Our baby girl!

So I know it's been a while, I know, but it's been busy around here. And here is why:

My baby girl, Ella Lauren, was born on July 24th.

And like all parents, we think she is beautiful and perfect! 

Here is her birth story:

Name: Ella Lauren

Date of birth: July 24 

Due date: July 25

Weeks pregnant: 39w 6 d

Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz

Length: 20.4 inches

Woke up on Wednesday July 24th morning at around 1:30 am with some pangs in my belly. They were not too strong but were definitely coming and going. So around 2:00 I got out my iPad and started to time them with my contraction app. They were coming every 5 minutes and lasting for 45-60 seconds. So I got up and went out to the living room where Jamie was sleeping on the couch. I told him what was going on and we just monitored the contractions for an hour. By 3:00 they were coming ever 3 minutes and still lasting about 50 seconds, they were also picking up in intensity. I made the call for Jamie  to call MIL to come up to our house so she could stay with Hunter. She arrived around 3:30 and we hit the road to the hospital at 3:50. It's about a 70 km drive into St. John's to the hospital. At this point, the contractions were really getting intense but I had it in my mind that it was still manageable and we still had lots of time. We made it to the hospital in record in time-30 minutes (speeding slightly ;)). Once we arrived -about 4:20, I kept saying how I needed to go pee. Jamie pulled up to the ER doors and went and grabbed a wheelchair. He wheels me in to the closest washroom and runs back to the truck to park it. In the bathroom, I'm moaning and screaming out in pain  and my water breaks and I have my bloody show and I can feel my body start to push already. I'm thinking (and yelling) no no no, not here in the bathroom! I guess I was a little loud cuz when I open the door, there are 2 paramedics and Jamie standing there waiting for me. They rush me up to the case room who said to go straight to a delivery room. They put me up on the delivery bed and check me- I'm ready to go! They grab my legs and with the next contraction I push. All the while I was screaming where's the drugs and I don't want to do it like this! Two pushes later her head was out and with the next one her body was out at 4:48! 

If we would have waited another 10 minutes to leave, or got caught up in traffic or caught just one red light- she would have been born in the truck or the lobby! We made it just in time! 

Preeclampsia, work, and summer rest

This is all happening so fast! I wasn't expecting to be taken off work so early and now it all just feels like a whirlwind of things to do.

I had another one of my atypical migraines last week on Wednesday, not so scary now that I know what they are, but still a little unnerving. I had a doctors appointment anyways for Friday, but I thought I better move it up to Thursday just to get it checked out sooner than later. Good thing I did.

Doc says I got high blood pressure coupled with proteins in my urine (I know you love reading about my pee). These two things together are the recipe for preeclampsia  a condition that affects 6-8% of all pregnant women, which left untreated can lead to eclampsia-  life threatening seizures. Not good. I was at risk of developing it with my son, so it not a big surprise, but its still not something that you want to get. I am also part of a clinical trial that tests to see if extra folic acid in your diet has any effect on the development of preeclampsia (which reminds me, I have to take my pills this morning) so I was kinda hoping to avoid this whole situations, but alas, it found me. My sister also had HELLP with one of her pregnancies, which is a more severe complications with eclampsia so maybe it just runs in the family.

BTW: May is National Preeclampsia Awareness month. For more information go to the Preeclampsia Foundation website. And here are the signs if you think you might be at risk:

Source

Anywho, so my doctor told me I need to calm down and relax. I didn't think that I was too stressed out, but maybe I am. He said that I should probably go off work now as the only thing I can do to treat it is to relax both physically and mentally. 

So I went back to work with my doctors note in my hand and told work that I needed to be off and that Friday would be my last day in the office. I felt that it was too quick to be done and that I was just leaving too soon, so I asked to work from home for one week to get a few of my projects wrapped up. Plus, I thought it might help transition me from the working life to the home life. People at work are pretty good to me and agreed to let me work from home this week, as long as I have enough work to keep me busy. I might knock off a few days and call her quits by Thursday, depending on how everything goes.

I have some mixed feeling about being off so early. On one hand, was pacing myself at work and preparing for the next 2 months to go by like normal everyday life, just working away. Work was going to occupy me so I wasn't sitting at home waiting for baby to come.

But on the other hand, I am super excited to be home with my little man spending some real quality time with him before the baby comes. It will be the last time that it's just the three of us and this time before baby is going to be really special and I want him to know that he is very special too. I would also like to get him potty trained before the baby comes, one kid in diapers is enough! Plus there is always something to do around here. For example, actually get the baby's room started! Ya, that needs to happen soon. (Is that what my doctor meant by rest and relaxation??)

