First Excursion

On the weekend we took Akemi on her first excursion to meet people (other than doctors). On Saturday we dropped in to the kendo dojo to show our faces. The practice area was like a sauna and everyone was dripping with sweat. When the people came to take a look, I was tempted to put up fencing so they didn't get too close. Not just because of the sweat, but the smell! Anyway, it was good to see them and soon I'll return to be a sweaty, stinky one too.

On Sunday we visited my folks and had an iChat with my brother and his two year old daughter Risa in Vancouver. Akemi was behaving well most of the time. We took some pictures with my dad's camera. Once I get them, I'll post some.

All in all the excursions went well.

King of Calming

I am the King of Calming! If you don't believe me, just ask this little one. I have so many techniques that I could write a blog just on that. Not all of them work, but it's the quantity that matters. At least I can keep Akemi amused.

One technique I developed the other day that works often is I sustain a medium-high frequency note with my voice. It mesmerizes her - no joke. Maybe I can add some kind of subliminal key so that when she grows up I can control her.

I also have a technique that has not failed yet. I don't want to announce it here in case I jinx it. Long live the King!

Out for a Stroll

This morning was so pleasant that we decided to try out the stroller for the first time. Since Akemi was behaving, we took her along too. Most of the time she was sleeping, but we enjoyed the walk. I even got the test drive the stroller!

Tai Chi Master

I like to watch Akemi wake up. As she's falling out of sleep, she stretches her arms and legs out and across in mysterious positions. Her facial expressions make you think that her limbs are being controlled by her cheek muscles. Then she will start to open her eyes, usually her left one first. When she's good and ready, she'll open both up and look around. Most of the time when I'm holding her she will start crying.

I believe this is a form of Tai Chi. She builds up chi to prepare for the waking world, and then she jumps into action with a big kiai. My daughter the Tai Chi Master! Or maybe she just wet her diaper and wants a change...

Playing with Fire

Today when my brother and inlaws were visiting, I had to change Akemi. I put her on the change pad, and sure enough, there was some business in there. As I was removing the diaper, some more splurted out. I quickly covered the danger zone with a wipie. After some reflection on what had happened to Silvina yesterday, I decided to wait a bit. The coast looked clear.

As my brain was initiating the motion to start the clean-up, without warning, Akemi blasted another one over the change pad. My only saving grace was the protective barrier built into the change pad! I waited longer still, and then cleaned her up. This time I escaped unscathed, but staring eye to third-eye I knew I was playing with fire.

No more navel gazing

I went out to get some supplies and when I came back, Silvina and Akemi were wearing different outfits. Silvina said that she was holding Akemi when she heard the infamous bowel movements. Previously Akemi had sprayed all the way up the back of her shirt, so Silvina was checking to see if it was ok. No problems there, but then she felt some wetness on the front of her own shirt. When she looked down she learned that Akemi is quite versatile and can spray both backwards and forwards. Poor Silvina - pooed on twice in one day by her own daughter!

During the fiasco of removing Akemi's clothes and changing her, Silvina noticed another milestone. Akemi's umbilical cord had fallen off.

Projectile Poo

Last night I think Akemi and Silvina slept better than I did. I got up at about 2:30 for some reason, and I noticed that the baby bed thing was pushing me out of bed! Anyway, I tried to carve out some space so I wasn't sleeping on the floor.

At around 3:00 Akemi was making some noise, and we could tell it was a poo. The sound of one bowel movement, two, and then Silvina went to change her. I was about to warn her not to take her diaper away from her bum when - too late. The instant she took it away Akemi let loose another movement and then started to cry. She projected her excrement onto the change pad, onto the bed, onto Silvina, onto the floor, and onto the bassinet two feet away! This girl has killer abs!

Another Visit to the Pediatrician

We had another appointment with the pediatrician Friday morning to see how Nina was doing. She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz - same as her birth weight.

That evening my folks came over for supper. Part of the stipulation was that they bring supper. Nina made a brief hello before crying for food and disappearing for her own supper. After me and my folks were well into supper, Silvina brought Nina down for a more civilized visit.

I'm now up to date with this blog. Nina Akemi is eight days old. I'll add more entries when interesting things happen or to post pictures.

