Category Archives: jakob


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home, home, home at last

What a busy day! We were up at the crack of 9:00am to feed Jakob and load up the car as we had his pediatrician appointment for his 2 month vaccinations (even though it’s a bit early).

I’m proud to say he handled the shots like a trouper! A quick cry, almost as if to say “what the hell?” and by the time I had him re-dressed he was laughing again. I’m so proud of my big boy! Besides the shots he was found perfectly healthy, he grew 3 inches longer since birth (up to 23.5″) and gained some more weight to a nice, healthy 11 lbs.

After that appointment we spent the day doing something we had been meaning to do for the last year! We had received some duplicate items from our wedding registry, and a few items that weren’t exactly to our taste. We FINALLY went through everything and brought the items back to the store to exchange them for items we will use. It was so much fun! It was a bit awkward when Jakob got hungry, but the department store had an extra-large changing room with a bench so I was able to feed him in privacy. Then we spent the afternoon shopping with the store credit that we’d amassed. It was great, and we got a bunch of items that we will use often. I love them all, but I’m a bit biased towards the steamer we picked up- because it will be great for blocking! 🙂
After that long day we weren’t in the mood to cook so we went over to my parents’ place and had dinner with them. Now we’re home and I’m going to try feeding Jakob at 11:00 instead of midnight and seeing how long he sleeps afterwards. Wish me luck!

p.s. to the Sharon who found me through the baby blog…thanks for your comments! I can’t reply directly so I’m putting it here. 🙂

p.p.s. I haven’t uploaded the camera lately so these are some of my favorite shots from the last few weeks.


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…and the last little bit…

If I don’t finish catching this up I never will.

To quickly sum up…life is much easier now! We have been spending most days running around doing errands and I finally used two wedding shower gift certificates and pampered myself with a manicure and pedicure, so I’m looking a little better now too!

Health-wise everything is going well. I’m recovering nicely from the c-section, the scar is ropey but that will take a long time to fade. The stretch marks are still dark and vivid, but those will fade too.

For Jakob things are looking good. Breast feeding is still tough, but we’re getting through it one day at a time. I’ve been worried because every book and nurse tells you to feed for 15-20 minutes per side, and my little gulper drinks for 5 minutes per side. Only most babies drink with a sip-sip-sip-swallow pattern, and Jakob drinks as sip-swallow, sip-swallow, literally “chugging” his milk. Luckily I have proof he’s doing well, as I’ve been bringing him to the CLSC every week to be weighed.

Check this out: on Tues June 26 he weighed 9 lbs 13 oz. Taking his weight gain from the previous weigh-in, he’d put on 38 grams per day (the average is 25) and was in the 75th percentile! Not bad for only 5 minutes per side every 2-3 hours!

To make it even better, on his last weigh-in, Tuesday, July 3rd, he weighed 10 lbs 3 oz!!! He put on 10 oz in one week!!! That comes out to 42 grams per day! He’s DEFINATELY getting enough to drink, even if he’s doing it fast. So that’s a huge load off my mind.

Things seem to be slowly settling into a groove. Some days its hard, like today. It was a rainy day and we both just wanted to sleep, only he wanted to be held all day so I wasn’t able to get anything done, plus he was very fussy. Other days he’ll be calm and good and I can put him in his play pen or into a bouncer while I unpack for a while.
On June 23rd I knit for the first time since giving birth. I took Jakob for a walk in his stroller and sat in the park for a while, knitting while he slept. He was still sleepy when we got home so I took advantage and finished a few more rows. I worked on the Mitered Square Blankie since my brain isn’t up to anything more complicated than garter stitch yet. 🙂
Last Wed I went to my local knitting meetup for the first time since…um…well, it has been a while. It’s nice to be able to get out of the house, I just need to get more comfortable with breast-feeding in public.
Tomorrow he gets his 2 month vaccinations at his doctor’s appointment, then we’re going to do some shopping. I’ve only got one last little part to blog about, the Shriner’s visits, so I’ll try to get to that this week. I can’t think of anything monumental enough to blog about that you really “need to know” about the last few weeks, so consider me caught up blog-wise (except the Shriner’s part). Hopefully from now on I can update “live”. 🙂 So enough of the boring “catch up” posts!
Oh, and he smiles and laughs now, and I’ve got it all on video! I will be uploading one soon, I promise!
p.s. Sorry for the mess of a post. I feel like this one is very poorly written, but my brain is a little scattered at the moment and I don’t have the energy to to back and edit. Long story short all is well here and if there is anything that you want to know that I forgot to mention, please don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments. I’m here for you! LOL


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so from where we last left off…

…after the bris everything seemed to be back to normal, but better. Instead of being forced to wake up to eat every three hours, Jakob had started waking up on his own. It was like clockwork- 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, 12am, 6am, 9am, etc… every three hours we’d do the whole schedule.

