Wallet

Jesse and I have a benefits program through his work, and we didn't know this, but you have to submit your drug claims, (such as the Tylenol 3 I had after my c-section) to a different place then lets say our chiropractor bills. So apparently we got a little card with this number we have to submit with the claims, but I couldn't find that card anywhere, and so Jesse was half heartedly looking for it as well, and so he came to the living room where I was feeding Athena and told me it was probably in my purse somewhere. I said, NO. It's NOT in my purse, I know exactly what is in my purse and I KNOW it's not in there. So he figured he would check anyway, all the while I'm telling him that I KNOW it's not in there. So he goes, oh yeah? Well, if you really know what's in your wallet, what's in the third row, 2 slots down. And from the couch I go, my home depot gift card. He's quiet for a bit, and then goes, "Your wierd". HAHAHAHAH. I got it right!! And the card wasn't in there, and we still haven't found it, and we probably never will. No matter how organized I am, some things still end up going missing, and since I have no explanation for it, I blame my husband. Yup, he's my scapegoat......lucky him!

Days go by....

So this afternoon I was leaning over Athena in her buzzy chair to take her bottle away because she was done with it, and I somehow managed to poke her on the side of her eyelid with my fingernail. Don't ask me how, but man did she cry. I felt so terrible! I think she probably cried more from shock then pain, but you can still see a little mark on her so I'm sure it did hurt for a bit. I know all Mom's have those moments where they accidently hurt their children, or have them roll off of somthing or drop something on them, and when they are older you can talk about it and probably laugh about it, but in the moment you feel pretty horrible. My Mom always tells the story of how she dropped a glass jar of diaper rash ointment right smack in the middle of my forehead when I was little, and how bad she felt. But I don't remember it, so it's all good! Chealsey has been here for a week now, and she has got a job at the IGA in Peace River. It's been really nice having her around and especially having someone helping me with ideas for supper and cooking!! I don't know though Jenette, I think your place as favorite aunty is in jepordy here, maybe you should come out for an extended visit as well :)

Athena is generally a happy baby now. She has slept in her own bed for the past week, which is SO much nicer then sharing a bed with me. Jesse gets his side of the bed back! She likes her swing and buzzy chair, and laying on the play mat and looking at the dangly things. She isn't much of a snuggler. She likes to be held so she can look out at the world! Try to carry her laying down, and that lasts for about 5 seconds. It's nice going for walks with her, because she loves being in her stroller, and falls asleep almost right away. We had a nice week here where it got in the +'s, but now it is back to the typical -40's so it's hard to get out with her. Like today, I would like to get out and go for a walk, but it is just SOOO cold, that I don't even know if it would be good to take her out. But, since I can't get out, I am going to make a desesrt, and get fat instead. Sounds like a plan to me!!!

News

So I am very excited to report that my sister Chealsey is coming to live with us for a little while. We're not sure how long at this point - she is waiting for Gordon and Lynn's house to be finished in Winnipeg so she can move in there, but the jury is out on how long that will take, so she will be with us for probably at least 5 weeks plus. Yeah! She will be looking for a short term job up here in the meantime. I have sectioned off a part of the basement downstairs with sheets, and tried to round up any spare furniture which I dont have a lot of, to make it feel more homey down there. I'm very happy that she is coming. I always complain about not having any family around, so it will be a lot of fun to have someone here for longer then just a few days. It will make the daily activities a lot easeir too, having an extra pair of hands for Athena. She comes next Thursday to Grande Prairie by plane, so I will go pick her up, and I've already asked one of my friends Jenny to come with me, since an hour and a half drive by myself with a baby in the back, dosen't sound like such a great idea! Even her screaming just from Peace River is enough to test your sanity.

Athena is doing good. She was getting a bit constipated from the switch to so much formula, so we took her in yesterday to the doctor, and he told us to give her prune juice to get her going. She had a fairly regular poop that evening, (yesterday), so we are hoping everything regulates out without having to give her any, "laxitives". :( Poor little baby. If it's not one thing it's another right? But I know this isn't that serious, so I am thankful that she is such a healthy little girl. I have been watching Life's Little Miracles on TV in the mornings, and it follows different children at Toronto's hospital for children. After watching some of those episodees, I am reminded of how grateful I should be and I am!

