Friday, March 30, 2007

Happy days

As for the move, I think we're going to hold off until May, if we're going to move at all. Erini has been gaining a lot of weight, and last time doctor weighed her, she is now up to 7lbs 3oz, a full pound higher than her original birth weight! She's getting a lot more active, and at four weeks five days, she's trying very hard to hold her head up.

I like to say that she's like her mother in that respect. She likes to hold her head up high, as any princess would. The baby shower presents have been a great help to our patience and effectiveness as parents, I like to think. The Snuggli carrier has been invaluable, especially during the Mikado run at the Winspear, and in Leduc. Caitlin was able to wear our little girl, and help out with everyone else. It was also easy to carry her home, since we live walking distance from the Winspear theatre. The little bed/rocking chair has been great for rocking her to sleep. I still need to get batteries for the "soothing vibrations" motor.

We might not be moving for a while yet, because there is the possiblity that I could get on with Colt Engineering. Their main office is on the south side, but it's still doable as a bicyle commute. Might take 45 minutes or so, but I think that it would be worth the ride. This is of course assuming that I get hired. I put in an application with Halliburton too, but they are located in Nisku. If I get on there, then I would think that living in Beaumont would be easier for travel. April will tell all, and hence moving in April would be a little premature.

Goes to show, it takes two women to raise a man: his mother and his wife.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Crazy Month

I knew that March was going to be a crazy month. I have said so on numerous occasions, especially in February. I had no idea what was in store for myself and my family.

First.... I don't know where to begin. The fact that there has been a change of management at work, the fact that rent is going up at the end of the month, or just the whole fun of Erini spitting up on us.

Erini should come first, because contrary to some belief, we were not having the most perfect start to our family. Rini was getting thin, she had lost 9oz, and was down to 5lbs 8oz. At that point we had to supplement. We could not afford to have our child lose much of the little weight that she already has. We didn't want to, Caitlin had the idea of getting Rini to breastfeed from the start. Even before we were pregnant, that was the plan that Caitlin had. Plans go astray, but she's eating pretty much whatever we put in that bottle, whether it be formula, or breast milk.

Caitlin has been able to express on average 6oz of breast milk a day. Sometimes more, sometimes not. But the formula is a supplement to her breast milk diet. At first I thought that we were going to path of least resistance, and this was going to go from bad to worse. Now, I can see that it was a smart decision, and pretty much the only thing we could do at the time. Rini is back up to 6lbs 1oz, as of 13 March 2007, the last time we went to the doctor.

I feel bad that I haven't done any updates for sometime. Between work, The Mikado, and being a daddy, I haven't taken much time to record my thoughts on the whole ordeal. I know that some people consider this to be a main source of information in regards to my little family's status, especially since I haven't put minutes on my cell phone yet.

There is reason behind that. This is because of the new cell phone that I obtained, and with which I've been able to post pictures of my little girl. I was planning to transfer the number on March 14, but when the day came, I had another idea.

Caitlin and I have been discussing ways that I can contribute more to our family income. One way, of course, is to attain employment with an engineering firm. Preferably downtown. Barring that, the best place would be Nisku or Leduc. Even when I went in for an interview with Finning, they mentioned that they were planning on moving their operation to Nisku in 2008. Other than consultation positions, which are for Professional Engineers, not EITs, working downtown is not the biggest option. I had some high hopes for a position with Intuit, but those hopes were dashed when I received an email on Thursday telling me that the positions where filled. I did get a phone interview, so that was more than most people get! I just need to keep sending out applications, and hope for the best.

However, with the job market, it's more of who you know rather than what you know. Getting networked is the key to it all. People need to know your name, know who you are, and what you can do for them. At the moment, I've been sending out applications online, and keeping a close watch on job websites. However, there are still jobs out there, and I keep reading in the paper there is going to be a staffing shortage in the near future.

In order to free things up, Caitlin and I have decided we need to make some drastic changes. Very drastic. First, I need a different job. Source is nice, but on a good paycheck, I make $10.50/hr. I could make twice that as a supermarket meat cutter! Heck, I know one of my friends, after his start-up business went into the ground, he worked at a shoe factory until he found his current engineering job.

Also, we need to cut expenses. Rent is going up at the end of the month, and it's probably going to increase again in six months. Our apartment is alright, and it was great while I was going to school. Nevertheless, I don't want to raise our child in a downtown apartment. When I put in the rent check for April, I'm also going to submit a notice of departure. As of 1 May 2007, Caitlin and I are going to be residing in Beaumont.

I know that this will lengthen my commute to work, hence I'm going to be leaving Source on 14 April 2007. This will allow for time to move, and also search for a new job.

Is this drastic? Oh yeah. Is it necessary? We think so. Is this the best option? Under the circumstances, I would say so, and Caitlin agrees. Ideally, I'd like to get a job downtown, and commute by bike all year long! The odds of that seem pretty slim though. But anything is possible, and I haven't given notice to anyone save Source, and to make it official, I need to put it in writing.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Left too early

Caitlin, Erini and I are back from the hospital for the second time now. Woof, what an adventure. When the nurse from the "Healthy Beginnings" program came to see Caitlin on Wednesday 28 Feb, she wondered if there was any trouble with feeding, how many diapers Erini was going through, etc. Our answers surprised the nurse, and we kind of surprised ourselves in telling them. She had only gone through about 2 diapers that day, and one of them wasn't messy at all. If it was 3am, that would be that bad, but it was 11am, and in the past 24 hours, she had only gone through 4 diapers. By this time, she should have had 8 or so.

