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‘Tis the season for parties and good eats. Saturday night was Jono’s staff Christmas party; a semi-formal event held at the Delta Hotel. Since he’s new with the company, we decided to check it out. His previous employer had fallen so far down the drain that to hear of a nice evening was a treat. The event turned out to be okay. The people we were seated with were alright. They kept the conversations moving (can’t say all the chat topics were of interest) which is a must. We did not initiate anything with the topic of Jamayia. Pre-baby, I’ve noticed how simple, very consuming and somewhat rude it is for parents to just turn every single conversation into a rundown on their child(ren)/home life. I did not want to do that. Of course we responded when asked about her, but we didn’t gush forth like a geyser or anything drastic.

This event meant though that we would not be bringing Jamayia along with us. Imagine my shocked surprise to hear a lady at our table say that we could have brought her to the party–she’d seen people bring babies in the past. (For the record–unless the invite had specified that this was a family party, she was not coming along! We ain’t ghetto!!) Aunties had the honour of baby-sitting and a fun time was had by all. Baby was well behaved the entire time we were gone. I fed her right before we left and was hoping to make it back home before she went down. But she was too tired to wait for us.

Our biggest concern for the evening was how she would handle the feeding. I had pumped during the week, so there was a bottle all ready for her. Being the smarties that we are, Daddy tried giving her a bottle on Friday nite. No go! She just kinda chewed on the nipple and kept pushing the bottle away with her hands. It was the same great flavour, just in different format, but nope. Thankfully, we knew that if tired enough, she would go to sleep without that last meal and wake up whenever she was hungry. Imagine my discomfort to find that she didn’t wake up until nearly 8:30 am. Owwwieee! Regardless, I bit my tongue and refused to complain. After all, I had slept well myself that nite too.

Momma’s got a hot new style!

4 + months post pregnancy, and I’m still being affected by the hormonal changes. The latest (and not so greatest) pregnancy-related-hormone thingee to happen affects something so very precious and dear to me. Yes, my hair. Over the past few weeks, it’s been falling out. Provoked and unprovoked, my hair and taken on a life of its own and just falls where it pleases. Combing and washing my hair have been a trip.

Thankfully, I was aware of this latest “symptom”, so it doesn’t come as a shock. It’s temporary and will soon come to an end. My hairstylist even confirmed that for me today. So, in honour of my falling locks, I went with a short, layered look today.

Wow! It’s been a whole year since I found out I was pregnant. My, how time truly flies! I should recap what happened that day, Nov 23, 2005.

The night before, Nov 22, Jono & I were at the mall. We stopped at the pharmacy and picked up a home pregnancy test. Jono was skeptical–he thought we should save the cash and just head to the doctor for a test. I kindly explained that the first question the doctor would ask me would be if I did a home test, so we got it anyway. I managed to hold off until the next morning.

Bright and early Nov 23, I woke up and took the test. I even made sure to have a watch in the bathroom with me. Before the mandatory 3 minute wait, I saw two pink lines–two very solid pink lines. I was pleasantly shocked. From then on, my life was changed! Amazingly enough, I didn’t cry. I did start laughing to myself somewhat hysterically though, while locked up in the bathroom. And through this all, Jono was still fast asleep.

Finally, I woke him up shortly before he had to take me to work. I told him that we had 2 lines. He asked what that meant…I told him a baby. His face just broke out into this huge smile. It was quite difficult for me to work that day and keep a straight face. We definitely didn’t want to tell anyone our happy news until it was confirmed by a professional. Thank God, I got in to see the doctor that same afternoon for official confirmation. I went online and calculated my due date to be July 2006. We chose to keep the baby a secret until after the first trimester. After all, it would suck royally to tell people then have someone unfortunate happen and need to retract our news.

What a difference one year makes. Jamayia’s now 4 months old. She weighs 14 lbs, 1 oz. She’s 25 inches long and growing strong.

Before Jamayia was born, we chose to breastfeed. We’d always heard that nursing was really the best option for baby, but it was moreso heresay. After we attended our pre-natal course, it helped to confirm our decision.

In a nutshell, we learned how breastfeeding benefits both mom & baby. The release of hormones while nursing helps your uterus to shrink back down during your post-partum period. There’s reduced risk of certain cancers for mom as well. Baby gets certain vitamins and nutrients from breastmilk that aren’t so easy to replicate. The most amazing thing for us to learn was that breastmilk is so complex that science is not able to break it down and identify all the various components of the milk. There are some other plusses as well–nursing is affordable (free–yeah!); it’s very portable; the milk is always at the perfect temperature. To be fair, there are also some minuses too–it can be painful if the latch is wrong; can be extremely painful if your baby has thrush (ugggg!!!); nursing in public ain’t always easy.

We’re happy with our choice. We’ve encountered our naysayers, like on day 2 of feeding. The day we left the hospital, an unfriendly & strange nurse (she wasn’t assigned to me during my stay) had the gall to suggest that I was doing a poor job at feeding Jamayia because she had lost so much of her birth weight. (FYI–the grand majority of babies lose some of their birth weight, but they will regain it and then some within the first couple weeks of life). She went so far as to even suggesting supplementing with formula. I politely declined. Lucky for her, baby was hungry as we were waiting for the green light to leave, so I got to feed with this hawk over my shoulder. I left the nurse speechless because both baby & myself did everything correctly. The nurse then chose to have the public health nurse come see us the following day. Lo and behold, Jamayia gained weight and the public health nurse had no concerns either. She eats like a champ!

We also had our run-in with thrush, which is a yeast infection. When Jamayia would latch on, it would feel as though she were pulling shards of glass through my nipples. It was pain that made you literally yell. Thanks to antibiotics for both myself and her and a heap of prayers, the thrush cleared up.

