaac yet feeling so helpless.
Having spent more days of his life in the hospital than not, we tried to make Isaac comfortable at home again. I cranked up the heat a little more, and dressed him in his own clothes and blankets instead of the hospital ones.
Daniel volunteered to feed him at night so I can at least get a few hours of quality sleep. However, Isaac seemed to know the best time to be fussy is when Mommy or Daddy was caring for him alone! Last night, Isaac pooed while Daniel was in the middle of finger-feeding him. He also refused to be swaddled, cried for more food only minutes after being put into bed, yet fell asleep in the middle of a feed! It was the same story for me this morning.
On pacifier: we didn't want to give him any pacifiers at all, but during the NG feeding at the hospital, the nurse said it would simulate the sensation of eating while he was NG-fed. After that, I have been using it as a last resort to calm him when he fussed, trying to prevent him from getting too upset and throw up again.
We visited the paediatrician for a follow-up visit this afternoon, and he said Isaac was doing fine. However, the doctor didn't like us using pacifier (I let him have it so he wouldn't cry too much while waiting at the doctor's office), so I decided to wane him off it today. The doctor also said, despite his hunger cues, I should only let him eat every 2 hours, 15 minutes each side at most, and just let him cry if he wants more.
Unfortunately, I can't wrap my head around letting him cry, fearing he'd throw up again. I'm working on it though: just now, I took away his pacifier, triggering him to cry, and only sneaked in to check on him. After crying (crazily) for 5 minutes, he have actually settled down without throwing up. Progress!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Quick Update on Isaac
Our son Isaac, whose birth story I will have to post later, has been admitted to North York General Hospital on Friday, November 14.
Initially, he was breastfed only, but we had trouble getting successful feeds that we started worrying about dehydration, and decided to augment the feeding with formula on Thursday night. Before then, he was vomiting mildly after each feed, but after being fed formula, the severity of vomiting has increased to an alarming level. Other early signs of trouble we didn't notice until later were the infrequency and low volume of wet diapers and the lack of dirty diapers since the start of day 2. Unfortunately, after having it easy on bottle, he refused to go back to breastfeeding because I haven't fully established my milk supply.
We took him to a scheduled first paediatrician appointment and told the doctor about the situation. The doctor was slightly alarmed by the infrequency of the feeding and increasingly so when he knew about the diaper situation. Isaac was weighed and had lost more than 10% of his birth weight. Finally, Isaac decided to show the doctor what we've been most worried about -- he threw up in front of the doctor. The doctor quickly made the arrangements to admit Isaac to the hospital immediately.
The initial check-up was slightly reassuring: Isaac showed no signs of malnutrition or severe dehyration. I was also relieved that he would finally come back to breastfeeding thanks to a pair of fully loaded (and dripping!) breasts. Later blood tests results showed he was just dehydrated. He was put on IV and NG feeding tube, and was fed every 2 hours through the tube last night.
The doctor orderd the NG feeding tube to be taken away this morning, and we had some more success with breastfeeding. Another round of blood test was done this morning and we haven't heard back from the nurse yet.
There is no internet or cell phone access at the hospital, so any more updates will be infrequent.
Initially, he was breastfed only, but we had trouble getting successful feeds that we started worrying about dehydration, and decided to augment the feeding with formula on Thursday night. Before then, he was vomiting mildly after each feed, but after being fed formula, the severity of vomiting has increased to an alarming level. Other early signs of trouble we didn't notice until later were the infrequency and low volume of wet diapers and the lack of dirty diapers since the start of day 2. Unfortunately, after having it easy on bottle, he refused to go back to breastfeeding because I haven't fully established my milk supply.
We took him to a scheduled first paediatrician appointment and told the doctor about the situation. The doctor was slightly alarmed by the infrequency of the feeding and increasingly so when he knew about the diaper situation. Isaac was weighed and had lost more than 10% of his birth weight. Finally, Isaac decided to show the doctor what we've been most worried about -- he threw up in front of the doctor. The doctor quickly made the arrangements to admit Isaac to the hospital immediately.
The initial check-up was slightly reassuring: Isaac showed no signs of malnutrition or severe dehyration. I was also relieved that he would finally come back to breastfeeding thanks to a pair of fully loaded (and dripping!) breasts. Later blood tests results showed he was just dehydrated. He was put on IV and NG feeding tube, and was fed every 2 hours through the tube last night.
