The Benefits of Co-Sleeping

I said I would do it, so here 'tis.

Unfortunately I don't have anyone who can come over during the day to help out since we live thousands of kilometres away from family. Well, I have a brother who lives in the city but he is afraid to hold my baby and gags at the mention of poop. So no help there. And since it takes a village to raise a child and I am certainly not a one person village, I needed to find something that could work to save my sanity.

We struggled (and continue to struggle) with sleep with Keegan. I've never seen a newborn fight it so much! He will be warm with a full tummy and a clean bum and show signs of being tired - but he won't sleep. As I type this I am wearing him in his Boba (love this carrier by the way) while bouncing on a ball and I have white noise playing on the computer speakers. This gets him to sleep but as soon as one of these elements is removed he will wake up and be even crankier than before I put him to sleep in the first place. It's a vicious cycle that we are trying to find a way out of. But for now, I'll do whatever it takes to get him to rest even if it keeps me up all night.

When it comes to his nighttime routine I wish we had one. I take him to bed with me at either 9-ish or midnight-ish. Dood is sleeping in the other room right now since little K shares my bed with me. Yes, I refer to it as my and mine since Dood has all but moved out of the room for now. One of us needs to sleep at night and since I am the one with boobs and he is the one who brings home the bacon, little K is with me.

When I was using his bassinet I would wake up when he needed to be fed and take him to his room where the rocking chair and nursing pillow welcomed me. Half way through the feed when he was starting to fall asleep I would change him to piss him off and wake him up, then nurse him back to sleep so I was sure he had a full tummy and clean bum. Then I would put him back in his bassinet where he would sleep for 10 hours. Yeah right! More like ten minutes. Then I would spend the next 2 to 3 hours trying to calm him from his melt down and put him back to sleep. By then he would be hungry again so he would have slept for about another 10 minutes. It was horrible. I was averaging about one hour of sleep per 24 hours and this sleep was for a few minutes here and there. Some times I would wake up to find myself with boob in K's mouth and my head resting on his leg. That damn hormone that is released while breastfeeding that puts you to sleep is the worst in the first few weeks.

I finally had a meltdown and called my midwife who came over to discuss coping and options. The skinny of it was that I should share my bed with little K and learn to breastfeed laying down. Dude, I'll do anything. The first night we did this he woke up twice to feed. He was so much happier and so was this mama. We have not had another night like that since but it is something I strive for now. I am getting more sleep than I was thankfully, but not as much as I would like. Most of the time he is just fussy... for every reason. He doesn't have the greatest self-coping skills and relies of me to help him. This usually entails breastfeeding. I know that some of the experienced mothers are shaking their heads at me and saying I will pay for it down the road but I don't care for a couple reasons. Number 1: I live in the now and right now I am going to do what works and worry about tomorrow when the time comes. Number 2: The one or two people who read my blog probably don't care :)

Anyway, the bottom line is, if you find yourself in the same predicament that I did where you and your newborn are not sleeping and you find yourself on the couch crying at 5 am with a screaming baby and feeling like a horrible mother - you're not alone. You're not a horrible mother, your baby isn't broken, and you have options. Try sharing your bed just make sure you do so safely. K sleeps in the middle of my bed no matter which breast he is feeding from and the pillows are off the bed except the one I am using and it's far enough away I don't need to worry about his finding his way under it. Also, I use a warm bed sheet so the comforter is not over him. He is swaddled tighter than a frog's arse and I am not under the influence of any drugs. Oh, and I put down a receiving blanket that I change daily in case of any spills or spit up.

Still not convinced. Check out this article on Dr. Sears' website: Scientific Benefits of Co-Sleeping

Oh yeah, and white noise helps a lot. I use this video and it helps put me to sleep too. Twelve hours of white noise

The other thing I downloaded that is very helpful for the car when he is freaking out and I am driving is the baby shusher app. Greatest invention ever!

Sleeping like a baby

ZiggleBaby Product Review

I've been a mom for three weeks and a day and I have changed many a diaper. Keegan had his bum wrapped in cloth diapers for about two weeks. I bought a pack of disposables for the first week or so until the meconium was cleared and I felt like I might actually somewhat have the hang of being a mommy. Well, I did say somewhat.

Before Keegan was born I purchased a bunch of one size cloth diapers from kijiji, The Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot, and ZiggleBaby. Most of my friends really like Bum Genius so my stash is mainly comprised of this brand. I also have a small arsenal of ZiggleBaby and that is the purpose of this review.

