I'm not sure which one I hear more often, but there are 2 questions people ask me all of the time....
1) Why did you choose the name Oliver?
2) How is Ernie handling the new baby?
1) I'm not sure how I grew to love the name Oliver, but I did. I loved it well before I was pregnant and all the way through my pregnancy. If Little T was a boy, I just felt he would suit the name. However, during those 9 months, Pete had other opinions and I really wanted to agree on something together, I didn't want one of us to force a name on the other. So we pretty much left it until after he was born. Even though he probably wouldn't admit it, I actually think Pete liked the name all along. After I went through such an ordeal during Ollie's delivery we didn't really have the mental capacity to name him the night of his birth. The next day, my birthday, Pete told me as my birthday gift (and for all the hardwork and scaryness we experienced) I could name the baby. At that point, I'm pretty sure he knew it would be Oliver. So we went with Oliver as his first, and Peter as his middle for his wonderful Papa and all the Peters who came before him. Plus we liked the initials O.P.T. in hopes that he will become Oliver the OPTimist ;) I never second guessed our decision but it took me a while to get used to calling him Oliver and Ollie, or hearing other people call him that. Of course I'm used it it now and I just love love love it!
2) Ernie is just fine. She actually seems genuinely concerned when he cries, although I think she is a little bothered at night when he keeps her up. Pete walks her every morning and gives her loads of attention, since I seem to spend 75% of my time with my hands full feeding the little man. The first week we were home she seemed sort of miffed with me because I couldn't do anything but sit on the couch and feed the baby. Things have really turned around since then and I get my snuggles in (and a walk here and there) with her whenever I can. She is very gentle with Oliver, curious and even a little unsure. The one thing that terrifies her is when he fills his diaper. When he poops it seems to come in one giant loud rush and Ernie runs as far away as she can when she hears this.... she will even sprint to the next room if she's in a dead sleep.
Ernie is also just as gross as ever. When Oliver's belly button stump fell off, I was changing him on our bed. I put the nasty cord stump on my nightstand on a napkin. When I went to throw away the diaper and wash my hands, Ernie didn't waste any time.... because when I came back in the room, there was the napkin on the bed and no umbilical stump in sight. Ernie was looking at me awkwardly out of one eye from the corner of our room. I could only come to one rather rotten conclusion.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Birth Day
It's taken me a while to write this but here is the story of how our Oliver came into the world....
Oliver's due date was March 26th, and being that I was already a week late by April 2nd, my parents booked their flight to come up that morning and had arrived in Vancouver later that evening. Lucky they did because he was born at 7:28pm the next day.
Labor with him was long and tough, but of course worth every minute. I felt my first contraction at 1:30 in the morning of April 3rd. Things progressed rather slowly through the remainder of the night and each contraction was very manageable (and pretty inconsistent) up until about noon. From then onward I experienced terrible back pain that did not let up between contractions along with nausea and vomiting (as if three and a half months worth of throwing up wasn't enough). My midwife, Jane, was in and out a few times throughout the day as she checked my progress, reassured me and assisted Pete in getting me through labor. By about 3pm, I was in pretty bad shape and really dreading the car ride to the hospital. Based on how slowly I was dilating, it seemed we had oodles of time before the baby would debut, but we left anyway because I was so scared of the car and rush hour was just beginning.
As soon as we opened our apartment door to leave, things got interesting. We passed 3 different neighbors in the hall (normally no one is in the hall) as I collapsed and had 2 contractions trying to walk to the elevator. Pete was shuffling bags and trying to throw them into the elevator all while trying to hold me up and keep me moving. Once we finally got to the car, I knelt on the ground over the back seat and clutched by barf bowl. Of course we hit the very height of traffic while Pete was flying all over the place with one hand on the wheel trying to talk on the phone and apply pressure to my back from the drivers seat. Not so funny at the time, but looking back that whole situation was quite hilarious.
