Baby Class

Photos from our last Baby Class...

All the new Babes:


Oddly enough, the only picture we currently have of the three of us together:

"Bizarro World" Warren & Amanda (Warren thought this couple looked like us):

8 Boys & 5 Girls in total:

Papa Cronin

It's about time Warren was featured in an update.

We are currently adopting the terms Mama and Papa, in lieu of Mommy and Daddy. I don't know, maybe we think it sounds more British?

Anyways...some photos of Papa Cronin.

Proud Papa on Birth Day:


Smiling down at his son:

That awkward 'first cuddle' right after birth:

Rhys is thinking: "Papa, you've told that joke a hundred times already...":

Ahh, the comforting grip of Papa's finger...:

Rhys is thinking: "Sheesh, what time is it? I'm BUSHED!":

Papa's turn to feed:

Late night snuggle in those early days:

One Month Already

For a long, long time - ever since Warren & I started talking seriously about getting pregnant - we would dream about one day having a baby boy named Rhys. Sure, there were discussions on how his name would be spelled, since there are so many variations on that name, but that was always the name of our future son.

And now he's here. He's been here for a month. We can kiss him, coddle him, soothe him and dream big things for him.

Life is SO awesome.

Rhys, you are truly the little man of our dreams. You are MAGIC.

Hush Little Baby

I was looking through the photos on my camera, and noticed a large amount of photos of Rhys snoozing.

This is one of my faves.

New Mom Milestone

Today I conquered a big milestone. One that frightened me, but that I knew I wanted to try sooner than later so that I could see it wasn't as big of a deal as I was making it out to be.

I ate out at a restaurant. And nursed Rhys at the table. It wasn't McDonald's, either, or Denny's for that matter. It was East Side Mario's!

Small potatoes to the veteran parents out there, but BIG potatoes to me!

Photo Booth #2

Working Man

Discussion with Rhys this morning...

Amanda: Hey Rhys. Your Social Insurance Number came in the mail yesterday.

Rhys: That's cool and all, mom, but I don't know what that means.

Amanda: Well, sweetheart, it means you can get a JOB now. You know...earn your keep around here.

Rhys: Yah right, mom. I can't even hold my head up yet. Plus, I don't think McDonald's will hire someone who still poops their pants 10-15 times a day.

Photo Booth

Hangin' with Rhys this morning, taken with the Mac Photo Booth.

Bits & Bobs

Just some random thoughts/feelings etc...

Things that have surprised me about this whole 'having a baby' thing:

1) In the early days, not only did I have to worry about Rhys' poo, but I had to worry about MY poo.

2) Sleep deprivation is more than just 'being really tired'. It comes packaged with late night hallucinations, completely forgotten conversations the moment they have ended, crying at Huggies commercials and frantic episodes of trying to scrub shadows off the carpet.

3) Three straight hours of sleep really IS a luxury.

4) The news. The six o'clock news. It takes on a WHOLE new meaning now. I found the news depressing before Rhys, but now I can hardly hold back the tears. Infant & toddler deaths seem to be a nightly story. And the other night there was an 8 year old boy named Rhys who died in a car crash. Nearly took our breath away and made our hearts stop beating.

Some revelations:

1) Warren & I have both COMPLETELY changed our opinions about breastfeeding, specifically breastfeeding in public.

2) I'm pretty sure that if Warren decided to quit the Real Estate biz, he would have the skills to become a lactation consultant.

3) I now totally 'get' why parents would be heartbroken to see the hospital where their child was born be torn down. I get teary every time we drive to the Rockyview for Baby Class and Warren points out the window to the room we were in.

Warren Stories:

1) We were sitting in bed as I attempted to perfect my 'latch'.

Amanda: Look at that. My areola is huge. There is no way he can fit that entire thing in his mouth...

Warren: (Leans over to look) There's no way I could fit that entire thing in my mouth!

