Some Family Gossip

Just found out last night from Tyler that apparently Tyrone is moving out & into Mary's new place. If you're not updated, Mary (Tyler's mom) broke up with Robert back in early October and bought a trailer in Edmonton with a possession date of Dec 21. When Tyler went to help Mary pack up the truck on Sunday, he found out that Tyrone was moving in with Mary. So we don't know too many details about the specifics. However, Tyrone, Kim, Kira & Tehya are all at Mary's right now and heading to Saskatchewan together with Mary for Christmas.

Video Clip - Dexter Rolling Over & a Quick Baby Update

Dexter first rolled over on November 26th (just over 9 weeks) and it was super exciting. He did it another time right after, then I got smart & got my camera...well he was too grumpy to do it again LOL I finally captured it on video tonight, December 20th (coincidently his 3 months/14 weeks "birth" day).

Quick baby update: on Friday, December 18th Dexter get his first set of vaccinations. For those counting, he is a little behind on getting them because his Mommy didn't realize they were due so soon & hadn't booked an appointment thus took another few weeks to get in passed his two months.

Measurements as of the 18th:

Weight - 13lbs 5oz

Length - 23 Inches

His length is a bit small for his age so he's in the 24th percentile for that, though his weight for length is the 75th percentile. Dexter is talking like crazy now (oohs, ahhs & coos), giggling & laughing and is super fun & entertaining in this stage!

Christmas is only a few days away now and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the presents my Mom bought for him LOL We're hosting Christmas with my parents & siblings for Christmas Day & then Tyler's dad and stepmom will be joining us for dinner on Boxing Day. The days inbetween this and New Year's I'm hoping to squeeze in a quick visit to Medicine Hat to see my Grandma, Aunt & Family (including my cousin's 7 month old who I haven't met yet), Christmas with Tyler's dad & Christmas Tyler's mom. Mary, Tyrone & Company are going to Saskatchewan as of the 23rd until the 27th.

Memoirs of a Mommy

First & foremost I just want to say that I LOVE being Dexter's Mom...I say it that way, versus being a Mommy because I feel being Dexter's Mom is a unique journey especially built for me verus the generic Mommy journey that every Mother gets. Tyler & I both feel that we got the perfect baby for us and that we couldn't ask for anyone better. I didn't fall in love with Dexter instanteously (at least I didn't feel that it was just in one moment), but every time I saw him I loved him more. The first thing I noticed was that I just couldn't stop kissing him. Everytime I had him, I just wanted to kiss him a million times. It was (& is) like a compulsion :-)

Okay, so I'm sure my love confession doesn't surprise any of you Mommies out there...but its new for me so it surprises me just a little...agh, little boy is awake already so I have to pause my Memoirs.

Back again. One of the biggest changes to my life post-birth, is the lack of time to get things done & the speed of which each day flies by (at lightening speed!). I've had tons of blog ideas & start composing them in my head, but never seem to be able to make it to the computer to type them out (it's difficult to type with one hand while holding Dexter in the other). It's important to remember that I still have the same amount of hours in each day, I just have different priorities now. That's not to say that blogging isn't a top priority...it just means that I've forgotten about some of the fun stuff - especially with some of the facebook games that took over my life for a time. I thought about it, and while I was enjoying Cafe World, FarmVille & Fish World, it just wasn't a good use of my downtime. I deleted two of the games off my facebook but have allowed myself FarmVille still...I just really like it (plus I've "met" new people who we've added as Farming Neighbors).

Okay, so many topics, so much limited time ha ha If you have any topic requests, feel free to let me know. Off the top of my head, a big topic is Breastfeeding. I started out being vehnomously opposed to the ideo prior to being pregnant, then got to considering it, to actually trying it to possibly liking it. It's silly, but it feels good to give your baby your milk. And I find it oddly fascinating to milk myself with a breastpump ha ha I truly felt in the beginning, that if it was too difficult to breastfeed, I wouldn't force the issue. But Dexter latched pretty good right from the start and once my actual milk came in (on Tuesday night after he was born, so two days) it stopped being as painful. I did end up getting a crack on one of my nipples which was excruicating to feed from, and coincidently that was the breast that worked better in the beginning...so it was a bit of torture. But I got some great cream from my doctor (highly recommended to anyone who's going to breastfeed thought it's ridiculously expensive $24 for a pill bottle of it) which I like way better then other products I tried. Ah, awake again. I swear Dexter hears me typing & decides to wake up LOL

Christmas Presents

Having a baby means I haven't been able to blog much (at least on the computer...I've been doing it in my head ha ha). But it does mean I get to make adorable Christmas presents using my digital website. Check out two of my projects:

Swatch Books:
http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectld=1129527&productld=62&projectSponser=292984

5x5 Book:
http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectld=1128320&productld=1&projectSponser=292984

Am I going to get the Flu Shot &/or the H1N1 Shot?

So first, my opinion, I am very pro-vaccine as I think the pros out weight the cons & them seem to have a strong history of preventing disease and don't seem to have many proven long term side effects or consequences.

The flu shot, however, I don't believe in. A few years back, I saw a documentary that explained how flu shots were designed. Each year medical people try to predict which SIX flu strains will be the most common NEXT year and so when you get the shot, you are protected from 6 of thousands of flu strains. From that, I decided that was a very small protection, thus small benefit, for the flu shot. I also am not a fan of needles so there needs to be a good benefit for me to get one. I also saw a poster at my local gym around the same time, that broke down what chemicals were in the flu shot & the components of anti-freeze was in it. That freaked me out!

I guess my biggest reason not to get the shot, is that the flu itself is not a deadly disease. If you are already unwell, it can push you over the edge, but otherwise the flu is just inconvenient.

Since the flu mutates, I can't help but wonder if each flu vaccines doesn't actually cause more mutations? I'm not a scientist, so I don't know but it's an interesting theory.

Today, I read the following online. Not sure if it's all true, but it really wouldn't surprise me if it was...
(Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/10/-the-h1n1-flu-vaccine-debate-should-you-or-shouldnt-you.html)

-the flu vaccine is no more effective for children than a placebo, according to a large-scale, systematic review of 51 studies, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

-A study published in the Lancet just found that influenza vaccination was NOT associated with a reduced risk of pneumonia in older people. This is VERY important to note, because 35,000 of the 36,000 “flu” deaths the government reports each year are caused by diseases like pneumonia, and NOT the flu itself.

-Research published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine also confirms that there has been no decrease in deaths from influenza and pneumonia, despite the fact that vaccination coverage among the elderly has increased from 15 percent in 1980 to 65 percent now.

-No, there isn’t much scientific research showing that flu vaccines do work, but there are highly credible studies coming out that flu vaccines are actually dangerous. In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine, according to research presented at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego. The study found that children who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine (read more at http://www.physorg.com/news161971715.html).

-There has been an American Medical Association study that concluded that for every 100 people who get a flu shot, it will prevent 1 person from getting the flu.

-From the package insert for the flue shot: there have been no controlled trials demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with FLULAVAL.

-Health expert and editor of NaturalNews.com, Mike Adams, points out that there has never been a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial on the efficacy of the flu shot (a fact that even most doctors don’t know).

Cool Recycling Statistics

-Recycling one pop can saves 3 hours of electricity to make a new one.

-Recycling one meter high of newspapers saves 1 tree.

It's been a while...so it's a whopper of a big one!

My Birth Story
I fully intended to write this up sooner so that I would have a better memory of the types of pain I was feeling and the details in between. Unfortunately having a baby is really time & energy consuming and I didn’t get to this until now so my memories have faded significantly (there is definitely a conspiracy, maybe in our water supply, that causes you to forget the pain!).

Thursday, September 17th
I really wanted to go into labor this upcoming weekend as my favorite doctor in the group, Dr.Phillpot, was going to be on-call. I also really wanted to have baby before my birthday and I wanted Tyler to be home for the birth. The weekend was just ideal for multiple reasons!
I went for an acupuncture session to help induce labor on Thursday. I had also started taking these homeopathic pills that my chiropractor suggested, as well as using a “labor inducing” lotion on my belly ever few hours in addition to the Red Raspberry Leaf tea I had been drinking and the Evening Primrose Oil pills I’d been inserting.