The nurse Isabelle called on the following Monday (May 28) and when she heard how it was going, and heard him cry (more lusty and loud then his earlier, weaker cries) she said I could stop the routine and start feeding him on demand. That meant I could even stop pumping and supplementing, and see how it went just feeding when he wanted. I was so relieved! Even more so the next day when we went to the CLSC and he was up to 7lbs 9 oz, up 5 oz from his last weigh-in 5 days previous!

At that point things started going smoother, baby-wise. It was still demanding and tough, but now that I didn’t have the extra stuff to do, I could get some sleep in between his feedings. I was still feeling a lot of pressure about our impending move since we had a moving company coming on June 11th and that was only a week and a bit away and the house wasn’t packed yet, but my family really pitched in and helped out. I really owe the smoothness of the move to their help!

I don’t remember much about those next few weeks except a daily blur of repetition. Most days I’d get a lift over to my parents’ house (I wasn’t allowed to drive yet, had to wait 4 weeks after the c-section) because it had more light than sitting in my dark, box-filled living room. Plus there were people there to help me out most of the time, even if it was just because they wanted to hold him, it let me get a few minutes of rest with my arms free. (It didn’t last long LOL I’m typing this with him slung over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes!) I’d started off going there one afternoon when my house lost power and it was really dark, and it got to be a habit. I’d stay there until after supper then someone would drive us home and then each night various family members would come over and pack. Yannick wasn’t around at all because he’d work all day, then go to the new house and work on renovations all night. He’d come home around midnight or 1am, visit with us for a bit then go to bed himself.

During Jakob’s fifth week 2 great things happened. First of all, I was now able to start driving again. Our first trip out was on Wednesday, June 20. I took him to the bank to get his own account, then to my parents’ place, then finally to my friend Jackie’s house to visit. The first few minutes were scary because I felt this huge weight of responsibility, but by the time I reached the third corner it had passed and we’ve driven around ever since with ease.

The second great thing was that Jakob started his closest interpretation of sleeping through the night. The first time it happened, I fed him at 12am then put him down to sleep in between Yannick and I as usual. (Now that we’re in the new house we swapped our waterbed for a real bed and Jakob sleeps between us ‘cus it’s easier for the late-night feeds. Once he does a 7 hour stretch or longer through the night I’ll be putting him into his crib overnight). Anyways, I woke up at 5:30am, looked over at his sweet, sleeping face, then looked at the clock and freaked out. He’d only fallen asleep around 1:15am, but it was still the longest stretch of sleep we’ve had since the minute he’d been born. I fed him until 6:00 and then we slept again until 9am- it was amazing. I felt so well rested the next day! The following night it happened again, only he slept until 6am. I woke up at 6:00 on my own and looked at the clock before looking at him. This time I went into a panic- why didn’t he wake up? Is he ok? Is he breathing? Every story I’ve ever heard about SIDS went through my head. I looked over at him- looked so peaceful but I couldn’t resist putting my hand on his chest to make sure he was breathing.

Ever since that first night now on average he feeds between 11:30 and 12:30 (which can take up to 45 minutes) then sleeps until anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00 am. Then he feeds again and sleeps until anywhere from 8:30 to 9:30 am. On a good day we’ll go back to sleep again until noon-ish but that doesn’t usually happen.

I have to say to anyone who reads this and is about to be a parent or is a new parent and is freaking out about the sleep deprivation- you WILL feel human again! As soon as we started this new sleep routine I have actually been able to do stuff and have not napped a single time during the day. I feel so well rested now! I have actually had the energy to take him out almost every single day on errands and not crash and burn.


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mommy with jakob at 7 weeks old


(Not the best photo of him but I look ok and Yannick was too busy to take more than one pic).

I’m not going to wax poetic about how fast the time flies, especially not today when my son has had the desire to eat practically every hour (the last feed was 20 MINUTES after the previous one) and I’m feeling drained and flat and empty, and the day seems to be dragging on forever. But I can’t believe it’s almost two months, and that I’m not pregnant any longer (although the uterine contractions feel like kicks and I temporarily forget there’s no baby in there). Ok, I’ll say it. It goes really fast.

Lots more to catch up on but not enough time at this sitting, maybe tomorrow. If yours is one of the blogs I’ve been neglecting take this “HEY” as a shout out and know that I hope everything is good, that any troubles are past, that I congratulate you on your achievements (knitting and non) and that I’m thinking of you. I know exactly which dozen or so blogs I used to read daily, and I’m missing you all.


