Happy New Years!

Love from the Doodle Bug

Things have been great. Things have been rough. Life has been crazy busy & there's not been much time for posting so first New Year's Resolution is to post something everyday - at least a picture to keep ya'll happy.

Here's a slideshow of the past almost 8 weeks to keep you going until tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Good morning all!

She's already crawling!!!

Daddy is so proud.


Greetings from the 11th annual Ottawa Santa Claus Pub Crawl

Despite the lack of planning, the lateness & pretty lame turnout, it was still a ton of fun as always. Actually it's not quite as much fun when you aren't totally hammered but still hillarious all the same. I did manage to down one beer & look what happened then...


Smoochy hoochy Santa started flirting with he who was once Mardi Gras Santa. Where are your damn beads buddy?! Turns out I had to show off my boobs anyway because even though I thoroughly prepared for the evening by pumping almost 6 ounces of milk, I forgot to bring the nipple to go on the bottle.

Loser.

All the drunk Santas enjoyed the show & Freyja daya doodle was pleased as punch about the whole thing. The only part she didn't like about the evening was the Santa hat we kept trying to put on her head. Because it was made of acid - at least you'd think so anyway with the demonic howling protests she made about it.


Santa Baby sans hat


The whole gang

Seriously that was just about all that showed up. I think by the end of the night there were maybe 15 Santas. This compared to years where we've had about 200 red drunk devils (& assorted elves, etc.) careening down Elgin Street singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" at the top of their lungs. Oh well, better luck & planning next year. It was actually a nice number because we could do a proper "Cheers!" & get to know our fellow Santas. Joviality & rounds for all.

Until I cut Calvin off. He was carrying the baby until that damn martini. We both then realized that he was in no way capable of being responsible for her let alone walking unassisited. So it was off home for me & the little one who then had a complete meltdown in the car. I blame her father. Because I can.

Not too much else new around here besides the very wonderful smiling & preparing for Christmas. Of course our preparations are lacking from any actual prepardness. Like those Happy Holiday cards with a cute picture of the bun I was going to make & send out to everyone? Not done. Christmas tree? Nope. Presents to family going to get anywhere on time? No way. Present shopping done? Are you kidding? I have however, managed to eat about 15 chocolate chip cookies today. I blame the father again. Because he should know better than to make such delicious treats & leave them on the counter where they sit beckoning & taunting me with their chipity charms. Bastard.

Oooo. Freyja & I went to see Narnia with Roopa & Uma last week at the Famous Babies thing. It was quite fantastic & I was very surprised with how good the CGI effects were because they looked pretty cheesy in the television shots I'd seen. The children were perfect from what I remember of the books & they looked eerily related. The White Witch was fantastically wicked & very reminiscent of the Borg Queen from Star Trek NG - so much so I had to google it. Turns out that it's Tilda Swinton not Alice Krieg but weirdly similar. Ditto for the "dwarf sidekick" who I thought was the same guy as the Oompa Loompas from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Turns out not. Damn you artistic makeup! Speaking of movies, last night we watched March of the Penguins. Best documentary I've seen since Mad Hot Ballroom (which is excellent) & the scenery is absolutely stunning. There's something about ice formations that just takes my breath away. Plus the penguins are cute.

Oh ya, check this out: Ninja Training Camp. How freaking cool would it be to be able to do this?

Look what I got yesterday morning

Smiles

Chipmunk cheeks

Laughter

Will post later.....

'Tis the Season

Well the holidays are looming & I need to finish my xmas shopping stat so I can send it all off across the country in time. I believe I've maybe managed to get gifts to my family on time once & it was probably a fluke of postal service luck if I really think about it. So it's off to the mall I go today for the last little bits which I am so not looking forward to. My mall dread most likely has something to due with having worked so many holiday seasons in retail. Every so often I think it might be nice to make some extra cash by working in a store again, but then Christmas shopping starts & I remember the pain of dealing with stupid, impatient people who look down upon you beacause you are just a dumb salesperson. Of course I'm now one of those evil bitches & worse, I'm armed with a stroller. So ya, today will be great!