After a blood sample delivered to a lab via courier and analysed, it was determined that Erini's Biliruben count was too high. We were to take her back immediately to RAH so she could undergo photo-therapy in order to bring the level down. I went back to the hospital after work instead of to home.
Unlike the days following Erini's birth, when Caitlin was an admitted patient, had a private room, and I was able to sleep in the same single bed with her (that was a throw back to the newlyweds days), the only room that was available for us was the nursery chairs, or the waiting lounge where I could make a bed out of chairs. They had border beds, but they were all taken. Besides, I would not have been allowed there, and it was quite the distance from the nursery where Erini was under the photo-therapy lights.

I thought that I could tough it out in the nursery chairs, but at 4am, when there were 11 babies in the nursery, including our own, I thought I would give the lounge a try. Foolish me, I waited too long, and there were no longer enough chairs to put together a make-shift bed. So I took a blanket, laid it on the floor, made a pillow with my gloves and toque, and got a moderately decent sleep for four hours. At 8am, I tried doing the chair bed thing, and that wasn't nearly as sucessful, but at 10am, I found that I wasn't going to be able to sleep anymore. It was day time, and I had to join the rest of the world.

On the plus side, yesterday was the first day of the new fiscal year. That is the time when they reset the vacation days. Now I know I dropped the ball on applying for parental leave, yet if I do get some vacation days, and I might qualify for 8 days, I could take that pretty quick here to help out with Caitlin and Erini. I could have applied for Parental leave, yes, but I have to do it at least 2 months in advance. Hmmm... Let's do some math. If my parental leave started on 24 Feb 2007, the day Erini was born, then my last day to apply would have been Christmas Eve 2006. I HAD A FEW THINGS ON MY MIND AT THE TIME. I think. Or I could have put the application to start on March 6. Then I could have put the application in by the new year.

I think, at this point, it's vacation days or nothing.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

The Great Day Has Come At Last

7:45am - Mom Tolley just woke me up via phone wondering if I was going to make it to rehearsal. I told her that I had not heard from Caitlin yet, and I wasn't going anywhere until she called. In retrospect it was similiar to a scene in School of Rock, where Jack Black's character gets an abrupt waking from his roommate, demanding rent money. His response, "Aw man, you woke me up for that? You know I don't have it." My response to mom Tolley's question, "You woke me up for that? You know I'm not coming."

8:00am - Just got a call from Caitlin. They're putting her on the IV drip now. Time for me to get out of bed I think.

9:20am - After a breakfast of Shreddies and Cheerios, I went off to catch the bus. When I got to Staidium station, I didn't go out to the stop immediately. When it's cold out, you tend to prefer to look at the schedule that is located indoors. A quick check at the posted Saturday schedule told me that I had a fifteen minute wait ahead of me. Thirty seconds later, I saw the bus leave. Oops. I started walking because I didn't want to wait half an hour!

10:00am - Caitlin told me about a dream she had last night. This is the second time she's dreamt about a black kitten with blue eyes.

10:30am - Nurse came and dropped off some presents, if you call a full IV bag and some medication presents. One of then was Ranitidine, something to keep the level of stomach acid down. The other is some odourless, colourless liquid that they're going to give her right before she goes in for the Caeserean. I'm pretty sure it's not iocaine powder.

11:10am - The iocaine powder, or whatever it is, is down the hatch. Caitlin has been summoned to appear in the theatre. This is really happening!

11:20am - Turns out the "iocaine powder" was sodium citrate. Something they give to everyone before they go in for a C-section. Not deadly, but it's good for mommy, since it semi-neutralizes stomach fluids.

12:00pm - Now it's my turn. I had to change into some scrubs and put on a mask. I thought the mask was the biggest pain, until I learned I could clamp the metal bit over my nose so that my glasses didn't fog up. I was sitting next to Caitlin, holding her hand, and making small talk with the anesthesiologist. Partially as something to do, and also to keep myself, and Caitlin, calm. I tried to get a view of what was going on, and I kept hoping that it wasn't going to be something truly grotesque like I've heard described by others. At one point I saw the surgeons poking about with some leads that we causing smoke to arise for my wife's abdomen. I later found out that was cauterization. At the time, I was content to sit back and trust these folks knew what they were doing. Especially after I got a glimpse of the doctor tucking his hand into the incision. I just sat behind the blue veil, even when the anesthesiologist got up and gave us a play by play of what was coming out. "One foot, two feet..." and then everyone in the OR announced...


12:20pm - IT'S A GIRL! We got a quick view of baby before she was taken over to get inspected by the ICU personnel on hand. Dr. Litchfield will probably come by some time this evening to put his stamp of approval on Erini. I was about ready to take her out to see Grammie and Grandpa, but she hadn't been weighed yet!