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while my little one sleeps…

…let’s see how much typing I can get done.

So I think I caught up my hospital stay, right? Jakob was born on Thursday and I left the hospital on Sunday afternoon. It was a long weekend so I knew I’d have Yannick and my parents around on the Monday to help out, and it turned out to be a great thing they were all available, as the week didn’t start off so well.

On Monday Isabelle, a baby nurse from my local CLSC came by to take a look at Jakob and to take out my surgery staples. I’m not sure how it is in other provinces and in the rest of the world, but here in Quebec a nurse comes to visit you a day or two after you leave the hospital with your baby. You don’t need to make an appointment or anything, it is all arranged by the hospital for you. Anyways, Isabelle came by and weighed Jakob and saw that he had lost more weight. All babies lose weight after birth (mostly water) and up to under 10% is an acceptable amount. Jakob had been born at 8.0 lbs and when weighed each night at the hospital, he went down first to 7 lbs 12 oz, then to 7 lbs 7 oz, then to 7 lbs 3 oz.. Now that the nurse was weighing him at our house he was down to 7 lbs 2 oz, which was around 11% of his body weight lost.

Isabelle made it clear that this was not good. In fact, she also informed us that he was jaundiced, something no one at the hospital ever told us. Up to that point we’d thought it was normal that he was very sleepy and difficult to wake for feedings, but it turns out that the more weight he lost, the bigger an effort it took to stay awake, so he had no energy left to feed, which led to more weight loss…it was a very hard time. The only way to flush the jaundice from him was to make him drink since it leaves the body in his waste, but he was too tired to drink. If the jaundice got worse than we’d have to bring him back to the hospital to stay under the lights and I’d have to leave my newborn. Needless to say I was very shaken and upset.

She told us that we had to follow a strict regimine until his weight was back up:

-I had to strip him down to his diaper before each feed so that he’d get cold and wake up.

-then I had to get him to do a good drink (swallowing, not just sucking) for 15-20 minutes on one side

-then burp him and change his diaper to wake him back up

-then get him to drink the same way on the other side

-once that was done I had to feed him a 1 oz supplement of pumped breast milk or formula

-then pump for 20 minutes to boost milk production

This whole process had to be repeated every 3 hours. I didn’t have a pump yet so Yannick had to run out and buy one, and also a can of prepared formula to have something to give Jakob for the first few feeds until I had a chance to sterilize the breast pump. Only our first day home and my biggest desire to NOT give our son formula was ruined. On top of that, he was SO sleepy that getting him to drink for 15 minutes sometimes took over 30. And he burped well, even after 10 minutes he still could have resisted burping. That meant the whole strip-feed-burp-change-feed-supplement-pump routine could (and often did) take almost 2 hours. The “repeat every 3 hours” starts from when the last feed BEGAN, so if I started feeding him at 9am and only finished at 11am I still had to start back over at 12pm, next feed at 3pm, and so on. This went on around the clock. I was so utterly exhausted because anything I did in that brief hour or so between feeds, whether eating, taking calls or even going to the bathroom, everything took away from sleep. I couldn’t figure out how mothers left the house with their babies when I couldn’t even think about sleep without wanting to cry.

Isabelle had given us a syringe with a wide mouth to administer the 1 oz supplement, and at the pharmacy Yannick had asked for a small cup to have another option. Both options worked when I had someone with me to hold Jakob or at least hold his arms out of the way, but neither one worked well when I was alone with him throughout the night. So by the second day we were home I had to scrap another strong conviction- to not give him bottles. I was so tired and desperate that I caved and used bottles to give him the supplement

The whole time I kept wondering if I would suffer for it in the end, if it would screw up his latch, all the stuff they warn you about during prenatal classes when they try to drill in the importance of all breastfeeding, all the time, for the first six months at least. They really hammer it home- no bottles, no pacifiers, no formula. And Yannick and I had such convictions that we would be able to do it.

Isabelle had come by the following morning (Tuesday) and weighed Jakob again and he was up an ounce, so our efforts were working. I was elated- until that afternoon when he seemed weaker than ever. Most feeds were an effort; he’d fall asleep so often while feeding that I had to constantly stroke his cheek, tap under his jaw, dab him with a cool compress, etc, to provoke him to wake up and keep sucking. Tuesday afternoon he was so sleepy that we were practically dipping him into a bowl of ice water and I couldn’t get him to wake up to drink. He slept through an entire feed and all I could think about was how much weight he’d lose and would we have to bring him back to the hospital. It was a lot of pressure for a situation that wasn’t completely in my control and it was a very hard time.

