Not a good blogger recently

Well, I guess I am growing away from blogging, but I kind of miss it.

We have been crazy busy, with two lovely boys.  I changed jobs near Declan arriving, we were selling our house, then it sold and more crazy arrived of moving.  It just ins't a move as we needed to prep the basement at the new house for Randy and Cherry to move into the basement "suite".  Then we had to get them moved down, then finish clearing the upstairs (Still not done), then move us over, which has been slowly happening, then last night we moved our bed and such over, so we had our first night in the house.  There are piles of things everywhere, some ours, some theirs, no space for anything, and there is more to come; oh my.  We are both going to need to get rid of more stuff.

Anyways, here is the Declan update.  He has been a typical newborn.  Eats, doesn't sleep any length during the night for Deb to get sleep.  But at 10 weeks on the dot, he rolled over from back to front.  We were visiting friends in Sechelt, and he say their baby, which is about one month older roll over, and he decided, Ok, I can do that.  Declan is also much more chatty than Spencer was.  We are still struggling to get Spencer to talk.  He now can say Cheese, and Ah for apple, or almost any fruit, and the sound a monkey makes.  But that is about it.  Once we have moved over we have the number to call for speech therapy.  When we try and get him to talk, he would rather get up and walk away.

Here are some random photos.

This was taken at one month.

 Same, at one month

 This was taken when we were going to a wedding around 6 weeks old.

 Spencer, as we ditched the wedding to go to the park.

 Spencer baby surfing in Sechelt, he love to crouch and let the waves hit him and keep his balance.

 And Declan's first haircut at 11 weeks, we shaved the sides and left his mohawk.

  Spencer didn't need one until 14 months. 

 Spencer dudded up for Stampede

 Declan sleeping.  Awe

He has Arrived

At 40 weeks and 5 days and a lot of aggravation. 

Delcan Oliver Cade Nottingham.   

 

Saturday afternoon we went to the hospital because Deb's contractions were getting worse and she was having sharp pains in between the contractions (as it turns out that wasn't much to worry about.)  But while at the hospital Declan's movements were slow for him.  So they ordered an ultrasound, which was a fairly long wait.  We finally got into the ultrasound at 7pm, but didn't get the results until after 9, which by this point doctors had changed and this one felt it was worth doing induction.  So we were put on the list for Non Emergency Induction.  Which means there has to be no one else remotely dilated more than you to get a room.  We kept getting hope "You're next" but then someone else would come in.  Buggar. 

 

After being in triage for almost 24 hour Deb had a bit of a breakdown and then agreed to have drugs for the pain to help her sleep. 

 

About an hour into Deb's sleep they woke us up and moved us to a labour room and broke her water.  Then started her on Oxitocin to help labour along.  After a few more hours of coping with the contractions she finally broke down and got an epidural.  That helped a lot.  But meant she couldn't walk around.  They kept upping her Oxitocin, but that only did so much.  After 24 hours of her water being broken and many exams later she wasn't dilated enough, she was at about 7.5 cm.  During this whole thing Declan was pretty happy and doing well, which was good.  Because she wasn't going into "Active" labour soon enough they decided to do a C section.  So shortly after the decision was made we were in the operating room.  This was Deb's worst case, being in labour for 2 days (plus contractions varying in degree for a week prior) then having a c section, kind of worst of both worlds. 

In prep for surgery Deb's epidural fell out and all of a sudden she could feel everything.  So they did a spinal block.  She doesn't do anything easily does she?   Surgery went relatively well, she lost about a liter of blood.  Declan was born at 4:05 on April 20th, 8 lb 11 oz and 20 3/4" long. 

 

Recovering from the spinal block went relatively quickly, which was good.  In the evening however they were taking Deb for her first walk after regaining movement in her legs and unfortunately the incision partially burst.  They eventually got her patched up again at 3 am. She wasn't emergency enough to warrant the resident coming quickly.  (Facepalm.) 

 

Deb still hasn't had much sleep but is trying to get some as she can.  She should be out of the hospital today, provided she can get her blood pressure up, as it has suck fairly low yesterday. 

 

So far Declan seems to be a well tempered little boy.  Spencer is going to need to adjust to baby crying though.  He was visiting yesterday and Declan crying sent Spencer into a crying fit himself.  It will be  a work in progress.  I hope to take Thursday off to ease the transition to Deb and Declan being home. 

 

More photos soon.

And we are still waiting

April 15th has come and gone.  No baby yet.  Deb's contractions have slightly eased off, and are now starting to gear back up again in the form of back pain, but nothing regular.  If she is still pregnant next week she has two scheduled ultrasounds.  If she is still pregnant by Thursday they will book induction.  Let's hope he shows up this weekend instead. 

On another note, still no word from the mill in BC.  It has now been more than two weeks, but they aren't fast acting, so they could be just taking longer, or I failed the tests and I won't be receiving a call.  Alas, I'm at my new job for now, in production and so far it has been nice, but I am kind of looking forward to going to BC work instead.  I hope this is my last hurrah to production work.  As much as I love it, with little ones it is too long of days, and I'm not even on the true production days at the moment that can go upwards of 12 hrs.  So far I've been at closer to almost 10's.

I owe Deb $5

Saturday afternoon Deb started having slightly more painful contractions.  Other ones the only way she knew they were happening was to poke her tummy.  Her doctor said when you're having a contraction, your tummy will go from feeling like the softness of your nose to the firmness of your forehead.  When you have contractions for an hour that are consistently 5 minutes apart, that is when to go to the hospital. 

Deb wasn't focussing on contractions, as she couldn't feel them she had to then continually poke at her tummy to know when one was happening.  I was getting upset that she wasn't sitting and timing them, or paying attention to them.  I tried to get her to go to the hospital, as in times when she was focusing, they were about 4-5 minutes apart.  I was trying to say, this is go time, and she was fighting me about going to the hospital.  She didn't want to waste time going. 

