Monday, August 31, 2009

Mmm, lets see. What has the last week brought.

Well, Livy has been "hanging" with her two grandma's the last few days (my mom has been here since before she was born and Dwayne's mom has been visiting the last few days).

As Grandma Helen's first bio grandchild it looks like she's going to be a bit spoiled...if this picture's any indication!!
Yup, ever since we had her people have been asking if she's got a bike yet. Even Dwayne laughingly says its far too early for a bike (this from the guy who bought his nephew a chariot when his mother was only 3 months pregnant). Alas Grandma Helen decided its not too early and has proudly bought Livy her first bike. Now she just needs to learn to walk.



Here's a few other shots of us in our day to day lives...

Daddy learning a few tricks of the trade.



























AND - Yay!! Another video!! This one of Livy after a good solid feed. Can you say "content child"??

Monday, August 24, 2009

A Day in the Life of Livy

Here's a little peek at what keeps baby Livy so incredibly busy during her days:

12:05 am - Just getting settled for the night






















12:07 am - Surprise - not quite ready for sleep!!!
















12:47 am - Konked out after our half hour nightly crying spell.















6:32 am - Up and ready to eat




















6:33 am - What Mom see's while I eat.
















6:55 am - Ok, ready to sleep again




















8:55 am - Up for 'early' morning coffee with Dad.




















10:26 am - Notice the new outfit?? Yup, a girl's gotta have a change for those moments when her stomach doesn't agree.





















10:41 am - Hanging in my Crib.
















12:17 am - Meeting Dad when he comes home from his ride.





















12:25 am - Mmm, much better smelling Dad & outfit #4.




















1:17 pm - Me and cousin Kristin - and outfit #5.















1:28 pm - Dad and I chillin'















2:15 pm - another satisfied breastfed baby.




















2:30 pm - Dad getting us ready for a cruise around town (to the bike store but we keep those on the down low from Mom).




















2:38 pm - ready, set, go




















3:29 pm - a full diaper and road trip with Dad doesn't mix.
















3:34 pm - Hanging with Grandma Val (yes, that's outfit #7 - notice they're only half dressing me at this point)




















5:00 pm - Another outfit and another feed...ahhh, life is good.
















8:00pm - Party time and dressed up in my party dress. What Mom doesn't get is that I'm a Tom-boy and I don't like dresses.





















10:00 pm - Being put down with the other 'baby girl' of the family. She likes soft blankets too.
















11:31 pm - Ok, puking and pooing finished for the night I can finally settle down for the last few minutes of my day just to get ready to do it all again tomorrow.

I can't begin to tell you how exhausting it is being Livy.





Sunday, August 23, 2009

9 days old

She has a name!!

Yup, its been a few days but we finally settled on a name. We took a few extra days to 'try it out' and to see if something else didn't come along.

Today I filled out the papers so its official (although my mother did point out that I haven't mailed the papers yet so we could still change it).

Her name is Olivia Dayne. We've started by calling her Livy and we'll see if that sticks. If she ends up being the 'big gal' her height and weight gain are indicating, we may have to switch it up to Oly.

For now though, she's still mostly "baby girl"...its funny how you get used to calling her something and it sticks.

As for her weight, Livy continues to pile on the lbs with no problem (takes after her mom there). Tomorrow we'll see how well she has done in the last week and see if she passes her hearing test.

Here's that video we promised.

ok, it took a few days to get the camera chip to work on my computer...I finally found the adapter. This video was taken on Aug 22 - 8 days old.


Friday, August 21, 2009

1 week

This has to be one of the most amazing weeks I've lived.

To watch a new baby experience her first week is like peeking in on something incredibly special. I'm already mourning the fact that these days are behind me but in awe of the wonders that are still to come.

Her first diaper change...
Her first puke...
Her first yellow poo...
Her first cry...
Her first bath...
The first time she poo'd on Daddy...
Her first smile (I know, I know, its gas...but I'm going to include a pic and you can be the judge - and such a wonderfully goofy smile at that)...



















There is a beautiful wonder in a new baby and I'm so incredibly lucky to be holding her in my arms.

She's so far been a perfect baby. She only cries when hungry or when her tummy hurts (which is few and far between).

She's gained weight like a champ and at her doctors appointment on Wednesday she had already gained past her birth weight. Her head measurement shows she's in the 50th percentile for head size but her length and weight she's in the 90th percentile. In other words, she's a long, heavy baby with a pin head.

The good news is tall women run in Dwayne's family so hopefully its a sign that she'll be tall (to even out the heavy part).

Here's a couple more pics to share. We have tons but I know it can get old. Today I'll do a video of her to post since photos, as wonderful as they are, don't quite do her justice.



Contemplating the worlds problems...











First walk...just me and Daddy.


















Hanging with Mom...our favourite hang-out spot.

Friday, August 14, 2009

40 weeks 2 days - Ground Zero

Its time!!! (ok, it was time...I am writing this in hindsight).

