Buggito the white collection.....

After months of posting pictures of baby clothes and gifts I suppose its time to post a few pictures of my baby Buggito. Buggito was 7lbs 5 ounces when she was born and 21 inches long!

So my baby is a Gemini...just like her Mom!

So with a May 21st birthday baby "Buggito" is right on the cusp of Taurus and Gemini, we will see as time goes on which traits she seems to possess more of. Chris actually worked with a lady with the babies same birthday, she assures us that we will get the best of both signs :).

The Gemini child is very curious. All facets of life fascinate him, and he loves to explore nature. Gemini Baby quickly learns how to talk and walk. His parents must watch him carefully because he often strays from view. He needs to wander, to walk, to know, to communicate. He gets bored quite easily, and needs to develop multiple interests. He is the kind of person who can do many things at the same time. Any kind of repression or obstruction of his freedom could provoke an emotional depression which could be very difficult for him to overcome. If he needs to be confined to a small space, he should have many toys, books, a TV and someone to talk to.

He is the kind of child who makes people nervous, because he is in constant motion and nothing stops him from talking. It is not a good idea to tell him that it would be much better if he tried to behave as other children who react slower and not as imaginatively. The challenge is to make him reduce the speed of his life without frustrating his basic nature.

He is very sociable, bright, precocious, and always asking questions. He is very clever, and he excels in intellectual activities: mathematics, literature, languages, etc. He does not have trouble learning unless the subject becomes boring for him. His hands are expressive and agile and he can easily mimic. It would be a good idea to give him a magic game as a present, in order to develop the natural talent he possesses. Sometimes he exaggerates, lies, and makes fun of people. He has a very good imagination, often embellishes the truth, and even believes his own fantasies. The Gemini child must be taught to tell the truth and to develop his fantasies in writing. If Gemini Baby does not learn how to express himself without inhibitions, he could become very introverted when grown-up, as a way of self-protection. He is never satisfied with one activity at a time and is able to do homework while listening to the radio.

His main problems are: lack of patience, lack of perseverance to get deeper into detail, and being too easily influenced by others. As this child grows, parents should get to know their child's friends. As a youngster, he will be always talking on the phone, going out with different friends every week and changing his mind about his future career. His parents should not be worried about this, because their child is one of the smartest persons in the zodiac, and he will surely impress everyone with his many facets, brightness, and eloquence. He will be always naive and childish; for this reason, he must learn the importance of responsible behaviour.

Plans plans plans.....

Yiddish Proverb ~ "Men Plan, God laughs"

So pre-baby I had allot of plans of how things were going to go. I was going to have my baby either a day early, or a day late so I could be out of the hospital when my mom arrived in town. I was going to have a natural childbirth, I was not going to breastfeed. Its funny sometimes how life has a way of changing our plans on us without notice.

My baby was 10 days overdue, I rescheduled my plans to allow for induction which on not one but two occasions fell through. By the time an epidural was offered to me I could not wait to have it administered and in the end I would not have been able to have the baby naturally anyhow as she was under distress in the womb and needed to be born by c-section. I spent the majority of my parents visit in the hospital recovering from surgery. It was a bit disheartening but in the end it worked out to be a lifesaver. My mom was able to come by and help both Chris and I have a rest during our hospital stay while she kept an eye on the baby. I was not about to leave her alone in the care of the nurses (despite the fact the nursing staff at the hospital was very good). So although I didn't get to have as much home time to visit it was reassuring for me to know that if I had to take a nap she was in good hands. I know Chris appreciated having a few hours to run home for a shower and to grab some food everyday I was admitted.

When I found out the baby wasn't putting on much weight in the womb a few months ago I decided I would try breastfeeding just to ensure she would have some of the extra antibodies to give her a good start but if it didn't work out I would go to formula. In fact the thought of breastfeeding actually completely disgusted me and here I am one week later breastfeeding every two hours and I have to say now that I'm here doing it I'm not sure what all my revulsion was about. So far things in this department are going so much better than I had ever thought possible after hearing so many breastfeeding horror stories for the last nine months. After watching other parents in the hospital trying to prepare formula for screaming impatient babies I'm actually glad I can just grab my baby and respond to her needs before she gets too worked up.

