Mama in the City

You know things are different in your life when your goal for the day is to just wear pants. I mean 'real' pants; no stretch, no Lululemon and no drawstrings to boot. To keep things interesting my other goal was to put on a bra, leave the apartment and take my baby for her well baby check up at the paediatricians office.







Yep, my goal for the day was to simply wear jeans. I like to keep my post partum goals simple. Just the other day my goal was to make the bed but I never did get around to it. It felt fantastic to get dressed and leave the apartment. I had grand ideas of going out for lunch or grabbing a delicious latte at my favourite place, but that fantasy was quickly halted with the pelting cold rain coming down at all angles. However, I wore jeans and my goal was accomplished! Once we were back home I quickly traded in my jeans for pants that were stretchy and also had a drawstring!

Right now I want to hole up in my bed with sweet little Josie and let the outside world pass us by. I don't want to venture outside of our little apartment or throw myself back into my regular routine. I want to thoroughly enjoy this short period and truly immerse myself in getting to know her.

In this short time I've found the beauty in having my second child is, I'm able to more intently soak up each minute and enjoy it with purpose. Even those moments that happen at 3 AM. With my first baby I was always eager to get to the next milestone and I'd wish time away. Yet, this time around I'm most content when it is just her and I lounging in my bed.

Nestled between the bedsheets; my soft newborn and I. We nurse, snuggle and smooch the hours away and I relish it. Our night times together are cozy and while everyone else is fast asleep, there is only me to hold her.









In my ideal world there would be no distractions to interfere with this new mama love fest. There would be no laundry to do or dinner to make. Instead there would be an endless time warp of love all while tucked away in my bed. Moments together would be filled with snoozing and skin to skin quietness. Snack dishes would accumulate on my bedside table and that would be okay. I wouldn't see the mountain of baby laundry piling at the foot of my bed, because I'd be too busy staring at my sweet Josie.


Josephine, 8 days old

'Mum, what are we going to do today?'. This is the very first question of the day when Ben rolls out of his bed and joins me in my bedroom. While I was off on maternity leave, pre baby Josie, I always had some sort of plans for us to do, but right now we are laying low and I don't have any big plans for us.

This morning, through blissful bleary eyes, I thought that maybe a little kitchen sink bath for Josie would be fun for Ben to help with. He was pretty excited by the idea and gathered wash cloths and her towel and his little stool to stand on to help.













This was a great early morning activity for a big brother and a tired mama. Ben was mesmerized by his sister floating in the kitchen sink and being allowed to drip water over her. Josie loves the bath already, she takes after her mummy I think! I've bathed a lot of newborns and this newborn girl is content floating in the warm water.





I'm still in the warm fuzzy swooning stage, but it's meeting up with the constant tired phase too. I'm really trying to relish all these newborn moments and am trying to not wish them away. The frigid Winter weather has kept me cozy inside and we've only had one short walk along the seawall and we were bundled up and baby wearing to keep both of us warm.

I'd love to have a few more cat naps and maybe some meals prepared but that is about it! Poor Ben is feeling a wee bit neglected and I hear a constant sigh of, 'no one wants to play with me'... about 50 times an 1 hour but whose counting? I'm determined that he will learn the art of playing alone, at least for some chunks of the morning where I'm still in my all nighter coma.

Josie is under the lights for mild jaundice.

And so she gets to sleep soundly on her tummy with a monitor.

Baby Girl and mama, 8 lbs 15 oz. born January 13th at 1:15am.

It turns out when I'm not working, which has been the case for the last 5 weeks, I do a lot more reading. I like to read before going to sleep and I'm no stranger to reading for extended times in the bath late at night. A few of my books have curled page corners from accidentally being dipped into my bubble bath.

Reading for pleasure is one of the first things that goes when I'm swamped, sleep deprived or just generally busy with day to day life. It has been so nice having Ben going off to bed around 7:30 PM, leaving me with this quiet peaceful evening to read. I've been reading so much that I've worked my way through 3 different books in the last 2 weeks. I think I'm enjoying reading even more knowing what is about to happen very soon. Than it will be all In Style and US Weekly magazines if I do have a spare minute to read.