ZiggleBaby (or Zigs as I like to call them) is a relatively new brand that I didn't know about before I bought them. They sell one-size cloth diapers through their website listed here. They also sell that lovely laundry ball I wrote about earlier. I compare them to the Bum Genius (BG) I have in my drawer as well.

Zigs are the true one-size diaper. Keegan has leaked out of his BG diapers and I have had to change his entire outfit. They are absorbent enough but when he is laying on his side the pee can come out the legs because they don't really fit the best. That is why I love my ZiggleBaby diapers more. That gusset in the legs have saved many a sleeper and onesie in the past three weeks. I also really like the idea that it doesn't need to be stuffed like my BG diapers need to be. You just lay the pad on top and secure it with the magic buttons. Most of the time I can just put down another pad and not have to wash the outer shell because the mess is contained so well.

Now to the fit. I love that these really are one size and yet not nearly as bulky as my BG diapers. His ghetto booty is not nearly as ghetto in these diapers. And the best part is that they will grow with him. These are definitely the first diaper I reach for and they are also my motivator for getting my diaper laundry done as often as it needs to be done because I want more clean Zigs in my drawer.

I love the color selection and I would love to see more colors and patterns as the business grows. But really, he is wearing clothes over them so it doesn't really matter what colors they are. The colors are more for me anyway. :)

Please check out their youtube channel for more information and reviews: YouTube

Sorry that this is the quick and dirty review but I wanted to post something because I love these diapers so much. I am literally bouncing on my ball with Keegan in his carrier and strapped to my chest. This little dove needs to sleep but won't unless he is touching me. I'll write about co-sleeping and baby wearing another time.

Keegan James Doody

Well, it happened! My sweet little boy was born at 8:28 am on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. I have been wanting to record his birth story before time and sleep deprivation blurs my memory so here goes:

I went to visit my midwife on Tuesday morning in hopes of stimulating labor but since the team had attended another birth overnight I was asked to wait. Fine. But Keegan had other things in mind. Chris stayed home with me that afternoon and I felt pretty good. In hindsight it was probably some early labor happening. Tuesday night is also the night we usually go to our birth class and I wanted to go. Chris said he didn't and knew I wouldn't drive there myself. Instead, my friend and massage therapist had some time for me and offered a massage. Sure, sounds good. I told her that I had some light cramping but nothing serious. She said that it probably wasn't labor either since it was focused low and in one place instead of my entire abdomen or in my back. I tried not to get my hopes up but I continued to take my homoeopathics and bounce and eat and drink and do everything that I mentioned in my last post.

I finally tuned into my body later that night and decided I would keep track of these little cramps since they started to become more rhythmic. I wrote down the time on the back of an envelope and looked at the time between them while Chris napped on the couch. I told him he could go to bed but he decided to rest there. I decided I would continue doing what I was doing since the contractions were not easing up but getting more intense.

One of the lovely mommies in my midwife centering group said when she had her daughter she would breathe through the contraction and on the exhale she would say "open". I went with that and before I knew it I woke Chris up and told him we needed to get the bed ready for the home birth.

Now, when birthing at home they recommend that you put down a shower curtain over your made up bed then put an old sheet set over the curtain. I helped Chris do this while I was in active labor. A few weeks ago I put all the towels and needed items together in a laundry basket so we bought that into the room with us for easy access.

I remember thinking, it's going to get worse. I thought it was a good time to jump in the shower to see how the water would feel with my contractions. It was nice but I felt it slowed things. I really wanted to make sure I was doing whatever I needed to keep them intense and close together. I got out of the shower and decided that since they continued to be intense while standing that I would go with that. I stood near the high dresser in our room where I could put my head down and focus through the contraction. Still, I remember thinking, it's going to get worse. For something that I have no control over I certainly felt in control for the moment.

After a few more contractions while timing them with my app (yeah, there's an app for that) I told Chris to call the midwife pager. I even remember thinking, ha, poor suckers. They didn't want to push me into labor but I went on my own anyway. Cassie was the primary on call midwife and I spoke to her for a moment. She asked to hear me through a contraction. Ok. Here goes. She said that I was certainly in active labor but there was still some time. She told me to keep doing what I was doing and she would swing by Tim Horton's and grab a coffee and she would be at my house in about 45 minutes. I told Chris to move the car so she could park close to our townhouse. Visitor parking is hard to come by. While he moved the car I decided to hop in the shower. Chris has been helping me through contractions by rubbing my back. It felt good and it reminded me that I was going through all of this for us. I remember thinking, it's going to get worse.

