Brea, Craig and I attended the 11th Annual Denholme Dessert Party last night. My friend and colleague devised this wonderful event with her mother and sister. It is a glorious night of fun where the three Master Dessert Makers entertain their friends with a decadent presentation of yumminess. Each year, they invite you to taste and rate each dessert and then you get to leave with a doggy bag full and recipes. Last year was my first time and I enjoyed every second of it. I nearly made it through every dessert (a dozen at least). This year, Brea was a bit overwhelmed by all the people so we had to make the visit short, still it was great! Thanks Kelly for another great one :o)
Now, I know I have been remiss in posting pictures of our little girl so here a few I snapped over the last few days. I can't believe how much she's grown already. When I visited Max last weekend, he was as light as a feather in comparison! Brea is now 4 weeks old and the time has just flown by.
So, we tried to go for a walk yesterday to meet a fellow prenatal class mom (and her daughter, Baby Kaitlyn) but Brea would have none of it. We started off the morning so well and I had her bundled and fed, then we made it to the car and were out of the house 5 blocks when the wailing began. It was a scary cry too... much louder and shriekish-like, I had to pull over in the Super-Value parking lot to calm her down. I think it was a gassy tummy again. She's really been having difficulties these last few days. We've been bouncing after feedings and though we've tried the Gripe Water, I don't know if it helps. She settled down soon after but I'd already called and canceled the walk. It's probably because I remembered to bring the camera this time :o)
On the plus side, since we were in the neighbourhood, we stopped by Daddy's work so that he could show her off. He was such a Proud Papa with his little girl sleeping in his arms. I'll have to find some time to bring her to my school too.
We are quickly approaching Brea's one month date and she is growing fast. We have our next midwife appointment on Monday and I'll let you know how big she is... with some pictures too!
First a BIG welcome to the world to Baby Max! He was born on Saturday September 13th. I am so happy and excited for Kathy and Doug. Brea is ecstatic that her group of playmates is growing. I will eventually have a picture of him but as the title indicates - Eleana forgot her camera.
This past weekend was full of events for our family. We had our first real "family outing". On Sunday we packed Brea off to do her first Terry Fox Hometown Run. We headed out a little behind schedule (we are figuring out that it takes WAY more time to ready a baby), but the run itself started late as well so we ended up being right on time. Brea was fantastic and snoozed her way through the 2.5 km like an angel and Daddy was very happy with the performance of our BOB Revolution stroller. The Hometown Run always draw a big crowd so we saw lots of friends and it was a beautiful day for a worthwhile cause.
Brea had a photo shoot with my friend Glen. He took some fabulous pics and I thought I'd share some of my faves with you. She's a bit bigger now since these were taken when she was just over a week old. We had our midwife appointment yesterday and our little princess is now more than one pound over her birth weight... yay for mommy's milk!
Craig and I are tired. Brea has been amazing but we think her tummy has been a bit upset and gassy these last few nights so she's been upset and not sleeping. It may be that all the strange concoctions of food my Mom has been preparing for me helped her stomach because when I had been eating inordinate amounts of ginger during the first week and a half of nursing Brea, she was a happy baby but now that I have stopped, things are not going well. We tested this out by having my Mom make me more ginger food and we bought a book - "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp, M.D.; it is the best book ever!
We used the suggestions from the book (the 5 S's - swaddle, side, swing, shush, suck) and last night Brea was an angel. Now I know, it's only one night but when she went from hours of crying to barely any at all, it's a good thing. We are hoping that tonight goes well too, it's really nice to be able to sleep.
I typed this out to send to our prenatal group but I thought it would be of interest to put here as well :o)
Our Birth Story
My water broke on the morning of Wednesday Aug. 21st. We called my midwife who said that for many women, contractions usually start within 24 hours and to wait.
By Friday, I still had no contractions. We were worried that the risk of getting an infection was increasing so we went to the hospital for an exam. We decided to induce 33 hours after my water broke. An hour and a half after the gel, contractions started.
We went home where I started the wait for regular contractions. We timed and waited, timed and waited but there was no regularity at all! By 8:30pm, I had had enough. I directed Craig to call our midwife and tell her we were heading to the hospital without her because I needed drugs!!! She came right away. I was examined and found to be at 4cm. Off to the hospital and the gas :o)
At 10:00pm I took three drags of the gas and found it absolutely pooey, All it did was make me dizzy and nauseous. I asked for morphine. I was examined again and found to be at more than 7cm, so no morphine for me! I got a dose of Fentanyl instead (shorter time in my system to lessen effect on baby).
Shortly after midnight I was pushing and at 1:52am Saturday August 23, 2008, Brea Ching-Yee P. was born. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches.
I only found out afterwards that despite all of my stretching and exercises pre-delivery to turn her was no good. During labour, she turned back into posterior position. But since no one told me and I knew no better, she was delivered sunny-side up with no difficulties.
Big yawn!
Good vibrations!
Here's lookin' at you kid... Brea's wink!
Lounging on Daddy's shoulder.