This weekend was spent actually doing the bulk of our shopping on line so as to decrease mall dread so we aren't doing too bad. Or I should say, Calvin's stuff is all bought but mine is not. It's hard to shop with only one free hand while eating or feeding baby with the other. Ooops! Just to clarify - did not eat baby. Saturday night we went to Geoff & Katherine's for the annual stealing of gifts party. Of course the most popular prezzies were the booze related ones. I had a case of Keith's & a Maxim magazine for quite a while, but then some evil person stole it so I got to steal a gigantic stuffed crab, which was then stolen away again promptly. This left me with the choice of stealing someone else's beer or opening the last present - there was more to steal but this was all I really wanted. The last unopened gift was very heavy so curiosity got the better of me & I ended the game by opening up a 9 pack of cards. What the hell am I going to do with all these decks of cards?! Start my own gaming casino in my basement? Serves me right for ending the fun. Anyway it was a great party & damn those meatballs are good! Freyja had a fun time sleeping with her new boyfriend Owen, doing a Vulcan mind meld with Uma & hamming it up until the fussiness began round 7:30 when daddy snugged her up in the Bjorn & did the bouncy walk fueled by a couple glasses of wine. She of course regained her spirits in time for a quick photo shoot & then cried all the way home.


Santa gal

In other holiday news the annual Santa Claus Pub Crawl is on for this Saturday night folks so if you enjoy drinking steadily all night whilst garbed as Santa come on downtown for some fun. Calvin's got a website going with all the info so go here for the details. It almost wasn't a go because the gal who last year was put in charge of organizing stuff for this year apparently did nothing. Way to keep tradition going there silly. So in part due to my nagging Calvin & 3 other dudes from Nortel, we now have the 11th!! annual crawl starting at Cafe Paradiso on Bank St at 5:00 Saturday night & ending some time in the wee hours at Griffins on Elgin. It is always a ton of fun so if you can get out your red suits & hats & come join us in some boozy revelry. Even the baby is going so ya'll gotta come see her in the cute little Santa suit we found for her. Of course we probably won't make it to Griffin's but we'll do the early bars for sure & top off the evening at Sugar Mountain. mmmmmm

Hillarity

In the spirit of getting ready for the holidays I give you the best light show ever.

Ta Da! (via Birch & Maple)

If you are wondering what to get me for xmas don't knit me any of this.

tee hee

Sugar pie slept for 4 hours solid last night - it was awesome! Now she's asleep in my arms again looking so freaking cute & making kitten noises. What a difference a day makes.

Can I be any lamer?

I am sucking at the posting. Big time.

My days have all blurred into one. One big ass day where I wake up, attach baby to chest, wince in pain, doze off when baby dozes off, wake up, take ibuprofen & slather nipples in ointment, burp baby, change baby, make silly faces & noises at baby, attempt to get cup of coffee & bowl of cereal, cajole baby into swing while eating, feed baby while reading e-mail, don't reply to any e-mails, listen to phone ring in other room while feeding baby, burp baby, listen to screaming farting baby, change diapers again, take more ibuprofen, slather nipples again, give baby medicine, watch baby writhe in discomfort, feed baby again to comfort, try to ignore pain in shoulder blades, watch baby sleep in lap, change baby, add more clothes to baby, strap baby in bjorn, attach dog to leash, walk outside, pick up dog poop, swear at dog, try to get lunch while baby dozes in bjorn, feed baby while feeding self in front of computer, leave dishes in a mess because don't want to wake sleeping baby in lap, listen to baby farting, change baby, baby pees while changing, get another diaper, go through process again, give baby more medicine, give baby gripe water to counteract effects of medicine, snuggle baby to comfort, listen to phone messages, think about getting back to people, attempt to format photos for very late e-mail announcement, feed screeching baby, let baby nap in lap again because if moved will wake up thus thwart attempts at photo formatting, feed baby again, burp baby, walk around with baby & attempt to placate with swing / mirror / art / bouncy chair, feed rooting baby again, take more ibuprofen, take metamucil to counteract constipating effects of ibuprofen, take acidophilus to counteract yeast, eat granola bar snack, jiggle baby to calm down, swaddle baby in attempt to calm, change baby to see if reason for crying, baby farts / poops while changing so put on new diaper, feed baby again, wonder if this is growth spurt, burp baby, cry with baby, attempt to swaddle baby again as has managed to pry arms loose, turn on cd of hair dryer noise & attempt putting baby in bassinet for much needed nap, try pacifier as boobs are screaming now too, do double swaddle, cuddle baby, baby falls asleep in arms, attempt transfer to bassinet, bassinet transfer complete on 3rd try, baby naps for 1 hour of peace, do load of laundry, attempt to catch up on e-mail, finish formatting 5 more photos, think about what to o for dinner, realize haven't blogged in a week, start typing, baby wakes up, feed baby & type with one hand, baby cat naps in lap again for 10 minutes, dog starts barking at passing world, swear at dog again, dog wakes baby who starts looking very cute by making poo face, starts to sqirm & fuss, naps again for 5 minutes, looks around at world & smiles while passing gas.