I kind of had an idea last night that my contractions were more persistent then they had been in the past.

Overnight I continued having the odd contraction which is a big difference to previous contractions that would stop when I lied down.

In the morning I opted to go with Dwayne to the city early 'just in case'.

I envisioned walking around the mall trying to get these contractions stronger and effective. I never made it to the mall.

Instead we checked into the Sheraton across the street from the hospital where I hung out while Dwayne did some much needed office work.

At about 2pm Dwayne came back to the hotel where I mentioned the contractions were getting stronger though they stopped when I would sit/lay down. But man, if I stood up after sitting I would get a real dozy of a contraction that would last up to 3 minutes.

At around 4pm we headed to the hospital for a check. My contractions were still 'stopping' when I would sit but they were close together, long and strong when standing. Because we were just across the street we figured if they sent us away it was no big deal.

While hooked up to the monitor my contractions once again stalled. Ho humm...looks like we may be sent back. Once the monitor came off they picked up again and man, they were intense (they curled my toes!!). I swear though, the nurses thought I was making it up.

The doc came in to check to see if we were dilated and low and behold...I was 6-7 cm dilated!! Shocking - especially when I could literally stop the contractions just by lying down (until now that is).

We made a quick dash to get me into a room so that I could be doused with antibiotics (recall I'm Strep B positive and need antibiotics).

Literally once my foot was in the room my contractions progress to the point that I wanted to push. But, alas...no pushing...I need the antibiotics first. Quick check...yup 10 cm dilated - but no pushing yet.

Another 45 minutes later we finally got the antibiotics in. FINALLY I can push.

9 minutes of pushing and out SHE came. Its a GIRL!!

She weighted in at 8lbs 9.9 ozs and measuring 55.5 cm (21.85 inches) long.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!!


No name yet. This isn't something that you can decide lightly you know. This poor girl can be scarred for life if you mess this up. So we're going to take our time (ok, ya ya...we've been lazy thinking up names. No need to waste time if you don't know the gender right?? I mean, your only wasting 50% of the effort when you don't know if its a girl or boy).




**Gory Details to follow**


If your still reading this then your obviously ok with the idea that I suffered immense pain.

If you calculate the timing of the above events it pretty much equates to the fact that there was NO TIME for drugs. They did give me (or try to give me) gas...for anyone considering gas...its sucks. Plain and simply. Its this huge nozzle that goes into your mouth and for me, my mouth was as dry as dirt. Not a good combination. Then, when I would try to breath through a strong contraction (the ones that make me wiver in pain) I would breath through my nose rather than my mouth. What a waste of time. About 50% of the contractions I would attempt the gas and the other 50% I just spit it out.

So, in a nut shell...I felt it all. It hurt. But more disturbing was when she came out and I could feel myself tear in each seperate spot. Yup, felt a tear there...oh, another tear there... it goes on.

In the end I tore in 4 places but the doc assured me as far as tears go it wasn't bad. Now, writing this in hindsight (1 week later) tell that to my still sore neather regions that it could have been worse. Yikes. For what its worth...I would do it again and again for this little bundle.

On another note...I also puked during labour. 4 times. I tried to warn them...in fact for a while I was telling Dwayne my stomach wasn't feeling great. He tried to get me to drink juice or other stuff but I kept saying I didn't feel great so no thanks. It didn't help that I had Indian food for lunch. Yummy going down...not so good coming up. Poor little baby girl...her first kiss was from her mom with Indian food puke breath!!

First night with our new bundle was surreal. I simply cannot describe how humbled and in awe of her I am. I only got about an hour of sleep but I wasn't really tired that first night. I just stared at her and touched her as much as possible.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

40 weeks

Yup, its August 12, 2009. Today is our official estimated due date (is that an oxymoron?? official estimated??).

We hit (at 1pm today) exactly 40 weeks since conception. What does that mean?? This kid is LATE!

The last week we've had a pretty eventful week. The pregnancy that has been 'easy' got hard for a couple of days. Who knew the sciatic nerve could be so painful. Alas, it only slowed me down for about a day and a half and I'm happy to report that the little one has shifted to a much more comfortable position.

And then there's the hemorrhoids. AHHH...the taboo pregnancy side effect that no one tells you about until its there. Then you hear all about every other women who suffered them too. As you can see I have no problem in talking about them (or 'it' as in my case). Alas, other than one day of pain and a few days of annoyance (and laughter - who knew sitting on a donut pillow would be so damn funny) I've survived and with a bit more humble added into the mix.

So there you have it. Officially this little gaffer is late and I'm going to take that to heart in using it as an excuse from here on it...its not me who's late, its them.

I will be taking a shot of the full term 40 week belly so stay tuned.


Here it is...

Its big, no?? Amazingly enough, I feel pretty darn good. Looking at it I'm amazed that my back hasn't given out!!