Friday, September 18th
The female doc doing my prenatal appointment that day asked if I wanted my “membranes stripped” and I gave a hearty yes. It was an uncomfortable few minutes, but the process can help kick start things if they are ready to go.

Saturday, September 19th
@ 8:00am

I woke up feeling just kind of off and achy. I decided to have a hot bath & see if that made me feel better. It kind of helped but didn’t do a lot.

@ 9:00am
Tried to sleep on all fours, noticed crampy feeling that was fairly consistent every five minutes or more.

@ 10:00am
Told Tyler that I thought the crampiness could be contractions. He didn’t really believe me. From our orientation: the hospital says that you should come in when they are 3-5 minutes and the intensity is strong enough that you can’t talk through them or walk through them. They are uncomfortable but not that intense yet.
From this point I basically ate, showered & went about my day just getting the pains really inconsistently. Finally got Tyler to start writing down the times that I got the pains. Oh, I was also having bloody discharge (aka mucus plug).

@ 10:00pm
I called my Mom & Dad to warn them that I was having some pains that I thought were contractions. I informed them that I had no idea how long it would take to get consistent as I’d been having them since the morning. My Mom was at her friend Cathie’s house playing cards.

@ 11:00pm
Finally started being consistent. Had started with every 7 minutes, then went to every 6 minutes then every 5 minutes. At this point I started to get my stuff ready & by the door. Suddenly they jumped to every 3 minutes so I was ready to go to the hospital. Tyler thought it was too soon to go, to which I responded “Would you prefer that I wait until I’m crowning?” I texted my Mom that I was going to the hospital and Tyler ran around the house looking for his swim trunks.

Sunday, September 20th
@ 12:00am
Arrived at hospital emergency, and told the security guard that I was pretty sure I was in labor. I was looking forward to getting pushed in a wheel chair but we had already started walking when he suggested it and I felt silly saying yes. He seemed to know a short cut to the Maternity Ward so he got us there faster than we would have on our own.
I was taken to the assessment room which was thankfully (though surprisingly) empty. My water hadn’t broke but a nurse confirmed that I was having contractions. She also made me do baby movement counts as I hadn’t really been paying attention. She checked my dilation and I was only 2 cm (at my doctor’s appointment the previous day I was 1 cm so that wasn’t much of a change). The good news is that baby’s head was down. Red Deer hospital won’t admit you until you are 4 cm dilated so she said we could either go home and come back later or hang around the hospital, use their tub and walk around trying to get contractions to start. I didn’t want to go home as I kind of felt like that was quitting so I opted to stay and use the tub.
The tub was nice for the pain, as I was starting to get it a lot more, but I could tell that it was slowing things down. If I reclined in the tub things didn’t really happen, but if I sat up then I got instant contractions. Since that hurt, I was reclining (not really smart though).

@ 3:00am
Nurse offered to check my dilation if I wanted so I got out of the tub. There wasn’t much of a change but I was in a lot of pain so she got Dr. Phillpot to approve a morphine shot with gravol (apparently morphine can cause nausea). Starting to get really tired at this point. I felt like I maybe had to go to the bathroom so the nurse suggested I try as if I did have a bowel movement it would possibly help things progress.

@ 4:30am
As I alternated between trying to go to the bathroom and walking around the assessment room (which was thankfully still completely empty) I kept falling asleep. Yep, falling asleep standing up & on the toilet LOL I told Tyler to get some sleep on the bed as he was super tired and he didn’t really need to be up. I suggested to the nurse that maybe we should go home now and try to get some sleep and at this point she really didn’t think we should go home. She checked me & I was a whole ½ cm more dilated (yes that’s some sarcasm) so she asked us to walk around the hospital, which we did. I found some stairs and did them too as they are suppose to help more. We were both SO tired at this point though.

@ 6:30am
She checked me again and I was finally in the 3-4 cm range that they would admit me & considered active labor. So when the nurses say how long you were in labor for, it was counted from this point. The nurses called my Doctor to come in to verify things & I happened to know that Dr. Phillpot was on-call that weekend so I was really happy about that. I was part of a prenatal clinic so I could have gotten any of the seven doctors in it, but fortunately the timing worked out that I got Dr. Phillpot! I also had some fluid on my underwear that tested positive for amniotic fluid so my water was leaking, but hadn’t “broke” per say as the nurse could still feel membrane when she checked me.

@ 7:30am
Dr. Phillpot arrived and checked me out. I asked for an epidural since the pain was pretty sucky at this point (and I am not all about pain). I should mention that I totally forgot to use any of my coping mechanisms such as meditation or some of the pressure points I was given to use. I had packed tennis balls even to try and didn’t use any of those. All I did when I got a contraction was hold Tyler’s hand on the thumb pad part and squeeze it and breath. Probably not the most effective means of dealing!
I got set up with an IV (which was very uncomfortable) and rigged to all the monitors. I totally felt like a science experiment.

@ 8:00am
The man for the epidural arrived. I had heard varying descriptions of how they make you get set up (lying down & grabbing your ankles, etc) but he just had me sit on the bed and lean over a bedside table. My nurse at this point, Chantal (who looked liked and acted like our friend Kyla) held my hand during the procedure. The key point with an epidural is that you need to move a little as possible as they are putting a needle in near your spine. I have a pretty big needle phobia so I made sure not to look at any of his equipment and was a little worried about how much it was going to hurt.
I’m not sure what the problem was, but the anesthetist had to make 5 attempts (that’s freezing and then epidural five times) before he was “successful”. In that time I had three contractions which were SO scary. I knew how much they hurt and could feel them coming on but knew I had to remain as still as possible. When the epidural finally starting working it was great, they do cold tests to see where you are feeling things and I was pain numb from my baby belly down to my toes.
I sent Tyler home at this point to get something to eat for himself & put the dogs out. I was suppose to rest at this point but my stupid socialization kicked in and I made small talk with the nurse. I learned that their c-section rate at the Red Deer Hospital is 42%, which is actually really high. So that was interesting. The nurse also reminded Tyler & I both of our friend Kyla. I also was starting to get hungry and the nurse said she might be able to get me some toast but later when another nurse took over for her break, I was told I would NOT be getting toast as there is a chance you’ll throw it up.

@ 9:30am
Dr. Phillpot came in and checked my progress. She put me at 5-6 cm dilated.

@ 11:30am
Started to feel my contractions again. It was kind of slow at first, but they began to get very intense. The nurses were concerned that the epidural had already stopped working so they called the anesthetist. He came to my room eventually & asked me “what kind of pain” I was having. I had no idea, just knew it hurt. He asked if it felt the same as before, to which I replied that I didn’t think so. So he told me that the epidural didn’t work for “pressure” and that he wasn’t going to do a second epidural dose at that point. I believe they also checked my dilation at this point & I’m pretty sure I was about 8cm. The nurses brought me laughing gas at some point, I think it was around now or maybe after lunch. I don’t feel like it helped at all. Oh, I also really felt my catheter the whole time. It constantly felt like I needed to pee and it drove me insane. I’m wondering if it’s not possible that the catheter was put in wrong, and that the extra pain “drained” my epidural so to speak, sooner?

@ 2:30pm
I was in so much pain at this point that the head nurse came in, assessed my situation and called the anesthetist back. He told her he was busy, so she called Dr. Phillpot who called the anesthetist directly. He arrived promptly upstairs. He still seemed skeptical at my pain (because my withering & tears weren’t very convincing apparently).