This is my day. Everyday. Don't get me started on her fussy evening time & the 3 feeds a night.


She's gonna getcha - my task master.

Then she makes up for all of this by looking this gosh darn cute.

zonked out

I do love her so.
Freyja is now 4 weeks old & weighs 9 lbs 1 oz as of last Friday. She feels bigger & looks longer. I can see some of the clothes getting tighter on her chubby little body. She's having more awake periods & I swear she's starting to smile at us rather than just having gas all the time. She also managed to turn over from her belly to her back last night according to Calvin. She now loves the bath & going outside for walks & has also managed to find her cute long little fingers to stick in her mouth which is good news for my boobs, plus it cuts down on the volume of her screams. Because we torture her. Well not really, but you'd think we were with all the crying. Poor baby.

I really think she's just uncomfortable with this thrush crap. Some days her diaper rash seems cleared up, other days she crys when she farts. There's been an increase in gas output from both ends & she seems to be in pain sometimes when she scrunches up her little body during a poop. There's not much we can do besides take all our medicine like good little girls & feed her to comfort her when she gets upset. It's just heartbreaking to see her upset & I wish I could do more besides wait for this freaking Fluconazole to start working. In the grand scheme of things I know we don't have it too bad & we're damn lucky to have a healthy & relatively happy baby, but damn this parenting thing is tough. Here come the all-knowing looks & I told you so's right? I was never under the impression that it would be a slice of cake or the illusion that I would have free time to myself - I'm just acknowledging the hard parts. Which are of course coupled with the beautiful parts that are just as soul wrenching in the all-encompassing love one feels for this tiny little soul.


Bzzzzz

3 Weeks

So my little Freyja daya doodle bug is now 3 weeks old & is one of the best things that ever happened to me. She's so alert now & loves to look at the art on the walls, the black iron bedframe & sometimes, even the computer screen (geek baby!) so Calvin has decided to already put her on the path to rampant commercial consumerism by indoctrinating her into the world of Baby Einstein. It's been said before by me & many others (with some controversy I might add) that this stuff is like crack for babies (& some adults). She's only "watched" it 3 times & her attention span is really only good for about 5 minutes so it's not like we're getting her addicted to it or anything by plopping her down in front of it & leaving her there. It's just been a handy distraction for both baby & daddy while I go get a much needed shower or throw yet another load of laundry in the washer. We think she likes the bunnies & the birds.

Speaking of birds....

Murder!

There is this weird crow phenonmenon in our neighbourhood. For some bizarre reason all the crows in the city seem to congregate in this massive murder every day starting around 4ish. They group themselves in the trees & then start taking over parking lots & entire green spaces. We're talking thousands upon thousands of these cawing creatures creating a cacophony of creepy croaking cadences (how's that for some mad alliteration skillz?). Seriously it's totally creepy & I like crows. They group up & then fly to another group & so on & so on until there's about 10 thousand of them together & then they all take off to the area around the General Hospital. Is there something there we should know about that is attracting all these scavenging beasts? Some evil carrion that is placating these masses in some bizarre crow experiment perhaps in the hopes of creating a sequel to Hitchcock's "The Birds"? Whatever man, it's just weird.

