Babies and Sleep

I was extremely lucky as a new mother, my sister was able to stay with me and my husband for the first week of Charlie being at home with us and then my mother stayed with us for two weeks after that. Because of the additional help in the first 3 weeks I was not the typical sleep deprived new mother as I had them to help in between feedings which gave me time to nap when needed. I can not say enough how much having the two of them there helped me and made such a huge difference. If you can, accept help like this in your irate few weeks after childbirth, it will keep you sane.

It also helped that Charlie was not and still is not a colicky or fussy baby. My biggest issue was for the first 6 weeks she required a nipple shield to assist in breast feeding. Although this saved me from having to revert to formula and took away a lot of potential stress, they are not conducive to night time side feeding which meant I had to get into the sitting position and feed her in the cradle hold making it harder for me to fall asleep afterwards. Now that that isn't an issue we have been enjoying relatively peaceful nights even with night feelings as Charlie "dream feeds" and never really wakes between 9pm and 5:30am.

We've also fallen quietly nicely into our nap routine.

With all that said I'm currently holding my breath. At only 16 weeks old Charlie is exhibiting all of the signs of teething which have left her fussier then normal in the evenings and last night the two us didn't go to sleep until almost midnight. Not because she was crying but she was just awake. I'm hoping things remain okay and I'm not writing another post in a few weeks about my lack of sleep!

Charlie's Birth Story

Charlotte "Charlie" Lena (named after my mother's father and D's nan) arrived Saturday March 16th at 4:15pm, weighing 8lbs 4ozs and 20.5 inches long.

My labour at home was relatively easy...or at least not as horrifying as I thought it would be. My contractions started being noticeable at 9pm while my sister and I were watching a movie but I didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong. By 2:30 am, after changing positions, taking a hot shower/bath, and tracking my contractions I figured I should say something to my husband and sister. I wasn't sure what to do as I was told the rule to go to the hospital is 4-1-1 (contractions every 4 minutes, lasting 1 minute long and consistent for at least an hour) and that in active labour the contraction pains are apparently so bad that you can't talk through them. Well mine were more like 2.5 to 3 minutes apart -  45 seconds long - and consistent for a few hours, and I didn't feel like I couldn't talk through them. Yes it hurt but not as much as I had assumed.

I called St. B maternity triage and gave them this information and they advised that I wait until the contractions are at least 60 seconds in length or my water broke. So I was at the hospital at 6 am, hoping that they wouldn't check and see that I wasn't even close and send me home but when I was admitted into triage it turned out I was fully effaced and 6 cm dilated so I was most definitely staying. I got stuck in triage for 2 hours because they could find a vein in my hands to put the IV in. By the time they walked me to my private room and checked again I had progressed to 8.5 cm dilated...at this point my back was killing me and I definitely had no desire to talk through a contraction.

I opted for the epidural, even though at that point I only had 2 cms to go and then push which I assumed would be only 2-3 more hours, thankfully I didn't listen to this 'rational' part of my brain because it turned out that Charlie was facing left and I was going to experience the dreaded back labour.  This tends to take longer and hurt more! My contractions started slowing down around 11:30 and I had to be given a drip to help 'induce' me, I started pushing at 2:30 and when my delivering doctor showed up at 3:30 she attempted to manually turn Charlie which was a 'wonderful' feeling even with the epidural, not to mention the back pain that snuck past the drugs. At 4pm she told us she needed to use the vacuum which meant a trip to the OR. Well 15 minutes later, with a heavier dose of epidural which numbed my legs and took away the back pain, a failed vacuum attempt, the use of forceps, an episiodomy that left me with multiple stitches (the Dr didn't tell me how many), and two hemorrhoids because I pushed so hard, Charlie entered the world.

It was so sweet. D cried and fell in love immediately. I did too.

Even though it would be considered a traumatic birth for baby and mom, I personally didn't think it went that bad. I guess I had worked myself up into thinking labour was the worst thing ever but managing to go 8.5cm with no drugs and then having the epidural look after the rest it was definitely doable!

Charlie did have a bit more tough of a time though and slept a lot (we had to force her awake at feedings). She didn't take to my breast so we had to finger tube feed her, basically she wouldn't open her mouth enough to fit a nipple in. My sister was nice enough to pump milk for me, as I wasn't producing enough to feed her the first 3 days by myself, although I did give her what I could pump myself first. On the fourth evening my milk had come in strong (my breasts are a lot bigger then I expected them to get) and I was able to transfer her to my breast with the help of a nipple shield so that she could maintain a latch. We are at 3 weeks today and still using the shield although I'm working on getting her to hold a latch with out it, so far we got her on for approximately 3 minutes.

