the Halloween update

Here for your enjoyment are more Natalie pics! Including some rather cute bath pictures. I have noticed that there are very few pictures of me and Natalie together, I will have to remedy this. Right now NED is sleeping in the baby sling that I have draped over my left sholder and it is making it really hard to type but I know that if I put her down I have 5 minutes tops before she wakes up and starts screaming.
Everythig has been going well , she is putting on weight and is sleeping better through the night. She opens her eyes for longer and I think she is starting to recognize objects, especially faces. More updates to come right now I need to quickly grab lunch while I can.

the Banff trip

It was so beautiful outside yesterday that I convinced Chris to take the day off of work and go to Banff. The drive there was spectacular and we had the good fortune of seening a whole bunch (50 or more) of bighorn sheep! There is a really good picture of Natalie asleep in her car seat while eight of the sheep stand just meters away from the car. When we got to Banff we had lunch and then hit the candy stores. Call me old fashioned but I don't think a trip to Banff is complete without a caramel apple or two (or three or four...). Natalie traveled in style in a harness strapped to Chris. I figured I carried her for nine months so now Chris can carry her for a while. Included is another picture of Natalie and Chris in front of the best candy store in the world. After we had consumed enough chocolate to feed a small army we headed off to the gondola and went for a nice ride to the top of Sulphur mountain. Again Natalie remained snuggley strapped to Chris's chest and covered in many warm blankets. We stayed at the top of the mountain for a short while enjoying the view but then I had the terrible feeling that I left the car unlocked. I tried to use the remote keyless lock but I was pretty sure that our car was out of range. So down we went and then we had to feed and change Natalie. I must be getting better at this diaper change thing because now I can easily change her from the backseat of the car. We drove back home and Natalie and Chris had a nap on the couch. What a great day, and I still have a caramel apple waiting for me in the fridge. Who could ask for more.

pictures from our Banff trip

Lunchtime with the baby group

So today Natalie and I had lunch with all the other mommies and babies from our prenatal group. It was a lot of fun we got to compare baby stories and offer advice for all other things baby related. There was a lot of "have you tried this...." or "I found this works well...." stories. She was the largest at birth for the small group that had gathered there but you have to figure in that she is 25% potato chip. Things were going great untill she woke up and got hungry, and I tried to feed her but she was so fussy that we came back home to eat. We traveled to the lunch with her boyfriend Connor (aka the baby from next door) and his mommy. We are so lucky to have a group of mommies and babies to interact with, otherwise I may get cabin fever this winter from staying home with her all day long.
Her sleeping at night is improving, or else my tolerance for the 3:00am feeds is getting better. Her body is like a mini symphony when she goes to bed. There are grunts, hiccups, sneezes, bigger grunts, cries, sobs, heavy breathing, and smacking. My favourite baby noise are the muffled sobs she makes just after you pick her up when she has been crying. Its likes she knows she does not have to cry anymore but she is so worked up she gives these little fake cries before she becomes silent. She is sleeping now but she is liek a ticking time bomb waiting to go off when she is hungry and I am running out of time. Take care and I will post more pics next week.

And finally some pictures

A good nights sleep

Last night we had the closest to a good nights sleep in a week. She only woke up every 3 hours (vs every 2-2.5 hours) and she went back to bed without too much fussing. I have been meaning to update this blog but the combination of sleep deprevation and a slow server conection to blogger has delayed my posts. Hopefully I will be able to share a couple pictures from the thanksgiving long weekend with you. Meanwhile here are a couple of things I have learned so far: If you want a sleeper to stay clean remove it and set it aside before any diaper changes; for nightime feedings never leave the diaper change last, this will only annoy her; spitup is stickier than I thought; she does not like her arms to be swaddled, she likes to throw them over her head; When she has fallen asleep for real nothing can wake her; she does not like her vibrating chair but quickly falls asleep for car rides; she grunts a lot, this is ok; her hiccups (chris calls them mini heart attacks) probably bother the parents more than they bother her; the sizes they give for babys clothing does not really mean anything (kinda like womens clothes); when she is hungry nothing will calm her except a good feed; she seems to like it when you make faces at her; and she seems to be hungry right now so I better finnish this post.

I am sorry I tried deveral times to get the photos uploaded but it just wasn't working I will try again soon.