On my reading radar right now is Room by Emma Donoghue. As soon as I got through the first few pages I knew I had found a good book and I was hooked. I read this book within a few nights and even gave up a bit of sleep so I could keep on reading past my bedtime. It was such a good read that as soon as I was finished I told one of my sisters to read it and she ended up feeling the same way I did. Engrossed and captured.



When I told my husband about the book I was reading, he gave me a very odd look and asked why I liked to read such morbid horrible stories. The truth is, I can't help it! The intensity of the unfolding of the story of Room had me hooked. The very short of the story is, a 19 year old college girl gets abducted and is put into a solitary room for years at the mercy of her capture. She gives birth to a son, by herself, and the story is told from his point of view at age 5.

Unfortunately, my husband thought that I'd enjoy all similarly themed books and gave me the memoir A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. Detailing the real life abduction of a young girl who was with her capture for an astonishingly 18 years.



Both books share a suspiciously similar story about abduction and many points are alarmingly the same, however, they are still not comparable books. One is a well written novel with clarity and insight and the other is a memoir written by someone sharing their story.

Room is captivating in all of the details and emotions of both the boy and his mother and I could picture the actual room they lived and grew in. The emotions were palpable and the characters were created by someone who knows how to write. On the other side, the memoir by Jaycee Dugard is written at the educated level of the author, which is grade five. It gives some detail but sort of throws them at you leaving you to wonder about what else she experienced. Interestingly enough, I found Room to be insightful but I wasn't really phased by the abduction story in the real life book.

If one of your 2012 resolutions was to read more, I'd definitely recommend picking up Room by Emma Donoghue.

Today was a quiet day for the three of us and it included taking down the Christmas tree and all of the decorations. Apparently, this was very traumatic for my 3 year old and he kept questioning what I was doing.

'Why do we have to take the tree down? Where are all the Christmas presents that were underneath? I want to keep the decorations in my room! Why do we have to take the tree down?'

He even snuck a few ornaments out of the packed boxes and put them into his room. Luckily, I'm able to outsmart a 3 year old and put them back to be stored away for another year. Also, even though we didn't put tinsel on the tree this year there are still strands of it flying around. How does this happen?

It was a pretty quiet day for the three of us and once the afternoon rolled around we determined it was best spent outside for a family walk...err waddle! We slowly paced ourselves down the seawall and I kept pace with our old 14 year old dog and Ben zoomed on his Strider bike. We sat and sipped at one of the only independent coffee shops that was open on New Years Day, and went to two different playgrounds.

Ben was in a very smoochy mood and was really enjoying the attention of both parents. He also loved feeling the baby kick and roll around as we played. People love to ask us if Ben is prepared to be a big brother and truthfully I don't think you can really ever fully prepare a young child. Sure, he loves to talk about the baby and if you ask him what the baby will eat when they will arrive he will give you the full run down about breast milk. But, I'm still not convinced that he will ever truly be ready to share our attention the moment we bring baby home from the hospital.




Considering it was January 1 today, it wasn't that cold outside. So, I'd like my Florida family to see the sweaters that we are wearing...outside...in January! I love these mild Winter days in Vancouver and I'm so happy we were able to embrace today. I've been cooped up in the apartment for far too long and the sun and fresh air invigorated me.

Today I'm 36 weeks pregnant and also celebrating my 6th wedding anniversary. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I gave birth to Ben at exactly 36 weeks, yet I'm still pregnant this time. Things are going well with #2 and there is no signs of needing an earlier induction of labour. However, I know that within 2 weeks I will be having a baby and I am happy with that.

Yesterday my parents came into town and helped me organize some of the baby stuff and did a mass of cleaning that I've not been feeling up to doing. My husband and I left in the afternoon and checked into a luxurious hotel right here in our own city. It is fun playing tourist in your own town! I used up all the fancy bath salts and bubble bath right away and then lounged on the extra big bed. The only thing missing was sharing a bottle of wine with my husband!