Allot of things happened after childbirth I wasn't expecting, I don't completely hate my post baby body, My baby is very mild mannered and relaxed. As long as we continue to just roll with the punches everything should work out for the best.

Bringing baby into the world part one....

So since my last post what has happened?. About ten minutes after posting my last entry Chris came down stairs apparently the insomnia was contagious. We watched a B list movie "Solomon Kane" and waited for McDonald's to open up. We drove down to McDonald's and had our breakfast at around 6:00am and tried to relax before our trip to the hospital at 7:30 am. When we made it to the hospital they hooked me up to a fetal monitor for about 40 minutes, then we waited for the doctor to arrive to assess us and begin induction. By about 2:30 pm the doctor finally arrived, he had been busy all morning delivering babies as apparently half the city went into labour on their own. I was still only one cm dilated, there wasn't enough nursing staff to monitor me through induction so the doctor gave me a quick ultrasound to ensure the baby was not in distress and sent us home to come back on Thursday (May 20th).

I was a little bit annoyed but also a bit relieved the weather was so nice on Tuesday that the labour room we were in was like a sauna, that coupled with the lack of sleep would have left me too exhausted for labour. My Mom and Dad arrived at our house a few hours later and we were able to get them situated in the house and have a bit of a visit.

Wednesday a package arrived in the mail from our friends Ed and Heather!!, It was the perfect pick me up after a disappointing day the day before. It had a set of cute onesies, some pink receiving blankets and an awesome pink blanket with a fluffy little bunny (which is now the babies bedtime blanket of choice)!!. Thank you both so much!!!. We spent the day walking around downtown with my parents and went out for lunch at a nice little restaurant on the waterfront we tried to enjoy our day as we knew Thursday we would be gone all day for round two of induction.

Thursday came and Chris and I both managed to get a better sleep (despite me having a bit of mild contractions that were spaced out irregularly) we woke up and prepared ourselves for the hospital. We arrived and had the fetal monitor placed on us and then proceeded to await for our assessment. Eventually the head doctor walked in, the best way to describe her would be a blond female version of Kramer from Seinfeld. She checked my cervix and lo and behold I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced!! WooHoo!!!. She left me for awhile and eventually MY doctor came in and assessed me. Nothing had changed and it looked as if the labour ward was just as busy today as it had been on Tuesday. She checked me in so I would be in the front of the queue for Friday morning and then we waited around. A few hours later they brought me lunch (Beef stew with a side of Beef barely soup, I guess they got a good deal on beef that week). Chris left to go get some lunch and also picked up a copy of "Chuck Norris cannot be stopped" for us to read while we were in labour. I have to say I was truly unaware that the best part of waking up was not Folgers in your cup, but the fact that Chuck Norris did not kill you in your sleep. At about 1:30 another doctor came in and let me know they had no time for me today and that there was a bed shortage she may have to move me to a different area of the hospital. I let her know if she wanted we could go home and come back on Friday and she phoned my doctor to okay it. Which she did!.

When we got home my Mom had begun scrubbing my house from top to bottom (the first words she said to us when we walked through the door were "you're out of steel wool") and my Dad had begun making some repairs around the house. Everyone was a bit disappointed but My mom had made Lasagna for dinner so all was good after all!!!. We sat down for dinner and watched a few episodes of "Modern family", I started to notice my contractions were getting closer and closer together. I started to time them at around 6:30 and as soon as everyone else noticed my marking times they began to get edgy. "You should go to the hospital your only 7 minutes apart", I refused, I was not going back to the hospital until there was no way they could send me home. We decided to take the dogs to the park at around 8:00pm to ensure it wasn't false labour, by the time we got home my contractions were no longer small little cramps but sharp stabs of pain in my abdomen lasting 30 seconds at a time, three minutes apart. Still I realised that labour is a time consuming process and I wanted to be absolutely sure we were staying this time so we waited until about a quarter to ten to begin to drive to the hospital. At this point the pain was bad enough I had to stop moving when a contraction hit.