So doodle bug & I have been on the "Candida Protocol" for over a week now & I think it's reached it's maximum effectiveness. Which is to say, not enough effect. The ointment & the Gentian Voilet seemed to make it a lot better right away but then, only to a certain extent. There is still the deep burning & the sharp shoulder blade (& now left elbow?!?!) pain that does not appear to want to go away. As of last night we get to stop the Violet for 2-3 days & then start again to see if that makes a difference, but I'm now making an appointment with my GP to get some stronger oral medication (Fluconazole [Diflucan]), which according to my sister clears this crap up good. Meanwhile, Freyja's butt rash is only mildly better & I feel soooo bad for her & her tender little tooshie. She doesn't look too happy when she has one of her explosive farts, though those of course could only make Calvin happy in a proud father sort of way. We're using Canesten & Zincofax to try & put a stop to the red bum rawness & I still get to use the All-Purpose Ointment after each feeding. I'm also taking Acidophilus & eating lots of yoghurt to try & combat this thing. At least the bun gets to have a break from looking like this for a few days.


Purple People Eater

She will eventually hate us for this won't she? Anyway, gotta get the little minx out the the Bjorn & attach her to my glorious chest before she starts screaming about the lack of lactose goodness in her belly. Oh ya, weird thing.... my lactose intolerance is a hell of a lot more tolerable now that I'm producing my own. Who would've thunk it?

Oh and many congrats & good luck to our pals John & Evelyn & Chris & Beth on the births of their new teeny tiny little bundles. Drop by if you need a break from listening to the crows at the General. Your darlings are in great hands.

P.S. Congratulations also to Frasier & Monilee. Hope your Costa Rica wedding was wonderful -sorry we couldn't make it but this bun thing made life a little crazy!

Dear Les Boys

Next time you goofs start buying celebratory drinks for my husband, instead of just buying enough to render him useless, please ensure that he imbibes enough liquor to have one hell of a hangover the next day. My punishment of bitchiness does not do him justice.


Nor does posting this.

Tweet tweet....

Meet the marvelous Hermit Thrush - a beautiful though somewhat drab creature of the avian world.

Don't worry, this post has nothing to do with birds. Just boobs. And thrush. The yeast kind. It's marvelous. I'm having a great time.

The pain I previously described turned out to be more than we bargained for. First there was the sharp pain when she latched on that I had been getting used to. Then there was the burning pain I thought was my let-down, but since it happened after we fed versus right before, turns out it was more of a warning sign. There was the cracking, mildly bleeding nipples & the diaper rash that was getting worse. Then to top it all off there was the excrutiating sharp pain in my shoulder blades that I thought was from sleeping in a different bed &/or being on the train for 8+ hours last weekend. It all just kept getting worse & culminated in a miserable Monday going into Tuesday when I desperately called the midwives & the lactation consultant at the hospital. Turns out we have thrush which is now being treated with "All Purpose Nipple Ointment" & Gentian Violet. It is starting to slowly feel better & we are hoping it'll clear up in the 4 - 7 days it's supposed to take. Meanwhile my baby is now affectionately known as "Grape Face".


Grape mouth - check out that funky lipstick!

It's from the Gentian Violet. The other side effect of all of this is that I get to walk around the house with my chest exposed for long periods of time. This is not an invitation for any of you boys to drop by unexpected. Or gals for that matter. I seriously feel like a cow while I'm air-drying my bits. If I'm not air-drying, we're feeding. Needless to say I am not having a world of fun at the moment. At least the Freyja bun is still doing well though she's pissed about the diaper rash & has been kind of frantic at the start of a feed. The lactation consultant weighed her on Tuesday & she's now a whopping 8 lbs 3 oz. so it's not like she's suffering too too much with this nastiness.

She's changed a lot since we brought her home & is starting to feel more like a little person with her hillarious facial expressions & her man-sized farts. Her cheeks are a little less squirrel like & we can see more of her pretty eyes now. She likes to alternately scrunch up like a turtle & stretch like a kitten & then starts kicking me in the chest when she's taking a crap. And man oh man, can that girl ever poo! Here's what she looks like when she's concentrating on filling up a load of treasures for daddy to clean up.


Oh my - what a serious preppie look.

Yesterday to make me feel better, Calvin took Freyja & I to Famous Babies at Silver City to see Walk the Line. There's a matinee once a week where you can bring your baby to the movie theatre & not worry about the crying & the fussing, because everyone else's baby is doing the same thing. There's also a stash of free diapers at the baby changing station in the hall - Calvin wants to go back to stock up, but I told him no. Anyway, it was a neat experience though somewhat strange to see that many babies in one place in the middle of the day. The movie was one I'd been wanting to see as I love Johnny Cash & I Walk the Line is my one of my all time favorite songs so a lovely time was had by all.