Return to Work

It's funny how fast things can change. Wednesday evening I wanted to get up to date with this blog, so I typed out a bunch of stuff in the basement. In between paragraphs I could hear some faint cries upstairs. When I went upstairs to go to bed, Silvina was in her familiar feeding position and was looking ragged. I fell asleep but I think Silvina was left wondering if the bed-sleeping contraption was at all useful.

Thursday July 13 I woke up for a normal day at work. Everyone was congratulating me and asking for pictures. I had no choice but to send them some.

That night, after a rough start, Nina managed to sleep in the bed-thing pretty well. The next day Silvina was very happy.

Home visit by the nurse

It was pouring on Wednesday July 12, but our Toronto district nurse met her appointment and came calling at 10:30. We were impressed that they would come and visit us at our house to check out Akemi and Silvina, and to tell us about programs and such. Silvina had a good night with Akemi and was in high spirits.

In the afternoon the rain let up and I went out shopping for some more dirty diaper containers and a contraption to let the baby sleep in our bed. Silvina had an idea from the night before and wanted to try out this thing. We were both feeling good, and I was due to go back to work the next day. The sequence of pictures was taken when Akemi was waking up in the bassinet after a feeding.

First visit to the pediatrician

We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday. We had been told by the nurse in the hospital to go on Tuesday and that we didn't need an appointment because they had to see us by law. So we go there - very tired - and the receptionist was giving us a hard time. Anyway, I will just say that we got an appointment for the doctor at 3:00pm.

We actually got in to see the doctor at about 4:00. Silvina had just finished feeding Akemi in the waiting room. The doctor seemed to be a good person. He weighed Akemi - 7 lbs 7 oz - and listened to her heartbeat. He was impressed that she didn't cry once, even when he put the cold stethoscope to her chest.

That day I think we turned a corner with Akemi. We were feeling more confident as parents.

Adjusting at home

It was good to be back home. I had finished most of the renovations I had planned, so the house was looking better than it ever had.

That afternoon we finally decided on the name for the baby: Nina Akemi. Funny, because those were the first names we were settling on months before. In the hospital we were tossing around all kinds of different names. Some were on our "short list", and some we (I) just made up on the spot. I won't list any of the considered names here in case someone thinks that they are better than Nina Akemi. Truth be known, I still call her "baby" most of the time.

Although we had more room, privacy, and baby stuff at home than at the hospital, it took a while to get settled. Sunday night was pretty good I think because I had a good night's sleep again. Monday was a bit tougher, especially on Silvina. She was getting worried that Akemi wasn't crapping enough, and Akemi was exercising her freedom of expression at every chance.

I found that the front-chest holder worked well to soothe her - Akemi that is. I would parade up and down the hall singing whatever words that came to mind. That's the advantage of a newborn I guess - they can't discern quality.

Freedom

Sunday, as it turned out, was our day to leave the hospital. Although the private room was quite comfortable, we were all looking forward to go home. Before we left, the baby had to undergo some tests. They weighed her again (7 lbs 0.7oz) and pricked her foot for some blood tests. Throughout the whole ordeal, she didn't cry once. Here is the last picture of the baby in the hospital.

After paying a king's ransom for parking, we loaded the baby up into the new car seat and took her home. I was driving very carefully.

Day on the Town

Saturday morning at about 10am I woke up well rested. Silvina was all ready up. She was going to the breastfeeding class at 10:30. I went out to get some breakfast and walked down to Yonge street for the street festival. It had been a while since I walked around in the Eaton Centre, so I took a casual stroll. There was a picture I had always wanted to take around University and King, so I went down there to see if I could capture it. I couldn't quite get it, but I was feeling very free and easy anyway.

When I returned, a nurse was going to show us how to bath the baby. The baby showed how calm she could be and didn't cry once (well, maybe a couple of times...). I think the nurse took a liking to her. After the bath it was time for lunch, so I went to Queens Park to the African festival. Had me some nice chicken and African donuts.

A Good Night's Sleep

That night we witnessed the legendary miconium. That stuff is sticky like tar. I was trying to scrub it off with one hand while the other was working to contain the flailing legs of the baby. There was one spot above her butt that I tried to get off when I realized it was the asian mark.

That night the baby apparently woke up a couple of times to be fed, but I didn't hear a peep.