We made it to the hospital, once again we were strapped up to the fetal heart monitor, the RN on duty checked my cervix 4 cm dilated, SCORE!!! we were getting somewhere. ~turns out no one else was impressed with my measly 4cm. Time for you to go walk the halls for an hour. We changed out of our hospital gown and began our circular trek through the halls. Each time we looped around to the washroom I had to duck in. The pain was getting pretty darn bad at this point. I made a point of informing Chris that he had best enjoy having one child because that's all we we're having. We passed by the Nursery window and saw a new baby getting his or her exam and watching the little stinker took away a bit of the pain as I became more excited to meet our little bundle. Later on at the labour ward hearing other babies first screams and squeals as they made there way into the world worked pretty good at numbing the pain as well.

We made our trip around and around for an hour or so and went back to our room where the contractions were getting worse. I was assessed again and nothing had changed I was getting pretty tired and just wanted to nap but the intensity of the contractions was making that dream an impossibility. A few hours later my Doctor came in and realised I was still only 4 cm dilated, she asked if I was okay with her breaking my waters to speed up the labour process. I agreed, she began to poke around inside of me trying to rupture my membranes, which I will tell you right now hurts quite a bit, I will also make note that having your cervix checked is no peach either in the pain department, now both of these combined when your in labour are a f*cking nightmare. I looked down on the pad they had placed beneath me and saw green mixed in the waters and I knew that the baby was sitting in a womb filled with meconium ( babies first stools). The fetal monitor was placed back on and the nurse came in a bit more frequently to check the read out.

They placed an I.V onto my arm to administer the antibiotic for the group B strep and I waited. I would say about half an hour later I began throwing up, Chris was running to me with a bucket each time I needed it, he almost ended up gagging on me himself. About an hour or so after the throwing up began my body began to convulse involuntarily, the pain of my contractions ran down my legs and through my abdomen. The best way to describe the feeling of a contraction is the pain you get in your stomach when you have to throw up coupled with the pain of diarrhea cramps and menstral cramps. I was miserable. Finally the Nurse came in and asked if I wanted an epidural after hours of this and still only being dilated to 4cm I said yes, I didn't care if it lasted long enough for the pushing stage of labour, I just needed to take a nap and have some relief.

The nurse popped in before the anesthesiologist and took a look at my chart, "okay I need you to lie down on your left side now" she said pleasantly "the baby seems to like it better". I knew she was saying the babies heart rate was dropping to a level of concern. I rolled to my side and apparently the babies rate came back up as she told me to stay in that position and left the room with my read out again. The anesthesiologist came in and I could hear him talking behind me He sounded just like Alan Rickman, I could hear him talking to the nurse asking why I wasn't being taken to the O.R right away for a c-section as they both knew which direction this labour was going in. "Thanks guy~ I'M IN THE ROOM!!!!" The epidural was in and shortly after I was a much happier camper. I turned to Chris and remember saying "Stupid f*cking hippies and their natural childbirth, if they like pain so much I should go beat them with a hammer" (no offense to anyone who has done the natural labour thing in fact congrats to you for the endurance!!! ~at that point I was relieved from the pain and angry at how flowery all the books had made childbirth sound).

Two nurses came back and asked if they could put a fetal scalp monitor on the baby, I agreed as I knew that her heart rate was not doing too good and they needed to watch her closely. The nurse was now coming in to check the read every five minutes or so. My doctor came back and they explained to me that I may need a c-section if the baby became distressed but that it wasn't something they were concerned about at that time. The doctor left and about ten minutes later the nurse came running in and told me to put my face down on the cushions and my bottom in the air, she stuck an air mask on me and the Doctor came in and told us we needed to go to the O.R, if we had dilated any further than 4 cm or were making any progress she would let us try labour but the baby's heart rate was already dipping they didn't think she could handle the trip through the birth canal. Chris was given his scrubs and the nurses started to suit up. After staying in that position for a little while it was deemed safe enough for me to lay on my back to be rolled into the operating room.