Today I went to a mommy & baby group thing to meet a new mommy pal I met while walking the dog at the pit. It was nice just hanging out with some other people who've also never been through this before & we all went for lunch at the Taj Mahal afterwards. Mmmmmm curry. Even baby likes the curry. See.


Sleepy smiles

Time flies

So my little Freyja daya doodle bug will be 2 weeks old tomorrow & life is pretty sweet. And busy and tiring and sore and emotionally draining and lovely all at the same time. The little bun has been growing very well which should be no surprise to those who've witnessed her voracious appetite. Or to anyone who's managed to see the raw stumps that were once my nipples. (Like I'll be showing those to anyone!) I swear this kid could eat a steak with the sharp little gums & killer latch that she has. I am surviving on stubborness & ibuprofen, but it is quite disturbing when you see blood in your child's mouth & know that it came from you. Then there is the let down.... let me tell you, it's quite the let down (ba da dum drum roll please). Fiery lava flow is more like it and now this is combined with a weird sharp pain in my shoulder blades when we feed & of course the raw stabbing feeling of flesh being ripped from probably the most sensitive part of my body. Oh but it's all for the best right?

I know it will get better, things will toughen up & I'm offering good nutrition to my little one so I am determined to keep going. There are of course the wonderful benefits of watching her while she eats & listening to the cute little cat / bird noises she makes as she sucks the bejeezus out of me. It's really cute & I can only get mad at myself for not being tough enough to handle the pain. Suck it up princess!

Here's my reward.

Snuggles before the fussing begins


Hanging out with the new doggie

This weekend we took a whirlwind trip to Toronto to have a quick visit with Uncle Bruce & Aunt Susanne since they had a stopover before heading to Jamaica (lucky bastards). Aunt Nancy had been staying with us for the past week, cooking up whatever our hearts desired & making life pretty easy on us so we she left we took the train with her back to Brampton to make some family introductions. Thank you so much to Nancy & Rory & Liam for putting us up & lots of love. Word of advice: the train is awesome for rocking babies to sleep. Freyja loved it & pretty much napped the whole way there & back. Here's the proof.


Train girl

Anyway, gotta take the munchkin out of her swing & give her some snuggle time before the feeding commences again. There's more posts coming people - birth story included. I'm just having some time management issues at the moment, but we are slowing getting the hang of things around here. She makes it all worth while.

P.S. Congratulations Roopa & Mike on the birth of Uma! She's a real cutie pie.

Some pretty pictures

Yo yo yo


My little swiss miss


first pit walk


Kisses from dad


My Precious

Super Pooper Trooper

Sorry for the lack of updates my friends... it's been overwhelming to say the least. This one will just be a quickie but I promise there will be more to follow as soon as we get our bearings. And a couple more showers. And some more food as I am now ravenous almost constantly. And of course after a few more snuggles with the bun.


Calvin gave me this in exchange for this ....


Going Home

Introducing Freyja Marguerite Drover.

Freyja is pronounced Fray-ah. Just say it fast & don't think about the j. If you want some info (mildly cheesy in a Lord of the Rings kind of way) on where her name comes from go here. Basically the goddess of love & beauty. Marguerite is Calvin's mother's name and means "pearl". Drover... "driver of herds to the village". So she's a beautiful pearl of a girl who likes farm animals.

She's a real cutie-putootie & very snuggly. She likes to make impressions of purring kittens & velocirapters. She loves to sleep and can be very hard to wake up to feed, but once she's on the boob there's no coming off, much to the chagrin of my poor nipples. (Thanks for the lansinoh Katherine!!!) She loves the swing & to be swaddled up tight like a burrito. Diaper changing - not so much, hence the velocirapter noises. When she's awake she looks around & checks us out in wonder at "what these silly giants are & why are they making silly noises at me?" kind of way.

I'll let you all know about the labour ordeal later when I wrap my head around how to tell it. Let's just say the induction drugs were "manageable" up to 7cm & then the aneasthesiologist became my good buddy. This was eventually followed by 2 solid hours of pushing, with only 1 of those actually doing anything productive. Eventually she came out (with no tearing!!! i can't believe it!) & proceeded to take the biggest crap - all over her new mommy. It was love at first poop & first sight.