Cassie got to our house and brought all her things into our bedroom. They carry with them the equivalent of a level one hospital so she had a few things to say the least. When she checked me I was 5-6 cm dilated and fully effaced. Rock on! I was afraid I would be one of those women who experience all these contractions and be one cm. Nope, this mama was working hard and it was paying off. I continued to labor standing up.

I remember standing and the contractions were coming hard and fast so I said to Chris "transition". He told Cassie who listened and agreed. 

Cassie called the student midwife, Tanya, who got to my house at some point. This is where things get a little blurry.

They checked me after 5 hours of active labor and this mama was ready to push. I actually pushed a few things while standing before I could tell her I needed to push. After a few positions that I said no to they wanted me to push while on the toilet to see how it was going. I did that for a bit and then they asked if I wanted to try side lying. I hated the pressure the caused but it was effective. That is the best thing about the midwives is that they ask, not tell... well, to a point. I went with it and spent the rest of pushing on my side. I had to move in a few different ways a couple times but for the most part it was side lying. Jane, the back-up midwife got to my house at some point while I was pushing. After about 2 hours of pushing the most incredible moment came to pass. Tanya, the student midwife caught Keegan James Doody and was placed on my tummy at 8:28 am on 3/13/13. He was pudgy and beautiful and absolutely perfect. I couldn't believe it! He was finally here. Chris watched the whole time and was so supportive and amazing.

After some time with mommy, they took him to weigh him. Holy smokes Batman! He's 9 lbs even! Wow! No wonder it took two hours of pushing. Oddly enough, it never got worse. I never felt like I couldn't handle it or that I needed drugs.

I remember this was the first time I opened my eyes in a long time and the sun was shining in through the window and the birds were singing. I was told that it was so warm and spring-like that morning. I was more enamoured with the beautiful little being in my arms. Perfection. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat and I can't imagine doing it anywhere but in my home and on my bed. Thank you to my incredible midwives.

Operation: Labor Induction

Ok, seriously. Baby, you are two days overdue and I don't want to be pregnant for ten months. Time to get serious about getting you out.

Everyone has heard stories about how to induce labor. Go for a walk. Have sex. Drink raspberry leaf tea. Drink Castor Oil (yuck). Eat pineapple. Or, in the case of a lovely young couple in my birthing class, go to the zoo.

I've picked my poison.

My friend/massage therapist/doula/young mom/magic maker told me to get evening primrose oil and start taking it. Baby brain intervened and made me forget until I saw her again today. Finally, I decided to write it down so I would remember to get some. Check.

Long massage by the above magic maker to try to induce labor. Check.

A lady in the elevator yesterday told me to eat pineapple... and lots of it. Check.

The old tried and true raspberry leaf tea. Check. Bonus: it also contains rose hips.

Plus, I have been taking the homoeopathic EZ Birth for about a week now and I have upped the dosage to the maximum 5 pellets twice per day. Check.

We were going to go to the zoo yesterday but ended up having to take a side trip to the hospital to check on the baby's heart rate. Everything is a-ok by the way. But it took a lot of time to get there, get parking (yeah, about thirty minutes of driving around), and to actually get the NST done. All is well and the lovely nurse who checked on us looked like Alyssa Milano. She was very sweet.

I should mention that today tonight is attempt number one of evicting my little tenant. I have about two pounds of pineapple sitting in my fridge... well, about half that now since as I type I am chowing down on the other half of it. I'll eat it all if I have to.

Sex. Well, it's not that kind of blog so no comment. But something completely unrelated, I learnt two things that you should not do to your husband while pregnant. Number 1, do not fake labor or water breaking. Ever. They don't think it's as funny as you do. Number 2, don't do impressions of Fat Bastard especially when nude or almost nude. Seriously. It's doesn't help matters. Not that any of that ever happened to me or anything. Er... a friend of mine did it and told me. Yeah, that's it.

Back to Operation: Labor Induction.

Dood has a hockey game tomorrow night that he is hoping he will get to play. My goal is to be not pregnant by then. Oh please let me be right.