It has been snowing here SOOO much lately. We have SOOO much snow, and it's been brutally cold. -40 without windchill seems to be the norm. I decided I like it though. I figure, if we have to have winter, (which we do), you may as well do it good and proper. Freaking cold, with 20 feet of snow. Now that is a decent Canadian winter and one that we can all be proud of! As long as you dress properly for it ,(which I usually don't) it's not even that bad! Not that I'm outside a whole lot right now, but I do like looking outside and feeling so snug and cozy in my house!

Well, what else to say. I figured out how to post pictures finally on Facebook, so I should be updating there quite regularly. I haven't figured out pictures on here yet....one mountain at a time people, one mountain at a time!!

Till next time......

Well, I am finally writing another blog. Sorry to anyone who checks this thing regularly. I'm finding it hard to find the time to write with Athena. She dosen't sleep much, so when she finally does have a cat nap, there are a million other things to get to, and this dosen't take first priority. I just had another doctor appointment with her today, and she is still not gaining enough weight, so I am going to try supplementing her with formula again. (As per doctor's orders) She seems to be more content after having a formula bottle, but it's also kind of wierd, because she throws it up a lot too. I just fed her 2 oz of formula, and she threw up at least half of it. I don't know if that means I am just feeding her too much of it, or her stomach is sensitive against it or what. It was cute though, I made the bottle, put her in her car seat, and propped the bottle up against the side so I didn't have to hold it, (should I be admitting this on a public site? I'm not sure) then I put her car seat in the bathroom door, so I could see her, and hopped in the shower! The first shower I've had since I've been home alone with her! I've always waited before for Jesse to be home, since she dosn't nap very long, and I didn't want to be caught halfway through a shower with a screaming baby. So when I got out of the shower, she had guzzled down that bottle, spit it out, and was sitting there completly content. Then she threw up. But now she is sleeping behind me, so maybe I'll perfect the formula/breastfeeding combo yet. It's frusterating not knowing if she is getting enough food, and then too much food, and I just hope that we'll find some kind of routine that will work.

I had a great holiday season - too short though! We went to Calgary to see Jesse's parents on his days off, hit Red Deer for 2 days, where Tyson and Alida came too also, then my parents and Jenette and Chealsey came back to Peace River with us for a few days. Jesse had to be back at work on the 24th, so it was really nice that my family could come up, or it would have made for a bit of a depressing holiday. Now they are gone though, and as always it went by way too fast. Isn't that how holidays always go though? I'm looking forward to seeing them in March though, so it always makes saying goodbye a little bit easier when the next meeting is already in sight.

What else is new.....I"m slowly adjusting to life with a baby, and slowly get more adventurous each week with what I will do! Going shopping alone still isn't really viable. She dosen't have enough predictable happy time to make outings anything but stressfull. And walking around Wal-Mart with a child who's lungs could probably try out for the Olympics really isn't my idea of a good time. And then top it off with -50 degree weather, and going out to the stores really isn't much fun anymore. But she is already outgrowing some of her sleepers, so I know all too soon she will be walking and running around so I don't wish for her to grow up too fast. She is starting to smile now, and the other day we thought she might have giggled, but since we weren't totally sure, I won't write it in her baby book yet . I'll wait for the next one! She is suddenly interested in her mobile over her swing, and likes to watch it, as well as any other dangling bright things. It's so interesting watching her develop!

Anyway, that is a post for now. She is still sleeping so I should go get some other little things done before I have to leave for a friends birthday supper in Peace. Yeah, I don't have to make supper!!!

Three Week Update

Yup, that's right. My little baby is already 3.5 weeks old! On Monday she will be a month. The biggest difference I notice with her is how much more alert she is, and she has longer awake times where she isn't screaming but just looking around the room with interest. I can't WAIT till she starts smiling and laughing. That will be so fun. I noticed that other day while feeding her that she has a dimple! It's so interesting and amzing disecovering these things about your children. I am the first person to know that she has a dimple. Such a small discovery and yet so amazing. I love finding out new things about her and seeing how intricitly God has designed her.

I have had a few doctor's appointments with her lately. She hasn't been gaining quite enough weight, (at least according to the average of what they would like to see) and so I think my milk hasn't been coming in enough. The doctor told us to supplement with formula until my milk production comes up so that is what we have been doing the last few days. It seems like she is more content, and has longer naps which is a nice break for me. Last night I threw up at 4 in the morning, and then again this morning, so it seems like I have a touch of the flu. Not super bad at this point, but definitely under the weather. Hopefully it dosen't get worse.

Recovery from my c-section was brutal the first week, but it seemed like overnight I could stand and walk again normally. I still feel it when I stretch a certain way or if I walk for a long time but I wouldn't say it interferes with my daily life anymore.