@ 2:45pm
The anesthetist finally gave me a second dose of the epidural. It starts to kick in, but isn’t as effective as the first dose had been initially. The nurse did the cold test again and I didn’t feel it on most of my belly but still felt it on my legs. I didn’t feel “frozen” like I had the first time below the belly either. However, it did help a bit with the pain for a little while. Probably up to an hour? I was still feeling this strong pressure against

@ 4:00pm
This is approximately when my mom showed up. Originally I didn’t plan to have my mom in the delivery room. However, when she arrived I was in a LOT of pain and she just came over to my bed and grabbed my right hand (Tyler had been holding my left hand pretty much since I started feeling the contractions again). I didn’t hate it so I didn’t send her away.
I’m not sure what time it was but I really felt the need to start pushing. The nurses really wanted me to wait as Dr. Phillpot wasn’t there, and not being able to push when you want to it excruciatingly hard to do! When the doctor arrived and checked me she put me at 9 cm. Though I was “lopsided” so to speak so the centimeter was all on one side. She told me I could push, but that she was going to do ‘something’ (memory is starting to get fuzzy here) to help even out my cervix. She could also still feel membrane, so my water still hadn’t broken, so she had to break that. I didn’t feel that part at all as far as I can remember.
Then she told me I could push. Once she told me I could push, I really didn’t feel like I had to push anymore LOL I was having a very hard time staying focuses on my breathing. Every time I had a contraction, I totally lost it mentally and I was so tired that I felt like I was passed out in between contractions. My mom, Tyler & Dr. Phillpot had to remind me at each contraction to breathe deeply and then to push. I really felt at the time like I was having an out of body experience (though it may be more accurate to call it an out of mind experience). The doctor even threatened me with forceps if I didn’t properly, which I honestly mulled over in my head to decide if that was worse, then deciding it was, kept pushing.
Pushing was really hard! When I tried to pre-visualize it, I thought it would be kind of like having a bowel movement. And it kind of was, but it was just different in a whole new way. I would push & push as much as I could, & then the doctor would tell me to do one more. It was most definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Then, all of a sudden I felt pain beyond anything and I didn’t want to do any of it any more. From my perspective, I am sure I screamed at the top of my lungs and said I wasn’t going to do it. My doctor was SO calm and told me to keep pushing and somehow I did and that’s when he was born. Afterwards, she told me that point which I freaked out, was when I most likely had torn as I did rip internally.

@ 5:36pm
Our baby boy was born! He weighed 6lbs 11oz and they didn’t measure his length until later that night when they gave him a bath.
Despite my earlier convictions, I had decided that I wanted baby placed on me, skin to skin, as soon as he was born & before they washed him. I figured if in the moment, I changed my mind, I could let them know. So the staff listened and put him on me. I kind of looked at him and tried to see if I’d feel some recognition to him, but honestly I didn’t. He wasn’t on me for long though as the staff wanted to hear him cry more and took him to look over.

As Tyler & my Mom got to enjoy baby and watch his few moments, I had to deliver the placenta (which didn’t take long but still sucked) and then get stitched up – which seemed to take FOREVER. I was sooo tired and hungry as I hadn’t slept since 8am Saturday & hadn’t eaten since 11:30pm Saturday. It didn’t even really sink in that I had had our baby. Then the doctor tells me that she has to put something in my bum as I am still bleeding a lot. My first thought was that it was a shot, so I asked if they could put it in my right cheek as the morphine shot had gone in my left and it was still sore so I wanted a balance. She’s like “no, it’s going in your bum.” I was like “my bum…hole?” She’s laughs and says yes. I was like “a needle?!” She says “no, pills”. And then they proceed to put FIVE pills up my butt. I told Dr. Phillpot that I felt that was strictly an out hole and that really the torture never ends when you’re giving birth. And I think I even announced that I was not having any more kids, myself. Maybe adoption or something.
I was bleeding a lot still and they were worried that I might need to go in for some sort of stop bleeding surgery thing so they would not let me eat the food tray that was wheeled into my room.

Mary & Robert were there so they came into my room to meet baby. It was kind of creepy cuz there were bloodstains still on the floor, my bloodstains, and the nurses just milled around and company came in. So bizarre. Despite my best efforts I still looked terrible for our first pictures. Probably because of the IV, I was especially swollen looking and my neck looks like a tree truck. My hair was horrible as I had done the bath thing at the hospital as well as lots of cold cloths on the forehead which caused frizziness. In addition to that, the hospital garb I was wearing was so NOT my colors and helped me look washed out. Add to that, that I had just been in labor for “10 hours” according to the hospital (my math says a lot longer than that) and been pushing for probably an hour or so and yeah, I hate how I look in our first pics. Pretty big disappointment for me there. In fact, there is only one picture so far that I feel I do look good in, & it’s not the best picture of Dexter.

We hadn’t decided on names beforehand, just had a list of about a dozen names we liked and we were hoping something would jump out at us. Dexter had been in the forefront of our minds for many months, but towards the end of my pregnancy I decided that baby didn’t feel like a Dexter (or Spencer one of our other top choices) and that maybe I really liked Zac. But once he was born I didn’t think he felt like a Zac and decided he could be a Dexter or Spencer. No name in particular jumped out at me or Tyler when we looked at him so we just kind of had to choose. Since we both felt Dexter was a little more original, we went with that for his first name so that the nurse could write something on his card that was going on his hospital bassinet. Then we took our time picking the middle name. Again we just had a group of names we liked and had to pick one. Nothing jumped out, though Tyler had mentioned Reid when our families were around and it had a positive reaction. Tyler also liked Reese, but I didn’t love it so opted for Reid. We didn’t decide until I was filling out the paperwork we needed to do before we left the hospital the next day.

My mom & Dr. Phillpot say that I was very nice through the whole process though I didn’t feel like I had been. I swear I screamed & they said I didn’t. I asked Tyler if I pooped at all when I was pushing (as I really felt like I could have) and he said no. And Tyler doesn’t really lie to me.

Additional Comments:
-The nurses got me to try breastfeeding right as soon as we could (post stitches etc) and it was more awkward to do then I thought (in terms of maneuvering) but he latched very well all on his own! I still struggled over the next few days with knowing if I had enough nipple in his mouth, but once my milk came in everything went really well. Much better than I anticipated! So I am still breastfeeding and will continue to do it as long as it goes well, feels good for both of us, etc. I’m not sure if my goal is 3 months or 6 months but I don’t think I’d go too long past 6 months. I am not opposed to giving him a bottle of formula here & there though when I need a major nap, feel milk drained or am away from the house and Tyler needs to feed him. So far I don’t have a pump (and the nurses say to wait 4-6 weeks for some reason) so that’s how we’re supplementing for now.

-When the nurses come to check on you & see if your uterus is contracting properly, it feels like bloody torture. And then when you go to the bathroom, it is mighty scary. My doctor extra scared me by telling me that the area between my vagina & anus was particularly small and to be careful when I had a bowel movement as that’s where the stitches were. Like going to the bathroom wasn’t freaky enough, now I have to worry about pulling stitches when I poop??? Well when I finally had my first bowel movement, post baby, I announced to my mom & Tyler like a proud toddler that “I had just pooped & it didn’t hurt” LOL Oh how my life has changed.

-I bled quite a lot post birth; in fact I wore what I called my “diaper” for many days. It consisted of 3 hospital pads, that are about as thick as my mattress, stuck onto a blanket pad sort’ve thing. So I was very surprised by how quickly it started to lessen. I had called the health link regarding a blood clot I passed and she gave me a great tip that I should empty my bladder before breastfeeding which will help the uterus contract more efficiently and help stop my bleeding sooner. Awesome, why didn’t the nurses tell me that?? I’m still bleeding a bit, but I’m down to about 1 normal pad a day and I don’t see blood every time I pee.

-The first week I had a lot of company and in retrospect that was a bad idea. I suddenly felt burnt out that first Friday, and when Tyler tried to go to work Sunday night I totally broke down. I couldn’t stop crying and I felt very, very depressed so I called him while he was still driving there. I told him that I really needed him to come home because I didn’t think I could even make it to the next day on my own. Not necessarily physically, but mentally. He really didn’t want to quit his job in Fort Sask as the money potential is high, but I convinced him that both Dexter & I needed him home and that I was willing to make some sacrifices to have our family together. For the rest of our lives we are going to have to choose between making more money or being together and I feel like being together is more important. Now that he has been home full time for the last few weeks (as he still has to find a local job) I am SO thankful he has been here. I basically just have to concentrate on feeding Dexter, getting rest when I can and eating myself while Tyler has done virtually everything else: dishes, laundry, cooking often, putting our dogs out…It wasn’t until last Friday (Oct 2) that I finally started to feel myself emotionally and I think that would have taken a much longer time to happen if Tyler wasn’t here helping and if hadn’t basically cocooned ourselves into the house for the last two weeks. But, I’m just glad to be where we are at now.