Daddy couldn't be happier with his new little bun & mum is recovering pretty well, but we both need a little more sleep (ya fat chance eh?) & then we'll share her with the rest of the world. Thank you all so much for your support & wonderful comments - they really mean a hell of lot to us & it wouldn't have been the same without them. We love you guys!


Daddy's little girl

Girl

5:44 am, November 8, 2005.
7 pounds 14 oz., 21"long.
Conehead, full head of hair.
Cute as a button.

Picture: http://calvindrover.ww.com

More updates after a hell of a lot of sleep.

There is movement

It is 7:00 PM and I have been sent home by Laura to walk the dog. Thought I would give a quick update before I headed back to the hospital.

Laura is progressing nicely, and is in active Labour. I am also progressing nicely and am experiencing active anxiety.

Bun is moving downwards, Laura has dialated to over 5cm at this point, and we are expecting bun to emerge before daybreak.

-Calvin

Water is broken......

Contractions are starting, lots of walking complete. Now on Oxytocin to help labour progress.

More later folks.

-Calvin

Good morning

Nothing happened overnight except some more cramping. It's like I ate something that doesn't agree with me - that's all. I know some of them are contractions otherwise I wouldn't be dilated to almost 4 cm & more than 50% effaced as of yesterday (hopefully more now). I could tell by the monitor yesterday that when I started having trouble breathing that a contraction was coming. It would get a bit achy in my back & a perhaps a little in the belly which then got really hard. I feel like a total idiot because I haven't been able to tell if I'm having a contraction or not. I know a lot of women would be feeling it more & would have been in the hospital by now, but for me it hasn't been so bad that I can't concentrate on anything else beside the contraction, which is what I was told real labour would be like. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe I'm stupider than I thought... I guess ignorance is bliss, at least for now.

This morning we are going to the hospital at 10 am for some sort of induction. If my Bishop Score is still under 7 (it was 6 yesterday) then we'll try the cervidil, if not I suppose it is straight to the pitocin, unless the amniotomy is possible. Whatever happens today won't be leaving the hospital without the bun out of the oven this time. I'm sure many of you will be relieved to know that there will be no home birth for us. I'll just be relieved to get that damn plastic off the hobo bed - I am so tired of all the rustling & crinkling. I'm also kind of relieved that the decision will be made for us rather than me hemming & hawing (?) at the last minute & worrying about whether or not we are doing the right thing & also about other people's reactions.

OK Time to try & relax... I'm starting to get all nervous & freaked out, like before I have to go in & teach a class or give a presentation. Gotta calm the breathing, get a shower & go buy a good book before we meet Josee at the hospital. Wish us luck & keep checking back for updates if you like. There's dial up at the Monfort so Calvin's got my laptop all packed so we can blog & e-mail when we get bored or when the deed is done.

Ack! I'm having a baby!!!!!!!

Apologies to the internets

Bun is still in the oven my friends. Apparently Calvin's little update promted ya'll to think I was in active labour. I think I'm in some kind of labour, but as to how active it is - that is questionable. I have contractions where it gets hard to breathe, my belly gets hard & there's some cramping & sometimes tingly pain in the cervix region, but nothing is so bad as of yet that I can't deal with it by relaxing & breathing. Some are worse than others, but I'm really not having that much difficulty or pain that I can't cope with. Mind you I haven't really moved from the couch that much today either so that might have something to do with it.

Yesterday I had another stretch & sweep - this time at home. More cramping & bloody type after effects. No chance to rupture the membranes as the bun's head was in the way - basically would've got poked in the head with the crochet-hook contraption. So we made the decision to go to the hospital this morning for a Non-Stress Test & possible Cervidil insertion. Off to the Monfort bright & early we go to get hooked up to a fetal heart rate / contraction monitor thing for about a half an hour. I had to drink some apple juice & poke at the belly a bit so we could get some reactions from the sleepy-head baby but we got it going good enough to have a positive test. This is how much fun it was.


Not stressing & hey, my pants match the belts!