Anywho, I am looking forwards to the summer and now that I have the time off, I can really savor the summer. Bring it on!

Thanks for reading :)

Pregnant people not welcomed at St. Clare's

Here is my email correspondence between myself and the complaint department with Eastern Health regarding a recent visit that I had at St.Clare's Mercy Hospital. 

St. Clare's Mercy Hospital 

Proximity 

My Initial Letter

Good morning

I am writing to you as my official complaint about my experience at the St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital on Wednesday April 17^th.

I am currently 26 weeks pregnant and on Wednesday afternoon, I began to see spots in my eyes and have troubles understanding what I was reading and my speech was jumbled and confused. This set of alarm for me so my first reaction was to go to the nearest hospital to get myself and my baby checked out.  I had a friend/co-worker take me to the ER department at St. Clare’s around 1:30.

Once there, I was admitted by a very nice receptionist and the triage nurses were very kind to me and listen to what I had to say; kudos to those women for their professionalism. Then I waited to see the Emergency Room Physician. During my wait, I was starting to feel better and was coming around again.

Dr. Chis Goodall was the Dr that attended to me and I was not pleased with his treatment of me and my situation. Dr. Goodall did not seem interested in me or my baby. He asked a few questions while doodling on the bed-paper and cut me off several time while I was trying to explain to him why I was there. He asked me to do a few motor skills tests before diagnosing me with migraines and prescribing some Tylenol.

Not once did he infer about the baby, nor check to see if the baby was in any kind of distress.  I would assume that this would be standard practice for a pregnant women coming into the emergency room.  I understand that he obviously did not suspect any danger to my baby through his assessment, but I did not feel assured at the time. The baby was/is fine and I am not a doctor so I won’t criticize his methods too much for what I felt was an oversight at the time, but it did not make me feel at peace.

The one thing that really got to me, the one thing that I would like to underline as my top compliant to the St. Clare’s Hospital is his remarks as he was leaving the room.  He said: “And next time, don’t come here [St. Clare’s]. We aren’t a baby hospital and we don’t have head doctors”.

I was, and still am, appalled by this remark. St. Clare’s is a hospital. I was in need of medical attention. To say that I was not welcomed there to have my need addresses is a gross misconduct of health care system. I work at 100 LeMarchant Road, and St. Clare’s hospital is literally 1 block from my office and I thought it prudent to go to the closest hospital to seek the quickest attention.

So I am asking you:

What services do you provide if not to take in people in distress?  What if something would have been seriously wrong and time was of the essence? Would I not be treated at St. Clare’s? Would it not make sense to go to the closest hospital to at least catch an ambulance to the Health Science while receiving medical attention?

I realize that this complaint will not accomplish any big changes in the Eastern Health system.  I am only writing to you to bring this issue to your attention in hopes that these kinds of remarks will not be made in the future. I do, however, expect a response to this letter that lets me know my complaint has been heard.

Thank you

The Response:

Thank you for contacting Client Relations. I wanted to acknowledge the receipt of your email and to assure you that Eastern Health takes all complaints/concerns seriously.  I am sorry to hear about the experience that you had with the Emergency room Physician on your visits of April 17, 2013.  Your concerns will be forwarded to the Clinical Chief and the Program Director of the Emergency Program.  The Clinical Chief will review your chart and speak with the physician that attended to you.   You can be assured that your complaint will be discussed with him. 

I want to thank you for providing us with this information so that we can follow-up on your behalf.  If you require any further information please contact me again

My Response to the Response:

Thank you,

I am normally not one to complain, especially about the hard work that health care providers do. I just feel that this remark was uncalled for and appalling.

Thank you for taking this seriously.

Her Response Back:

I have received information from the ER Clinical Chief: He has discussed this complaint  with the physician. The physician felt that he was professional.  He indicated that he did not mean to make you  feel you were unwelcomed at the SCMH site, just that obstetric al care is best served at the HSC.  He expresses apology for any unintentional upset.

Again, thank you for contacting us and if you have any experiences in the future that are not as you expected please contact us again. 

My Final response:

Thank you for your response.

I don't deny that he probably is a very good doctor. He was able to diagnose my condition with accuracy. His bedside manners do leave something to be desired, but I'm looking for a doctor, not a friend, in an emergency situation.  

I was just off-put by his remarks "not to come back". I understand that the Health Science is a better facility for my condition, but admits an emergency situation my thoughts were to get to the closest hospital to seek medical attention. Perhaps his wording could have been a little different, perhaps I mistook his intentions, but in any case it was deeply upsetting to me to think that a doctor at St. Clare's did not want to take on my issues-that may or may not have been pregnancy related. 

