Life as a Mother

Sometimes, you feel as though the laundry will never end. You can just finish doing numerous loads and then, someone will drop off clothes or there will be an "accident" that needs tending to.


And then, even when you get on top of it, it can take hours to fold and put away, since the baby's needs comes first.

There seems to be a perpetual state of disarray at our house. Don't let the clean living room fool you, we just throw everything into Joel's room.

But perhaps the worst part about being a mom---this inevitable feeling that a baby store threw up in your house. You know-baby gear everywhere and the knowledge that it will be a few years before your house is back to "normal."

...Or will it ever return to "normal?"

Trip to the Pool

Today, Dan and I took Joel to the swimming pool for the first time. He was rather indifferent to the whole idea.

The pool was a bit too cold for his liking, but he put up with it to please his mom and dad.

We also took him into the hot tub, which was a bit too hot for him. Plus, the lifeguards kept giving us nasty looks. So our trip was cut short since there was no water that was "just right." Maybe in a few more months we'll try again.

JOEL!!!

Sleeping in his own bed!

Playing on his quilt from Auntie Sarah

Watching TV with mommy (he really enjoyed it!)

Too much play time with polarboob makes him tired. (Polarboob is the polar bear he got in the hospital. He seems to try latching to it every time he sees it. We believe he thinks its a breast, hence the name polarboob)

World's Biggest Onsie

Yep...we're just those kinda folks. We do enjoy subjecting our child to humiliating circumstances.

But check out Joel's smile! He seems to enjoy it! He knows that his parents are crazy...and he's just trying to fit in with the family.

Clean up in Aisle 3

Mommy! I made a mess!

One of the unfortunate side effects of being on antibiotics....vomit!

Surrounded with Community

One of the most profound experiences that a person can experience in life is true community. Most of us will never be in a point in our lives where we are completely removed from people, but in reading and watching the experiences of those that do, it is an eye opening look at ourselves and humanity as a whole.
One of my (Dan's) favourite book/movie is "Into The Wild." It chronicles the life of Chris McCandless and his final two years of life as he prepared for and headed into Alaska for his great adventure. Part of the adventure was to get away from people which he certainly accomplished. In the end he wound up perishing from an unknown cause. Before he passed away, he wrote that one of the things that brought him true happiness was being with people, rather than trying to live on ones own.
A similar thought was voiced by Ed Wardle, an adventurer from Scotland who spent a summer trying to live off the land in the Yukon. He lasted 50 days before calling his support team to come back. What brought him to that point more than anything else was the extreme loneliness that he felt. At one point he said that he just wanted to be with people-to see them and hug them. That was worse to Ed than the lack of food that he was suffering from.
The point that I'm trying to make is one that we all know well, people aren't meant to be on their own. More than that, people are meant to live in community with each. Which involves more than being on the same Facebook page, "liking" something with thousands of other users that we'll never meet in person and probably never interact with again.
The community that we have experienced in our lives has touched us in many deep and profound ways. The most recent event was all that was done for us after the birth of our son Joel. At our church it is normal for members to provide a week of meals for any new parent within the church, but on top of that our own family provided meals as well. The broader community also blessed us with offers of going to pick up groceries, more gifts than we ever could have expected, and in the support that they have given to us in other ways that I can't even think to put down.
It has come up in discussion with friends about how hard life is without community. Our midwife was telling us about this family that she had helped with the birth and how astounded they were when a neighbour came by to drop off a meal. They thought that they were going to be on their own and this little bit of unexpected help was amazing to them. It also plays out when a person moves into a new area. If that person is involved with a church or other organization, the transition is a lot easier. Getting into a church allows for access to an established (and usually welcoming) community. Some one who is not involved must try and find friends and community on their own which can be a difficult journey.
We can't imagine what life would have been like after Joel's birth if it wasn't for community. We would have had to prepare two weeks worth of meals, that were otherwise delivered to our door. We would have had to purchase every outfit Joel owns, as opposed to not having purchased anything for him yet. We would have had to find our own way to church that first Sunday morning, when Amanda could barely walk more than a hundred meters. We would have had to take a taxi to the hospital, if it weren't for our community blessing us with rides. I can't imagine those first few weeks without people knocking on our door, offering to hold Joel, giving us a break while we cleaned up or rested. Or even the most basic conversation that we would have missed if it wasn't for community. There is a reason that God sent shepherds and wise men to Jesus' birth-they were meant to celebrate. And that is what our community has done. Even this evening, as we walked into Starbucks, our barista Jess, loudly exclaimed, "You've had your baby!" She then proceeded to ask a million questions while offering us a congratulatory drink. Even this provides us with a sense of community.

Our Home Birth Experience

Very early on in our pregnancy, Dan and I were presented the option of having a home birth. After weighing the pros and cons, Dan and I decided to make it an option. We realized that, with our certified midwives and our close proximity to the hospital, home birth was a safe option for us.
I thoroughly enjoyed our home birth experience. It was nice to labour at home and not have to transfer to a hospital, especially since my labour was so fast.