The Cervidil thing was another matter though as hospital policy was not to let me escape after it was inserted since I am now post-dates. We didn't want to hang out at the hospital for a possible 24 hours with nothing happening so we decided to wait until Monday to do it. Instead we did another stretch & sweep & attempted to break my waters again - no luck though as the head was still in the way of the bag. The s & s brought on some crampy contractions again & Josée was encouraged enough to tell us to go home, pick up some castor oil on the way, have a castor oil root beer float & do some pumping..... oh ya, we went & got a breast pump yesterday after the 2nd sweep as nipple stimulation is supposed to increase oxytocin levels & therefore bring on contractions.

Ya, so pumping prior to having a bun in my arms is very weird. We got a Medela single electric one & it's pretty comfortable but kind of loud so I have to turn up the television when I use it. It did seem to bring on some contractions but I needed a break so they eventually subsided. Same thing today. The castor oil root beer float was not too bad, but way way too sweet. Even Calvin tried some to be supportive. We both thought it would work pretty quickly but turns out it can take 4 - 6 hours to go through your system. Well it's through now & it really wasn't bad - I've had way worse with a spoonful of ice cream or an IBS episode. Calvin didn't like it so much though - poor guy doesn't have the same experience to prepare him for a painful butt explosion.

So if these contractions (which at the moment seemed to have disappeared) don't do anything tonight, it's off to the Monfort or possibly the Civic tomorrow. I guess it'll be induction time.... I would prefer this to unfold naturally on it's own time, but everyone seems to want this bun out of me sooner rather than later. I can't say I don't agree, but I wish my body would do it on it's own rather than have to succumb to the synthetic hormones. Whatever.... it'll all work out in the end. Plus I have this to look forward to.


My incentive

Surrogate Blogger

No bun yet, and Laura is taking a nap. Things look like they are progressing, and Laura will post an update this evening.

Stay tuned......

Patience

Yes, it's Saturday. I am 15 days overdue. We are waiting for the midwife to call back - she's at another birth at the moment. The plan for today is to go for another sweep & if nothing happens then it's off to the hospital (tonight or tomorrow?) to try some cervidil. I'm drinking red raspberry leaf tea like it's going out of style & I've taken no lactaid pills with the cream pastry & the pizza I had today but so far nothing is coming out of me. We went for a long walk with the dog this morning & I think (again) that I had a couple of contractions. I'm sitting on my exercise / birthing ball trying to bounce & roll into beneficial positions. I'll probably take yet another hot jacuzzi bath to just try & relax. If we can't get things going this weekend we'll head to the hospital for induction on Monday after yet another Bio-Physical Profile ultrasound.

I'm emotionally spent & it's hard to cope with the fact that I'm keeping everyone waiting. Physically I feel ok & the bun is still moving around quite a bit so I know that nothing is wrong. Believe me, I've gone over every what if scenario there is & the pros & cons of waiting, inducing & surgery. I am fully informed, educated & I trust my wonderful midwives. I will not risk the bun or myself just because I think I desire a drug-free birth. If we need intervention of any sort we will go for it - no questions asked.

Though I've felt somewhat betrayed by my body in the past day or so, I know that it is capable of doing difficult things. I also know that it likes to take it's time with things. It likes food really well cooked. My cycles are normally longer than the average person (last one before the getting knocked up one was 55 days). I normally ovulate late. I like to think things over thoroughly before I come to a decision - of course Calvin would say I just can't make a decision. My family has a tendancy to be late for everything. I was born 2 weeks late & my sister Andrea was apparently about 17 days late and just under 10 pounds. So I'm just following tradition & I suppose, what is normal for me. There you have it. We'll let you know what's going on later.

If you want here's more information on related stuff.

Overdue versus Postdate
Postdate induction stuff
Labour Induction
Induction of Labour
Home Birth Study
My midwives

I might add more later, but this is all I've got the stamina to look up right now.

I hate daytime television

It totally blows.
Does Maury Povich discuss anything besides cheating spouses & paternity tests? Oh wait, there's always the holiday shows where the screaming audience gets to guess if the trashily dressed person on stage is a man or a woman. Can't wait for those.