Chris had to wait in the hall while they set me up. I was moved to the operating table, they put up my curtain, put my oxygen mask on and I could feel them cut open my hospital gown and begin to paint me up. The anesthesiologist came and told me he had upped my epidural and I should only feel pressure not any of the cutting but if I felt any pain to let him know right away. A few minutes later Chris showed up but at that point I didn't really notice him, I could feel hands pushing around inside of me, while not painful it is a very disturbing feeling. It felt like they were digging around inside of me forever, I just kept my ears perked up listening for the sound of my baby's cries. Finally there it was a blood curdling scream and my eyes began to water up. I forced the tears back I wasn't going to be one of those women who cried in the labour room. I was just so relieved that she was okay.

I will never forget Chris, he stood up just like a meerkat and peeked at the baby over the curtain at the cleaning station, his eyes were lit up and he had the goofiest grin I swear you could see his smile through the mask he was wearing. The nurse brought the baby around to meet us when she has done being checked out and the pediatrician came around to tell us she was doing good. He said when a baby is stuck with its meconium for awhile they are usually not so robust but my daughters loud screams were a great sign she was strong and she didn't have too much goo in her lungs. Chris and I had a few pictures taken then he was given the baby and had to leave the O.R. I was there for what seemed like an eternity while they stitched me back up and took our cord blood sample. I was so tired and just wanted to nap but I refused to fall asleep until I met my baby, by the time they had me fixed up and moved to a new hospital bed I was eager to go meet my girl.

Unfortunately I had to be put into observation for 45 minutes to ensure I recovered from the drugs properly. The nurses in recovery apparently heard the baby wailing and were laughing at how loud she was, I guess she was pretty upset about being evicted from her cozy womb home. When I was finally able to be moved into the Mom and baby recovery unit I was so tired but then I saw Chris with a giant bundle of blankets and a tiny little head poking through. I was finally able to hold my baby and relax.

birthday time!!!

So here I am at 2:45am the morning of my induction..... 5 hours to go. I think the baby is aware that she is about to be evicted from her cozy home. There has been a never ending barrage of kicks and punches this evening, couple this with the anticipation of today's upcoming event and I cant sleep. Although common sense dictates it would be the wisest course of action. Not sure but I may have been experiencing a few sporadic natural contractions, a fun knife like pain shooting through my lower abdomen every now and then. I'm not going to get my hopes up that I can avoid the dreaded pitocin drip... but it sure would be nice to show up and have the doctor say well you can take it from here. I'm leaving Chris to sleep for now all snuggled up to the dogs in our bed, one of us should be well rested tomorrow.

I think at last count I have a total of 6 bags for the hospital.... despite the fact the hospital is only a 15 minute drive away, I really don't want to have an "if only I brought such and such" moment. According to all the baby books its better to have lots of stuff to occupy you...as if the having a baby thing wont be at the forefront of your time spent there. Ah well it will save us from leafing through the same hospital copies of last months gossip magazines hour after hour.

I think my main goal for the day should be.... have a baby~ make it quick and healthy for all involved. Second task......find a way to plan my escape. The extra luggage may slow my progress to the door.~ not sure if they clip alarms to the babies at this hospital, but I am sure they have automated locked doors requiring the push of a buzzer to get in and out. If I bring a baby sling and some Tylenol 3 I may just be able to tie up my hospital sheets and scale the side of the building to the safety of the parking lot below. Why cant they do a drive through delivery in and out????.....I think just to be safe I will add a home pillow to my pile o luggage. I have mentioned how much I hate the hospital right?????

40 weeks and three days.....

Three days late, 1 cm dilated~ that is today's diagnosis for me and baby. On the 12th we went to the hospital and all seems good for the baby's heart rate and fetal movement. Again today the fetal monitoring went well. The doctor has booked us for 7:30 am on the 18th for induction, which will be pitocin. THE ONLY THING I DIDN'T WANT TO HAPPEN, I was down with c-section etc. But the longer you delay having the baby the more chance you have for placental problems and meconium issues, not to mention I don't want my Mom's visit to be a complete waste of her time waiting for the baby to show up, rather than having time to see her.

I'm getting pretty pissy with each passing day, Poor Chris I don't think I'm very much fun to be around this week.

1

One day over due.....ah ah ah

Going to the hospital for fetal monitoring later today.

Due today...we'll see though!

Today is the big D-day!Lets read what the online due date calendar has to say....

"Today is Tuesday May 11th 2010.