-Dexter really has been a good baby as he just eats, sleeps and makes dirty diapers. He’s awake a bit here and there and is very alert and adorable. He hasn’t been TOO fussy yet, though the last two days he has been more than usual. He has kept us very busy with leaky diapers though!

-We got Dexter circumcised on Wednesday, September 30th. Although we both had decided to get it done, once I had an actual baby to do it to, it was a little harder. Thankfully the procedure went without a hitch and he didn’t seem too traumatized by it. He cried a bit for his first diaper change but didn’t really for any since then. Now, it is basically scar-free and I think it looks much better than it did pre-circumcision.

-Dexter lost weight after birth so he was 6lbs 4oz when the public health nurse came for her visit on September 23rd (my birthday!), which is normal...up to 10% of their weight. At his first doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, October 7th he is up to 7lbs 5.5oz so he’s growing well. And yes I’ve noticed that every Wednesday seems to be something medical for him…and coincidently a pretty traumatic day for him too.

There is so much more to say but it’s a ridiculous hour now and my pumpkin squares are ready for tomorrow so I’d better get to bed. We are going to Mary’s for Thanksgiving and it’ll be our first overnight visit somewhere else. I am very nervous about it (especially as I haven’t bothered to master the art of hiding my boobs while feeding as I’m usually at home)…hope it goes well!

Drug Free Labor?

What is the definition of a drug free labor? To me, the most obvious answer is no drugs. However I find that for some reason, others define it differently.

-Some define it as no epidural but access to other drugs (such as narcotics & sleep aids).

-Some define it as no epidural or narcotics (but sleep aids okay).

A Baby Name Story

Remember when I discussed how I wasn’t going to tell anyone my baby name ideas for a variety of reasons? Well all of those reasons came to fruition when I told my mom “an idea” of the type of name we like.

It has been really hard to not discuss the names we have in mind and get feedback from people as that is what I do with almost EVERY decision. However, I really don’t want anyone’s feedback unless it is positive so why take the chance? I was discussing names with my mom – probably a couple months ago now, and she is dying to know as she is as curious a person as I am most times, so I threw her a bone. I said that one of the names we like is Spencer (knowing that we liked the feel of it but probably weren’t going to use it) and that specifically I liked ‘Spencer Reid Nelson’. However Tyler vetoed that combo as I had gotten it directly from a TV character whose name is Spencer Reid. I was arguing that we know it sounds good together that way LOL Anyway my mom was like “Ooooh, I really love Spencer” blah blah blah. Okay cool. But as much as I like the name, “baby” doesn’t feel like a Spencer to me at the moment. She tried to prod for more names but I didn’t want to give her any more.

Then a few weeks ago I was talking to my friend Vanessa about names and how we were still unsure of what we were going with and Vanessa said “your mom told me a name I really like but I don’t want to tell you cuz then you won’t use it”. I made her tell me anyway thinking it was a NEW name suggestion I hadn’t heard when she said “Spencer”. I thought “oh great. Good thing I’m not actually thinking that name cuz obviously my mom shared it with other people already.” And for us, since we’ve found out & revealed the gender, I want to keep something a surprise announcement for when baby comes. Otherwise they’d be like oh okay, baby spencer is here. Big whoop.

THEN, on Saturday I had lunch with Vanessa, Melody & Dale (Mel’s brother) in Edmonton. Again, I brought up names cuz I like to try to get suggestions from people. Melody says “I don’t like Spencer, it makes me think of Spencer Pratt” [noting that I didn’t say Spencer so she must have heard it from Vanessa]. Again, good thing I’m not actually 100% for that name or that would have bummed me out. Though I have to say, I don’t think Spencer Pratt has fame staying power and that by the name my kid goes to kindergarten I’m pretty sure everyone will have forgotten who Spencer Pratt is and any associations with the name.

The point of my story is that when I threw out this red herring name, I got [unrequested] negative feedback about it and people found out about it that I wouldn’t want to know about it. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few people who ended up giving birth to boys & using Spencer in the Peace River area now too (as that is my other reason for not wanting to share, don’t want to plant the name seed into people’s minds). It makes me really glad I didn’t share any of the names that are closer to my heart.

SO, we still have quite a few names in our name bank, probably like a dozen, with a couple front contenders. I feel like I maybe know the name combination I like but I have to see baby AND I have to get Tyler to agree.

what google has to say about me

I was cleaning out my email and found an old interactive survey type email. It was hilarious & fun so I have to post. Thanks for sending it to me Kyla back when you had a desk job & no baby to take care of!

Go to Google.com and enter the following stuff in:


1) Type in "[your name] needs" in the Google search;
Cutie Crystal Needs a Home!

2) Type in "[your name] looks like" in Google search.
Crystal looks like the Moreau's Island offspring of Britney Spears and a raccoon.
[if you're not familiar with moreau's island this is NOT a compliment lol]

3) Type in "[your name] likes" in Google search
As well as working and playing casual games, Crystal likes to shop and garden. And she reads tarot cards and tea leaves for fun. ...

4) Type in "[your name] says" in Google search.
Crystal says new exercise program is industry first

5) Type in "[your name] wants" in Google search.
Watch crystal wants to dress you like a rich Iraqi

6) Type in "[your name] does" in Google search.
Crystal Does the Party

7) Type in "[your name] hates" in Google search.
~crystal hates liars~

8) Type in "[your name] goes" in Google search
Crystal goes to Europe AND
Crystal goes psycho on Twyla

9)Type in "[your name] loves" in Google search
Crystal loves progress

10) Type in "[your name] has" in Google search.
Crystal has a ball

11)Type in "[your name] had" in Google search.
Crystal had an affair during her marriage, though she claimed to still love Quicksilver

12)Type in "[your name] feels" in Google search.
Crystal feels like a dim sum kinda day

13)Type in "[your name] drinks" in Google search.
Crystal Drinks (UK) Limited

The Travel Set I Want...

I know that logically it shouldn't matter all that much what the color & style of my travel set is...but I love this! And that's what I had in mind originally but it wasn't available when we were looking. So it has all the functionality of the set we bought with the color scheme I like & is on sale for $199 (regular price $270) and the one we got from Sears was $230 so it's even CHEAPER. Grrr...hopefully I'll find someone to buy it. Postive Thinking!

2009 Fall TV Premiere Schedule (according to Crystal)

I watch entirely too much TV...but really how DO you define "too much"??

Wednesday, Sept 9
America's Next Top Model on CW
So You Think You Can Dance on FOX

Thursday, Sept 10
Vampire Diaries on CW

Thursday, Sept 17
the Office on NBC

Monday, Sept 21
Heroes on NBC

Wednesday, Sept 23
Criminal Minds on CBS
Law & Order: SUV on NBC

Thursday, Sept 24
CSI (original/Las Vegas) on CBS
Mentalist on CBS

Friday, Sept 25
Medium on CBS (yes that's a network change & Medium used to premier in Winter instead of Fall so Woot!)
Law & Order (original) on NBC

Sunday, Sept 27
the Simpsons on FOX
the Cleveland Show on FOX
American Dad on FOX
Family Guy on FOX
Dexter on HBO

Monday, Sept 28
Lie to Me on FOX

Tuesday, Sept 29 Hell's Kitchen on FOX


So that means my TV life is as follows (though I PVR stuff so I am not chained to a specific night):

Sunday (4 Hours)
-Fox Animated Line Up (Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show)
-Dexter
-True Blood

Monday (1.5 - 2 Hours)
-Lie to Me
-Jon & Kate + Eight

Tuesday (3 Hours)
-Hell's Kitchen
-So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) Canada

Wednesday (5.5 Hours)
-America's Next Top Model
-SYTYCD Canada, Results Show
-SYTYCD USA
-Criminal Minds
-Law & Order: SVU

Thursday (4.5 Hours)
-SYTYCD USA, Results Show
-Vampire Diaries
-the Office
-CSI
-the Mentalist

Friday (2 Hours)
-Medium
-Law & Order

21 Hours of TV lol

All About G Diapers

Danielle responded to my inquiry regarding G Diapers, & for your convenience I've recopied it into a blog posting...