2) During the first week, Warren & I were constantly asking each other "Okay, what's the plan?". We had to plan out every step. If I'd just finished feeding Rhys, the 'plan' would be something like, "Okay, you take him, I'll do up my shirt, then we'll change his diaper, get a new onsie, then you burp & coddle him, while I go pee".

Warren got tired of asking "What's the plan?", so he came up with something else. I'm not sure if any of you watch the show 'Flight Of The Concords', but if you do you'll remember the band Manager Murray who would always have 'band meetings'.

So now that's what we do. If a plan is needed we call out "Band Meeting!" and take attendance. Amanda...present. Warren...present. Rhys...present.

I know there is way more, I just can't think of it now. Hmmm...I'm also thinking it's time for a photo post. I'll put that on my list of things to accomplish 'soon'.

Visiting Hours

We have had plenty-o-visitors around these parts. There's nothing like a baby to bring people together, that's for sure. Rhys has SO MANY people that love him, it's truly overwhelming.

Susan (Friend):


Grandpa (Amanda's Dad):

Tiffany (Friend):

Robert (Friend - Tiff's Husband):

Great Great Aunt Linda (Amanda's Great Aunt):

Cousin Rachel (Warren & Amanda's Niece - Warren's side):

Cousin Bridget (Warren & Amanda's Niece - Warren's side):

Grandma (Amanda's Mom):

Nana & Gran-Dan (Warren's parents):

Crazy Uncle Adam (Amanda's Brother):

Uncle James (Amanda's Little Brother):

Aunt Kayley (Amanda's Little Sister):

And those are just the visitors we took pictures of!

Photo Shoot

Warren & I were feeling ambitious this afternoon and decided to try to do a 'newborn photo shoot' in our living room. It didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped. If Rhys could talk these are the things he'd have said...

"What is WRONG with you people?! Did you really think laying a naked baby, sans diaper, on your furry blanket would be a good idea? When I was crying, did it not occur to you that maybe I had urinated and wasn't enjoying laying in my own pee while being photographed? I think I may have to contact the union about this one! Speaking of which, where is my TRAILER? How can I be expected to work under these conditions?".

He EVENTUALLY calmed down, after some skin to skin tummy time with yours truly, and gave us a couple gorgeous shots. I don't know how the pros do it, but MAN ALIVE that was hard! A total gong show, really.

Out & About

Today we went for our first 'fun' outing. Not a trip to the doctor, not a trip to see the lactation consultant, and not a trip to Shoppers for Pampers and prescription cream for my ailing nipples.

We parked in mission, went to Starbucks, and took a stroll along the Elbow river.

Our Birth Story

I think this blog is about to become very TMI. There are so many things I want to write about - the real gritty stuff - so I hope the Internet can handle it.

But for now, our birth story...

Monday, July 13th around 11am I began to have contractions. Fairly manageable cramping. They progressed throughout the day and by late afternoon we were into full on 'coping' mode, with Warren helping me through them the way we learned at baby class. The one thing that threw us for a loop though, was that we were told you go to the hospital when contractions are 1 minute long and 5 minutes apart consistently for an hour. And you shouldn't be able to walk or talk through them. Well, my contractions were consistently 40 to 60 seconds long, and coming every 2 and a half minutes. What the f*$%? I certainly had to 'breathe' through them, but I just kept thinking "these should be more painful before heading to the hospital".

Ultimately we decided to be safe and head over - the 2:30 seconds apart was freaking us out.

Cut to us in the hospital parking lot. At this point contractions are painful enough that when they come we needed to stop so I could lean on Warren and breaths/moan through them.

Warren: Do you want to ride in a wheelchair?

Amanda: Um...I don't know. Seems a little over-dramatic at this point.

Warren: Well there's one right there.

Amanda: Okay.

Then Warren proceeded to fumble with the foot rest parts, then the wheels were locked so he fumbled with those, then the bumpy ride 6 feet to the elevator doors and we decided it wasn't worth it. We couldn't help but laugh at our ridiculousness in that moment.

