Thursday, July 27, 2006

Pooh Story # 1 ~ Not your ordinary job


...then the pooh face!
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.
There is no end to the pooh or “pooh stories” you find yourself exposed to once you have a baby. You’re either living the story or someone else is telling you theirs. I’ve decided to document them. Enjoy!

Here’s another use for the word “job”…
Sean’s dad told me that when the kids were small his dad used to call poop a “jobbie”, as in “Is it time for a jobbie?” I grew up with a boy named Andrew who’s mom Lois called poop “a big job” as in “Andrew, don’t have a big job in your swim trunks when you’re swimming in Nancy’s pool!”

The Birth Story ~ Part II ~ Arriving at the hospital

Showing up at a maternity hospital that is closed while you’re experiencing the onset on labor is a strange experience. We had to enter thru an after hours side door. Most of the lights were off on the main floor and there was NOBODY around at all. We headed up to the nurses station on the 2nd floor as we were told to do during our prenatal classes. We found a nurse who was busy talking to someone else and waited patiently while I leaked and she finished up. Sato-san was still with us and was helping ferry our huge load of stuff around. Finally the nurse led us to our LDR (labor, delivery and recovery room). All the rooms are named after flowers and ours was “Ma-gu-ri-to”. That is supposed to be an English word for what looks like your basic Shasta daisy! So we get settled into our LDR, Sean put our stuff away, stocked the fridge and I got changed into my delivery garb. We met the two midwives on staff for the night Yoshida-san and Hidachi-san and the doctor came by to talk to us see how I was doing. It turned out he was on duty for the night. We told him about the appearance of the stuff that came out when my water broke and he was convinced my water didn’t break. Hmmm. Oh well. We were there for the long haul either way. The midwives put a fetal heart monitor around my belly and the doctor examined me. The doctor examined me and I think at that point I was about 4 cm dilated. Then I had to have an IV inserted. I hate needles but I knew I would have to go through this process so I was somewhat prepared. We told the nurses about my rolling and collapsing veins and they did their best to get a needle inserted into the top part of my lower left arm. No luck after two tries so they attempted to get it into the side of my wrist. No luck again and I was rapidly losing my bravery. So they called the doctor. I think he was pretty pissed. He came in, told me to relax and not move and just put the needle in my wrist and kept trying until he got it in the vein. It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch but I was happy that the friggin’ thing was in. I mentioned to Sean later to Jess that it was still painful and restricted my movement but there was no way in hell I was going thru that again.

At this point I have to mention that every time the doctor or one of the midwives can in to examine me they asked Sean to leave the room or they tried to pull the curtain around to separate us. We found this a little odd and told them every single time that it was ok for both Sean and Jess to be in the room. I think at around the fourth day of my stay in the hospital they were used to the fact that it was ok for Sean to see me partly naked!

Jess arrived shortly after the IV was inserted (at least I don't think she was there for that part!). We had planned for her to pick us up so she wasn’t too sure where the hospital was from our new place and had to stop a couple of time for directions. Geez, you just can’t be prepared for everything! She got settled in and at this point I wasn’t really feeling any consistent contractions. I was a little worried that they were going to send me home but I think the fact that I had discolored amnio fluid assured my stay.

One of the midwives came in to give me my huge bag of hospital goodies. The bag included a really big soft, fluffy bath towel, 3 different sized “Fruits” brand maxi pads in pillow, futon and mattress sizes, a belly button care kit for the baby, lots of literature I can’t read, diapers, a toiletry kit, slippers, hand towel, sheet protector, bum wipes and wash cloths for the baby and one pair of insanely stretchy underpants that were the physical manifestation of the phrase “one size fits all”! I was helped into the undies, which were lined with a mattress-sized pad, and then I climbed into bed to wait for the contractions.

11 weeks

It's been quite a week of firsts for Keenan. On Saturday he managed to hit the tumbler filled with colored beads on his crib gym. He was so pleased that he got the light to flash and the music to play! He went on to hit it another 3 or 4 times. Then at dinnertime he was in his bouncy chair next to the table as Sean and I were to about to sit down and have dinner and I noticed Keenan staring at his hands for the first time. It was like some sort of religious revelation! He just sat there flinging his hands about and tracking them with a very serious expression on his face. I grabbed the camera and this photo is of Keenan within minutes of his discovery. Last night he slept for the longest stretch so far...a little over 6 hours! Yippee for mom and dad! He got up at 4 and 6 am to be changed and fed but other than that he didn't make a peep. This morning after his bath I was rocking him to sleep and just before he closed his eyes he very slowly reached out and put his hand on my mouth. I was so verklempt! It's the first time he's made an effort to make physical contact with me (besides breastfeeding of course!). Wow, what a feeling to see him in control of his little arm and hand. I smoothered him in kisses and we had a little giggle fest together! Another thing he's been doing this week is drooling. Drooling, drooling and more drooling! God, I hope he's not prematurely teething!