G Diapers, an Experience Story from Danielle:

G diapers are made up of a cloth exterior called "little g pants", a waterproof and breathable liner and an absorbent inner liner. The absorbent liner is flushable, compostable and tossable. I choose to throw them in the garbage because I do not trust my toilet. G diapers break down in 50-150 days whereas conventional diapers are estimated to take approximately 500 years, possibly more. If you choose to flush, you must tear open the absorbent liner and allow the inner core to fall into the toilet. You then stir with the swishstick (included in your starter kit). Once the flushable inner liner has broken apart, flush the toilet, then throw in the rest of the flushable inner liner. My sister-in-law has flushed and said it works really well. She was very surprised at how well the inner layer broke down. Keep in mind that you can only compost wet flushables. Toss or flush the poopy ones.

I love g diapers. I think they are adorable and I love that they are enviromentally friendly. Everything in the flushable inner liner gets reabsorbed into the earth in a neutral or positive way. The little g pants come in orange and cream in the starter packs, but there are tons of pretty colors available to purchase seperately. The initial start up cost is expensive [FYI from Crystal - not expensive compared to cloth diaper route]. The starter kit sells at London Drugs for $36.99, but often goes on sale for $29.99. It includes 2 little g pants, 10 flushable absorbent liners and a swishstick. I recommend having at least 4 little g pants, so you could either purchase 2 starter kits or buy the fancier little g pants seperately. The flushable refills are a few dollars more than conventional diapers, but I think it's money well spent. Lakelyn has not had any trace of diaper rash since we switched.

It's very sad to try and picture how many diapers end up in landfills. How many do you go through in a day? A month? In a child's lifetime? How much space would they occupy? Would it fill a room in your house? Your whole house? More? Now imagine all of the diapers in the world. Try to picture that huge mountain of diapers that is not going to go anywhere anytime soon. It's actually pretty shocking.

Like all products, g diapers are not perfect. Because the flushable, absorbent liner just sits in the water proof liner, it can bunch up, which can lead to leaks. This is why I recommend having 4 little g pants. That way you shouldn't have to do laundry every single day. On average, I would say that we experience a leak once every 4 or 5 days. Poop gets on the waterproof liner more often than that, but you just rinse it and hang it to dry. G diapers recommends having your extra little g pants preloaded with the flushable liners to make changing fast and easy. I agree. When I'm out and about I always carry an extra preloaded g diaper, a few extra flushable, absorbent inner liners and a big ziploc bag, in case we experience a leak. Here's a brief summary.

PROS-Flushable/Compostable/Tossable-g diapers are absorbed back into the earth in a neutral or positive way-break down in 50-150 days so they are not filling up landfills like conventional diapers-breathable which means less diaper rash or no diaper rash-adorable, little g pants are available in many colors-guilt free

CONS-start up is quite expensive-flushable refills are a little more expensive than conventional diapers-flushable absorbent layer just sits in waterproof liner and sometimes bunches up, causing leaks (Although I should note that conventional diapers can leak too.)-have to launder dirty and wet little g pants therefore g diapers are slightly more work than conventional diapers

Like I said, I love g diapers! I highly recommend spending the extra money and trying them. BTW, according to the website, g diapers are available at 5 stores in Red Deer. They are London Drugs, Baby-Pops Inc, Highway to Health Inc, Hap-E Bab-E and Nutter's Bulk #3.

I also had lunch with Danielle yesterday so I got her to show me the diapers in person. They look great & simple to use so I am really excited and want to try them. I talked about & showed them to Tyler today (via the website's videos) and he agrees that they sound good. So we are going to be a G Diaper Family!

Funny

The News: A television or radio show where they begin with "Good Evening" but then proceed to tell you why it isn't...

What My Name Says About Me...

Source 1: http://www.kabalarians.com/cfm/DisplayNameAnalysis.cfm

Crystal

-The name Crystal creates a very independent, practical, analytical nature with skillful business abilities.
-You desire freedom from restrictions and authority in order that you can pursue your own ambitions.
-This name gives you leadership qualities and you are seldom happy in positions where you must direction from others.
-Material and financial success are the focus of your interests, but sacrificing much for material ambition will result in a lack of harmony and balance in your personal life, particularly a lack of appreciation for social courtesies and things of a more inspirational nature.
-Although the name Crystal creates the urge to be creative, independent, and self-sufficient, we point out that it causes a materialistic, somewhat self-opinionated approach that frustrates higher humanitarian qualities.
-This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the reproductive organs, and tension or accidents to the head.

Tyler

-The name of Tyler creates a very aggressive and independent nature, one with big ambitions, giving you original, progressive, large-scale ideas, salesmanship and promotional ability as well as the excellent business judgment which enables you to gain the financial accumulation to which you feel entitled.
-You have a versatile, restless nature, and could do any job well, although you would not like to do menial tasks.
-You are seldom satisfied and are always seeking something new.
-Although the name Tyler causes an active mind and a restless urge to explore new ideas, we emphasize that it causes an unscrupulous, materialistic approach that frustrates higher humanitarian qualities.
-This name, when combined with the last name, can frustrate happiness, contentment, and success, as well as cause health weaknesses in the solar plexus and reproductive organs.

Source 2: http://www.paulsadowski.com/NameData.asp [says to use full name on birth certificate]

You entered: crystal ghislaine mcken
Your number is: 3
The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.
The expression or destiny for #3: An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.
The negative side of number 3 Expression is superficiality. You may tend to scatter your forces and simply be too easygoing. It is advisable for the negative 3 to avoid dwelling on trivial matters, especially gossip.
Your Soul Urge number is: 3
A Soul Urge number of 3 means: With the Soul Urge number 3 your desire in life is personal expression, and generally enjoying life to its fullest. You want to participate in an active social life and enjoy a large circle of friends. You want to be in the limelight, expressing your artistic or intellectual talents. Word skills may be your thing; speaking, writing, acting, singing. In a positive sense, the 3 energy is friendly, outgoing and always very social.
You have a decidedly upbeat attitude that is rarely discouraged; a good mental and emotional balance.
The 3 Soul Urge gives intuitive insight, thus, very high creative and inspirational tendencies. The truly outstanding trait shown by the 3 Soul Urge is that of self-expression, regardless of the field of endeavor.
On the negative side, you may at times become too easygoing and too optimistic, tending to scatter forces and accomplish very little. Often, the excessive 3 energy produces non-stop talkers. Everyone has faults, but the 3 soul urge doesn't appreciate having these pointed out.
Your Inner Dream number is: 9
An Inner Dream number of 9 means: You dream of being creative, intellectual, and universal; the selfless humanitarian. You understand the needy and want to help them. You would love to be a person people count on for support and advice.

You entered: tyler evan nelson
Your number is: 3
The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.
The expression or destiny for #3:An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.
The negative side of number 3 Expression is superficiality. You may tend to scatter your forces and simply be too easygoing. It is advisable for the negative 3 to avoid dwelling on trivial matters, especially gossip.
Your Soul Urge number is: 22
A Soul Urge number of 22 means: The Soul Urge of the master number 22 is very much that of the master builder. You would like to use your abilities in an important humanitarian undertaking, and have an innate desire is to express the significant power you feel in a concrete manner, as a builder, engineer, diplomat, etc. In some way you want to make a considerable contribution to the world.
The 22 gives a broad, universal outlook with a rather practical and common-sense approach. You have especially high intelligence, with an unusual perception and awareness. This number often denotes a high degree of diplomatic abilities and high ideals. You are a very capable person and you may possess special leadership abilities that you can and should develop. People respect you and recognize your superior foresight and vision.
The negative side of the 22 soul urge is a high degree of nervous energy and a tendency to be very dominating. It is unfortunate that all who possess the urge of 22 do not use its energies to the greatest advantage; but then it should be recognized that these energies are understandably the most difficult to focus and direct.
Your Inner Dream number is: 8
An Inner Dream number of 8 means: You dream of success in the business or political world, of power and control of large material endeavors. You crave authority and recognition of executive skills. Your secret self may have very strong desire to become an entrepreneur.