You conceived on Tuesday August 18th 2009 and your due date is Tuesday May 11th 2010

266 days have passed since the conception,and you are -0 days past your due date.

You are 40 weeks into your pregnancy,and you are -0 weeks past your due date

You are in the 3rd trimester.

100% of your pregnancy has passed, there is 0% left to go."

You hear that baby??? 100% of my pregnancy has passed, I put in my time, now be a good girl and get out already. So help me if your not out before midnight I'm sticking a day planner in there so you can see your schedule you little bugger :).

mothers day...

So today is Mothers day, I am still here at home surrounded by baby paraphernalia with no baby. There were only two possible things I wanted for Mothers day this year.....The first was to be a Mom in time for the big day.....no luck there. The second was if I couldn't be a mom in time for mothers day to go and see the new documentary "The Babies" with Chris as a pre-baby date night. But alas our crappy movie theater will not be showing it despite the great buzz it has been receiving across the globe. Instead someone made the executive decision that the movie "furry vengeance" was a better allocation of screen time......wow, really a Brendan Fraser movie....do you really think you'll be seeing the money from that "investment" back?????.

The best insult to injury here, Chris will be a Dad in time to enjoy the Fathers day celebration...where as after carrying and delivering the baby I will have to put in a whole years worth of parenting before I get my big day.......not fair. ***sigh*** Most of my irritability stems from the waiting.....I'm not big on patience and even though technically the baby is not late...shes 'due' this Tuesday I cant help but feel useless right now. I'm not at work, and while I'm here at home I'm not parenting WHICH IS THE SOLE PURPOSE OF BEING ON MAT LEAVE. I cant help but feel like a lazy bastard right now. Then to top it off I make it this far with not a single stretch mark and what pops up two days ago...three on my belly, literally overnight (I would know!!! I have only been doing the belly check in the mirror about a dozen times a day). I go to bed no stretch marks then by lunch the next day I'm like wtf????!!!. If the baby had only come a few days sooner I would have slipped right under the baby body trauma radar...at least in that category. So now I wonder with each passing day how many more may pop up last minute to royally screw me over......booooooooooo.

On a more positive note!!! I would like to thank Grandma and Grandpa Garson for the last package they sent, we received it early last week. It was a few cute little baby girl outfits and a card for the baby!. Now hopefully I will have a little bundle to play dress up with sooner rather than later so I can start to post pictures of her wearing all her gifts!!!!.

the final countdown.....

I have officially been off work for two weeks.....I am already getting pretty bored, I have even resorted to checking in on facebook. Chris and I have been washing the baskets of baby clothes.....were almost done....for now!. The car has been cleaned out, we have installed the baby seat in it as well as the baby storage device my sister made for me. My hospital bags are about half packed. 9 more days until my due date, still no braxton hicks or any sign that the baby is on her way.

The flooring has been installed in the babies room, it looks so good!!!. All that's left to do is to paint and install the moulding, the doors, and the window sill. Chris picked up a mini contract so it may have to wait. If its not ready before the baby gets here no worries, she will be sleeping in a bassinet in our room anyhow. I'm hoping this week to get all the renovation debris out of the house and to get everything cleaned up before the baby arrives....fingers crossed.

Today I couldn't help but set up the crib, the babies room is going to look just too classy when its done. I'm finding I'm able to spend quite a bit of time (hours) just sitting on the floor in the nursery picturing the finished product. Despite all the work needing to be done still I am feeling a bit anxious to get on with the whole having the baby part, not for any complaint of being pregnant though. I have a few moments where I'm actually a bit sad about the idea of not feeling my little "squirmy buggito" booting around in there. The daily bout of baby hiccups still amuses me, I find myself rubbing my belly absentmindedly allot these days, I'm sure the baby feels it as she tends to squirm around under my touch.

I really want the baby to arrive on time, the doctor told me I will most likely have to stay a minimum of 48 hours in the hospital if all goes smoothly. Have I mentioned how much I hate the hospital..... If I go overdue they will induce me the very day my Mom and Dad are scheduled to arrive, which means I will miss out on two days worth of visiting with them. It will also be nice to have a few days to bond with the baby and get used to having her in the house before everyone comes out. So fingers crossed we hit our due date give or take a day.