The doctor orderd the NG feeding tube to be taken away this morning, and we had some more success with breastfeeding. Another round of blood test was done this morning and we haven't heard back from the nurse yet.
There is no internet or cell phone access at the hospital, so any more updates will be infrequent.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Baby Isaac: The Prelude and the Arrival
Saturday: visited OB. He checked and said nothing has started yet. He scheduled another check-up for Wednesday, but said I likely would've delivered by then.
Sunday: I woke up to find myself passed two clots of blood, each the size of a tablespoon--bloody show. I screamed and Daniel commented, "THAT on time??"
After consulting various "when to go to the hospital" guidelines, we decided it wasn't time yet. Instead, I spent all day at home waiting for my contractions to become regular and frequent enough.
Daniel was supposed to start his time off on Monday, but was considering whether to postpone his vacation and go back to work.
Monday: I was woken up around 5am by sharp pain in my lower back during a contraction. Though the contractions had become more intense and frequent, they were very irregular. Daniel was up early too, doing a lot of last-minute preparations. Going to work didn't seem like an option to him any more.
By mid-morning, it seemed I still had a long way to the admission criteria of 1-minute contractions every 5 minutes for an hour. Instead, I was having maybe 3 or 4 half-minute contractions clustered together, and then 10 minutes or so of inaction (or peace, depending on whom you ask). Daniel and I went back to bed for a while; I was actually able to catch some sleep in between contractions.
After a late lunch (during which I was having contractions on and off, and Daniel later laughed about that situation), Daniel and I decided to go to the hospital and get checked up anyway. My OB said I need to go to the hospital earlier because I need to be given antibiotics as a precaution.
The assessment room was packed when we arrived at around 4pm. I was given penincillin (sp?) through IV and was monitored. However, my contractions became further apart again. Worse yet, I seemed to be forgotten by the nurses long after the bag of IV was gone. I asked if I could go home, since laying on a hospital bed wasn't helping to make my contractions more regular.
After we got home, I had a warm bath, which seemed to help soothe the pain. We also tried to sleep some more. However, as time progress, the sharp pain in my lower back during contractions was getting worse. Fortunately, I was still able to sneak in a few minutes of shut-eye from time to time.
Tuesday, at home: I started losing my cool during contractions, couldn't get through them with breathing techniques and started screaming. And the most painful part for me was the clusters of contractions which didn't leave me time to recover in between them. I remember one instance I was on my third contraction in a row and I couldn't stand it any more and started crying.
By around 2am, my contractions were getting more regular, and getting through them was becoming increasingly challenging. We waited another hour to see if the contractions were "good" enough by hospital admission standard, and left home around 3:30am.
Tuesday, assessment room: The assessment room at the hospital was quiet this time around. I was immediately put on IV and antibiotics again. While I was waiting in the assessment room, I was still screaming through my contractions. A nurse checked me and said I was 2cm dilated, to which I was mildly disappointed because it meant I still had another 8cm to go, and I was already dying in pain.
The nurse also asked us about what we'd like to do with pain management (read: do you want epidural or pain killers?), and we decided to try the jacuzzi before any drugs. [Side note: There was another couple next door, and the lady's contractions apparently aren't strong or frequent enough to be admitted yet. We both thought I might have scared them a bit with my screams.]
Tuesday, birthing suite: After I was in the birthing suite, I sat in the jacuzzi for maybe 2 hours -- without a clock in the bathroom, it was easy to lose track of time. Daniel was napping outside most of the time while I was sitting and screaming through pain. He even managed to set up the camera on a tripod and took a video of me screaming through a contraction!!!
By around 7am, I decided I had enough and requested epidural. Apparently I picked the wrong time to ask, since it was the transition time of a shift. Which means I had to endure a few more contractions before relief would come.
Although putting on epidural in and of itself wasn't too painful, by then I had already lost my patience and pain endurance. Unfortunately, it was applied in the spine, and I had to sit still throughout. It didn't help that a contraction near the tail end of the process and pretty much just screamed through the whole thing while trying to maintain my position.
The sensation epidural gave when it started working was weird, but it was very effective. By the time the epidural was taped up on my back and I was lying on bed again, I couldn't feel any pain even though I could see a contraction from the monitor.