One of my early labor coping strategies is to blog so for the two or three people who read this, you'll know if the above strategies worked or not. I hope my next entry will be written while in labor and not in frustration and pineapple overload.

Maternity Leave

Where the heck did the time go? Tomorrow marks my first official day of maternity leave - a day I have been anticipating and a little freaked out about for... oh, about 9 months. I spoke to another one of the moms at my birthing group who was on her first day of mat leave when I saw her last and she had the same anxieties. Thankfully, I am not alone. Dood even said that I shouldn't look at it as anxiety but as "nervous optimism". That guy always knows what to say.

The reason I am a little anxious "nervously optimistic" is because I haven't ever really been out of work. The one time I was out of work I had a job before the end of the week. I guess it was a wake up call that my work is too much a part of my identity.

I'm nervous that I will have too much time to think now. To worry about all the things that could happen at the end of this pregnancy, during labor, as a new mom. Thankfully I slept quite a bit this weekend and I didn't have time to think.

My plan for the next few days (if I don't go into labor) will be to sleep, eat, poop and repeat. I'm pretty much going to be an infant before my infant arrives. I'm not really making many plans. I do have a check-up with my midwife and a visit with a friend planned... but that's about it. The rest will come as it may. I started to make some plans and then I kind of slapped myself and realized that this is not the time to make any plans. This is the time for rest.

UPDATE
Day 1: I slept in until 10:00 and then went for a walk and got some groceries
Day 2:  Got up at 5:00 and rolled plastic bags, made muffins, brownies, and supper. Went for another walk and to the birthing class.
Day 3: Slept in until 9:00 and went for a long walk with Mr. Newman. Paid a visit to the midwife. All is well.

This maternity leave stuff isn't so bad after all.

Chicken Marrakesh + Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another recipe review!

I bought all the ingredients to make this dish last week but due to the doggie emergency (see previous post) I ended up not making this. What better day to try it than today.

The ingredients and instructions are super easy. Onion, garlic, chicken, carrots and sweet potato and a can each of tomatoes and chick peas. Throw in a couple spices and turn that sucker on and in a few hours you have a delicious nutritious meal.

I thought about taking a photo of the finished product but with a smell like that wafting through the house I plated, served and ate the meal within short order. My mom who doesn't even like things that are spicy (I'm talking a dash of pepper is too much) really enjoyed this dish. Dood said he wanted it to be spicier so I told him it would be better to add after cooking since I like it just fine. The chicken was so tender and the veggies paired well. I've added it to my book of favs.

Enough talking about it, here's the link. Try it for yourself. Just one note, I used my slow cooker and put it on low for about 8 hours and it was delicious. If you're in a bit more of a hurry, do the 4 hours like it suggests in this recipe.

Slow Cooker Chicken Marrakesh

On to the next!

Later this evening I was really thinking about chocolate chip cookies. Now, I have to tell you I am usually not someone who eats cookies. I'll bake them but Dood is usually the one who eats most of them. I've been thinking about cookies the last few days and since I had a bit of energy I thought I may as well whip up a batch of cookies using a recipe I found on Pinterest. My old recipe did not call for cornstarch but I was interested in this new recipe that did.

I like the cookies. I made a mistake though. Instead of one cup of chips I threw in the whole bag. It was probably more like a cup and a half and I think there is too much chocolate. I also expected that the cookies would spread a little more than they did. If I were to use this recipe again I might add another egg or a little more butter or something. Maybe less flour. I like when they spread out. That, or I could just spread them out before baking I supposed. In any case, they were quite tasty. They haven't even cooled and I have already had three and Dood has had two.

Here's the link:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

One other thing I did tonight was prepare some overnight oatmeal in the slow cooker. I thought since I had the thing still sitting on my counter from supper I may as well wash it up and make breakfast. It was really simple: two apples peeled and sliced. A layer of brown sugar (about 1/2 cup), a sprinkle of cinnamon, two cups of oatmeal and 4 cups of water. Don't stir it, just turn it on and let it do its magic. I obviously can't comment on how delicious this recipe is as it won't be ready until morning but it's difficult to mess up oatmeal in my opinion. That's another thing I have been wanting lately: cinnamon. I even asked my mom to make some cinnamon rolls for me. The mini ones that you can stuff a couple in your mouth at the same time :)

Is this what nesting is like I wonder?

Doggie Emergency

Poor Mr. Newman.