G Diapers

So my lovely friend Danielle is suppose to be test driving "G Diapers" and letting me know if they are good are not. The premise of them is that they are a hybrid between cloth & disposable diapers...offering a better environmental impact but continuing to offer the convenience of disposable. Plus I think they are suppose to be a little more cost effective than disposable? But I'm not sure about that. The liners are biogradeable & flushable and are said to breakdown in 50-150 days.

I have baby brain so I can't remember if Danielle has reported back to me about them yet or not. So I figured I would post a short blog about it (since she is a frequent reader) and let her respond on here (or if it's lengthy I might repost it as another blog).

If y'all want to check out the website in the meantime it is http://www.gdiapers.com/ I know they sell them at Baby Pops in Red Deer, though I'm not sure where else they might be available...

Unnatural to be Natural

I’ve realized recently that I am struggling against what may be my authentic self.

I am interested in the “natural” world…by this I am including meditation, crystals, organic foods, alternative health, back to basics stuff...but no matter how much excitement I start with, it peters out. Yet I always make time for getting my hair cut & colored, getting my nails filled, etc.

As I’ve explored my birthing options, I wanted to try for the hypnobirthing & more natural methods but I struggle with just picking up the books & finishing reading them. Yet when we had our hospital orientation I completely resonated with the nurse and her points of view & sense of humor. For as long as I can remember, I have always said that I would get “the works” when it came to drugs during labor and its only recently that I’ve considered alternatives. I have been listening to women’s birth stories via podcasts (pregnastic is the website & podcasts) and they have been wonderful to listen to. The women start out pregnant and discussing pregnancy issues on the show & then when they have their babies and come back & tell their story. It’s based out of San Diego, so it is Americanized, but the experiences are fairly parallel to Canadians I would think. I’ve probably listened to about 20 birth stories and have heard the full spectrum from lovely, natural births to complicated natural births, to medical interventions to planned c-sections.

The key thing I have picked up from all their stories is that you should be as knowledgeable as possible going in so that you can make educated decisions as you go along so that you can be satisfied with your birthing experience. You can’t control what happens during your birth, but you can be in control of the decisions as they come up and thus feel that you did the best you could with what you had.

As I’ve been contemplating my birthing decisions one lady’s comment stuck out in my mind. She had a natural birth & enjoyed it, however she said one of the reasons she thinks she had such a positive experience was that she has been a runner for many years and thus has great stamina. Well lets be honest, I am not in great shape and don’t have great stamina! I also have a pretty low pain threshold and don’t have the best attitude under pressure. Last night I woke up with a bit of a gas cramp and I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it through that LOL So I’m thinking, that in order for Tyler, baby & I to have the best birthing experience for us, I’ll be opting for an epidural. Compared to laughing gas & the other narcotics, I am most comfortable with the epidural as they believe it doesn’t pass through to the placenta (& if it does, it’s probably minimal). My two biggest concerns with the epidural is that sometimes epidurals can slow down contractions and also that the epidural could wear off before the actual baby coming out moment. As for other risks, the nurse at our orientation said that there has never been a case in 20 years of anyone in Canada having spinal injuries (or anything related like that) from an epidural.

Realistically, looking back I have been pretty liberal during my pregnancy rather than conservative. I have continued to dye my hair, get my nails down, take a prescription drug, accidentally ate a few chocolates that had vodka in them, consumed junk food regularly, drank coffee and didn’t take my prenatal vitamins or exercise much (despite my original best intentions)… The only things I haven’t done are hot tubs/steam rooms (which I’m not that into so it wasn’t a sacrifice), drinking alcohol, every other drug and avoiding my skin products that I know are ‘unsafe’ for pregnancy. Hopefully my baby survives me and my lack of self discipline! In addition we were pretty liberal/untraditional in terms of wanting to find out gender, having a few extra ultrasounds, stuff like that.

There are some things I would like to avoid during the birth though. I haven't heard many good things about pitocin (the drug they administer via IV to induce contractions) and people's experiences with it. I don't like the sounds of episotomies, the vaccuum, forcepts...

So ladies, most of you have had your babies. What were your birthing experiences? What were you happy about, unhappy about, etc?

The Van - Our Baby Mobile!

Despite some of the nay-sayers in my life, Tyler & I are very excited about the van we purchased, a 2001 Pontiac Montana. On Sunday, August 16th we decided we should get a van or SUV & by Saturday, August 22nd we had purchased it! We bought the van for $3250 which was the lower end of the range that was considered fair value as per our AMA research, then we spent about $250 for detail work to clean it up to a nice standard (I'm pretty sure the van was family owned for it's life & then was worked on, on a farm for the last few months so it was a bit dirty & stinky). Tyler & I were both really happy with the detailing work so we consider that we basically paid $3500 for the van, a very fair price in our opinion.

To answer the question we keep getting "why did you opt for a van vs an SUV (or even a roomier car)" I have one word COST. When it comes to SUV's they are more expensive to purchase, more expensive to insure, and more expensive to run (gas, maintenance, etc). Yes they are a little more fashionable, but I've been looking at the ones on the road lately & I'm not sure that they are actually competetive with vans for interior space. They have more room then my car sure, but they aren't that much of an upgrade for space compared to the van. I'm looking a little longer term than just for right now & I don't want to get a bigger car, just to need more space in a year or two years.

A lot of the vans we were looking at in the 7 - 9 year old range were about $5000 or less and there were a lot on the market to choose from (so definitely a buyer's market). The used SUV's that were available were at the lowest about $8-9,000 and often in the $12-14,000 range (though it should be noted that they were newer years). The whole advantage of buying this type of vehicle right now was for 1) space & 2) that we could pay cash for it and not be digging ourselves a financial hole. It's entirely possibly that SUV's are more expensive because they retain their values better, but for us, we aren't really looking for something we can resale at the moment. More of a vehicle that will get us through this transitional period without causing money strain. Thus why we opted for a van. We both test drove this van (& it was the only one we went to see & test drive) and decided to snap it up as it was the best deal we saw online.

Some details about our new vehicle...

-it had about 139,500 km on it, which is really low (I have 126,000+ on my 2005 Ion!),

-it has a white exterior with black trim, tinted back windows & grey interior,

-it had a safety inspection done on it in July 2009,

-the person we bought it from, got it at an auction because the hood had come loose & smashed the windshield. He owns an autobody shop so he did all the repairs himself (plus a few other minor things like the driver's side mirror was replaced),

-our baby seat fits in it beautifully,

-it has a VHS player (a dead technology it's true, but we still own quite a few VHS's especially Disney movies),

-fun radio controls on my steering wheel,

-dual sliding doors,

-seats 8 people with the two bench rows OR me, tyler, our baby & our dogs + all my travel crap LOL

-each back seat folds down individually so you can space out fighting kids (or other relationships), have access to cup holders, etc,

-cruise control (which I did NOT have with my Saturn Ion), looking forward to learning how to use that,

-power windows! For the first time in my life I own a vehicle with power windows LOL

-I've been "practising" driving with the van all week & I am getting a lot more comfortable (though my car is much nicer for 'zipping' around LOL).

I'll post some pics here of the interior, post-detailing so y'all can see how nice it looks now! I'm looking forward to "accessorizing" my new wheels!!

Now I'd like to vent a moment about the nay-sayers. They are... my friends Vanessa & Melody, my sister Calli & Tyler's brother Tyrone. With Vanessa & Melody, I had been having a direct phone conversation with them where I said "I'm so excited, we are looking for a van!" (a.k.a. clearly enthused) and they were all like "Why? I would never be caught dead driving a van. I'd get an SUV." Well how nice for you. However, with our lives, budget is more important than "image" so we are perfectly happy getting a van, and since I am obviously happy about it, why can't you keep that thought to yourself and just be excited FOR me? It really irked me, especially as Vanessa followed it up with "just joking" comments when I posted the picture on facebook.