12:40pm - In the nursery. Erini is quite the tough baby. She didn't fuss much, even when she got her Vitamin K shot. She complained when she was pushed and prodded as she had her first bath, but she calmed down as I talked to her explaining how my mind is like a sieve, and the definition of a sieve. I just kept talking, trying to soothe her, calm her, and help her get used to my voice. The nurse said she was listening to everything I was saying. I don't doubt it.

Friday, February 23, 2007

End of Days

I can't help but think that I'm approaching the end of my manhood. Although, this is not a bad thing, for it marks the beginning of something else. Fatherhood. Exciting and terrifying all at once.

I received word that Caitlin was being prepped for c -section around 3 o'clock. I was still at work, but Jon understood the importance of being with my wife at this critical time. Sometimes I hate being short staffed. The added sales are nice, but you wind up doing a lot more. For instance, I'm going to miss the Oscars, because I have to help with inventory. Massive suckitude, but there are only 4 people on staff right now, and everyone will be needed for inventory count.

At first, I was a little surprised at myself for thinking of the birth of my first child as a time of death. That's the thing. I don't view death as an end. It's merely a transition from one state of existence to another.

I still worry about what kind of parent I'll be. "Hey baby! Guess what! Your daddy is a psycho!" That's my number one worry, that I'll have another episode. Then there's the issue of being an adequate breadwinner for my family. Do your best, apply for everything, and get yourself known. Is it enough though?

Time will tell.

At the moment, I lie alone at home waiting for a call from Caitlin to let me know what and when things will happen. The operation won't be until the morning at the earliest, so I should get some sleep. I hope that Caitlin is okay by herself at the hospital. I would be there right now, but I was kicked out at 9pm, when visiting hours ended.

I don't know if I'll get to rehearsal tomorrow, but we'll play it by ear.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

38 Weeks Precisely

Any day now I could be a daddy. This is starting to really freak me out. Caitlin just had a bit of a labour pain, but in retrospect it probably had something to do with the fact that she had just gone up some stairs to get to our apartment. Plus there was the delayed stress reaction to most everyone's attitude towards the costumes at rehearsal.

On the same note, added stress can trigger labour. We can be grateful that the placenta didn't seperate, or else we would be in the ER right now.
As you may have noticed, the picture of Caitlin is not in the kitchen, or the family room. This is because I won a Nokia 5300 phone at work, and it has a 1.3 Megapixel camera/videocamera embedded in it! When I found out that I had won, I thought, I hope I get that phone before baby comes! Now that I have the phone, I'd like to think that we're ready for baby now. We have diapers, Pampers Swaddlers, and the crib is near ready to go. Plus we got a baby change table from mom and dad Tolley. That was a heap of fun to put together. We had everything assembled, and the last thing was to put the drawer in. That's when I realized I had put them on backwards. Good thing we have that drill. It took about 5 minutes to fix the drawers. If it had been by hand, probably would have been half an hour.

I'll post some pictures of baby's room once we get the crib sheets put on. Basically once it's presentable.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Fake out

The most pivotal moment of our lives has been postponed. Baby did not turn today, therefore Caitlin was not induced. Reason being, there was not enough amniotic fluid for Erini to swim around and reorient herself.

From here on in, until I get word otherwise, I'm going to follow my wife's intuition that we are having a girl. The ultrasound Caitlin had today also seemed to lean in that direction. Knowing the sex of the baby is one thing, but the big thing we're looking forward to is finding our her eye colour. Hoping for blue, but will be just as pleased if they are brown.

Back to the matters of the day, Caitlin is still pregnant, Erini is still breached, and there was another appointment made for next Friday at 2pm. At that time we are going to see whether there is sufficient fluid to move our daughter into position. Also at this point in time, we are going to have weekly appointments with our doctor to monitor baby's progress.

In other news, my name was drawn as the winner of the Nokia 5300 contest at work. Some time next week I'll receive my new phone, which is very handy, because not only is it a phone, but it also has picture and video capability. Alright, so we don't have a camcorder, but a video phone is a sight better than nothing! Plus, the phone is small enough that I can film and still make eye contact with baby. I've heard that it's not the best idea to film baby at birth, because to baby it would be a bit disorienting.

Can't you see it? "This is mommy. She has bright eyes, a wonderful smile, gorgeous hair, and a splendid complexion. Everyone says I look like her. I can live with that. And this is... daddy? I see a hand waving at me, but there's this huge dark... thing coming out of his neck! Now it's talking to me. 'Look at the camera! Look at daddy!' A camera. Okay. So, my daddy is a camera? At least I have a normal mommy."

I found out about the lack of delivery when I was heading to the hospital. At that point I thought that I should go back to work, but then I realized I need to spend some time with my wife. So the decision was set in my mind. I'll head home, and if Jon needs me to come in to close, I'll do it. When I got home, I laid down on the bed beside my resting wife, and I didn't want to get up. I really didn't. All my energy left me, and I don't think I had the strength to even desire to think.

And to think, baby's not even here yet.