So now we are settling in at home, getting to know each other and loving parenthood. I am so lucky to have such a good baby, who really only cries when she's hungry and lets me sleep well at night. Knocking on wood it stays that way for a long time!

A more organized 2013

Happy New Year!

Normally I wait until my birthday to start reflecting on new year goals and resolutions but with only 2.5 months left before baby Kaethler joins our household I KNOW that I need to start working on organizing my house.

So I've decided that in 2013 I want to focus on the following two goals:

1. Slowing Down - I realize that with a baby about to arrive into our lives it will be pretty busy this year but rather then letting things overwhelm me, I want to practice mentally slowing down. Taking a deep breath and tackling ONE thing at a time so I am not running all over the place and ending up burnt out. With only 2 months left at work I want to implement this and NOT stay at work late like I did in November/December.
2. Plan, Prepare & Organize - One of the biggest hurdles I've had in my life to achieving balance is the fact that my environment is usually in chaos so in the next 2.5 months I want to organize my house as much as possible and hopefully continue to tackle projects through out the year once I get out of the baby daze that I'm sure will fall on me soon.

With that said, my first project in 2013 has been to tackle the disaster that has become my office. After helping to plan a social, 3 baby showers, a bridal shower, a wedding, an 85th birthday and Christmas in 2012, failing to put away supplies that I pulled out for each event inevitably resulted in this mess.

So this morning after procrastinating for a few hours, I jumped in and started cleaning everything up. Here is what my office looked like this morning when I started...



....what a mess!

While I organized things into piles and got rid of things that were garbage or should have been somewhere else in the house I dragged my husband away from his relaxing day of video games to hang the needle point that my great grandmother had done a few years before she past away, which my mother generously past down to me. Its amazing how finished a room will look when you start hanging art/photos.

... And after 5 hours I am finally able to sit at my clean desk and write this post, which feels wonderful!

Now that I have a working office again I want to tackle some smaller projects in the office this month that will organize our paper clutter through filing and binders.

My sister also got a beautiful Silhouette CAMEO from her husband this year for Christmas and I plan on buying some vinyl for her to cut out labels for my containers in the closet which currently contain craft supplies, party supplies, a wrapping station (that desperately needs to be better organized but I'm still looking for inspiration), and gifts for future baby showers and kids birthdays.

Tackling this project first also happens to fall within the time frame for week #1 of the New Year’s Organizing PRIZE Challenge which means I can actually link up. To see other blogs tackling their home office this week clink on the button below.

On a side note, I used my iPad's camera to take these photos and am not impressed with the quality. I'm think I might have to pull out my camera this year to post clearer pictures, unless there are tricks to using the iPad that will make them look better...suggestions?

Busy, busy

At work this week we moved over the last division (the industrial/labour temp staffing) to our new payroll software, which was 200+ employees at once. And by we I mean me, at least for the processing part so I was at work until 1:30am yesterday and 8:00pm today ensuring everyone got paid.

Needless to say I don't have much to contribute via blogging tonight. Sorry I've been pretty boring lately.

Annual Vacation

I love to travel, and although D is more of a home body when ever I convince him to take a trip with me he has truly enjoyed himself.

In the past few years we have been able to save money on our trips because we accumulate air mile and aeroplan points to pay for our flights. I also research a lot ahead of time for activities, food and accommodations.

Now I've been thinking of investing into a TimeShare property and then subscribe to RCI or something similar which allows you to trade your timeshare week in for points that can be used to stay at other locations. I know of a few people that have timeshare properties, one of them being a coworker. Her and her sister purchased a timeshare five years ago in Florida, close to Disney World, for $13,000 + $350/annually for maintenance fees and than signed up for RCI's point program. They get 37400 points a year and since then select their vacations 'last minute' they are able to get amazing locations for a fraction of the cost/points it would normally cost. (She gave me her log in and she has over 100k points accumulated right now and yet they travel every year).

I like the idea of being able to stay in nice locations when we travel but not having to pay the sticker price but I've also read terrible online reviews of people that weren't happy when they exchanged their weeks for points to redeem at other locations.