My sister also commented negatively on facebook & she gets a little more leeway since she is 19 and wasn't directly told about my excitedness BUT her comments still annoys me.

P.S. It smells pretty now too.
P.P.S. I stocked the van with a black garbage bag & a big towel in case my water breaks & I continue to have leakage to the hospital so that I don't ruin the $250 detailing work!!

Aug 28/09 Prenatal Appt & Dr. Joelle

Had my weekly prenatal appointment today with Dr.Williams. Pretty sure it was my first time meeting him. He reminded me a bit of an absent-minded professor as he seemed a bit "off" his game. I'd put him in his mid-30s to 40s though so I don't think it's from inexperience.

Blood Pressure: 120/80 - perfect

Weight: no change from last week, so at +6 lbs from original starting weight

Belly Measurement: don't know, but asked if it was good & he said yes

Urine Proteins: negative, which is a good thing

GBS/Strep B result: negative, which is also good. not really a huge deal if you're positive. If you are positive they give you two rounds of antibotics once you go into labor. However, if they can't give you the full round of antibodics before baby comes, then they will be extra cautious and do extra stuff with baby.

Feet Swelling: it's gone up & down depending how much I'm on my feet, how much I get them up & how much salt I consume so I don't think it's related to my blood pressure (especially as my blood pressure it good).

So it was an uneventful appointment which is really a good sign. I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow (Saturday). Booked my next appointment for one week away.

Dr. Joelle

I've decided to try out a new chiropractor for a few reasons.

-My current chiropractor is fine, but I can't help but feel that he is complacent in my adjustments. I just feel a little too rushed during the appointments.

-Dr. Joelle is from my "Independant Achievers" group which is for women in business to network, so I thought I should give her a try.

-She specializes in prenatal & postnatal chiropractic care as well as chiropractic for children.

My first appointment and assessment was today. Normally it is $65 for the first session, but I found out that part of the fee is waived for I.A. members so it was only $35, score! It was really exciting to talk with Dr.Joelle. She definitely has a different focus from my previous chiropractor as right away she asked me about my baby's position. All I knew was that his head was down at my last week's appointment but she had concerns, from the shape of my belly, that he was posterior (meaning that his bum would be to my back instead of to my front) or at least maybe to the side too much rather than centered. This could cause painful back labor and also in the meantime could cause some pelvic & hip pain.

So she tested all of my reflexes & did a bit of a manual exam on me. Then she did some "typical" chiropractic adjustments as of which felt amazing (when you are out of alignment it feels so good to 'click' back into alignment). She felt around for baby and said what she felt lined up with what she had thought. She did some new adjustments and did a stretch type thing of the muscle that is underside my abdomen. Boy did that feel good in that bad kind of why...where it hurts but you know its a positive hurt. Then she had some homework for me:

-continue drinking red leaf raspberry tea. I've kind of been sporadic about it, so she suggests drinking at least a pot a day.

-start taking evening primrose oil. One capsule orally & one capsule vaginally daily (more info on the reason for this below).

-whenever laying day, lay on my right side with my left leg elevated. This should help baby slip better into the center of my abdomen/uterus.

-Get down on all fours a few times a day, for 20-30 minutes. She suggested getting an exercise ball and sprawling over that. This position helps to pull baby away from my spine.

Um, I think that's it. I get to see her again on Tuesday & Thursday this upcoming week. She's a very interesting lady with a lot of knowledge & she herself has given birth 3 times, all of them at home & in water.

She also has a lending library of book resources as well as several copies of the DVD "The Business of Being Born". I have seen the last half of it by chance on my digital cable but never did catch the first half (which really explains why they made the documentry I'm sure) so I borrowed it to watch. I also have a prenatal massage on Tuesday that I am very much looking forward to...and the first massage you book is 1/2 off so I'm happy about that as well!

Evening primrose oil is a natural source of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins act to soften and ripen the cervix. This can aid in dilation and effacement. However, since the prostaglandins found in evening primrose oil are natural, they do not affect the body of a woman who is not otherwise ready to go into labor. This means that they are unlikely to trigger labor much earlier than it would naturally occur.

Though evening primrose oil is not likely to trigger labor directly, you can still take evening primrose oil to help the body in its natural process. Many midwives recommend starting a supplement of evening primrose oil during the 34th week of pregnancy. You can start by taking one or two 500 mg capsules every day. When you reach 38 weeks, you can begin taking up to four capsules of evening primrose oil every day. At this time, you can also begin inserting one or two capsules vaginally every day as well. This can be a more effective method of softening the cervix, since the oil will come in direct contant with the cervix. You can do this every night before bed, which gives the evening primrose oil plenty of time to be absorbed while you sleep.

Hospital Orientation & a Small Hospital Visit on Friday

On Thursday, Tyler & I went to our orientation at the Red Deer hospital. I’m impressed with Tyler because he worked Thursday & wanted to work Friday (as it is overtime) so he borrowed his dad’s SUV and drove up just for the orientation. I’ve been really looking forward to this orientation for a while as I’m a visual girl & I had no idea what to visualize in the hospital and was hoping the orientation would help.

I thought we’d get to do a hospital tour, but found out shortly into the spiel that there is a crazy baby boom and that they are averaging at least 200/births a month in Red Deer with more pregnant people coming in for the orientations so it’s just not feasible anymore to parade a large group up to the ward only to find out we can’t go in. I was going to be disappointed until she said that they had pictures of the rooms in their slideshow so I still got my visuals. There were 11 pregnant ladies in the room with all of them having partners there except for two. We went around the room saying our names, due date, etc. Of the 11 women, the due dates only ranged from Sept 19 – 23…only a four day spread. I don’t think they were exaggerating about their statistics! We had Nurse Jessica running the session, which was 2 hours, and could have been a really dry two hours but she was hilarious. I don’t know how old she was (I’d say equal to my age or older) but she had a really youthful energy and hilarious, sarcastic manner. Totally suited me LOL For example, she told us that if we come in with perfect hair, makeup & giggling and tell her we’re in labor she will probably send us home. Meanwhile if we come in with a messy side pony tail, a freaked out looking partner and we look really agitated and grumpy, then yes we’re probably really in labor!

For each topic she talked about she provided an anecdote or a humorous way of portraying it. I do have some examples but I don’t think they’ll translate too well in writing…as the tone of voice & gesturing really added to it.

One thing I learned:
If/when your water breaks note the time (as they will ask) as well as the color & any odor. Brown/greenish indicates that baby has had a bowel movement and this can affect their health and will require extra assessments post birth. Red can indicate blood and a variety of different issues. Yellow indicates that you just peed yourself. You don’t want to call everyone you know announcing that baby is coming & then have to call them back and say “actually I just peed my pants” [awesome story about that to come.] In addition to noting color they asked that we put on a panty liner or something that can continue to absorb some of the fluid so they can do a litmus test on it at the hospital. We are NOT to use a super absorbent with wings, etc as it does the job too well and doesn’t give them enough liquid to work with. Also if there is a lot of blood you are supposed to bring in everything that you bled on (sheets, clothes, etc) so they can assess how much you’ve lost.

She gave us her suggestions for what to pack for your hospital bag which I left at home or I’d have written them out for you. And she suggested that we leave our “48 step full size clinique facial set” at home as we’ll be choosing naps over skin care. For the record I am still packing my 3-7 step mini set from BeautiControl. Sometimes having a clean fresh face makes all the difference…if I don’t use it, no big deal as it’s just a mini set & not that big. Plus I have a mini bag of travel stuff always packed from traveling so much (it has all my face stuff, deodorant, tooth brush etc together in one bag) so it’s actually less work for me just to pack that.
Yesterday I bought a set of sports bras (as I don’t own any, something to do with the fact that I don’t do anything sporty I’m sure) that I plan to wear at the very least under a hospital gown. I want to go look for something night gown-y that I’d be comfortable wearing in the hospital but that won’t break my heart if it gets ruined. It was also suggested that we have slippers or some sort of foot wear so I want to find a cheap pair of those. I’m going to check out Zellers this week for that (I’ve already been to the North Walmart & didn’t have luck there).