Daddys little girl

Yesterday was Natalie’s first doctor’s appointment. Everything went very well and she is slowly gaining her weight back. She had been slightly jaundiced, which is really common for newborns, but it seems to have cleared up by now. Chris and I are discovering Natalie’s little quirks and her signals. She definitely lets us know when she is hungry because she will start smacking her lips and sticking out her tongue. She tried to gnaw Chris’s arm off this morning while I was in the shower. I did not anticipate exactly how hungry breastfeeding would make me. For the first time in our relationship I am finishing the food off of Chris’s plate! At night I try to let Chris sleep while I feed and change her because if he is sleepy then there is nobody else to make my breakfast in the morning.

Yesterday was her first bath at home and I have to say she seemed to fuss much less then when the nurse at the hospital gave her a bath. Then she had some tummy time on daddys chest (she loves that).

Back home and doing well

Hello everyone thank you for your posts, Chris and I have enjoyed reading them. We got back from the hospital yesterday at noon and we are so happy to be back here with Natalie. The first night in the hospital was hard because Chris could not be there with me but Natalie and I managed to do OK. I changed my very first diaper on saturday and I am still an amateur at the baby care thing but I don't think Natalie has noticed yet. For anyone who has ever had to spend a night in a hopital you know how anxious a person can get to leave, there is jsut no comparing the comforts and warm shower of home.
The labour was an unbelievable experience and I was so thankful for the epidural and I have not a single regret for taking it. It wasn't just a relief from the paing and nausea but also from the fatigue. I was able to rest and so was Chris and we even flipped through the baby name book for girls names (because we already had a boy name picked out). I was really rooting for Matilda but Chris and many others were not so keen on the name. We sort of happened upon Natalie and it just seemed to fit. The middle name Evelyn is for my great grandmother Evelyn Parks who was born on October 1, 1900.
Anyway the pushing stage was for me the most difficult because I was working so hard and I felt that no progress was being made. I had that moment that most labouring women experience where I thought I can't do this, but Chris and the nurse really tried to help me focus on contractions and the breathing. Enevitably (3 hours later) she did come out and Chris cut the cord. He was looking pretty good up until the delivery then I thought he was going to pass out or something, but he managed to stay on his feet and was very eager to be given the task of going to get me a glass of ice water.
The rest of the day flew by and I tried to sleep whenever she slept, last night she was pretty fussy for a few hours but eventually we managed to get her to sleep. Chirs is making food for me and doing all the laundry ;) which works well for me. She seems to like sleeping in the afternoon and not much seems to phase her during these hours. But I can hear her starting to wake up so I am going to go and feed her. Right now she is swaddled like a cabbage roll in her little wooden cradle (see picture).

Its a girl :)

Hi all I'm filling in for Heather again. Both baby and mommy are doing great but its standard procedure to keep them under close watch for the next 24 hours so they are still at Rocky view.
Mom is looking forward to giving all the details so I will try to be as brief as I can. The water broke at 5:20 friday morning, by 7am we were at the
hospital but contractions weren't regular enough to warrant admitance so we were send back home. We came back to Rocky view at 5pm. contractions were still scarce and sporadic but since after the water breaks there is an increased probability of an infection they strongly recommend labour to be induced hormonally. Heather was put on 2ccs of pitosin at about 7pm with x2 increments in dosage every hours until she gets regular active labour contractions. By 8pm she was still only 2cm dialated but with 80% effacement(how thin cervix is, 100% effacement means thin and labour ready). At about 10pm ,I think, maybe shortly after , she had the epidural. Incredible what a difference that made, she went from barely choking back tears to near comfort, she actually slept for the large part of her cervix dilation. At about midnight she was still only 4 cm but with 100% effacement. From 12 to 2am saturday she went from 4cm to 10 cm. The really hard part started from about 3am to 6am the pushing out of the baby. The cutest little baby girl was born at 6:15am, saturday october 1st. She weighed in at a full 3.8kg (8.7lbs) and measured 52cm. Although not yet official her name is Natalie Evelyn Derkowski, we'll just call her NED. You will get more details from heather, and will hear more of NED and her stories in the days to come. I just have to post a few pictures before I fall asleep on the keyboard.