Due to the economy a lot of people have been forced to sell their timeshares because they can either not afford the finance charges for the property because they didn't pay for it in full during purchase or the annual maintenance fees are too much for their tight budgets. Because they don't want to keep paying the annual fees they are selling the properties for a fraction of the original cost.

Obviously I would rather pick up a property for below cost but I don't want to get one that I wouldn't want to stay at if I decide not to use RCI.

Long story short I feel like I haven't researched even close to enough right now and wish I could wrap my head around everything.

Adding to my Christmas wishlist

 I was driving back to the office from my lunch break and the CBC radio noon host was interviewing one of the writers from Best of Bridges, as they have just launched their newest cookbook - Best of Bridges Slow Cooker Cookbook.

As I mentioned previously I want to do the weekly meal planning and my Mondays and Tuesdays need to be premade or in a crockpot as I don't get home until after 8pm due to Girl Guides and CMA Group work. I really want some healthy and tasty ideas for crockpot recipes and this cookbook sounds good. If I don't get something like it for Christmas I will definitely be purchasing it by the New Year.

Wrapping up

Feet are starting to hurt and I getting tired.

Another great day though, breakfast at Norma's, walk through Central Park, more bus tours, Rockefeller Centre and now we are waiting for our pizza delivery.

Just got back

Today include boat & bus tours, a quick stop in SOHO, TimeSquare, a musical on Broadway and dinner.

I'll update with more detail when I'm back.

Hello NYC

We ave made it to New York and are staying in Queens. With the help of Yelp we found a local pizza joint that was approximately 15 blocks away, after an over priced cab ride to get there we decided to walk back...unfortunately it was raining and I forgot my umbrella back in the hotel room. Luckily the weather is pretty mild and the rain not that hard.

All and all a good start so far....

Oops again!

With packing and cleaning last night to get ready for our trip I was too exhausted to write anything.

We are about to board our flight so I won't be writing anything more yet!

One of those days

I apparently have a love hate relationship with technology, specifically my computer at work, and today is one of the days that I want to pick it up and throw it across the room.

Considering the advancements that have been made in the last few years you would think that my system would be capable of running 2-3 database software at once and usually I don't have issues but of course since its payroll today and I didn't want to work late my computer has to insist on freezing constantly.

Needless to say I don't have much more to write today since the sooner I can stop being in front of a computer today the better.

Being pregnant doesn't equal fat

I am currently having the hardest time trying to find a decent winter coat to last me through my pregnancy this year. Unfortunately my oh-so-comfortable NorthFace jacket I bought last year will probably only last another month, and being due in March I will be at my largest during the coldest part of the year.

I have been looking for a jacket but have found that if I want to fit it around my stomach it is huge in my arms and chest or I looking like I'm wearing a potato sack. Apparently finding a maternity flattering winter jacket in Winnipeg is asking a lot.

Here's hoping I miraculously find something in NYC because otherwise I will be wearing layers this year to keep warm.

Making our itinerary

Friday we fly to NYC for the weekend and so far the reports are positive for accessing the different areas of Manhattan.

Saturday, if things aren't closed off we are going to explore lower Manhattan including shopping in SOHO, possibly take a boat tour around the island and stop to see the statue of liberty, then make our way up to the theater district (time square area) for dinner and a musical (we decided on Scandalous).

Sunday we are going to explore upper Manhattan or at least as north as Central Park, for the morning, then make our way to Time Square and Macy's (I'm look forward to the window displays). If we are feeling up to it we also plan to taking Radio City's Christmas Spectacular.

One thing left is to do is figure out where we should eat. Any suggestions?

Gifts and time

One gift that I still need to get, as I forgot about it while I was out yesterday at the mall, is for D's Nan. Last year, since we had gotten married in June I had taken large 8x10 photos and mod podged them on to canvases as gifts for all three of our grandmothers and both of our parents. Next year I will be able to start giving photo memories, either framed pictures or photo albums, of our daughter to our grandmothers but this year I feel stuck in limbo.

One of the biggest issues when deciding on what to get for D's Nan is that she has Alzheimer's, and is in the middle stage so can't do a lot of things as they are too challenging for her. I hate the idea of her just sitting around doing very little as my in-laws can't seem to find things to engage her. She will wrap wreaths for my mother-in-law, who takes them home unwraps them and brings them back for her to do again; watches her game shows and well I don't know what else.