After being checked, turned out we were only 2 cm dilated (ps- having contractions on my back on that horrible 'bed' was awful!). We were told we had at least 6 hours ahead of us, maybe even 20 hours. So the doctor offered us 2 choices - go home as is, or go home with a shot of morphine in my butt. This shocked us. We never expected to have to make the 'drug' decision at this point. We had only ever talked about epidural and all that. So she left us to make our decision. We were told the morphine would help me through the contractions through the long night ahead. I was in a lot of pain, and the thought of another sleepless 20 hours BEFORE the hard work of pushing started, and the choice was clear. And thank God we did. I certainly wasn't able to sleep through them, but it certainly helped. I could breathe/moan through as I lay in bed most of the night. Then, the real shit hit the fan, around 2am ish. The only way I could get through those contractions was to scream at the top of my lungs. After a bit of discussion (!!!) we decided that yes, it was time to go back to the hospital, even though we were still doubtful (which in retrospect also makes us laugh).

So we called up Warren's parents who were on call to come look after the dogs. I think they are both traumatized by having to listen to me labour through those contractions. I'm sure it sounded like I was dying or being tortured to death. But I couldn't control it. That was what I did. I screamed bloody murder.

Cut to Warren & Amanda in the hospital parking lot. This time, we used a wheelchair. It was seriously a scene out of a movie. Husband, pushing pregnant wife down the halls as fast as he can. Pregnant wife is screaming bloody murder the entire time. When we got to the delivery unit you could see nurses' heads popping out from every door and then madly rushing around to deal with this screaming woman in labour.

When we got to the triage room the nurse asked if my waters had broke. I said no, but that I felt a lot of 'wet' when we had left the house, so maybe they had. She told me to drop my pants. I dropped them, and there on the floor where my yoga pants & undies, covered in BLOOD. No one reassured me that this was normal. No one said anything. They just told me to get on the bed so they could check me.

Nurse: You are 8 centimeters. Do you know what that means?

Amanda: (right after screaming through a contraction) It means I need an epidural!!!!!

Nurse: Oh honey, but you've made it this far!

At this point I wanted to rip her head off.

Nurse: Well, why don't we try laughing gas first?

This reminded me that I had indeed wanted to try laughing gas first, before an epidural, so somehow, somewhere in the fog of pain I agreed to this.

I was quickly whisked away into the delivery room, where I pretty much started pushing immediately. It took me a while to get the hang of it. I struggled with the 'no breathing, no yelling while pushing' rule. Every time a contraction came I would scream ' Now! Now! NOW!' and Warren would grab one foot, and a nurse the other. At one point the nurse said she saw something 'white' in there, but wasn't sure what it was. "It might be the cord" she said. So she got a second opinion. Turns out it was my bag of waters! I had been pushing and my water hadn't broken yet. So the nurse ruptured them.

The 'scary' parts were when the nurses said he had pooped in me (a possible sign of distress), when his heart rate continued to go really low during contractions, and when the nurses realised the doctor wasn't on site. So yes...nurses delivered our baby, because the resident OB didn't make in time either. She showed up to deliver the placenta though, which turned out to be much more painful than I expected. If you're curious to see what delivering a placenta feels like, take a look at my face in this picture:

(Editor's note: Warren did not purposefully take a photo of me in pain...the OB just happen to push down on my abdomen at the exact moment he took the photo of us...)

I still can't believe I survived child birth. I will never forget the feeling of Rhys' body passing through me into world.

PS - I DID wear my 'beads of strength' during labour. Thanks Ladies!

Induction Date

Today was our planned induction date, but instead, Rhys is now one week old.

We're hanging in there...have had one or two breastfeeding meltdowns, some sleep deprived mishaps that we beat ourselves up over, but we have also had laughing fits and emotional connections that we have never experienced before. Warren and I know how lucky we are.

I have so much I want to write about...my birth story (in the works!) and many Warren stories (a readers favorite!) and of course pics to share. But top priority is taking care of ourselves and that's a big job right now.

If Rhys Could Talk...

...he would be saying:

"My eyebrows are growing, my eyebrows are growing! I need milk STAAAAAT! These things don't grow by themselves!"