Happy Birthday Sean!

It was Sean's 33rd birthday yesterday. He shares the same birthday with our nephew Nick in Ottawa and Erin here in Obihiro. Last night we went out to dinner for pasta and parfaits at the new Ryugetsu just down the street from our apartment. I brought candles for the birthday folks and we sang Happy Birthday loud enough so the entire restaurant could hear us! It's Kajsa's birthday today and Jonah's next week. We had an awesome time and Keenan once again totally enjoyed getting passed between the ladies.

Friday, July 21, 2006

10 weeks

It’s been a crazy week. We’ve had some really intensely hot & humid weather and now it’s so cold that I have to dress Keenan in pants, socks, a jacket and hat every time we go outside. So we’ve been indoors a lot this past wee and Keenan and I have had to keep each other entertained with cooing and the like. Keenan has been hell bent on getting over onto his stomach. We have to put a rolled up blanket next to him if we leave him alone in his crib or on our bed otherwise we come back to find him grunting and drooling, half turned over and totally frustrated. His frontal fontanel is nearly grown in now and he surprised with a few high-pitched squeals of delight. Last Saturday night we put him in his crib around 7:30 after a diaper change to stare at his bunnies. We were both pretty surprised that we hadn’t heard any cooing coming of his room for a while so we went in to check on him and he was sound asleep. That’s the first time he’s fallen asleep by himself without being rocked or snuggled first. Naturally, I was upset! “My baby doesn’t need me for falling asleep anymore!” Poor Sean, he thinks I’m totally nuts at times! So we did the same thing the following night and he fell asleep by himself again. Now, if we can just get him to sleep through the night!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Farter vs. Burper

Humans need to expel gas. Usually by way of farting or burping. If you have some other way of doing so I’d love to hear about it! I have a theory that everyone is either a farter or a burper and generally not both. I have no research to back this up just casual observations.

Sean is a burper and I’m a farter. It would appear that I’ve passed (ha ha!) my gas expulsion genes on to Keenan. He farts louder than his father. He farted so loud during the JET musical performance of Guys and Dolls that I had to leave the theatre and take him to the washroom. It doesn’t matter what I eat. He still has the boisterously talkative backside. I sure hope he grows into his farts. It might be a little disturbing and exceedingly embarrassing if they get louder the older he gets!

Friday, July 14, 2006

The Birth Story ~ Part I ~ My Water breaks

Well it’s been 9 weeks since Keenan was born. And it’s been a very busy 9 weeks. I had wanted to get my account of Keenan’s delivery posted earlier but I’ve been putting all my efforts into breastfeeding. I’ll mention more about that later. I’m going to break down Keenan’s delivery into “The Birth” entries so I can include a ton of details without feeling like I’m writing an epic! So here goes…