So I started googling gifts for people with Alzheimer's and have found adult puzzles that are only 36 pieces, which are easier to see and less frustrating, as well as suggestions to purchase things that trigger memories like music. I am going to see if I can find somewhere local to purchase these puzzles as I don't feel like paying $15 in shipping for two $15 puzzles.

While trying to think of what to get her I am yet again reminded of how little time D and I spend with our three grandmothers that are still with us. Especially D's Nan who lives in the same city as us. I tell myself that once I'm on Mat leave I'll have more time to schedule a visit with them, as currently I never can find time for things like this, but really its a matter of priorities and if we put them above other things we would be able to visit more often. I suppose I feel awkward as I didn't spend a lot of time with them before and now that D's nan has Alzheimer's and one of my grandmothers has dementia I don't know what to talk to them about. I think I need to get over myself and know that that isn't whats important. That conversation will develop naturally and I need to start making them a priority. None of us are getting younger.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I decided to get a head of the game this year. With the exceptions of some stocking stuffers, D's Nan and aunt's gifts, and secret Santa gifts I'm done my Christmas shopping. Just have to wait for my order from chapters online to come in to finish my wrapping. I also put up our tree and wrapped the presents I have so far.

Still on the to do list is to get our pictures done (appointment for this Thursday), write and mail Christmas cards, and figure out what I'm going to do for Christmas baking and craft(s) as gifts.

We have a lot of commitments on the weekends left before Christmas so I figured I should get as much done now as possible. Have you started Christmas 2012 yet?

A new option

When I was at the spa yesterday my massage therapist turned out to be pregnant as well so rather then falling asleep during massage, which is my usual MO, I ended up talking about pregnancy, nurseries and baby names the entire time.

She decided to go with a midwife after meeting her OB GYN and not connecting at all, the unfortunately thing on hearing this is that it her doctor work at the same practice as mine and I might end up with her as my delivering doctor depending on who is on call that day, although I've decided to stop worrying about other people's opinions of my doctors practice and just enjoy the relationship I have with my doctor.

As well as using a midwife she wants to do a natural birth. While I completely support woman that want to go the natural route I have long given up my romanticized idea of being able to it myself with out drugs. That being said when she mentioned that she is taking a HypnoBirthinig prenatal course through Birth Roots which focuses on techniques of deep relaxation and how to manage the pain during labour, I was intrigued. Even if I do end up taking the drugs, being able to manage the pain naturally leading up to it is definitely a selling point.

The biggest challenge is going to be convincing D that we should take this course as he tends to stay away from anything that seems "hippie" or "new age".

Anyone hear of HypnoBirthing before? Thoughts?

De-stressing

Today I had my monthly "Pinnacle" day, which is a personal day on top of vacation and sick days that my employers give us with the idea that we take a day for 'ourselves' to catch up on personal stuff or just relax. Since I have been in the middle of launching a huge project in the last few months that involves moving our external employees over to a new time sheet system and integrating with a new accounting software, I have been pretty tightly wound. The new system be came active last week and so far so go, so I decided that this month I would treat myself to a day at the spa.

I opted for the Ten Spa which is a high end spa at the Hotel Fort Garry in Winnipeg. I've been before (that's where we celebrated Melissa and my 30th birthdays this year) and love it. Since I was going there to relax and de-stress I decided to go all out and spend the entire day. Being pregnant I couldn't do any treatments involving heat but I was still able to book a body scrub, full body massage, facial, pedicure & leg treatment, and a manicure. It was wonderful, if not a little pricey. Something I can't do every week or even every month but definitely worth the investment once or twice a year.

My dream is to one day go to a luxury spa resort for a week in the States like the Mii Amo resort in Arizona that one of my friends went to and said was amazing. Perhaps I should start saving now because it is definitely not cheap!

Do you love the spa as much as me or are you one of those people that finds others touching them completely uncomfortable?

Prenatal activities

I am now at 23 weeks (5 months) and figuring I really need to start getting active now that my energy level has been back for the last month and I don't feel nauseous 24/7 but with my busy schedule at work, school & volunteering I keep putting it off.