The Next Day

On Friday morning when I woke up, I saw Silvina out of bed standing up. Apparently she had just taken a walk around the halls on the doctors orders to help heal her wounds. I was surprised because the way she was looking and sounding the night before, I thought that she would be bedridden for a while.

Her folks had dropped in before work and were all lively and excited to see their new granddaughter. To tell the truth, I was in no shape to see anyone, so I went to take a well needed shower. The shower was terrible. I felt more water pressure from a drinking fountain - and more water too.

In the late afternoon Silvina's folks and her brother stopped in for another visit, but the baby was being a bit finicky. Silvina was going to feed her so they gave us their congratulations and left. I was looking forward to going home too. The cramped quarters, little privacy,and poor facilities were straining my tolerance levels.

Some time before supper we got a call to say that a private room had openned up. Needless to say, we jumped at it. To us, the difference was like moving from a communal tent to a five star hotel. I would say that the room was bigger than the semi-private room, and it was all for us! Room to move around, no worries about the baby crying - a big relief.

That evening my folks came by. They were lucky enough to see the baby at her best, and in the private room to boot.

A very long night...

After a couple of hours they moved us out of the recovery room and into the maternity ward. We had requested a private room, but the place was so full that we had to go into a semi. We went from the luxury labour room to a hostel. Our space was so small we could hardly get in and out without bumping into the bassinet, the bed or the IV stand. Lucky for us, our neighbours on the other side of the curtain were easy-going and very quiet. Silvina was still pretty much out of it and couldn't get out of bed. She still had IVs in her for hydration and pain relief.

Everytime the baby cried (seemed like every half hour) I picked her up and walked around the halls with her. I thought I was doing a good job soothing her. One time during my walk-abouts a nurse said that I should hold her upright to burb her. Of course I didn't know what she was talking about, so she asked me when the last time she was fed. I told her she hadn't been feed because Silvina was still zonked out from the general.

Her and some other nurse came into our room and tried to get the baby to breast feed on Silvina. The bed could only go up about a 30 degree angle so it was difficult to actually get the kid to latch. Also, the IVs were getting in the way and I was worried that they were going to get pulled out. Throughout the night we were pressing the aid button to try and get a nurse to help us. I got to know the baby's voice very well that night. I felt terrible for our neighbours who were silent as clams.

Me and My New Daughter

I didn't have to wait long. At about a quarter to seven the doctors came out and handed me my new daughter. I must warn you that what I am about to say may be biased and a bit too thick for some people. If you don't think you can handle it, skip down a couple of paragraphs.

I could not believe how perfect she looked. I honestly did not expect her to look that cute. I looked at her big dark grey eyes, and they were looking back at me! She had a full head of hair, a beautiful nose, and a delicate mouth. There wasn't a blemish on her skin. And everything was so small - her face, her hands.

Silvina was still being sewed up, and it was about an hour before they wheeled her out. During that time I was holding the baby. Looking at her. Rocking her so she wouldn't cry. I came up with a number of techniques that seemed to work pretty well. I didn't know that I could put the baby down so I was amusing myself with different ways of holding her. I noticed that if I moved to one side, her eyes would follow. I tried on the other side and the same thing. Going up and down she didn't follow as well.

When they brought Silvina out, she was still out of it from the general. She was looking pretty green behind the gills really and I was a bit concerned about her because her heart beat was erratic. I was holding the baby with one hand and feeding Silvina ice chips with the other. The baby was smacking her lips so I knew she was hungry, but Silvina would be in no shape to nurse.

The nurse said it was ok to put the baby down on one of the bassinets, so I put her down and focused my attention to Silvina. When she was well enough I took a picture of her with the baby. The other pictures of the baby were when I set her down to look after Silvina.

Under the Knife

Not much was happening for a long while. The were routinely checking Silvina, but no action.

Then at 4:30 pm, the older guy made his reappearance - this time dressed as a doctor. They checked Silvina out, and he recommended a C-section. Knowing that Silvina didn't really want a C-section, I asked the doctor what our options were. He said that the baby was not in distress so we could wait longer, but in his experience he didn't think things would change much. We asked for some time to absorb his recommendation. I think it was around this time while talking with the nurse that we learnt that when the baby's heart rate drops below a hundred, it's a sign of distress. At about 5:00 we gave the go-ahead for the C-section.