Since I wanted to try to deliver without an epidural, once we got to the hospital I received 4 water injections in my lower back for my back pain... there are no drugs in the injections and they are administered by the midwife during a contraction. I am not sure what was more painful, the contraction or the injections themselves, they felt like a really intense bee sting. Unfortunately the effects only lasted momentarily and I was in the category of the 20% of people they don't work for. At times my back hurt so much, it just felt like one big contraction and the pain never let up. Finally labor sort of transitioned and I felt like I needed to push... and with that my water broke. I think I only ended up pushing for an hour, most of which I don't remember. Pretty much I just remember feeling totally exhausted and a little scared because of all the pressure I felt from the baby being way down low. However, I will never forgot the last few moments as we watched Oliver come into the world, and how awesome it felt to lay eyes on our beautiful boy as Jane lifted him up to meet Pete and I.
Unfortunately I missed out on all the fun when Oliver was introduced to our families. I will spare you all the details, but I ended up taking a trip to the OR because I couldn't deliver the placenta and I was severely bleeding. The most upsetting thing was that to get me to the OR they had to roll me past our families. Because everything happened so fast there was no time to prep them for what was happening to me and it was so sad to see the look on each one of their faces. I was pretty calm through the whole ordeal until we got to the OR and they started shining bright lights in my face. Even though the doctors, nurses and whoever else were trying to tell me what was going on, I was confused and did not want to feel any more pain or lose consciousness (which I obviously did when they put me under). When I woke up I was extremely cold, thirsty and uncomfortable but most of all I wanted to be with my family and our baby. Luckily our little man was starving (no surprise there, and not much has changed) and they got me out of recovery within an hour to be with him. We spent the next two days in the hospital as I stabilized and recovered. During that time we were so lucky to be showered with love and food and flowers from our families and friends.
Labor with him was long and tough, but of course worth every minute. I felt my first contraction at 1:30 in the morning of April 3rd. Things progressed rather slowly through the remainder of the night and each contraction was very manageable (and pretty inconsistent) up until about noon. From then onward I experienced terrible back pain that did not let up between contractions along with nausea and vomiting (as if three and a half months worth of throwing up wasn't enough). My midwife, Jane, was in and out a few times throughout the day as she checked my progress, reassured me and assisted Pete in getting me through labor. By about 3pm, I was in pretty bad shape and really dreading the car ride to the hospital. Based on how slowly I was dilating, it seemed we had oodles of time before the baby would debut, but we left anyway because I was so scared of the car and rush hour was just beginning.
As soon as we opened our apartment door to leave, things got interesting. We passed 3 different neighbors in the hall (normally no one is in the hall) as I collapsed and had 2 contractions trying to walk to the elevator. Pete was shuffling bags and trying to throw them into the elevator all while trying to hold me up and keep me moving. Once we finally got to the car, I knelt on the ground over the back seat and clutched by barf bowl. Of course we hit the very height of traffic while Pete was flying all over the place with one hand on the wheel trying to talk on the phone and apply pressure to my back from the drivers seat. Not so funny at the time, but looking back that whole situation was quite hilarious.
Since I wanted to try to deliver without an epidural, once we got to the hospital I received 4 water injections in my lower back for my back pain... there are no drugs in the injections and they are administered by the midwife during a contraction. I am not sure what was more painful, the contraction or the injections themselves, they felt like a really intense bee sting. Unfortunately the effects only lasted momentarily and I was in the category of the 20% of people they don't work for. At times my back hurt so much, it just felt like one big contraction and the pain never let up. Finally labor sort of transitioned and I felt like I needed to push... and with that my water broke. I think I only ended up pushing for an hour, most of which I don't remember. Pretty much I just remember feeling totally exhausted and a little scared because of all the pressure I felt from the baby being way down low. However, I will never forgot the last few moments as we watched Oliver come into the world, and how awesome it felt to lay eyes on our beautiful boy as Jane lifted him up to meet Pete and I.
Unfortunately I missed out on all the fun when Oliver was introduced to our families. I will spare you all the details, but I ended up taking a trip to the OR because I couldn't deliver the placenta and I was severely bleeding. The most upsetting thing was that to get me to the OR they had to roll me past our families. Because everything happened so fast there was no time to prep them for what was happening to me and it was so sad to see the look on each one of their faces. I was pretty calm through the whole ordeal until we got to the OR and they started shining bright lights in my face. Even though the doctors, nurses and whoever else were trying to tell me what was going on, I was confused and did not want to feel any more pain or lose consciousness (which I obviously did when they put me under). When I woke up I was extremely cold, thirsty and uncomfortable but most of all I wanted to be with my family and our baby. Luckily our little man was starving (no surprise there, and not much has changed) and they got me out of recovery within an hour to be with him. We spent the next two days in the hospital as I stabilized and recovered. During that time we were so lucky to be showered with love and food and flowers from our families and friends.