The nurse checked me again and said I was 4.5cm dilated. At the normal rate of 1cm/hour, we were expecting this to last the whole day. Since a nurse had put a contraction graph of another room on my monitor as well, we could compare the very rhythmic and regular graph of the other lady with my erratic and clustered contractions. Although epidural could often slow contractions down, it didn't seem to be the case for me. Sometimes I could still feel a contraction, but I couldn't feel any pain.
After calling our parents, both of us went to sleep. By 9:30am, both my dad and Daniel's parents had arrived. We updated them on my situation, telling them it was probably going to be mid- to late afternoon.
The nurse said my OB was in and would come in and check me, and probably would break my water to help speed things up. Soon after, my OB came to check, and a medical student tagged along. My OB decided to use me as a study case: he asked the student to check me as well and asked her to describe what she felt and assess the situation. The conversation went like this:
Doc: What did you feel?
Student: I feel something round...
Doc: Can you see anything?
Student: I see a black circle...
Doc: What does that mean?
Student: It's maybe +1 / +2?
That, my friend, is the doctor-speak for being fully dilated~ and ready to push! After the OB translated that to plain language to us, I was surprised!
Doctor: OK you're ready to push.
Us: Huh? That early??
The OB then asked the student to break my water. All the time I was wondering if my water broke during jacuzzi and whether I could feel it break, the actual water-breaking was actually a very self-evident event. They said the baby has already passed his meconium (i.e. the first poo) while he was still in my tummy. (Translation: they need to clean up the baby and check him out right after birth to make sure he didn't breath it into his lungs.)
Tuesday, Pushing: When they said I was ready to push, they propped up a handle on each side for me to hold onto during a push. I was asked to grab the handle, take a deep breath in, hold onto it and push, all during a contraction.
With the first contraction, I pushed three times. Daniel said he could see the baby's head came out quite a lot even after the first contraction. They all commented I was a great pusher; I had no idea at that time that I really was quick at pushing.
Another 3 or 4 contractions later, I was already told to hold and wait for all the doctors to come in before the actual delivery. While holding, I could feel my body pushing on its own. Around that time, we heard from the PA saying there'd be a moment of silence for Remembrance Day soon. I remembered I jokingly said to Daniel, "it'd be kinda hard to observe that."
Tuesday, Arrival: With the OB, paediatrician, respiratory therapist, and an extra nurse in the room, along with my nurse and the medical student, I was finally allowed to push. I could feel Isaac's head coming out from me. A few seconds later, his shoulder was out as well.
Isaac came out crying on his own, loudly. Even without holding him, he looked huge to me. Oh, and he came with a head full of hair, almost long enough for a cut. :) The OB then asked Daniel to cut the umbilical cord, but he was probably afraid or otherwise didn't apply sufficient force on the scissors, and the OB scolded at him. :D
Isaac was taken to a different station and was checked out by the paediatrician and the respiratory therapist. He was crying pretty much throughout the ordeal. It wasn't until they weighed him and told me he was 3710 grams / 8lbs 3oz that I realized how big he was. Daniel asked about Isaac's APGAR score and they said it was 8 -- and nothing to worry about.
Daniel: Wow that's heavy! How did you manage to carry that for months and get him out so fast?!?!?!
Me to OB: You said he was going to be 7lbs!
OB: Well if I told you it was 8lbs you would be scared, wouldn't you? :D
At the same time, the OB showed the medical student how to collect cord blood. Even though we weren't banking the cord blood, the OB asked us prior if we would want to donate it, and we were fine with that. Apparently, he wanted to test out some new cord blood collecting kit as well. I suppose that and the teaching made the process a little longer than usual. He then said I have some minor tear and stitched me up.
When they passed Isaac to me, it was the most wonderful thing in the world.
Sunday: I woke up to find myself passed two clots of blood, each the size of a tablespoon--bloody show. I screamed and Daniel commented, "THAT on time??"
After consulting various "when to go to the hospital" guidelines, we decided it wasn't time yet. Instead, I spent all day at home waiting for my contractions to become regular and frequent enough.
Daniel was supposed to start his time off on Monday, but was considering whether to postpone his vacation and go back to work.
Monday: I was woken up around 5am by sharp pain in my lower back during a contraction. Though the contractions had become more intense and frequent, they were very irregular. Daniel was up early too, doing a lot of last-minute preparations. Going to work didn't seem like an option to him any more.