Thank you very much for acting on this regard. I do feel as though my concerns were heard and the appropriate action was taken.

I will not be taking any more of my prenatal concerns to St. Clare's in the future.

Thanks again

Thoughts?

Naming Problems and Solutions

Naming your child is hard work. I mean, you are picking something that will stick with that person for the rest of their lives. Granted, girls will probably change their last names when/if they get married, but their first name will always be with them. This is why picking the “perfect” name is so hard and stressful on parents.

Since finding out we are having a baby girl this summer, the hunt for the perfect name has started. We already have a son so at first I thought it was going to be easy. I have so many names that I like and was excited that I can finally pull some good ones from my big bag of reserved names and poof…there’s the name! Wrong!

The first problem is that me and Jamie are kinda on different pages when it comes to name, it could even be said that we are reading from completely different books! I am more “old lady”  and he is more “80s”. And while the debate still continues at home, I got to thinking about naming delemas and potential solutions.

So here is my list of Baby Naming faux pas and how to deal with them:

Problem: You and Partner are on different naming planets.

Solution: Keep talking and listen to what they are saying. Try and not get too frustrated when your partner throws out Heather as a potential name when you are thinking more along the lines of Ruby. It can be easy to throw up your hands in defeat as another one of your 100^th suggestions gets shot down and proclaim: “Fine! You name her whatever you want then!”. Stay calm, there is still time to find a name. Ask your partner to list 10 or 20 names that the like and see if you can pick up on their theme or naming taste. For example, if he really likes boyish names for girls, perhaps you can think of girl names that can be shortened to a boyish nickname, for example, Veronica into Ronnie.

Problem: First childs name is a strong family name, but there are no more family names that you want to use anymore.

Solution: Break the tradition! It’s ok that your second or third child does not follow the same naming formula as your first. Treat each child as a separate naming experience. Perhaps this one won’t get a family name or the 2 middle names like the first one did…and that’s ok! This also applies to the repeating letter syndrome brought into the light by the Duggar family with their 19 J named kids. I’m sure by the time they had to come up with the 10^th J name, they were starting to run out of suggestions, but by then, it was too late, the trend had started.

Problem: Your mother in law hates the name you have picked out.

Solution: Too bad for her. While it can be fun to talk about names with your family and get suggestions, it can also be stressful when you have a name picked out and someone in your family decides to scrunch up their face into a sour pout when you tell them that name. I say, to each their own. I really did not like my sister’s kids name…at first, but now I love love love it! Sometimes it just takes a little getting used to and hearing it a few times before you can put your prejudices away and accept the name. Your mother in law already had her chance to name a child now this is your time to choose a name, and if someone else wants you to use the name Danica they can get pregnant and name their child that.

Problem: Someone used the name you were going to use! Whaaaa!

Solution: Get over it and use the name if you really like it. This is one of my biggest pet peeves! NO ONE OWNS A NAME!! You can’t call dibs on a name and hold it in some vault for no one else to use. PA-lease! Sure, out of respect you can cross a name off your list because it is too similar to someone elses' name, but I say if you really really like a name, go for it. For example, we recently had an Olivia join our family, I really liked Oliver for a boy…I would have used that name if we were having a boy with no second thoughts. I know it’s not exactly the same name, but its close enough that some people would have nixed it. Bottom line, use the name you like regardless if it’s also your neighbour’s kids name. 

Do you have any naming problems you would like to add?

The Witching Hour

There is a well documented phenomenon in the paranormal research that says spirits and ghosts are most active at 3:00 am. Believe it, don’t believe it, whatever. All I can say is that something strange happened last night at 3:00 on the dot which got me thinking about this phenomenon.

The house was quiet, everyone was sleeping in their usual spots, which these days is Jamie on the couch (cuz he tosses and turns most nights), Hunter in his bed, and me in our bed. All of a sudden, a loud crash boom bang from Hunter’s room! I wake from my slumber and glance at the clock…3:00. In my daze, I jump out of bed and go into his room to check out what has happened. Now, bumps in the night are not strange coming from his room at any hour in the night, so I was expecting to see him up and about and perhaps he had just pulled something from his shelf.

In the darkness I peered into his room, about ready to coax my son back into bed, but he was in bed. I flipped on the light and looked around the room. A shelf that was otherwise secured to the wall was now half hanging off the wall with its contents scattered on the floor. The contents, a few figurines and pictures, had knocked over his lamp and a picture off his dresser.  The things on that shelf were by no means super heavy, enough to overload the shelf.

I looked at my son sleeping in his bed and thought, that’s strange. I picked up a few things off the floor and tried to re-secure the shelf on the wall. It took some effort to do, and I tried to pull it off the wall to see how “secure” this shelf really was. I couldn’t get it to budge. So I turned off the light and went back to bed.