Being a Mom is a lot different in some ways then I thought, but I really love it. It's funny how the world now revovles around an 8 pound little human being. !! Ah yes. Well, she is finally sleeping for a bit, so I better go relax for a few minutes before she demands my attention again!!

Until next time....

Labour Story

Well, I have a minute to myself right now, since I have family down, Athena gets lots of care and attention! I am feeling very sleepy, and should probably be laying down instead, so I'll see how far I get on this. My water broke Sunday night at 4 in the morning. I heard the "pop" and suddenly was laying in a puddle of water. I grabbed Jesse and said, "I think my water just broke!!" He said, "Are you sure?" I'm like....ummmmm...yup, very sure. So I went and sat on the toilet and he called the hospital to see if they wanted us to come in right away or not. They did, so we got ready to go. Our hospital bag was already packed so I just got dressed and added the last few items that we needed. I got the shakes a bit at this point, realizing that labour was really upon me, and there was no going back now! We got in the vehicle and I started getting a bit of cramping now, but nothing much. When we got to Emergency Jesse dropped me off and I got met at the door by a nurse. We walked to the delivery room, and they got me changed in a gown, and hooked up to the monitors to see how everything was going. I still didn't feel many contractions at this point, but they started picking up soon after. Soon I was getting contractions every 5 minutes or so, but they weren't that intense. Around 8 Jesse went to Tim Hortons and got me a bagel, and also some snacks from IGA. I'm not sure what I expected labour to be exactly, but it wasn't this. The first few hours were quite bearable. In between contractions I felt nothing, and the only thing that made it really bad was realizing it was going to get a lot worse!! Around noon my friend Jenny stopped by and brought us lunch which was great. I had tested positive for Strep B, so I got antibiotics throughout the morning as well. With each contraction I was still gushing water, so I was wearing this humungo maxi super absorbent pad that was more like a diaper, and I started noticing green stuff on it. At first I was like, what the heck, am I crapping myself? Finally I told the nurse even though I was a little bit embarrassed...(yes, I still had my wits about me enough to feel embarrassed at this point!) and she said it was the baby pooping inside me which isn't really a good thing, but just something they would keep their eye on. So around two the contractions were really starting to pick up in intensity, and laying down made me feel clausterphobic, so I got in the shower for awhile with Jesse. Honestly, I found this to be the only thing that, "helped" the pain. All that other stuff...focal points, breathing, distraction techniques....WHATEVER!!! It just hurt!!! Me staring at a hole in the wall did nothing to distract my brain from it! But standing in the shower actually did help, and Jesse pushed on my back which felt really good. At 3 the doctor game in to look at me, and she checked to see how far I had dilated. THAT HURT!!! She jammed her hand way up there in a way that a hand should never be jammed. So painful. So she felt around in there for a while and then said that actually thought the baby might be in the wrong position so she was sending us for an ultrasound. Suddenly everything seemed to switch into panic mode, and they loaded me onto a wheelchair, and this lady whipped me down to the ultrasound room. She was going so fast Jesse could barely keep up, and the wheels were squealing around each turn. It was actually quite frightening for us, because even though we kind of knew what was going on, nobody was saying, everything is fine, the baby is fine, or reassuring things like that. So in our minds we were both wondering if the baby was OK, and that is scary when you feel so out of control and not informed. She did our ultrasound, of course didn't tell us anything, and then said, Ok, well, I'll get you back there right away. Which also freaked us out a bit, because we knew she had other things to do, and could have just called someone else to bring us back. Another thing that is awful, is having an ultrasound and having a contraction at the same time because you have to lay all still and quiet!! Anyway, we got back to our room, and the doctor came in right away and told us our baby was a frank breech, and I was going to need a c-section. Then they told us the baby was doing fine, and not to worry. So the doctor on call who was going to the c-section was busy or couldn't come in right away or something, so it was scheduled for 2 hours later...at 5 o'clock! That is a long time to still be in labour when you know that is ending in a c-section! Time seemed to go by ok though, until the end. Then the contractions were coming probably every 2-3 minutes, and pretty intense. They had to stick a catheter in which was pretty uncomfortable, and also keep me hooked up to the IV's. So they finally got me into the room for the c-section around 5:30ish. They gave me a spinal epidural which was so nice.....the pain just ended which was WONDERFUL!! It was such a weird feeling to be numb from the chest down. The doctor asked me if I could feel what he had just done, and I was like, uh uh, and he had just pinched me really hard. So then at 5:55 Athena made her entrance into the world. It's a pretty amazing sound to hear your baby's cry for the first time. I had told Jesse just the week before that I hoped that when I saw her for the first time, I would "know" her. You know what I mean? That she would seem familiar to me. From the first time I held her I knew she was mine. It was so amazing to hold this little person who belonged completely to us.