We’re now working at becoming more comfy with breastfeeding in public. I’m not one of those ‘flashy-boob-mom’ types (that’s soooo not my personality), so, in the pre-natal phase, I often wondered to myself how feeding my baby would work for me. Since I wanted to breastfeed, and do it politely and discreetly, I wondered if I’d have to completely sacrifice forever and be housebound for a few months or what. It’s amazing how comfortable and how quickly I warmed up to the idea of nursing in public after the baby was born. I invested in a couple of decent nursing shirts and a couple of huge blankets, and eventually a nursing canopy. I also tried to time my outings so that we’d be out in the super public (aka: the mall or any place that houses a huge amount of people) when she wasn’t hungry. I’m finding that when you don’t make nursing in public a big, dramatical episode, people respect you and treat you kindly. It also helps that many places now either have nursing rooms or are nursing-mom friendly or are slowly evolving into nursing-friendly environments.

All that being said, this is only month 3 of Jamayia’s life, so I’m sure we’ll encounter more feeding fun & follies as she grows…

It’s a trippy feeling when you know that things are definitely going to change. The morning I went to the hospital, Jono & I were just in awe of the fact that this would be our last car ride as a couple. Our next car ride together would be as a bigger family. Woah! There would soon be an actual little body filling up the once-empty car seat. How bizarre is that thought?!

After 2 long days in hospital, we were released. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and see the outside world. (In the hospital, I had to share a room, and I did not get the window side…grr!) It was nice to step outside and enjoy the hot, blazing sun and just to be on my way home. I was really looking forward to my own bathroom & shower and especially my bed!!! Finally, our little girl was here to fill up the bassinet in our room.

Even though she was already 2 days old, it just seemed as if our family life didn’t really begin until Jamayia was on home turf. Don’t get me wrong; in no way were her first 2 days of life a blur or forgettable. But there’s something to be said about how reality sets in differently when you’re on your own turf.

Here’s our little one all buckled in, ready to leave the hospital…

There she is ready for her first night of sleep. She actually rolled onto her side by herself!!! We put the sleeping beauty on her back and left her to sleep. We came back a short while later and she had one arm curled around the sleep positioner.

2 days old…

Well, well, well…it truly is amazing how quickly time flies. It’s funny because sometimes, I forget that this blog exists. And when you finally have a few moments to yourself, you just want to completely chill–which means to hang out on a comfy couch, not an office chair in front of the computer. And when I would remember about the blog and the immediate need to update it, it’s either late at night while drifting off to sleep or else while acting like a vocal diva in the shower.

So, thanks for your patience…We’re attempting to do more frequent updates as of now.

Enjoy!

…this tunnel called “work”, that is. After 5 long years, I’ll be getting a nice extended break. As of today, my official last day will be June 30, 2006. My last day in the office will be June 23, as I’ll use my last five vacation days for the last week of that month.

YEAH!!!!!

Can you tell I’m excited about this?? Less than 2 months to go…

~~Soon-To-Be Mommy

Awwwwwwwww!

It’s a little baby. I don’t know who was having more fun; Jono & I or our ultrasound technician. We had the sweetest tech. She was very friendly and excited for us. She was very clicker-happy, took a ton of pictures and was great to work with. The best part of all–she let me go pee within 3 minutes of my arrival. She measured my cervix & placenta & uterus, and proceeded to escort me to the washroom!! Sweet relief. Holding in that 32oz of water was no easy task, especially when something is then pressing down on your belly.

The baby looks great. She measured me at only 2 days before my estimated due date. We’re right on track for growth so far. I got to see the little arms, hands and fingers. Cute little legs, attached to adorable little feet. Unfortunately, ‘Lil Pookie kept his/her legs crossed the entire time! I was silently hoping for my baby to flash me–this would’ve been the only permissable chance he/she had…LOL. So, its gender is still a secret to us. We’ve got to carry on with picking out 2 names and sticking to neutral clothes shopping for now.

For the record: It’s only ONE baby. Ha Ha! So, who lost their bets?? There’s a strong history of multiples in both mine & Jonathon’s families and everyone incorrectly assumed that we’d have multiples. All my “well-wishers” seemed to take delight in wishing a minimum of triplets on me. I just promised to call them at all hours of inconvenience if I was going to have triplets. I have nothing against multiples. But if you look at me, you’d notice that my belly is way too small to be carrying any amount other than one. It just wasn’t meant to happen at this point.

~~Soon-to-be Mommy

Well, my journey with food has definitely been fun thus far this pregnancy. Each craving seems to last for only about 3 weeks. Here’s a brief fun down on my ever-changing must-haves:

It was chicken taco salads for the first few weeks after I learned about my pregnancy. They could only come from one place for me Taco Time. Topped with ranch dressing & no cheese–fantastic.

A few weeks later, it was pizza. Topped with mushrooms & onions & very light on the cheese. (I’m lactose intolerant). Surprisingly, the cheese never made me feel ill. Yeah!!! So I’ve been taking full advantage of that.

A few weeks later, it was tortilla chips with guacamole & salsa. Again, yum! It was definitely good times.

A few short weeks after that, it was ketchup chips. But they could only be from Old Dutch. I had tried Pringles version of ketchup–eww! Never again!

Now we’ve come to the present. It’s been hot wings from Chicken Delight, complete with their hot sauce. And for dessert, the Dare marshmallow strawberry candies !!

I must also add that Jonathon has been enjoying himself immensely and fully supporting my cravings! Nothing makes me smile more than a satisfied, pregnant tummy.

~~Soon-to-be Mommy