The View - annoying as hell. Vicki Gabareau - yawn. Regis & Kelly - ugh. What in the world is nanalan'? Oh I see - creepy puppets. Frasier - pompous ass. World Vision - I don't think so. At least there's cute animials on Zaboomafoo & sometimes Cityline can be really good. Other than that, blows, blows, blows. There's nothing on the movie channels I haven't already seen or have a desire to watch. The free preview of Life Network, HGTV & the Food Network is over so I can't watch Martha's new show anymore. I've read every baby book I have, checked out all the blogs I can link to & have googled everything from cloth diapering to breastfeeding to induction for overdue pregnancies to craft projects to dog allergies to The Apprentice updates and for the hell of it, the daily news. I don't know what else to do so I'm typing up this crap while I watch the Kratt brothers writhe on the ground like crocodiles. Great.... now the lemur puppet is rapping.

I am bored.

I am also cramping again. Or make that, still. No regularity. The membrane sweep was an odd experience, especially with Calvin in the room - it's not like he gets to come for my annual pap smears so it was kind of weird with him sitting there. He did behave quite well during this part of the appointment so I'll give him props for that. The stretching was uncomfortable & mildly painful in that it felt like period cramping. It really wasn't all that bad, just hard to stay relaxed especially when the bun was determined to keep kicking me in the ribs at the same time. The best part was when Josée said she could feel the baby's head. Awh. Maybe the kicking was in retaliation for being poked in the noggin.

So the stretching & the sweeping seems to have done a few things. It dislodged more of the mucus plug & brought out some blood at the end. Haven't seen any of that since last December so strange but all good signs. I had some cramping & tightening (contractions?) afterwards & we went walking around MEC & Ikea to see if we could get things going but again, nothing that needed looking at a watch (not that either of us were wearing one). We then went to get another ultrasound and once again, things looked good. We did have to do some more poking (this time on the outside - thank goodness) to get the bun moving as it seems the Tim Hortons lunch we had prior to this made it a little sleepy. Donuts make me tired too little one..... mmmm double chocolate.

After this big day we went home & hung out on the couch until we both fell asleep around 9. Pretty pathetic - I couldn't even make it through The Apprentice - but probably a good thing as I then woke up at 1am, 3am & 6ish when Calvin got up. The 3am waking was interesting to say the least as I finally had some bloody show. Gross & exciting at the same time. We sort of thought the contractions would come on after that, but looks like I'm still waiting. And waiting.... Waiting watching tv.....

Hence my dislike of daytime television that is now a burning hatred.

Oprah - I'm getting really tired of your decorating shows that give people hope that they too can have an absolutely fabulously decorated house with no serious idea of how much the stuff that you show costs. P.S. Colin Cowie - I love you, but the eyeliner today was a bit much. Can someone tell me what this crap called Passions is & why there is a witch & a baby that comes complete with pop-up cartoon bubbles above her head? Ooooo look, Coneheads is on - just what I want to watch before I get one of my own. Ahhhhhh. A show about art. At least I can get into that even if it makes me more of a geek. It's pretty.

That's it for now folks. I'm waiting for the midwives to call me, waiting for contractions to begin, waiting for good tv, waiting to meet the bun. I am trying to be patient. At least I'm hungry now, so I can go get something to eat to waste some more time. After that, maybe I'll do some more laundry & re-read another baby book or get yet another shower. Gotta keep distracted somehow.

Hurry Hard

Stretched & swept.
Head engaged & felt by midwife during the poking. Cervix soft, short & has begun to dilate (1cm upper & 3cm lower). In other words we are good to go & it "should" happen within the next couple of days without having to go for a pitocin induction. Yay!

We also had another ultrasound this afternoon & the oven still looks great. The last one (Monday) we scored 8 out of 8 on the Bio-Physical Profile & it sounded like the same today, though the technician couldn't really say. We'll find out tomorrow morning from Josee. If things are as good as they seem, she might come over for another stretch & sweep & possibly break my waters. Unless of course things begin tonight. There's been some tightening in the lower belly but no pain.

I feel like there's more to say, but my brain has turned to mush. I'll update this better tomorrow. For now here's the last bit of baby bait. I managed to exchange the Boo onesie for a Santa outfit. Let's hope it makes it out in time for Xmas.


The hunt is on


Even the dog likes it

Happy Birthday Todd

Make sure you rest up before drinking copious amounts of sake.


Birthday boy

In other news..... nothing. Midwife appointment at 1:00 today. Going for the big sweep. Update later.