By mid-morning, it seemed I still had a long way to the admission criteria of 1-minute contractions every 5 minutes for an hour. Instead, I was having maybe 3 or 4 half-minute contractions clustered together, and then 10 minutes or so of inaction (or peace, depending on whom you ask). Daniel and I went back to bed for a while; I was actually able to catch some sleep in between contractions.
After a late lunch (during which I was having contractions on and off, and Daniel later laughed about that situation), Daniel and I decided to go to the hospital and get checked up anyway. My OB said I need to go to the hospital earlier because I need to be given antibiotics as a precaution.
The assessment room was packed when we arrived at around 4pm. I was given penincillin (sp?) through IV and was monitored. However, my contractions became further apart again. Worse yet, I seemed to be forgotten by the nurses long after the bag of IV was gone. I asked if I could go home, since laying on a hospital bed wasn't helping to make my contractions more regular.
After we got home, I had a warm bath, which seemed to help soothe the pain. We also tried to sleep some more. However, as time progress, the sharp pain in my lower back during contractions was getting worse. Fortunately, I was still able to sneak in a few minutes of shut-eye from time to time.
Tuesday, at home: I started losing my cool during contractions, couldn't get through them with breathing techniques and started screaming. And the most painful part for me was the clusters of contractions which didn't leave me time to recover in between them. I remember one instance I was on my third contraction in a row and I couldn't stand it any more and started crying.
By around 2am, my contractions were getting more regular, and getting through them was becoming increasingly challenging. We waited another hour to see if the contractions were "good" enough by hospital admission standard, and left home around 3:30am.
Tuesday, assessment room: The assessment room at the hospital was quiet this time around. I was immediately put on IV and antibiotics again. While I was waiting in the assessment room, I was still screaming through my contractions. A nurse checked me and said I was 2cm dilated, to which I was mildly disappointed because it meant I still had another 8cm to go, and I was already dying in pain.
The nurse also asked us about what we'd like to do with pain management (read: do you want epidural or pain killers?), and we decided to try the jacuzzi before any drugs. [Side note: There was another couple next door, and the lady's contractions apparently aren't strong or frequent enough to be admitted yet. We both thought I might have scared them a bit with my screams.]
Tuesday, birthing suite: After I was in the birthing suite, I sat in the jacuzzi for maybe 2 hours -- without a clock in the bathroom, it was easy to lose track of time. Daniel was napping outside most of the time while I was sitting and screaming through pain. He even managed to set up the camera on a tripod and took a video of me screaming through a contraction!!!
By around 7am, I decided I had enough and requested epidural. Apparently I picked the wrong time to ask, since it was the transition time of a shift. Which means I had to endure a few more contractions before relief would come.
Although putting on epidural in and of itself wasn't too painful, by then I had already lost my patience and pain endurance. Unfortunately, it was applied in the spine, and I had to sit still throughout. It didn't help that a contraction near the tail end of the process and pretty much just screamed through the whole thing while trying to maintain my position.
The sensation epidural gave when it started working was weird, but it was very effective. By the time the epidural was taped up on my back and I was lying on bed again, I couldn't feel any pain even though I could see a contraction from the monitor.
The nurse checked me again and said I was 4.5cm dilated. At the normal rate of 1cm/hour, we were expecting this to last the whole day. Since a nurse had put a contraction graph of another room on my monitor as well, we could compare the very rhythmic and regular graph of the other lady with my erratic and clustered contractions. Although epidural could often slow contractions down, it didn't seem to be the case for me. Sometimes I could still feel a contraction, but I couldn't feel any pain.
After calling our parents, both of us went to sleep. By 9:30am, both my dad and Daniel's parents had arrived. We updated them on my situation, telling them it was probably going to be mid- to late afternoon.
The nurse said my OB was in and would come in and check me, and probably would break my water to help speed things up. Soon after, my OB came to check, and a medical student tagged along. My OB decided to use me as a study case: he asked the student to check me as well and asked her to describe what she felt and assess the situation. The conversation went like this:
Doc: What did you feel?
Student: I feel something round...
Doc: Can you see anything?
Student: I see a black circle...
Doc: What does that mean?
Student: It's maybe +1 / +2?