It was a great moment to celebrate our marriage and to also slow down and enjoy the quiet before things become 'all newborn' around here. We dined out at...8:30 PM (gasp!) and came back to our hotel room and watched a movie. Unfortunately, fitful sleep followed me to the hotel room! Silly hip pain!



Type 1 Diabetes and Pregnancy:
My insulin doses have stabilized and I haven't needed to increase the dosing amounts for the last several weeks now. I take 88 units of long acting in the morning and 76 units at bedtime with multiple pokes of fast acting insulin when I eat. Pre pregnancy I was taking about 15 units twice a day, a big difference from where I am now. Type 1 diabetics need to watch out for low blood sugars that require decreasing insulin doses. This is the red flag in our pregnancy.

The amount of insulin needed in pregnancy is related to the function of the placenta. If all of a sudden I start getting frequent low blood sugars and needed to take less and less insulin, or even NO insulin, then it would be time to induce labour and have a baby. It is the signal that the placenta is aging and not really doing its job.

I'm slowing down even more, if that's possible, and am spending most of my time at home. I'm carrying around a large baby and my body has not yet given me a break with the aches and pains of pregnancy. I have fitful sleep most every night from sciatica in both hips and acid reflux that doesn't respond to much of anything. I'm loving the wiggles and movements from this baby, possibly my favourite part of growing a baby! I could watch my tummy move all day long.

Next week I go for fetal monitoring and have another non stress test done. I kind of love going and just sitting there and watching the fetal heart tracing. It gives me a sense of well being watching the accelerations in the heart beat and tracking the fetal movements. I have my weekly OB appointment and another ultrasound for fluid and growth. My endocrinologist is happy with how I'm managing my diabetes and told me to stop coming to the office. A perk of being a RN!


December 30, 2005 wedding reception on Granville Island

This was the first year we celebrated Christmas without my extended family, and the first year we didn't leave town during the holiday rush. There was no mad dash of packing up all the presents to bring. There was no stress of traveling or paying extreme prices to rent a car during peak times.

Instead, we stayed nestled in the city tucked away in our little apartment. I ended up having some false labour on Christmas eve day and am so glad that I made the decision to stay home. Luckily, I was able to 'triage' myself and know that it was only discomfort and not the start of true labour. It's fun being your own nurse sometimes!

Of course we missed all of the traditions that come with being with family at Christmastime. This year I didn't miss the usual hustle and bustle but I did feel sad about Ben not celebrating with his cousins on Christmas morning, or my dad making up Christmas stories for the grandchildren. We miss the smorgasbord of treats and cheese and usual holiday items.

We had visitors over for Christmas eve and they brought us freshly baked sugar cookies and presents! As the sun went down, more friends came over for a feast of Chinese food and cheer. It was low key and lovely and I mostly sat on the couch and lounged. Which is perfect for a very pregnant mama who feels like the baby is truly about to fall on out.

It was nice to spend the day together as a family of 3. Especially as it included sleeping in (for me!) and a slow paced morning of opening presents and spending time together.







Ben picked out a special necklace for me and was so tickled when it was time to give it to me.


Ben got a cash register and the boy digs it!



There was a pancake breakfast made by my husband and an early afternoon bath for Ben. He was totally excited about testing out his new shaving set and the hilarity that ensued with watching him was priceless.







We lounged around in our living room all afternoon and watched purposefully bad Christmas movies. We ate treats and salty snacks and played with all of our new toys. Including the very cool potato clock that my sister gave to my husband. My two boys took up the science action and Ben was more than impressed when the clock started to work.






Ben went off to bed at 7 PM, meantime my husband was in the kitchen whipping up a gourmet feast for the two of us. It was divine and delicious and totally not traditional. We spent the evening dining on the most perfect Beef Wellington with homemade horseradish and outstanding side dishes. My husband is a top chef and my hips don't lie!