Meet Joshua Adrianus Van Dop

Wow. What a ride. Joshua Adrianus Van Dop was born on November 15, 2006 at 18:36 in St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC. He weighed in at 8 lbs 15.8 ozs. He is SO cute. He is also a week old today so Happy Birthday, Josh!

Brian sent out an eMail soon after with all the details. Thanks for all the good wishes everyone sent. If you didn't receive the eMail, I received many 'failure to send' eMails, so I apologize, but I guess I don't have your most up-to-date eMail address.

We've been at home since Sunday and it's been nice - lots of adjustment though! Today (Wednesday) is the first day that I'm REALLY tired because I'm finally getting a bit more sleep so, I think my body is now realizing how over-tired it is!

Yes, labour was brutal and the decision to take the epidural after trying for 40+ hours was difficult. Finding out that I would have to undergo Caesarian soon after was also hard. But in the end, we were elated to see our BIG baby boy! The first thing all the people in the OR said was, "Look at the size of his feet!" Hehehe...

Unfortunately, the difficulty didn't end there. Josh didn't want to feed for the first 72 hours after he was born - he was lethargic and losing weight fast. When he had lost 7% of his body weight in 48 hours and started to develop jaundice, the mid-wife had to consult with the pediatrician on-call who decided it was time to put him under the UV lights.

This extended our stay at St. Paul's and we were under a strict feeding schedule where I had to pump and we had to get the food into him every 2 hours, any way possible. He had lost 11% of his body weight, which was starting to get on the high side, even though he was so big. He also needed to eat in order to get rid of the jaundice. This was a very difficult time for Brian and I in the hospital with our new baby boy. Both of us were extremely exhausted after the labour and delivery and I was still recovering from the Caesarian.

But the hard work and perseverance paid off because 48 hours later, he started to gain weight and his jaundice was going away. So, we were discharged on Sunday morning and have been at home since then. Now, the biggest challenge that we are facing is feeding. Because we had to use alternate feeding methods in the hospital to get Josh to gain weight, we are still working on getting him to breastfeed. It's getting better and better every day...

Below are some photos that we've taken in the first week of Josh's life:

In the OR, just after Josh was born.

Do I really look THAT tired?! Josh had to wear "shades" under the UV lights. Hehehe...

After his first bath at home.

Brian and Josh having a nap.

Josh sleeps.

Needless to say, motherhood has been very challenging for me, so far. Brian has been my rock and he is an awesome Dad - I don't know what I'd do without him. Also, my parent's help has been invaluable. But in the end, through all these difficulties, I can't believe how much I love my little baby boy. Everytime I look at him, I can't believe that he is ours.

Welcome to the world, Josh. Mom and Dad love you very much and will try to be the best parents we can!

P.S. Nikita hasn't really reacted to Josh yet. She's sniffed him out and stuff, but that's it. I think she is waiting to reserve judgement until she finds out if Josh will give her food!

reversal of fortune

I have 4 siblings - 3 brothers and a sister.  My sister, DD, is a year older than me.  We are quite close - I was her Maid of Honour and she was my Matron of Honour.  My parents raised us to be responsible, hard-working people.  We, all my siblings, were fortunate enough to go through university and earn our respective degrees - my sister has her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and I have my Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Chemical Engineering.  All very similar, I think.

If I look back 11 years ago, to 1995 - I had just graduated from university and decided to accept a job with a mining company in Vancouver as the start of my career.  At the same time, DD was pregnant with her first child and she decided to put her career on hold indefinitely to raise a family.  Our paths have been completely opposite since!

Now, 11 years later, on the eve of having our first child, I find myself putting my career on hold for the first time to start a family.  At the same time, DD has just accepted a job as the start of her career.  What a strange reversal of fortune that takes my sister and I to the exact same place, but opposite!

Really, in the last 11 years, our lives have been similar in many ways - my career has moved me from Toronto to Vancouver, to Elko, Nevada to Bellingham, Washington and back to Vancouver.  DD's family has moved her from Toronto to Peterborough, to Austin, Texas and finally to Schnectady, New York.  We've both had our fair share of moving in 11 years! 

Both of us have been back to school in the last 11 years - me to change careers from engineering to computers and her to be able to start her career as a medical transcriptionist.  She has 4 wonderful children to be very proud of - L (11), N (9), DB (7) and C (2) and I have a successful career as an IT professional that I can be proud of!