That, my friend, is the doctor-speak for being fully dilated~ and ready to push! After the OB translated that to plain language to us, I was surprised!
Doctor: OK you're ready to push.
Us: Huh? That early??
The OB then asked the student to break my water. All the time I was wondering if my water broke during jacuzzi and whether I could feel it break, the actual water-breaking was actually a very self-evident event. They said the baby has already passed his meconium (i.e. the first poo) while he was still in my tummy. (Translation: they need to clean up the baby and check him out right after birth to make sure he didn't breath it into his lungs.)
Tuesday, Pushing: When they said I was ready to push, they propped up a handle on each side for me to hold onto during a push. I was asked to grab the handle, take a deep breath in, hold onto it and push, all during a contraction.
With the first contraction, I pushed three times. Daniel said he could see the baby's head came out quite a lot even after the first contraction. They all commented I was a great pusher; I had no idea at that time that I really was quick at pushing.
Another 3 or 4 contractions later, I was already told to hold and wait for all the doctors to come in before the actual delivery. While holding, I could feel my body pushing on its own. Around that time, we heard from the PA saying there'd be a moment of silence for Remembrance Day soon. I remembered I jokingly said to Daniel, "it'd be kinda hard to observe that."
Tuesday, Arrival: With the OB, paediatrician, respiratory therapist, and an extra nurse in the room, along with my nurse and the medical student, I was finally allowed to push. I could feel Isaac's head coming out from me. A few seconds later, his shoulder was out as well.
Isaac came out crying on his own, loudly. Even without holding him, he looked huge to me. Oh, and he came with a head full of hair, almost long enough for a cut. :) The OB then asked Daniel to cut the umbilical cord, but he was probably afraid or otherwise didn't apply sufficient force on the scissors, and the OB scolded at him. :D
Isaac was taken to a different station and was checked out by the paediatrician and the respiratory therapist. He was crying pretty much throughout the ordeal. It wasn't until they weighed him and told me he was 3710 grams / 8lbs 3oz that I realized how big he was. Daniel asked about Isaac's APGAR score and they said it was 8 -- and nothing to worry about.
Daniel: Wow that's heavy! How did you manage to carry that for months and get him out so fast?!?!?!
Me to OB: You said he was going to be 7lbs!
OB: Well if I told you it was 8lbs you would be scared, wouldn't you? :D
At the same time, the OB showed the medical student how to collect cord blood. Even though we weren't banking the cord blood, the OB asked us prior if we would want to donate it, and we were fine with that. Apparently, he wanted to test out some new cord blood collecting kit as well. I suppose that and the teaching made the process a little longer than usual. He then said I have some minor tear and stitched me up.
When they passed Isaac to me, it was the most wonderful thing in the world.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Still Waiting
Another OB visit today. The doctor said dilation and effacement haven't started yet. It wasn't exactly a concern since my due date is tomorrow. Plus, I always felt it's gonna be late, just like we always are. :D
My next appointment is Wednesday evening, but the doctor said the baby could probably be out before then. We'll see how that goes. :)
My next appointment is Wednesday evening, but the doctor said the baby could probably be out before then. We'll see how that goes. :)
Friday, November 7, 2008
Random Conversation: Monster
Every time Daniel sees my belly moving caused by the baby's moment, he'd say,
"There's a little monster inside!"
"There's a little monster inside!"
Random Conversation: Potatoes
Any time someone who has never been pregnant (or more likely, a guy, who still can't be pregnant even with today's technological advances) asks me how it feels like, I would reply,
"Try strapping a bag of potatoes onto your belly and you'd know."
"Try strapping a bag of potatoes onto your belly and you'd know."
Random Conversation: Belly
In the past few days in particular, every time I walked over to Daniel while he was seated, his eyes would fixate on my ever-growing belly for a few seconds, and said in amazement, "holy crap this is ridiculously huge! It's impossible!"
Then he'd immediately turn his head away and laugh.
Then he'd immediately turn his head away and laugh.
Random Conversation: Nesting
Me: You know people say women usually have nesting instinct set in before giving birth? So if you see me tidying things up etc., you know it's about time.
Daniel: It may hold true for others, but you're probably the last person on earth to have nesting instinct.
Me: ... so true.
Daniel: It may hold true for others, but you're probably the last person on earth to have nesting instinct.