Welcome

It is with exploding hearts that Warren & I introduce to you all:

The Artist (Formerly Known As Wellington)

Rhys Kenneth Daniel Cronin

Born Tuesday, July 14th at 4:45am at the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary, weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long.

Wishes and Wants

Kay, I wanted my first entry after baby to be super cool & creative, full of pics and stories. Although I hope to do that very soon, I didn't want to leave everyone hanging, wondering where we're at. So, this is short & sweet - for now. I can't wait to share details.

Anyone not on our facebook who doesn't know Wellington's 'real' name, here it is:

Rhys Kenneth Daniel Cronin. (again - wanted that announcement to be a bit more dramatic, but alas...)

We're home - and so far, we're liking it WAY better than the hospital. Gave birth at 4:45am on Tuesday, and arrived home around 2:30pm on Wednesday. Have had a house full of vistors since then, and right now Warren has Rhys and I'm doing this. We're wondering how our first night alone, without nurses, will be.

I should go - we have some things to pick up at the store - but I promise to post a better update as soon I can.

Love you all! Thank-you for following along this journey with us! It has made it so incredible for us.

Update #3

Off to the hospital.

Update #2

Hopefully this isn't another 'false alarm' like the 1cm fiasco on Friday, but I've been having contractions since about 11am this morning.

Maybe Wellington wants to be born on a rainy, stormy Monday? We shall see...

Update #1

Doctor appointment this morning went swimmingly.

First, I ran into a couple from baby class who had been absent for the last 2 classes, and they were there with their sweet new little boy Callum. They went for a C-section because they were told his head was in the 90th percentile (which turns out it wasn't), BUT, the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, so they were very thankful they chose the C-section.

Now, before I go on, I have a confession to make. I have kept something from you all this whole time. For the duration of my pregnancy, I have had 2 Due Dates. The first one was based on my first ultrasound at 11 weeks. The second was based on my 'cycle'. Naturally, I've been going by the 'soonest' date - which was the ultrasound date - which was July 7th. My doctor however, has been going by a different date...today, July 10th. So, according to her, today is the day I am due. Now that I've gotten that secret off my chest, I will continue...

My exam this morning revealed that I am 1 centimeter dilated, my cervix is softening and moving forward, baby has dropped and he his still head down. Boy did that put a smile on my face. She 'stretched' my cervix in the hopes that it would naturally induce labour...we shall see.

Because we are now considered officially 'Post Dates' we now have an ultrasound schedule and a tentative induction date. So, regardless of what happens, July 21st is the day. We will have a baby in our arms by July 21st (or sooner).

I will update here as things progress...until then my friends!

Wellington Watch, 40 weeks

40 weeks

Weight gain so far: 34 lbs

Doctor Appointment:

Next appointment is this Friday, so nothing to new to report. If anything interesting happens at the check-up, I'll post it on Friday.

Symptoms/Feelings/Etc:

1) Well, as you can tell from our ticker, we have passed our initial due date. I'm feeling okay with that. At first, I was hoping he'd wait until I was done work on June 26th. Then, I was hoping he'd wait until July 1st - our wedding anniversary, and maybe even decide to show up that day. Now, I just hope he comes before the doctors want to induce me. We have some time before that happens...so Wellington - pick your day and come on out!

2) One thing that has really surprised me is how 'ready' I feel to have this baby. So far, I have no debilitating fears of labour & delivery, and I feel confident that Warren & I will be a good team and take good care of him once he's here. I didn't think I'd feel like that - I expected to be petrified and full of self-doubt.

What Will Wellington Look Like?

Thought I'd have some fun and post some of our own baby photos, so that when our son is born we can have a look and see who he resembles most.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Warren as a little guy:

And, some of yours truly:

And this last one is just to make my mom cry:

Wellington Watch, 39 weeks

39wks

Weight gain so far: 31.5lbs

Doctor Appointment:

Sadly, again, nothing new. Only thing she mentioned was that my belly had shrunk! She said Wellington has 'stretched out' (meaning that my baby isn't shrinking, thank goodness!). I think this means he is preparing himself for the journey ahead, making himself long & skinny for an easy exit :-)

Personally, my theory for this supposed 'shrinkage' is that a resident doctor took my measurements for the last 2 weeks, and maybe the resident measures from slightly different points than my regular OBGYN.