It's so ironic that we find ourselves asking each other advice now - me asking about pregnancy, labour and motherhood and her about writing cover letters and resumes!

I'm so proud of my sister.  It must be difficult decision to return to the workforce after 11 years.  I'm finding it hard to leave it for just a year!  What is most exciting to me is to see where my sister and I will come full circle.  I don't doubt that we will and I think when that time comes, we will be able to sit down, compare stories and feel closer to each other than ever.

just a thought

At 31 weeks pregnant, can I take a 2-person HOV lane?

ebay - reloaded

I've recently rediscovered ebay.  I started using it in 2001.  I was addicted for a couple of months.  I searched and searched for stuff to buy and I ended up only buying 2 things - a Paul Frank T-shirt (as my own little initiation) and a camera.  It was WAY too easy and my transactions turned out well.  But, I eventually lost interest because I didn't really have anything to buy!

A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers said I should look on ebay because she noticed that in the lots of clothes that people sell, there were actually lots of maternity clothes.  What a great idea!  Unfortunately, at 31 weeks, I think I'm over the hump of acquiring maternity clothes, but I wish I had gotten online a few months earlier - I would have been all over buying lots of used maternity clothes!

I decided to re-visit ebay again anyway.  What am I looking for, you ask?  Lots of baby clothes, of course!  And any other baby stuff I can find!  I can remember all over again why I was addicted to ebay for a couple of months because I find myself checking it out constantly!  There are SO many lots of baby clothes - I'm wishing now that we were having a girl because the girl stuff is SO cute and there is SO much stuff!  On second thought, maybe it's good we're having a boy!  Hehehe...boy's clothes aren't quite as cute, but I am watching a few things and I may find myself putting in a bid or 2 soon...

you can do it, dop can help!

Funny story surrounding the Home Depot commercial we saw last night.  It went something like this:

In the commercial, a little boy, around 6-years-old, walks into the kitchen and sees his dad under the kitchen sink.  He is fixing/installing plumbing or something.  The kid says, "Dad, can I help you?".  The dad says, "No, this is adult stuff.".  The kid says "OK." and with a forlorn look, he starts to walk away.  His dad sees him walking away, looking sad, shoulders down.  So the dad says, "Well, maybe you can hold the flashlight.".  The kid turns around, immediately brightens up and says, "OK!".  The Home Depot music starts to play and the camera pans out to the dad and the son under the kitchen sink, the kid is holding the flashlight and asking questions and the dad is explaining the plumbing stuff.  It was all very cute!

So, of course, I turned to Brian and I asked him, "Is that going to be you and little Dop?!".  It really WAS cute!  Brian replied, "Are you kidding?!  At that age, Dop will be able to install the kitchen sink all by himself!".  Ai-yah...just like my husband...

ringing in the holiday season

It seems that in late November/early December many people really DO celebrate the coming of the holiday season!  There are SO many birthday's towards the second half of August that it's hard for me to keep up!  Happy Birthday to all of you - hope you all had fun birthdays!

enlightenment

OK, I know that a blog may not be the best place to discuss bodily functions, but I find my recent enlightenment to my bodily functions during pregnancy so freakin' hilarious, that I had to post:

1. Heartburn sucks. I've learned that little Dop is pushing my stomach up to make room for himself down below, so my stomach acid is going up my esophagus. I've never had heartburn before. I empathize with all who have it normally.

2. Last week, Dop must have been laying on my urethra. Everytime I had to pee, I found it would trickle out. No matter how badly I had to go, it would all just trickle out and I would have to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes to empty my bladder.

3. This week, Dop must be laying on my bladder. My flow of urine is back to normal, but I'm going every 10 minutes! Last night, we went to a friend's house for a couple of hours and I went to the bathroom 4 times.

4. I won't go into details about the number 2's, but I can tell you that I think that Dop was also laying on my intestines last week and he has now moved off this week!

On a more positive note, I can't believe I'm almost at 30 weeks! Sometimes it feels like FOREVER, but most times I feel like it's flown by. Liezel asked me if I'm at the point yet where I'm thinking, "Just get this baby out of me!". I told her that my fear of labour and pushing Dop out still outweighs my discomfort of keeping Dop inside me!