I don't want to put it off much longer as I ONLY have 4 months left and I'm sure once the new year hits it will fly by, so I looked into different places that offered prenatal yoga online today, two places that I've heard good things about which also offer prenatal courses (Blue Moon & Birth Roots) and the third was a yoga studio I've gone to for hot yoga (Moksha Yoga). For some reason they love Mondays and Wednesdays for scheduling, although Birth Roots is offering a Sunday course but the session started at the beginning of November and is 6-8 weeks. One of my coworkers is due a few weeks after me and is also interested in doing it so I plan to call Blue Moon tomorrow and see if we can get into the Wednesday night sessions even though the first class was tonight, as well as see when their next prenatal course is after November as they have only posted that one. Although Wednesdays are pretty risky for me...maybe I need to do more research for other studios. Anyone have one to recommend?

I'm also wanting to start attending Aquafit at the YMCA again but their schedule doesn't seem to want to mesh with my availability! Basically Monday and Tuesday nights are out for me as I have Girl Guides on Mondays & my CMA group does case work on Tuesday nights. Wednesdays are always up in the air for me, once a month I have a district Girl Guide meeting and as commissioner I can't miss it, plus I'm currently back in charge of payroll (which we run weekly since we are a staffing company) and that runs Wednesdays so I tend to work late. Thursdays to Sundays are my ideal days but with the holiday season ramping up I'm losing my weekends as well.

Too many things!! Can you see why I'm always able to find a great excuse not to exercise? But excuses are all they are and I need to start committing, even if it means going during lunch.

Any other thoughts of activities I can take part in to get me back in 'shape' and not out of breath as I walk up the stairs to work every day? Not to mention help me not put on to much extra weight during my pregnancy.

Revisiting favorite characters

 For those that know me, know that I am an avid reader of romance and urban fantasy novels....seriously avid. In high school I was never with out a book, in university I would miss classes if my novel had sucked me and now that adulthood and responsibilities continue to get in the way I don't read as much BUT when I decide to read one of my all time favorite series or get sucked into a new amazing story line I don't put the book down until I'm done.

This week I decided to reread the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning to prep for her newest release ICED, which is the first in a trilogy that takes place in the same 'fever' world (a side character from the Fever series is the main character in this trilogy). I stayed up until 2:00am last night to finish the fifth book (that's right I read 5 books in 3 days), Shadowfever. I already knew the ending but that didn't stop the need to not put it down. I can't begin to explain how much I'm addicted to male protagonist (Barrons) in this series, it also helps that the female protagonist (Mac) is great too. This series is more of the urban fantasy genre then romance but there is something to be said about the chemistry between these characters. Not to mention I would seriously consider running off with Barrons if he existed, or at the very least convincing D that we should adopt polygamy.

If you enjoy UF or are willing to give it a try I strongly suggest the Fever series. KMM also rights a romance series based on travel and the fae called the Highlander series which crosses over into the fever world. I read them before Fever. They are good too but this series is in my top ten, heck at the moment I can't even think of what other 9 come close to it as all I can think about it is I have to wait another 2-3 years before she finishes the ICED trilogy so that she can write more Fever novels.

Do you have any favorite characters that you could read their stories over and over again? A few of Sherrilyn Kenyon's protagonists (Zarek, Ash, etc) are also on my reread forever and ever list.

Letting someone go

So one of the NOT so pleasant aspects of being in a managerial role is having the joy of telling someone they will no longer be employed with your company. On Friday I had one such joy. It went a lot better then I had anticipated but as usual, not a happy experience. The employee has been with the company for more then 7 years and was very loyal, unfortunately the position they were in needed to change and take on new responsibilities which were outside of their skill set. We had offered to move them to another position, the ONLY other position available in the company, a week or so ago and they would retain their same rate of pay, regardless of the fact that the other position was almost $10,000 annually less in salary. They had come back a few days later and said that they would enjoy that job.

I'm still not 100% sure they realized that they basically were giving us no choice but to let them go. In the end we didn't feel we had another option so the option of working notice or a severance pay were given. They notified us this weekend that they would take the pay so we are currently short a person in the accounting division for a few weeks until the new person with the above mentioned skills, can start. And during year end no less! But at least we are moving forward to a more efficient department, especially considering I will be gone for a year in March, I like to know things will run smooth through that period.

But with that all said and done, here's a tip if you ever have to let someone go....check their personnel file and confirm it isn't their birthday! We found out today that the employee we gave notice to on Friday was actually turning 40 that day! 365 days in a year and we pick THAT day? Who would have thought that would happen. Needless to say we feel like jerks but its not like we can say sorry we take it back!