Me: ... so true.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What's the Big Fuzz about a Black President?
So Barack Obama won yesterday's presidential election, hands down. Half the analysts were saying his race was a very big deal, and the other half were accusing him of downplaying the race card in his victory speech.
My take: he's black. So what?
OK, I understand its significance, especially to African-Americans. Regardless of his race, his cultural background, his profession, his political experience--his everything--becoming the president-elect of US is no small feat.
However, until people stop celebrating just because he is not (pure) Caucasian, I don't think our next door neighbour has changed enough.
Maybe one day, the fact that a presidential candidate being African-American will be no more significant trait than him/her coming from Idaho or being left-handed.
I believe the day will eventually come.
My take: he's black. So what?
OK, I understand its significance, especially to African-Americans. Regardless of his race, his cultural background, his profession, his political experience--his everything--becoming the president-elect of US is no small feat.
However, until people stop celebrating just because he is not (pure) Caucasian, I don't think our next door neighbour has changed enough.
Maybe one day, the fact that a presidential candidate being African-American will be no more significant trait than him/her coming from Idaho or being left-handed.
I believe the day will eventually come.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Contraction Timer
You know you're a total geek when you decided to spend a whole afternoon writing your own contraction timer that is usable with your iPod Touch and cell phone.
The Alphabet Soup of Registered Savings
After I received my maternity pay top-up schedule from my employer and forwarded it to Daniel, he asked me in the email reply (which I didn't check until two days later), "Can you do a budget/analysis on how much we need to save up for RRSP by February, and how much we can spend in Christmas?"
(On the Christmas part: we're planning to buy a new LCD HDTV, and along with it, switch to Rogers for HD cable. Plus maybe a PS3.)
My response? "You forgot RESP and TFSA as well."
As I explained further in the email, after RRSP, we want to contribute to ah jai's RESP for the CSG (a.k.a. free money) we'll receive. Then, after we have maxed out on CSG, we should each open a TFSA account and play with our stock picks inside our respective accounts.
(Anyone interested in learning more about why RESP or how RESP work in general can contact me -- I did some analysis on it.)
Obviously, he had a legitimate concern:
However, it's not as gloomy as Daniel feared neither: as long as the stock market doesn't continue to tumble (and/or we act quicker), we can do in-kind contribution (i.e., transfer our existing stocks from the non-registered investment account to our respective RRSP accounts).
The upside, if you can call it as that, of in-kind contribution is, since almost all stocks we own are in the red right now, we don't have to worry about capital gain. Depending on the mood of Mr. Market, we only need to put in a relatively small chunk of cash into RRSP.
If my calculations are correct, the tax refund triggered by our RRSP contributions should be enough to cover all of the planned RESP and a majority of our available TFSA contribution room.
Looks like we're all set for February 28, 2009.
(On the Christmas part: we're planning to buy a new LCD HDTV, and along with it, switch to Rogers for HD cable. Plus maybe a PS3.)
My response? "You forgot RESP and TFSA as well."
As I explained further in the email, after RRSP, we want to contribute to ah jai's RESP for the CSG (a.k.a. free money) we'll receive. Then, after we have maxed out on CSG, we should each open a TFSA account and play with our stock picks inside our respective accounts.
(Anyone interested in learning more about why RESP or how RESP work in general can contact me -- I did some analysis on it.)
Obviously, he had a legitimate concern:
- We have been throwing money -- maybe a little too much of it -- into the stock market since September.
- Our regular household expense will go up with a new member coming, but income will take a huge hit when I'm on maternity leave.
- Since my income will be much lower for tax year 2009, it may be in our best interest to utilize all of my remaining RRSP contribution room.
However, it's not as gloomy as Daniel feared neither: as long as the stock market doesn't continue to tumble (and/or we act quicker), we can do in-kind contribution (i.e., transfer our existing stocks from the non-registered investment account to our respective RRSP accounts).
The upside, if you can call it as that, of in-kind contribution is, since almost all stocks we own are in the red right now, we don't have to worry about capital gain. Depending on the mood of Mr. Market, we only need to put in a relatively small chunk of cash into RRSP.
If my calculations are correct, the tax refund triggered by our RRSP contributions should be enough to cover all of the planned RESP and a majority of our available TFSA contribution room.
Looks like we're all set for February 28, 2009.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
