forget diamonds...

...breast pumps are a girls best friend :-) i have to say, thank god for my breast pump! gabe's a healthy eater, but sometimes i just need a break from his vicious latch. i've thrown out quite a bit of pumped milk out, and gabe's spat up quite a bit from the bottle, but tonight we had success! chris fed our son a 3 oz. bottle without any spillage! this bodes well for me...we're gearing up for nov. 21 when i have the NKOTB concert and won't be able to feed for at least 3 hours.

gabe's first girlfriend, cassie!

my grandma w/her 17th great-grandchild!

meet gabriel!

here he is!




gabriel takashi was born on saturday, october 4, 2008 at 3:04 a.m. to make a long story short, the induction didn't go well last week, so a c-section was the final outcome for baby's arrival.


we've had several rough nights over the past week which has put our patience to the test. there's been a couple times we've wanted to throw the towel in and ask for a baby refund, but when gabe stares back with his beautiful brown eyes that seem to say "what'd i do?", you just melt again and all is well.


what we've done this week:

• home visits with our midwives and doula
• a rushed trip to ER on tuesday to check his bilirubin levels - gabe's entire body turned a concerning shade of yellow, so we had to do some rush bloodwork. not to worry, in less than 48 hours he perked up, the yellow's fading, and he gained 4 ounces!
• visited both grandparents houses - definitely not running on time for anything now...between coordinating feeding and diaper changes, i need to stop looking at the clock. we'll be there when we can :-)
• and now gabe is determined to break my spirit. the past 3 nights have been horrific. from 2 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. i'm on mommy duty while our little boy is confused between day and night. chris gets dad duty from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. if anyone's up at that time, give us a shout :-) haha!
• gabe had his first bottle feeding this morning. breastfeeding hasn't been very fun, so i have a bottle on standby for chris' dad duty. at least i can sleep for a couple hours :P

all i can say is thank goodness for my parents! they've been fantastic, helping out everyday. since i'm recovering from surgery still, i can't really do much. i think that's the most frustrating part right now...i can't carry gabe for too long because of the extra pressure he puts on me, and i can't bounce him to sleep either. even little things like picking stuff up from the floor are impossible :P i'm hoping things improve over the next couple of weeks!

d-day

yup, that's right....it's delivery day!!! i'm at 41 weeks, and my midwife has agreed to induce me :-) totally not the way i had thought things would turn out, but whose birth plan goes according to plan anyways?

hopefully the induction goes well and baby and i respond well to the treatment. i'm feeling anxious knowing that by the end of this weekend chris and i will be parents to a little baby.

see you on the other side :-)

i love your hair!

today i had a great moment. i was at brentwood mall, just sitting on a bench waiting to meet someone, and this lady sits down next to me and says "i love your hair! who does it?" her lovely comment couldn't have come at a better time! i was having some bad hair moments over the past 2 days...maintaining short hair is a pain in the arse...i had a cut 5 weeks ago, and i feel desperate for another cut already :P

anyways, i told her who my stylist was and gave her the info for the salon. she just kept staring at my hair, as if mesmerized :-) i think she actually might follow through...i'll have to check w/my stylist when i see her next!

definitely an uplifting moment for me...it temporarily took my mind off my stubborn child :-) but alas...as europhoric as the moment was, it didn't release any oxytocin...i'm still pregnant.

40 weeks plus 4 days

i had my first ever acupuncture treatment today. my doula, roxanne, explained her needles were "friendly" and that they weren't anything like medical needles. and true to her word, they weren't as bad as i had anticipated. doesn't mean i wasn't sweating buckets during the treatment session...i just sweated less than normal :P over a 1/2 hr session, she manipulated the needles every 5 minutes to stimulate the energy through my body, and to assist with inducing labour. apparently some ppl respond well to just one treatment, but some ppl need 3-4 sessions. we'll see what happens with me...

we're also ramping up our appointments with the midwife. i really don't want to be preggers past monday...my bh contractions are getting more frequent, and my back is killing me today. they've got a few more tricks up their sleeves that we'll try over the upcoming weekend. we also talked about potential induction :P i was really hoping to avoid drugs...asides from the gbs antibiotics...but if baby hasn't arrived by monday, then we'll have to do whatever it takes to get him out.

my anxiety is also growing...if we let baby continue on to 42 weeks, i'm scared how big he could get! i only gained 1/2 pound this past week, and my stomach hasn't gotten any bigger, so hopefully that's a good sign. mind you, i'm feeling kind of whale-ish, and i've noticed some mild swelling in my hands and feet :P i've been told to relax and not think about pregnancy/labour, and once i do that, perhaps labour will start. ha! easier said than done :-)

graduation day!

so, chris' wish came true. all he wanted was for baby to hold off until after the PADS 2008 graduation ceremony. on sunday, much to everyone's surprise, we attended the ceremony at michael j. fox theatre! it was fantastic to see so many graduating teams and breeding girls. it's still a bit early for some of my puppysitting pups to be graduating. the only graduating dog we puppysat was leon...he's been paired with a professor at ubc :-) on another happy note, we puppysat buster for a weekend or two, and he's moved on to a career as a detection dog!

what a great afternoon to celebrate the dogs, staff, volunteers and clients of PADS!

what overdue looks like...

week 40...still no baby

argh. the frustration of the waiting game. this is really testing my patience...which i currently have none of :P it's officially week 40 today, and i'm in pain. when my midwife suggested walking more to encourage baby to "drop", i might've taken it to the extreme yesterday. i went to the pool and walked in the shallow end for 30 minutes, i also had errands to run at lougheed and metrotown malls, which took me from the far ends of the malls both times :P so needless to say i'm definitely feeling pain today. i've already been out-and-about this a.m. running more errands, and now i'm gonna chillax for the remainder of the day....2 more hours till naptime!

the latest baby development is that he's managed to turn around in my belly. his arms/legs used to be on the right side of my belly, but due to my fall on sunday, his limbs are now pushing on my left side. it's definitely making sleep a lot harder to do. that, and the pressure on my pelvis is ridiculous!

anyhoo...back to reading my baby books.

is this bun done?

september 23, 2008 - today is the 1st possible due date we were told by a doctor. we were also told september 24, 25 and 26. since due dates aren't indicative of very much, we didn't even ask for the exact dating from our 1st ultrasound. oh well. can't do anything about it now :P

the hospital bag is packed, i have my labour food and drinks ready to go, the carseat has been installed and bcaa-approved, crib and basinette are ready, and our doula is on standby for us. boredom has definitely taken over this week for me. i've got nothing left to do but wait. and read more books. and wonder when baby will arrive. it's maddening i tell ya! on the upside, if baby holds off until next week, chris and i can attend the PADS graduation ceremony this weekend :-)

the only thing we aren't prepared for is naming our child. we've narrowed it down to 5 first names and 4 middle names. i had hoped to eliminate a few names before baby boy arrives, but i don't think that's going to happen.

well, i'm off to watch more tv...

the doctors

with all my "free time", i've found a new show to watch...the doctors. i've flipped past it before, but today the topic caught my attention - postpartum depression. also, one of the doctors on the show is dr. jim sears...the sears family are well-known for their baby books (which i haven't read). anyways, they featured a woman currently suffering from ppd, and her child is already 2 years old! they described the symptoms and what some common remedies are for ppd. i think i'm fortunate enough to have a great support system in place that if i do suffer at all, i have enough ppl around me to get me through any potential disasters. the woman featured was now a single-mother...her marriage crumbled because of ppd. so sad. i've fast-forwarded through the week and there are a few more baby/mother-related topics that i'm interested in...very cool.

just what i need...more tele to watch :P