Here is the last of the belly pictures as we were leaving for the hospital. I tried really hard to smile, but as Pete snapped the picture I started having a contraction. You can totally see the shape of Oliver's body making his way down.... ouch!
Oliver 1 day young and all clean after his first tubby
Monday, April 9, 2012
It's a Boy!
We welcomed Oliver Peter Toigo into the world April 3, 2012 at 7:28pm. Oliver must've wanted his own birthday because he made his debut just hours before my 29th birthday. He weighed in at 8lbs 11oz (I have no idea how he got so big) and measured 21 inches long... I have a feeling he will be tall and strong like his Daddy. He is sweet as can be and so adored by his whole family!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Yes, I am still pregnant
Even though I'm only a day or two past my due date, I am getting slightly impatient... but from what I hear, good things come to those who wait. I saw my midwife yesterday and all is well. My belly now measures 40cm from bottom to top (it should measure the same number of centimeters as you are weeks pregnant) and Little T's heart rate is healthy and steady. Other good news is that my iron count finally went up. After being anemic through this whole pregnancy, I am now just 'borderline' anemic, which is an improvement and way better for labor and delivery. My midwife also noticed a spike in my generally rather low blood pressure. Nothing to worry about yet, but something to watch, or maybe just some signs of pre-labor. She found that I am between 1-2 cm dilated. I could stay that way for another week or so, but she also said that is pretty significant compared with many first babies. We'll see... I guess I'm just along for the ride now.
We finished up baby's room a while ago and I've been meaning to post pictures for quite some time. We left a bed in there figuring it would be handy for me once the baby is out of our room... and we wanted to keep a space for our visitors. Everything fits really nicely and I'm very happy with the cuteness factor. Yellow is one of my favorite colors so it was fun keeping it pretty much gender neutral.
Looking forward to sharing some good news very soon! So excited to find out if Little T is a he or a she!!!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
38 Weeks
This babe has done plenty of growing in the past few weeks, and I can't believe how giant my belly looks. My hips and lower back have been sore lately, but overall I'm still feeling great... if not a little impatient. At this point baby is cooked and can come anytime between now and early April! My fingers and toes are crossed that it's sooner rather than later!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
just because I couldn't resist....
Being that my due date is 3 weeks away, we pulled out our baby gear and thought we should give it a test run. And who better to try out the new stuff than the little dog?
We also got some great news from the doctor today! We found out that I won't be needing a cesarean. I mentioned it before on here, but in November we found out I had a low lying/partial placenta previa... if it didn't move far enough away from the birth canal, it would have been too dangerous to deliver naturally. We had a scan at 32 weeks and it was still too close and thought that the c-section might be inevitable. BUT they rechecked it yesterday and I got the report from both my midwife and the OB today that everything is fine, and it has moved far enough out of the way. So I've let the baby know he or she can come anytime now. We also found out that it's estimated to weigh 7lbs 6oz ALREADY. I'm not sure how accurate that really is, but it has me a little worried we are going to have a mammoth baby. So, better make your guesses in the pool before time runs out. My due date is fast approaching......
We also got some great news from the doctor today! We found out that I won't be needing a cesarean. I mentioned it before on here, but in November we found out I had a low lying/partial placenta previa... if it didn't move far enough away from the birth canal, it would have been too dangerous to deliver naturally. We had a scan at 32 weeks and it was still too close and thought that the c-section might be inevitable. BUT they rechecked it yesterday and I got the report from both my midwife and the OB today that everything is fine, and it has moved far enough out of the way. So I've let the baby know he or she can come anytime now. We also found out that it's estimated to weigh 7lbs 6oz ALREADY. I'm not sure how accurate that really is, but it has me a little worried we are going to have a mammoth baby. So, better make your guesses in the pool before time runs out. My due date is fast approaching......
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