Back history for the past week.  She has been experiencing general constant uncomfortable/pains in one way or another, and that really hadn't changed that day.  She had also had two membrane sweeps.  One on April 1st, she was 1 cm dilated, which the day after she lost her mucus plug.  No baby.  The following week, April 8th, she went to her doctor, and had another, she was 2 cm dilated.  Next day she lost her mucus plug, again.  Did you know it grows back if you don't have the baby in a few days?  I didn't. 

Saturday night she finally said that she would have a shower and if the contractions don't stop or ease she would go to the hospital.  In the end she had two contractions in the shower that had mild pain, so she agreed to go to the hospital. 

I went from grumpy, as I hadn't felt she was taking doctor's advice seriously.  She figured that there was no major pain involved so no rush.  I didn't agree, a contraction is a contraction, when it is regular. 

Alas, after Spencer was in bed, we packed the last minute stuff into her bag and off we went to the hospital.  At the hospital, she got her band and into maternity triage.  They hooked her up to the monitors for 20 minutes and asked the book of questions for medical history.  Yes she was having contractions every 2-4 minutes, but she didn't feel one of them.  Once monitoring was done we waiting for a doctor to come in and do a cervical exam.  She was still 2cm dilated.  Very disheartening.  While the doctor was there she did yet another membrane sweep.  Deb mentioned this one was much more invasive, and Declan wasn't too happy with it. 

While we were waiting for the doctor Deb and I made a bet.  She said they would send her home, I said no way, because her contractions were too close together. 

The doctor said that she could send us walking around the hospital for a couple hours and see if that helps.  But I mentioned that we had been walking all day, as we had gone to Aggie days and grocery shopping and what not.  So we got sent home. 

Since then Deb has been "feeling" the contractions more, but the next benchmark for us to go in is if she has regular contractions that she has to breath through.  She is still a ways off of that, from what she has been telling me. 

So we are still in the waiting game.  Today is one of her due dates.  The doctors either say the 13th, or the 15th, depending on menstrual cycle or insemination date, but the ultrasound doctors and her OB don't agree.  So lets hope that he comes soon.

Babbling has finally taken off

On Saturday April 4, I almost jumped out of my seat.  Spencer finally started saying mumum or momma.  More in a babble sense, but those tones have finally come back.  I am so excited.  He used to say it when angry or just babble when he was about 4-6 months old, but those syllables left fairly quickly.  For the past while he has been stuck on dadadada. 

On the same day, bababa, and hahas started to come out, along with various other sounds and combinations.  He is finally catching up with babbling.  Hopefully recognizable words are coming soon.  I think mum and moma (how we refer to ourselves) are starting to take meaning. 

I have been a little worried about his vocabulary development.  Lets hope things are finally coming into place for his synapsis in his little brain, and now they are forming, they will come fast and furious, well as least a few here and there.  The goal is 6 words for when he turns 18 months, otherwise that is the red flag to get help. 

Planes, trains (boats), and automobiles, well almost.

This past weekend has been a stretch of my self.  Last week I get a call from HS, the place I applied to in Sechelt.  They have two positions open in the general clerical pool, which is kind of where you need to start there.  The first round of stuff you need to do is testing, but of course I needed to be there.

So, I hopped on a plane Sunday, and rented a car, and took the ferry to the Sunshine Coast.  On Monday I had 5 intense hours of testing, which including mechanical reasoning and spacial awareness, not my strong suite.  There was also a small amount of typing and excel testing, then the usual clerical testing, like proof reading checking spelling, without the aid of spell check, eek.  There was also long form division, and extensive multiplication, no calculators, oh boy.  I think I did well on the multiplication, but long division, was a little too far back in the knowledge bank, I don't know how I did on that.  Then there was area calculations, and personality testing, and basic math checking, and random list items.  It made you think that is for sure.

Directly from the testing I went back to the ferry, back to Vancouver, and back to the airport.  I don't drive much now that Deb drives, I'm usually the navigator, and I'm not very good at that either.  So driving through down town Vancouver was stressful, and my Tom Tom was not doing well giving me directions.  But I made it there and back.

Because I made it to the airport early, I tried to get on an earlier flight.  Which in theory happened, but my flight was late and the original flight I would have taken was early.  So I paid extra fees to be home about 15 minutes early.  Damn.

I should hopefully hear back from in a week or two.   This is sooner that planned, and I do hope I can fulfil by contract with HOW and work the cast payroll until November, but I don't want to miss this potential option.

And luckily, Declan staid where he was supposed to and Deb is still pregnant.  She is going in for a membrane sweep tomorrow.

And the climbing has begun

Earlier this week, Yaya had noted to give us trouble for not saying he could climb on the blue couch. (Climbing on the futon has subsided for now, and that seems like a one time deal.) He had climbed and then started to bounce on the couch, but then he loves to do a bum drop, but he usually needs to be spotted when doing that because he isn't a good judge of distance, and sometimes almost falls off, we are usually there to guard him from falling, as he bounces and does drops and bounces again.  But now he can climb up there all by himself.

Well that night I was doing the dishes and I herd a grunt and went to look at what he was doing.  He then looked at me to make sure I was watching and climbed on the couch.  He then wanted to bounce, but I had to stop him from doing that.  He then sat down and patted the couch beside him, as if to say, "Come and have a seat with me." and so I did.  We read some books and then started to watch some LBB nursery rhymes.

Well now, Yaya has informed us that he can also climb on the kitchen chairs.  We have a climbing structure downstairs, but he has no interested in climbing that, he wants to climb everything else.