First month

Yes, my baby is more than one month old and I can hardly believe it! These last weeks have been challenging, to say the least. It has been a busy time for us and almost all of our extended family. I am so grateful to my brother, a few key friends, and my church family for helping me out in various ways (taking care of Jonah, meals & laundry) - they have literally helped me SURVIVE during the times when Glenn has been away! And a special thanks to my Mom who was here this weekend - let's just say she was VERY productive and it feels great!

Since Bram arrived home from the hospital he has been thriving - gaining nearly a pound a week for the last four weeks now! (A big relief - we were always worried about Jonah's weight gain.) Of course his sleeping is typical of a newborn. I definitely need to nap daily in order to feel functional. He actually once slept 5.5 hours... Perhaps he'll pull that off again tonight? There's always hope.

Our midwife called Bram an "over-achiever" at our four-week appointment last week because of his weight gain, and also because he has such a strong neck and he is already smiling. Today, once Glenn arrived home, Bram's smiling and interaction seemed to increase exponentially. A coincidence I'm sure, but very nice for Daddy!

Jonah seems to enjoy being a big brother, despite the adjustment he has had to make, and says he wants more siblings. Jonah laughs at some of the things Bram does, and he likes to help by rocking Bram, giving Bram his soother and helping out with his bath (pouring water on him). He is always interested in hearing the comparisons between Bram and him as a baby. He doesn't like the crying though, and gets very stressed out if Bram cries in the car. He has also learned that babies "make us late" and I heard him telling his cousin tonight that Mommies have to feed their babies at night, even when they don't want to.

Anyway, I better get myself ready for bed! Here are a few more pictures of significant moments over the past 4 weeks...

Jonah insisted - the pinwheel HAD to be in the picture!

Jason is the first "bandy" to meet Bram. Come on
now, Bram, he wasn't THAT scary!

Brothers' first ride together in the Chariot
(the mode of transportation getting Jonah home
from school... we make him walk TO school)

A quick cuddle together in Bram's crib

Bram made his first trip to Niagara Falls! He was less than thrilled about the Falls (slept through that). I was less then thrilled about the "foreigner's fashion show." One of the things I love about going to Niagara Falls is checking out the cool jeans & other hip clothing worn by European and Asian tourists. I'm not sure where they all were this time. Maybe it was a function of the time of year/week/day we went?

And, after many attempts, I finally managed
to capture one of Bram's smiles on camera...

Homecoming

Over the next few days I'm hoping to do a little catching up once again. Here are some pictures taken on my due date, the day Bram and I came home from the hospital...

Jonah looking out the window with anticipation and greetings

Glenn getting Bram out of the car -- don't they look cute?

Jonah welcoming Bram home

Love pats!

Jonah had been waiting for a couple of weeks
for this playpen to be filled by a sibling, so
when we finally got home we had to put Bram
straight in there. Then Jonah turned some
music on for him.

Namesakes

During my pregnancy, Glenn and I had a lot of trouble agreeing on a boy's name. In the end we decided on Bram Timothy. Once we announced the name to family, we found out that Glenn has a Great-Uncle Bramwell. We thought Bramwell Timothy had a nicer ring, and so we changed it. I love the meaning of the name Timothy, "to honor God", and we chose it because of a cousin of Glenn's -- Glenn always had a special 'brotherhood' with him.

Here is Bram's Great Great Uncle Bramwell

Here is Bram with his "Uncle" Tim

Yes, there is definitely a resemblance!

Yippee, I got my VBAC!

Hello! Yes, I'm still around. I have been wanting to give a few more details surrounding the birth of our newest addition to the family, our precious little Bram, but he's keeping me very busy!

So, where to start? First of all, thanks to those of you who were part of the little team praying that I would be able to avoid a c-section this time. It worked and I'm grateful! God is good.

My labour officially started on Monday, August 25th at 11pm, according to my midwife, Misty. And let's just say it was a LONG night! I laboured at home for a little while, and once my parents arrived, Glenn, Mom, Misty and I headed to the hospital, around 1am I think.

I was glad to get a birthing room that had a tub! I spent a bunch of time in there and even nearly fell asleep once between contractions somehow. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was able to give birth naturally, AKA, without drugs. I DID use laughing gas (nitrous oxide) in the last hour or so of active labour, however, Misty said that it doesn't count. And no, it did NOT make me laugh.