All of this took place in a span of about 3 minutes. While laying in bed, I started to think about it. How did that happen? What could cause a perfectly secure shelf to suddenly unsecure itself from the wall? Then I thought about the time…3:00 am. Isn’t there some myth about that being the witching hour? I started to get a little worried about that last thought. I almost went back into Hunter’s room to pick him up and bring him back to my bed where I knew he would be safe. But then again, him sleeping in his own bed all night is such a rare thing that I thought I better not.

I said a quick prayer asking my Uncle George and grandparents to watch over him and fell back to sleep.

Any thoughts on this? Do you believe in the witching hour? Share your stories with me.

Thanks for reading

Greenhouse

Last year we built ourselves a greenhouse. Just a little one, but we are still only newbies to the whole gardening thing so we didn't want to overwhelm ourselves with a big project.

Our greenhouse was about 10x10 and was mostly made from reclaimed lumber, although we did have to buy some wood, so I think the whole thing cost us about $100.

Hunter helping our neighbour Gerard frame up the walls and build the base.

Putting up the first 2 walls

Make sure they are good and level

Got 3 walls up!

All 4 walls up

Now for the roof and the planter boxes

We used larger stone on the bottom to make it sturdy

Filled up the planter boxes with soil from our compost and used gravel for the center part.

Wrap that sucka up with some plastic (not greenhouse grade, but it will do for now) and plant!

We did tomatoes and cucumbers.

                            

Hunter helped water the plants; our prized cucumber!

Spring Time!

Easter is coming up this weekend and I always get a bit excited for this time of year because it means that we are finally seeing the end of a long winter and that spring is here! Although spring in many parts of Canada still included snow and can be quite dirty still. Its never this idealistic green fields of tulips and daffodils.

This is what most people think of spring. (Source) 

But rather a dirty, mug and grimy time when snow is melting to reveal all the garbage that was swept up with the snowplow and is now being uncovered like an archaeological site of the long winter months. 

The true "beauty" of  spring (Source)

Ah yes, Spring!

Here in Newfoundland, we are pretty much done for the snow around here, although we still have a scatter call for flurries that normally sticks around for a few hours then is gone again. Every time I think that we are done with snow, another bit falls just to crush my hopes of the end of winter. 

I was hoping that this Easter we might be able to do the Easter egg hunt outside and the "Easter Bunny" could hide a few eggs out in the yard, but that probably won't happen. 

Also, when did Easter become this big BUY BUY BUY holiday? When I was growing up it was a few chocolate eggs and a new Easter outfit. Now it's like a second Christmas! Kids these days would be better off if their parents spent half as much money and twice as much time with their kids. I plan on decorating a few Easter eggs with Hunter this weekend and doing a little egg hunt, but other than that, what else does he need? 

Ok, so how is Spring treating you in your neck of the woods? Any plans for the Easter holidays? I would love to hear about it!

Spinach Stuffed chicken

I saw this "recipe" on Pinterest the other day and thought it looked  delicious that I just had to try it. Only problem was, there was no real recipe to follow, just the images. It didn't really look hard, plus I already had an idea on how I would do it, so I just went for it. Here is my version of:

Spinach Stuffed Chicken 

Ingredients: 

• 4 Chicken breasts
• Ricotta cheese
• fresh mozzarella cheese
• Tomato pasta sauce 
• Spinach
• Shake and bake  (no-name brand)
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Pepper

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time 1 hr. 

Step 1

First I smashed the chicken breast with a rolling pin to make them a bit thinner and easier to roll up.I like to put plastic wrap over them so my rolling pin doesn't get all chickeny and save a bit of clean up.

Step 2

Then I made the filling to stuff the chicken with. I cut up the spinach and I wilted it down in a pan with a bit of oil. Then I took the wilted spinach and mixed it with about half a container of ricotta cheese. I also added in my spices of oregano and rosemary and pepper to the mixture. Give it a good stir and mix it all up. 

Step 3
Next I assembled it all together.

I spread the spinach mix on the smashed chicken breast then rolled it up and secured it with a few tooth picks.

Then I rolled it in the shake and bake mix.

Place in Pan. (this is not the best pan for this. It was more like a bowl and while it worked, I flat bottom square pan probably would have worked better. It got a little soupy while cooking).

Step 4
I placed the open topped dish in the oven at 300c for 45 minutes. After the chicken was cooked, I took it out and spread the tomato sauce over the chicken and cut up the fresh mozzarella and placed on top. I threw it back in the oven for an additional 15 min to warm up the sauce and melt the cheese a bit.