We took Newman to daycare on Tuesday like we usually do since we had a birth class on Tuesday evening. That way when he comes home he's ready for a nap, not a long walk. So off I go up to his favourite place and drop him off. I spoke to the owner as I always do and she asked if I had met a particular dog that was there that day. I follow the day care on facebook and I have seen photos of that particular dog but I wasn't entirely certain if Newman had met this other dog or not. I told her I thought they had met but I wasn't sure. She said they would introduce Newman slowly just in case.

Now, at this point I had a bit of a red flag. Anyone would.

I asked what this other dog's issue was and she said that he's a little... and made the motion of a flip floppy hand.

At this point I should mention that I really love this daycare and I respect them very much. Newman loves them and has a great time when he goes. He is quite submissive and calm but loves to play. We don't have any issues with him at home, in parks, on walks, etc and he has never given us any reason to believe differently. He's a totally mellow pooch that loves to nap and snuggle and play and run. I like to call him well-rounded and anyone who has met him will agree.

Around two that afternoon I get a call and see that it is the daycare. My heart sank. It was the owner on the other end who said that I will need to come pick him up because there was an incident and Newman will most likely need stitches and antibiotics. WTF.

Dood came with me and away we went.

The pup that greeted us was not the same guy that I dropped off that morning. This one was sore and confused. I was then given the story. They were throwing a ball and Newman got it. This same dog I spoke of earlier either didn't want Newman to have it or wanted it himself and grabbed Newman by the chest and pinned him on his back. They couldn't pull this other dog off him. Two staff yanking and pulling finally freed Newman and the damage was assessed.

Newman came out of it when a toonie-sized hole in his chest plus another puncture near the open wound. He also had an opening near his ear, on his cheek and multiple deep scratches on his face and body. He was in pretty hard shape. I called our vet who agreed to take him right away.

Once we got out there the vet took one look and said that he will definitely need stitches. They brought him to the back to await sedation so Dood and I left the clinic to wait for their call. We weren't gone long when we just needed to go back. Newman was still on the table in surgery when we got there. I could hear the beep beep beep of his heart rate monitor from the waiting area.

The vet came out some time later and said that he is recovering well and that they flushed the wounds but it not only required stitches but also a drainage tube to avoid infection. The poor bugger. She then presented us with a number of boxes for antibiotics, pain killers, antiseptic gauze for cleaning, and dry gauze for the drainage. At this point I heard the guys in the back coming closer to the room Dood and I were in and I could also hear Newman's collar. He was recovering on the floor in the back and when he heard our voices he came barrelling out to find us even though he wasn't nearly ready to be walking. Eyes wonky and tongue out he came a runnin'. He calmed him by sitting with him on the floor and he stayed by our sides until we finished hearing the instructions from our amazing vet.

She told us that the smaller puncture on top went through to the larger wound. He required multiple stitches there plus one single stitch near his ear.

Chris took Newman back three days later to have the tube removed but he now has a hole where the tube used to be. The vet told us that it will heal as an open wound and to continue to clean it regularly and provide antibiotics.

As I write this Mr. Newman is laying on his bed having a nap before bed. We shared a pear and cleaned his wound and life is slowly getting back to normal. He goes back in about two weeks to have his stitches removed and to check on the healing of his wounds.

We had a good thing at the daycare. Newman loved it, they loved him. They really took good care of him. My concern is that this was a serious attack and if it had been a couple inches higher the other dog would have gotten his throat at which point I don't think he would have survived. It was scary, terrifying, unnecessary. I think that since they had an idea that the other dog wasn't quite right they should not have accepted him in the day care. That's number one. Number two is that introducing toys in a pack with unstable dogs is not such a great idea. It gives the dogs something to be possessive about which can bring on aggression. We still have a few passes left in my $230 pass that I bought a few weeks ago and I think once Newman is fully healed I will be requesting a refund. If they refuse (I'm really not going to push the issue) then I know one other person who takes his dog there who I can hopefully transfer the pass to. Dood and I agreed that we should not make a decision too quickly about the daycare but I think we both know what that decision will be. This was too close a call for me to bring him back. Neither of us want to see anything like this happen to him again.

I won't post a photo of his chest because I feel it is too graphic. This is one of the least serious wounds he suffered. He is wearing the shirt to catch anything that drains from his chest wound. It was washed daily and we had three shirts that we alternated to keep the area clean.