Warren Story:

No really good nuggets this week. Only thing I can say is that he is READY to meet Wellington. And he's been very stressed about installing the car seat base properly. Luckily, my lady friends all assured me that it's in there nice & tight and we're good to go.

Oh, and his new favorite thing to ask me is "How are your cankles today?".

Mom Stories:

My mom is at that stage where she likes to check-in with me every day. We emailed each other pretty regularly when I was at work, but now that she calls to check-in it feels more like 'checking-in'. It's nice to know she's thinking of us. And mom - just so you know - you will be the second person (after Warren) to know when I've had my first contraction :-)

Hospital Bags:

Wellington now has 2 newborn sleepers that I found in our second-hand bounty. No zipper (just snaps), but really, I think we'll manage. We're hardcore that way.

New additions to my bag: Hot water bottle, frozen water bottles (okay, those are still technically in the freezer), suckers, granny panties, tank top & baggy, over sized shirt, pool noodle (for massage), ipod full of Enya (I know, I'm a cliche).

Symptoms/Feelings/Etc:

1) Feeling a tad more irritable that usual. Poor Warren gets the brunt of that.

Birth Classes:

Two couples have had babies, and one of them was in class on Tuesday. The names are Logan & Colten. LOVED hearing their birth stories. Very cool to see how different they were, and how neither one was 'typical'. I'm slowly realizing there is no such thing as 'typical', either. Also liked that both of them gave birth at the Rockyview (where we'll be going) and they both raved about the fabulous nurses they had.

This week was all about breastfeeding. We had a substitute teacher who was freaking hilarious. We all got these heavy bean bag dolls to practice with (ours was blond with blue eyes). The highlight for me was when Warren was learning how to 'burp' the doll. Man, my heart literally MELTS when I see him with a 'pretend' baby, I can't imagine how I'll feel when I watch him interact with our own flesh & blood baby. SWOON.

Things I did on my first week off work:

1) Had a massage.

2) Had a mani/pedi/facial.

3) Had a cleaning company come and clean my house (while I napped downstairs - HOLLA!).

4) Had the carpets professionally cleaned & protected.

5) Celebrated three of years of being married to Warren, and this year there was a lot to celebrate. Oh - and I guess we celebrated Canada's 142nd brithday too.

6) Visited with my awesome-possum girlfriends.

Now, I need to start a regimen of long walks, raspberry tea and marital relations to get this party started! My doctor advised heavily against drinking Castor oil, unless I want massive stomach cramps and violent diarrhea.

Psyche!

Wellington Watch will come sometime today.

Due to all the Canada Day/Wedding Anniversary festivities yesterday I decided to wait until today.

Wanted to let y'all know, in case anyone (KERI) was jumping to conclusions that we were in labour.

Sorry to disappoint...

Happy 3rd Wedding Anniversary!

Canada Day this year fell on a Wednesday, which was wonderful because that's Warren's day off.

So off we went with the fabulous Rob & Tiff to take this year's Anniversary photo. Thanks again you two! Always a pleasure.

As usual, here are the photos, posted in order.

July 1st, 2006:



July 1st, 2007:

July 1st, 2008:

July 1st, 2009:

What a difference a year makes. As you all know, we are expecting our first little babe very soon. And we're ready for you little guy! Whenever you're up to it, come on out!

Other anniversary festivities included brunch with our photographers, Rob & Tiff, tea and a walk around mission, having our carpets professionally cleaned, taking the dogs to Bragg Creek for a walk and ice cream (okay, the ice cream was for us), a nap, dinner at the always delicious Murietta's, and then a walk around Olympic Plaza.

Can't wait until next year. Love you Hon!