This is going to come across really vain, but I want to look as good as possible for baby’s first pictures. Since I am such a pale & pasty girl I have a tendency to look completely horrible when I have bad hair & no make-up combined with little sleep and lots of strain. I know I’ll be scrapbooking these pictures and looking at them forever so I don’t want to feel negative about myself in them. People like Kim, or my sister & brother have this naturally tanned glow that helps them look good all the time which I am jealous about. With my purple under-eyes and blotchiness I will probably look like death. I’ll try to do what I can about that depending on the situation, but at the very least I can hopefully control the clothes & color of the clothing I am wearing so that it can be of more flattering shades.

I got a little off topic there so back to the hospital orientation. Very recently they have changed their policies so that dads are not allowed to spend the night (post birth of course). It is a safety issue for other women in the ward as well as for spacing in the room as the babies room-in with mom and in double rooms with 2 moms, 2 babies & 2 dads it is just too many obstacles if they need to get to a baby in a hurry. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about that at the time, but I totally understand where they are coming from. If you are sharing a room with another lady it would be weird to be left alone with her partner in there. However, the nurse said that they try to stack the rooms in such a way that if possible you are alone and if you aren’t then they try to put the person leaving the soonest in with the person the longest type deal.

People in your room during labor: pretty much you can have whoever you want in your room while you are in labor. During the actual deliver they ask it be limited to two people. Jessica said that if there is someone in the room that you don’t want there (such as a mother-in-law) to feel free to “use your nurse” to get them to leave. That way you & hubby don’t get any hard feelings aimed at you. I think that is really cool & a good idea. At this point I can’t imagine wanting anyone but Tyler in the room but I could change my mind and like that I can.
So after the orientation I was a little bit concerned over the size of my feet & ankles which had swollen quite a bit in a matter of days. I thought I would consult my ‘babycenter’ pregnancy book to see what remedies they offered. Swelling is referred to as edema and isn’t a huge concern UNLESS it is accompanied with some other symptoms…listed as: nausea (which I’ve had), headaches (which I’ve had), vision issues (not really), uterus pains at the top (not that I’ve specifically noticed) and sudden swelling (which I felt had been the case as I hadn’t noticed it before then all of a sudden I had flintstone feet on Tuesday). These symptoms can indicate a condition called pre-eclampsia which can be quite serious and may lead to bed rest, induction &/or c-section.
I’m reading this at 10 o’clock on Thursday night & Tyler just left to go back to work and I was a little freaked out by it. Everything had been going pretty well during the pregnancy and I didn’t want things to suddenly take a turn for the worse. I had my prenatal appointment booked for Monday and I was torn because I don’t want to be a hypochondriac and insist on going to the doctor on Friday but I don’t want to ignore symptoms or wait and regret that. So on Friday morning I called the clinic and said that I had an appointment for Monday but I was having some symptoms that I wasn’t sure if I should be worried about so was wondering if there was someone who could advise me if I needed to come in. It turned out that they had an opening in the prenatal clinic that day at 11:50am and they suggested that I could just switch my appointment to that day. This worked out perfectly as it was a female doc working at the clinic that day so she was able to do my Strep B test that day as well instead of having the male doc doing it on the Monday.

At the appointment, Dr.Courellis took my blood pressure & tested my urine for protein and both were in the normal range. If I actually had pre-eclampsia I would have had high blood pressure. However, she saw that I was a little worried/freaked out so she said I could go for a non-stress test at the hospital just to ensure baby was fine if I wanted (as I was having a triage of symptoms that do indicate possible issues). The test was suppose to be about 20 minutes and I didn’t have anything going on for the rest of the day so I opted to go do it (better safe than sorry). It also provided me with an opportunity to go up to Unit 25 (the maternity unit) and see where it was and experience it.

The non-stress test is done in the same assessment room that I will go to when I go into labor. There are four beds in the room & when I got there, there was one other woman already on one bed. The nurse wanted a urine sample but luckily when you’re pregnant you have to pee all the time so that wasn’t an issue LOL Shortly after I settled onto the bed, two other women showed up so there was a full room and only one nurse on. We were all separated by curtains, however it’s a small hospital room so I could easily hear all the conversations going on around me. Woman #1 was there because her water had broken and that was disconcerting as this was baby number two and she was scheduled for a c-section but not until Sept 15th. She said she had been at work moving around some boxes and all of a sudden she had fluid all the way down her legs (she was wearing gray slacks that would have shown wet spots and I didn’t see any so I think she may have changed before she got there). They hooked her up to the same non-stress test that I was going to be getting (it measures baby’s heartbeat & if you are having any contractions) and proceeded to do the litmus test and an internal exam. It took a while, probably about 45 minutes, but they told her that her results were negative and that her water hadn’t broken and she wasn’t in labor. Reading between the lines: she peed herself. I heard her sound very confused and ask the nurse what happened then and the nurse was like “well our bladders are getting a lot of pressure on them and are squished so…” Ugh, I hope she didn’t call too many people and announce that she was having the baby! Plus she had done it at work so she’d have to explain to everyone there…just goes to show you that what Jessica told us the night before was very KEY to remember LOL

Couple #2 were having their first baby and were from Drayton Valley or Drumheller (I can’t remember which as I always confuse the two). Hubby was a doctor but didn’t practice obstetricians and both were from somewhere in Africa I think (I can’t 100% remember). She had been induced but wasn’t having any labor yet so they wanted to double check the signs before they drove all the way home. The nurse on that afternoon was from England so she struck up a conversation with them about him being a doctor in his own country. He said he doesn’t like practicing obstetricians because in his country the midwives were very arrogant or misinformed and wouldn’t call him until essentially it was too late for him to do anything. So he saw a lot of needless baby deaths. That was sad to hear. They ended up leaving without any signs of labor.

Pregnant lady #3 was there because she was concerned about the low frequency of baby movements. Her mom & 4 year old were there and they kept bumping my curtain which was really annoying. Her results were normal so she also left.

All three of the other ladies got to leave before me, and another couple came in with their 4 year old. Apparently they had gotten into an automobile accident (minor fender bender) so were double checking on baby. I can’t describe exactly why, but they were a very weird family.

My tests went well. I was there from maybe 12:30pm until nearly 2pm. The reason it apparently took so long was because my baby decided to sleep most of the time and so she was waiting for a read out once he awoke. If I had known that I might have poked & prodded him a bit LOL She called the doctor I saw that day and reported that “his sleep cycle was a little long but activity was good after that”. I couldn’t help but think “woo hoo, maybe I have a great sleeper!” ha ha They also tested my blood pressure again which was 121/69 which is considered normal and tested my urine which had “slight” traces of protein but nothing they were concerned about so all is good.

The receptionist at my clinic suggested that I could test my blood pressure at any pharmacy that has those machines if I wanted to keep an eye on it (rather than coming in to the doctor). I did it at Walmart yesterday but was having some anxiety for some reason and found it very high. I decided to ignore that result and retest again in a couple days as my blood pressure has been almost perfect the entire pregnancy.

When I left the hospital a guy in a black truck yelled "hey Crystal!" and then a blonde girl got into the truck. My first instinct was that it was Scott & Shelley as it kind of sounded like Scott & looked like Shelley. I walkd over and it turned out to be a guy I graduated high school with (Ryan Eastman for those of you who went to high school with me) and his baby mama Lana I think her name is (who was less than friendly I might add). They were there getting tubes put into their toddler's ears (an outpatient surgery I believe). Apparently the baby mama & toddler (who's name is Rylyn - a combo of mom & dad's names) live in Red Deer now so he's thinking of moving to the area from Grimshaw. Eastman (as I call him) has for the most part always been really nice & friendly to me and seems like a decent enough guy. It was fun & weird to run into him so randomly!