Recovery has been pretty brutal. Terrible headaches, and backaches. My actual incision hasn't hurt that much compared to everything else. The first few nights were pretty awful. Very little sleep in between the pain, feeding, and then everything done in a Tylenol 3 haze. I am feeling a lot better now, almost a week after the surgery. I know it will take a while yet to feel totally myself, but at least I can sleep at night now and not be up all night from my back. The last 2 nights Athena has slept in the bed with us. Another thing I swore I would NEVER EVER EVER do.....yup, eating my words again. I thought that was the dumbest thing ever, when parents had their babies sleep with them, but it's honestly the only way Jesse and I can get any sleep. She wakes up every 1.5-2 hours to feed, so it's so easy to just pop her on a boob, and I fall asleep right away, and she eats till she is full, and then sleeps, and then wakes up in an hour or two, I turn around, and the same thing happens. It means I can wake up feeling rested, and I'm not sitting up for half the night. We won't have her sleep with us forever...once she starts sleeping a few more hours at a time, I'll put her in a cradle beside the bed, but for now it seems to be working. She is honestly such a sweetheart, and doesn't cry a lot except for when she is hungry. Breastfeeding is going pretty good. Still a learning curve at this point, but she latches on pretty good, and compared to stories I've heard I don't have much to complain about. I love having a little girl and life is sure going to be more interesting from here on!

Supper with my husband

So Jesse and I have been wanting to make homemade wings for awhile now. We both don't like the ones you buy premade in the box that you stick in the oven because we think they taste fake and are always kind of soggy. It kind of intimidated me though, making them from scratch since I never have before, but finally grocery shopping the other day, I actually thought about it, and realized that if I just bought the wings from the meat section it might not be that hard. So we bought a big pack of fresh chicken wings, and then yesterday we made them. YIKES!! We deep fried them, which is another thing I have never done. My Mom didn't deep fry hardly ever growing up, so it's not something I have seen done a lot. I don't think it is very healthy to deep fry things, but once and awhile I don't think it will kill you. Anyway, so we got that oil all heated up on the stove, (I don't have an actual deep fryer) and so Jesse stuck the first wing in there, and MAN did that oil start flying. That was impessive. I think we both wondered what we had gotten ourselves into at that point...but were too far in now to quit. I think the problem was the oil was too hot, but I seariously wondered if we were going to burn the house down. Then, it just started smoking like nothing else, and in a very short time we were walking around in a burning oil haze. Then the fire alarm started going off. So we ran around opening windows, and I waved a dishcloth in frount of the alarm till it went off. So now we're freezing with the arctic winds blowing freely through our house, but once we turned the heat down on the element, it stopped smoking like that, and it actually ended up working REALLY well! Ok yes, by the end, my entire kitchen was lined with splattered greace and oil....even the floor. You could see our footprints in the oil. Haha. The wings were GOOD though, which made up for all the fuss of making them. I think next time it wouldn't be quite as messy. If anyone has some tips on deep frying I would gladly accept them. :)

My due date is fast approaching which makes me really glad. I'm ready to meet this person and get on with life after 9 months of thinking and planning for her. Really, 9 months is a long time to have someone growing inside you! I already have my hospital suitcase mostly packed, so if it unexpectedly happens, we should be prepared. I guess at this point, you should really be expecting it at any time. I have been keeping busy with projects at the church, and also doing things with friends. I volenteered at the Salvation Army in town here yesterday, so I might be doing some things there as well. We'll see what they need when they contact me.

Oh, and if you all want to know something really impressive, I am 90% done my Christmas shopping, and I already have a bunch of gifts wrapped and ready!! I decided that I really didn't want to be Christmas shopping with a 1-3 weeks old baby, in packed Wal-Mart, (since that is all we have here in Peace River!) so I was determind to get it all done before the baby even got here. I like Christmas shopping, but it is also stressful at times trying to find all these perfect gifts for people who have everything, so I decided I would try and destress my life as much as possible and get it all done early! So there you go. Well, I should go make the icing for my cupcakes and get ready for Church. We have sandwhich and square sundays the first sunday of every month at our Church, and this time I actually remembered to make something. :)

Till next time.