The timeline of our labour:
3pm: I had my first contraction, which I thought was gas from the spicy food we had the night before.
3:30pm: Dan calls home, and I explain to him that I (a) have bad gas, (b) am in labour or (c) am dying. I tell him "contractions" are 5-7 minutes apart.
3:50pm: I call Dan and tell him that he needs to head home, as I am in full blown labour.
4:10pm: Dan makes it home. I tell him, he needs to put the bagels in the oven and start timing my contractions. He figures out that they are 2-3 minutes apart.
4:45pm: I tell Dan that he needs to call the midwife. He tells me that he needs to wait a bit longer before calling, since it hasn't been an hour of contractions yet.
5pm: Dan calls the midwife. They are doing a shift change and will call back in a few minutes
5:15pm: Midwife calls and she decides that she'll finish dinner and cleaning up before coming. She'll be there at 6:30. Dan runs around between contractions trying to get the house in order and ready for labour. (putting plastic sheet on bed etc.)
6:30pm: I tell Dan that I need to push. Dan tells me, "Don't you dare!"
6:40pm: Midwife (Jan) arrives and checks me. She tells me that I am fully dilated and that my water is about to burst. She calls the second midwife (Rachel), who lives in Langley to come quickly. Midwife tells me, "Try not to push."
6:58pm: Water breaks and the involuntary pushing begins. Midwife informs Dan that he may need to help deliver baby if second midwife doesn't arrive.
7:15pm: Second midwife arrives. The pushing begins! Somewhere in the next forty five minutes the midwives realize that the heart rate keeps dropping and they need to get the baby out immediately. The cord is around his neck. They do an episiotomy to get him out fast (without freezing I might add!)
8:02pm: Joel makes his arrival into the world.

It was awesome! The only cleanup we had to do was one load of laundry (which we could have thrown out if we wanted, but we are much to frugal for that). I couldn't have imagined getting into a car (or ambulance, in our case) to make our way to the hospital. It was awesome to have a baby and fall asleep in my own bed just hours later. I would do it again in a second! Okay, not the whole labour thing, but the home birth aspect!

When the best of intentions are foiled

I had the best of intentions. But unfortunately they were not to be. Dan and I have spent the better part of our marriage trying to live simply and live "green." We want to be good stewards of the world God made. But since Joel has been born, I feel as though these ideals are harder to come by. Like I said, I had the best of intentions.
I purposely bought reusable nursing pads hoping to forgo the disposable kind and save the landfill from a few more pieces of junk. But what I didn't anticipate was the overabundance of breast milk that God has "blessed" me with. Because of this overabundance, the reusable pads just can't contain the milk I have (and sometimes, I've doubled up and still ended up with a soaked shirt). I end up being soaked all day long. I don't wish to remain drenched all day, and I want to keep myself from developing an infection so I made the switch to disposables. I am now adding more garbage to the landfill everyday. I had the best of intentions to help the environment, but they have been foiled.
We also had the best of intentions to start cloth diapering Joel after the meconium poos had passed. But here we are, a month into his life and still using disposables. Why? It has something to do with the medications Joel is taking for his infection and the diarrhea that ensues. We just can't handle washing upwards of 20 poopy diapers a day (I don't have enough to go 2 days at that rate!). Plus, we had a couple lovingly donate a few boxes of diapers to us (can't let them go to waste can we?) So, Joel is still in disposables and we are killing the environment one diaper change at a time.
But there is a silver lining to all of this. Since I have been blessed with the overabundance of breast milk, I am now able to donate my milk to BC Woman and Children's Hospital. Yes, this does add more of an environmental strain to the world with the plastic storage bags for breast milk, but I feel as though it is somewhat justified since it is feeding sick babies and children. I can only hope that they dispose of the plastic responsibly.
Sometimes we have the best of intentions that don't always work out the way we wish they did. But somehow God has a way of intervening and renewing our intentions into His own.

Grandpa's comin to town

On Boxing Day, Dad came to visit and see Joel for the first time and it was, as they say, love at first sight. Talking to him the day before he said that the rule for visiting was that Joel would be in his hands unless he needed a change or to be feed and that was pretty much how it turned out.

Joel took to Grandpa like no tomorrow and bonded with him in a very special way. Joel would cozy into him in a way he hasn't for anyone else and as soon as Dad left for the night Joel would be wide awake with eyes wide open even if he was fast asleep the moment before.

Joel even got visits from him in the hospital every day and would cry when Grandpa left.

Survivorman: Hospital Edition

4 days in Pediatrics
1 infected finger on a newborn baby
Surviving off arrowroot crackers, individually packaged cheese slices and 100ml cups of 2% milk

Joel's first hospital visit came 15 days after his birth (which happened at home). He was given IV antibiotics to fight a staph infection that he probably contracted after we cut his fingernails.

The Pediatric nurses loved him! Joel would flirt with the nurses every morning, with a squirt from his rear end and a smirk. We informed him that the ladies don't really enjoy that behavior. But he continued with it anyway. Needless to say, the nurses still loved him. They always commented on how calm he was, even when they stuck him with the IV. Often, he would barely cry as they changed his dressings or he would cry and then give up with a sigh.

His visit was complicated by the fact that he is sensitive to the adhesive in tape that was used to hold his IV in place. We finally figured out how to cover his hand without tape, but his foot was another story. They kept the tape on until we were released on New Years Day. His foot still is a bit red and swollen. But other than that, he is doing well. His finger is a bit red, and he's still on antibiotics till the end of the week. Hopefully the infection will be cleared up soon.