Wednesday, May 10/2006
Sean and I had a relaxing dinner together and afterwards he took to the computer and I headed to the bathroom for about the 100th time that day. Being one week and one day overdue I wasn’t going too far without keeping a washroom in view. So I had my pee and started to feel that things were feeling a little “different” down south. I had read that before labor starts it’s pretty common to feel a little anxious. Well, I wasn’t quite there yet but I could very clearly feel where things were headed. I was pretty sure I was about to experience my water breaking. I climbed into bed and within minutes I was calling out “SEAN, I NEED A TOWEL”. I was feeling the amniotic fluid gush out and then anxiousness that I’d read about started to settle in quite nicely. After a near wipe out on the hardwood floor (not due to slipping in the amnio fluid!) while getting me the towel Sean helped me stuff the towel in my pants and helped me back to the washroom. We were discussing whether or not we should call Jess to come into town asap or wait a bit when Sean’s supervisor called. He was chatting away with Sean about a fax for the next day’s classes when Sean finally cut in with a “Uh Sato-san I don’t think I’ll be going to class tomorrow as Nancy just went into labor”. That wrapped up the conversation pretty quick. In the meantime I was feeling more leaking so we decided to call Jess. While Sean and Jess were talking I looked at the towel and it was stained with a dark yellow fluid and lots of little yucky bits of something gross. Not a good sign. The condition of the amnio fluid really got my anxiety going. I showed Sean the towel just as Jess asked, “is the fluid clear?” “Ahhh nope, definitely not, we need to leave right away”. Just to back up and review our plan for getting to the hospital…We gave Jess our car about 2 weeks before the due date since she no longer had one and we figured we’d call her and she’d pick us up and take us to the hospital when the “time” came. She lives about 45 minutes away and had her bags packed and ready to head our way on a moments notice. We also had a back up list of 4 people “just in case”. So after Sean hung up with Jess he called the hospital to let them know what the amniotic fluid looked like and that we would be coming soon. After hearing about the discoloration they wanted us there immediately. Sean called Jess back but she had already left. So he tried Alixe, back up person #1 on our list. She wasn’t home. Crap! Then the doorbell rang. It was Sato-san, Sean’s supervisor! He came right over after he hung up the phone with Sean to take us to the hospital. A sticky note on our door letting Jess know we were on our way to the hospital would have to do. At this point I had really calmed down and was very happy that I would soon be meeting our little baby. We loaded our stuff into Sato-san’s car and I climbed into the back seat with a fresh towel (Sato-san’s car has cream colored upholstery). He drove the speed limit (50 km/hr) all the way there. It was a really foggy night. Nobody else was out on the road and I was really happy to have a few minutes of quiet before everything changed. I was sitting in the back seat by myself and I remember feeling really amazed and amazing. Getting pregnant and being pregnant was the easy part now the real work was about to begin. Perhaps that’s why it’s called “labor”. I was a little nervous but overall quite relaxed. I also felt really happy about the fact that I was starting to go into labor naturally as I was scheduled to go into the hospital late in the afternoon on the following day to be induced. Finally, everything we had prepared for and read about was finally starting to take place.

9 weeks


Post boobie nap with mommy
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.
Our little baby is nine weeks old today! He is doing so well and growing so long! At 8 ½ weeks his clothes for 3 months were already fitting him perfectly in the length. His mid section hasn’t quite caught up yet so everything is a little loose around the tummy! The other day Sean was showing him how to spin a little plastic tube filled with colored beads on his crib toy. Sean was basically just holding his hand and spinning it for him. Well today I put him in the crib and Keenan quietly reached out his little arm and was trying to steady it long enough to get his hand to spin the tube. He tried several times and managed to whack at it but he doesn't yet have the control to get his hand to manipulate it. He was really excited there for a while but then started to cry in frustration. Pretty amazing though. It seems he has the closer range dexterity sorted out better so far. He rubs his eyes when he’s tired and he still is working very hard on getting his thumb planted in his mouth. For the last 2 ½ weeks he’s been sticking to a pretty good schedule of a morning, afternoon and evening nap then to bed at 8 pm up at 12:30 and 3:30 am for a feeding and a clean bum. He’s up pretty early usually by 6 or 7 but that gives pops a chance to get some sleep. We’ll see how long he sticks to this routine!

8 weeks


Hypnotic bunnies
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.
Keenan has now totally gotten over his hate for being naked and totally loves bath time. He still doesn’t like the après bath sensation of being cold and is very vocal about it but that is quickly remedied by wrapping him in his quilt or fleece robe. Fun seems to be a concept he’s starting to appreciate. He loves it when you manipulate his legs into running and swimming actions and he really gets a charge out of kicking water in the tub and being bounced from your knee to great heights. He still can’t quite hold his head up all by himself but really takes every opportunity to try to do so. His vision has improved greatly and he has no problem tracking us from across the room. He can now also totally focus on his current most prized possession. His usagi-chan (bunny babies) mobile that gramma bought him. He absolutely loves it and can lie under it and listen to the music and watch the bunnies go around for…I think the record is about 40 minutes. He coo’s and talks to it and has himself a grand old time! This mobile has bought me precious minutes to catch a quick lunch, take a pee, put the laundry on the line and attend to many other things that require two hands. Thanks again Pat for such an awesome gift! Keenan’s hair is getting really long and is still that lovely strawberry blond. Not too much has fallen out except at the sides just back from his temples and strangely the middle section of his eyebrows are coming in black! That should prove to be an interesting look in the coming weeks!