At about 6:00 pm they took Silvina away to prepare for the C-section. I packed up our stuff and moved it out of the luxury labour suite and into the recovery area. I was waiting a half hour to be called in when a nurse told me that the local wasn't working (thanks to the poorly positioned epideral) and they had to use general. When they use general, they don't allow people in the room, so I had to wait around in the recovery room.

Morning has broken (but water has not...)

At 1:00am, we were pretty comfortable in our luxury room when the doctor came in to try to break Silvina's water. She tried with one tool, but it wasn't working. Then she got another one in case the first one was dull, but that didn't work either. Finally she got a different tool, and I got the impression that it worked.

They stuck a heartbeat monitor on the baby's head and at about a quarter to two in the morning, they put an IV in Silvina for hydration and oxitocin, another kind of drug to induce labour. That one seemed to be working well because at about 2:20am Silvina was feeling contractions.

During the night we could hear some of the other women going through their labour pains. One lady was screaming her lungs out and puking her guts out. She must have been inside-out when she delivered her baby! I didn't say anything, but I was not looking forward to seeing Silvina go through that...

I fell asleep sometime after two, and woke up just before 7. While I was sleeping Silvina said that the doctors came in again to try and break the water - unsuccessfully. Just before 7 the doctors checked Silvina and found her to be 2 cm dilated, but the baby was still high.

At about 8:30 am an older guy walked into the room and looked around. He was wearing a striped jacket like the ones the waiters from Ed's Warehouse Restaurant used to wear, and an ill-matching tie. I thought he was in the wrong room, but then he was followed by a host of doctors and understudies. He said hi, and some other things, and left. The other doctors then checked the position of the baby with an ultrasound.

At about 10 am Silvina ordered the epidural. She didn't appear to be in much pain, but she too heard the cries of labour from the other women in the ward and didn't want to wait until it got to that point. A girl who I would say was in her mid-twenties entered the room and proclaimed that she was the doctor who would be administering the epidural. For some reason, maybe her demeanor, her youth, or her crazy coloured hat, I didn't have much confidence in her. She said how important it was that Silvina tell her how it was feeling so she could position the needle correctly. As she was putting the needle in, Silvina was saying that it felt too much to one side. The doctor gave a puzzled look and said "ohh". No adjustment, no explanation, just "ohh".

Anyway, the epidoral seemed to be working because Silvina was not feeling any more pain. At about 10:50 another doctor came in, checked Silvina, and this time was able to break the water.

The Labour Room

We got a corner suite in the labour area - with a big leather reclining chair for me! I think they were feeling a bit guilty about the incident just before. I was talking to a classmate from the pre-natal class who said that his labour room was so small that the nurse would be bumping her ass in his face when she checked up on his wife. Not for us. We had lots of space.

Some Action!

The doctor came in at about 11 pm and put in cervadil to induce labour. She said that they would monitor Silvina for about an hour, and then we would go into the labour room.

We were waiting there about a half an hour when a nurse came in and put the monitor on Silvina. I noticed that the baby heartbeat monitor was fluctuating around seventy. The nurse was frantically moving it around and pressed the button to call the doctor. Not knowing any better, I thought that maybe when the baby's heartbeat comes down to around our level, it's ready to come out. So I was getting pretty excited.

The doctor came in and I think she pulled out the cervadil. She measured Silvina to be about 1 cm dilated, and the baby's heartbeat went back to the 130 to 160 level. That was at about 11:40pm.

There was no more excitement that day, and at about 12:15am on Thursday we were moved to the labour room.

Going to the Hospital

We were watching Canada's Next Top Model (I'm ashamed to admit) when we got a call from the hospital. It was the call we'd been waiting for for a long day and a half. Silvina was running nine days late and the doctor wanted to induce, but the hospital was all booked up after the long weekend.

Anyway, they said that they could take us for an induction right away. So, before we learnt who was getting the boot from the show, we packed up the labour bag and left for the hospital. It was about a quarter to nine at night on Wednesday July 5.

We went to the triage area in the labour unit and they hooked Silvina up to a baby heartbeat monitor and something that measured contractions. After some blood work, we waited around and watched the baby's heartbeat jumping around between 130 and 160.