Step 5
EAT! YUMM!

(This picture below was me and Jamie trying to be food photographers and staging the plate. Note the three pieces of lettice)

Overall, I would give this meal a 4 star rating (out of 5). The tomato sauce we had wasn't really right (it had sausages in it) and I could have beat the chicken a bit thinner to make for a more even roll.. I would definitely make it again though. 

(Sorry that some of the pictures are on their sides, I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures on Blogger...any ideas?)

Lotto Dreams

What would you do if you won the lottery? 

C’mon, I know you have thought about it, dreamed about it even. Do you have plans to invest and grow your winnings? Maybe it’s a lifelong dream to travel the world? Perhaps share the wealth with your family and friends?

I know I have thought about it.

Of course, I would go traveling for a bit, see some of the places that I have always dreamed about, France, Rome, New Zealand.  Perhaps help out a few family members and friends pay off their houses or whatever. But after that, I would need something more to fulfill my days. Plus, I don't just want to blow all my money and have nothing to show for it either. My plan always includes starting my own dream business that would be the best of work and play. Some of you may think it’s crazy to think that working is what you would do with your lotto money, but I want a legacy project that will live on long after I am gone; one that can be passed on to my children and to their children. So when people say my name, they said “ isn't she the one who built that amazing…”

Yes, a legend.

I have a few ideas kicking about in my head about what kind of business it would be. Obviously it would be something fun that doesn't really feel like work but rather something that makes me feel like I am on permanent vacation.  Like owning a cruise boat or having some chalet retreat. The latter is the one I most think about.

I would buy a big parcel of land near some kind of water body, like a lake or river or the ocean.  I would build one big main chalet that would serve as the check in area, restaurant, and meeting hall. I would build several cabin type accommodations along the water’s edge and connect them all by forest trails that you can walk or ride bikes on. We would also live on the property in the masters Chalet that would overlook it all. We would have canoes and boats for our guest and people could go fishing and bring back their catch to the kitchen and have our chief cook it up for you…

Ahhh...the dream.

Source

I know this is not a novel ideal. People have done these kinds of things before, so maybe I wouldn't be a “legend” per se, but maybe more like a local champion. Is that too much to ask?

What’s your lotto dream?

Ok..Back at 'er

So I know its been a while since my last post. I am notoriously bad at starting something and never finishing it. Like books. I can read a whole book right up to the last chapter or even 2-3 pages, then I'll put it down and never finish it. Maybe I have some kind of anti-finishing conditions. Look that up for me, will ya?

So what's new? Well as you saw in my last post way back in December, we are expecting baby number 2! We found out last month that the little bean inside is most likely a girl. The techs couldn't find a penis so I guess its a girl by default. We have a 3D ultrasound coming up in April to confirm the gender, but I'm pretty sure that its a girl. This pregnancy has been way different than my son's pregnancy. All in all, both good pregnancies, but so far with this one I'm not swelled up like a balloon like before. At the half way point in my last pregnancy, I had probably gained 20-25 lbs. With this one, up 8 lbs! Yahoo! Still got another 18 weeks left to go and that's when I will really grow, but I feel good about the way things are going so far.

As for the naming process...it's really hard to find a name that we like this time around. Me and Jamie are miles apart on our naming thought process and he wants to have the final say on the name which I am finding hard to let go of that control. He says that because I named our son (mostly true) that he gets to name this one. Yes, I had our sons name picked out for a long time, even before I met Jamie, but he also had a say in the name. If he really hated the name, he could have said something and we would have picked out another name. I'm a fair person, I can compromise. But with this baby, he wants the sole naming rights and says that I don't even get a say on the name. He even went as far as to suggest handing me a piece of paper when we are at the hospital with the name on it and that will be it, that's the name. YA RIGHT! My suggestion was for him to make up a list of his top 5 or 10 names, heck even 20 names and WE pick from that list. Sounds reasonable? Right?

Oh and the other thing, he says no middle name. Jamie doesn't have a middle name so he figures that this baby doesn't need a middle name either. I think he is just trying to make himself feel better as he was left out of the cool middle name circle and now he wants someone else to suffer like he did. It's kinda like a revenge thing I think. Again, I'm willing to compromise...let me pick the first name and I will consider no middle name (but really, this child will have a middle name!)

We still have about 4 month left before this baby makes her way into the world so we still have time to find a name, but he doesn't even want to discuss names at this point. Oh well, it will get worked out.

Wow, this kinda turned into a rant more than an update. Sorry. Actually, no I'm not sorry, my blog, my space to say what I want (nanabooboo).

Feel free to post your name suggestions too!