I think I was able to avoid the narcotics and the epidural for a bunch of reasons. (And it wasn't for lack of pain -- that was definitely the most painful, exhausting, intense, and real experience of my life.) First of all, Misty only would recommend the use of narcotics in the earlier stages of labour/dilation, and most of that we did at home. I wanted to avoid the epidural because I had that for my c-section and I really didn't like the side effects -- (1) it made me very itchy for at least a full day after Jonah's birth and (2) it made me vomit, starting the moment they sat me up in bed to feed Jonah. NOT COOL!

Second, I had great labour support. Glenn, Mom and Misty were all there to help distract, relax and encourage me.

Finally, I used some tips I read in Glenn's Runner's World magazine. Since many liken running a marathon to childbirth, I figured it was worth a try! The article was called "Outsmart Pain: How to mentally fight suffering" and here are their main points:

1) BELIEVE YOU CAN HANDLE THE HURT (For thousands of years, women have handled the pain of natural childbirth so why couldn't I?)

2) TRY RELAXING, SERIOUSLY ("Try relaxing muscle groups you're not using to save energy and run more efficiently... your forehead muscles don't need to be tense.")

3) CHALLENGE NEGATIVE SELF-TALK (When I started thinking I couldn't do it anymore, I verbalized it so that my labour support team would challenge those thoughts and encourage me)

4) DIVIDE AND CONQUER ("You can tolerate more pain when an endpoint is near... break the race into manageable chunks, focusing on intermediate landmarks." For me, this was one contraction at a time, and Glenn was constantly reminding me I just had to get through this one contraction.)

When I was dilated to around 8 or 9 centimeters, Misty broke my water. There was a lot of meconium, meaning the baby had pooped while still inside. A pediatrician would now need to be present for the birth because of the possible complications that could result.

By 6am on Tuesday, August 26th, it was time to start pushing. Melanie, my second midwife, was now present. Pushing was a TON of work. I pushed for a full two hours and I pushed hard -- so hard that my eyes were swollen/puffy for days and I had broken blood vessels all over my face and chest. Finally, at 8am, out the baby came! It was a boy!! And only 7 lb 11 oz. The relief was short-lived. He wasn't making much noise and so we started to worry. He had indeed inhaled meconium. The doctor worked quickly, clearing his lungs and resuscitating him. It was only for a few seconds but it was scary. At that point, Bram had to be taken to the nursery. He wasn't breathing well, his oxygen levels were low, as well as his blood sugar and body temperature.

Although it was disappointing not to get to hold Bram and nurse him right away, we were grateful to know he was being taken care of and monitored closely. At this point, I started to have issues myself with my heart rate and blood pressure. That combined with the fact that I hadn't eaten well during labour because of nausea, and I had been working the hardest I had ever worked physically, all night long... I was feeling pretty messed up and kinda out of it, and really, in no condition to take care of a newborn.

Glenn called Jonah and Jonah apparently was dancing around the house when he found out he had a baby BROTHER! Just what he wanted!

Bram was in the nursery for a day and half, but I was still able to nurse him a few times. By day two in the hospital, Bram was in the room with me. We both were doing MUCH better and were able to go home on the morning of day three.

In this picture you can see the tape used to keep the oxygen
on Bram's face. He apparently ripped it off six times! Feisty!

This is the special bed thing he was first in. That I.V.
was really annoying when I was trying to feed him!

Once Bram was doing better, he was able to move to this incubator.

Brothers meet! And Glenn, is this
the first time you held Bram?

Publish Post

favorite things

There is one item missing from Bram's list of favorite things, and that's Mommy's Milk. Dude gained more than a pound in one week!!! Know what this means? In theory, he should be able to do at least one 4-5 hour stretch of sleep at night. Yeah right...

I survived natural childbirth!

I thought I better do a quick post for my blog readers who aren't on facebook! Our baby arrived on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 8am. Bramwell Timothy weighed in at 7 lb 11 oz. Bram and I are both doing well and I will post more details soon. In the meantime, you can check out Glenn's blog to see more pics and get more info.

This picture was taken day 2 in the hospital, when Bram was finally allowed to be out of the nursery, and after I had taken a lovely hot shower!