Even though he’d gained an ounce we weren’t out of the woods yet. We were asked to bring Jakob to the CLSC on Thursday to have him weighed again. Every Tuesday and Thursday the CLSC has a free clinic where you can get breastfeeding advice from a lactation consultant, weigh your baby, see a nurse, and chat/socialize with other mothers. We agreed to bring him then asked our important question: was he healthy enough for his bris which was scheduled for Friday morning? (The Jewish circumsision ceremony is usually done on the 8th day which would have been Thursday but it was a high holiday and because I’d had a c-section it was required to go to the Friday). She couldn’t tell us if he would be strong enough, it would all depend on his weight.

Thursday we took him out for the first time. Yannick took time off work and we brought him to the CLSC. Now he was up to 7 lbs 4 oz. It had taken him 2 days, but at least he’d put on some weight.

I was really scared for how the bris would knock him out though. A trauma like that would knock out any infant, but Jakob already had so little strength and I was afraid that any progress we’d made would be set back. Friday morning I gave him some baby Advil on the moyel’s advice (the rabbi who does the ceremony) and we went to the synagogue for the bris.

I’m happy to say he did really well. He cried for a split second when the moyel took off his diaper and he was exposed to the cold, and that was it. He did poo during the ceremony though, which will be a story we’ll love to tell his future dates. 🙂 We didn’t allow anyone to hold him during the brunch afterwards, as we wanted him to rest and recoup his strength.

Afterwards we went home and spent the weekend cocooning in our 3 hour routine. It was exhausting and frustrating and I cried and screamed more than I would like to admit, but we made it through our first week.

Next post: week two.


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not gonna happen

Sorry folks, but that update won’t be coming today. We had a really busy day running downtown to the Shriner’s Hospital for Sick Children (more on that in the update, but don’t worry- nothing serious *knock on wood*) and running some errands so I’d hoped to find time to post in greater length tonight. Unfortunately it is already after 10:00, he’s crying to be fed and my in-laws are sleeping over tonight in the spare bedroom which is also my temporary office so I won’t have access to the computer until tomorrow. I will do my best to catchup over the weekend so Monday I can really start fresh and go forwards. Until then, here’s my grown-up looking little guy. I can’t believe how old he looks!

p.s. to all those of you who have blogs that I regularly read and comment on (most of you in my sidebar, there are only a few I lurk on and don’t comment) don’t think I’ve decided to stop commenting, I just haven’t had a chance to catch up on my blog reading yet. I WILL be coming to each and every one of your blogs and starting back from May to catch up where I left off. So don’t worry- you haven’t lost me as a reader. To those of you who read my blog and I don’t have yours listed, drop me an email with the URL and I’ll add you.

Have a great long weekend!


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mommy and jakob at three, four, five and six weeks old

Tomorrow we have some appointments during the day, and when I get home I will try to find time and recap the last six weeks so I can go forwards without anything hanging over me. In the meantime, here are the four missing weekly photos:
three weeks old

four weeks old

five weeks old

six weeks old

(I promise, I do own more shirts. I just haven’t unpacked them yet.) 🙂


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guess who’s back….?!

We’re all moved in and have an internet connection again! This will be a really short return post because it’s hard to type with a squirmy almost 6-week-old in my arms, so I’ll just take a moment to give you what you’re really here for…

“…partied WAY too hard last night, dude…”

Daddy’s boy has already been there 3 times! (Disappointingly, he slept throught it each time).

Hi world!

And one of my personal favorites:


I can’t put a caption to this one. There is just too much going on in that face for me to interpret. Enjoy as you will.

I can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s blogs, and hope to not take too long to do so. I’ll also try to post as regularly as possible. I’ve got some really cute photos and video to post, so stay tuned!


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guess who’s back….?!

We’re all moved in and have an internet connection again! This will be a really short return post because it’s hard to type with a squirmy almost 6-week-old in my arms, so I’ll just take a moment to give you what you’re really here for…

“…partied WAY too hard last night, dude…”

Daddy’s boy has already been there 3 times! (Disappointingly, he slept throught it each time).

Hi world!

And one of my personal favorites:


I can’t put a caption to this one. There is just too much going on in that face for me to interpret. Enjoy as you will.

I can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s blogs, and hope to not take too long to do so. I’ll also try to post as regularly as possible. I’ve got some really cute photos and video to post, so stay tuned!


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jakob’s birth story

First of all, to everyone (regular commenters and delurkers) who posted with kind words and well wishes for our new family, a huge and heartfelt “thank you”. I’m exhausted and don’t know if/when I will get to the computer next (although I’m trying to keep up the weekly Thursday photos, so I’m hoping for at least once a week) so the fact that there really are people out there who are reading this after I take the time to post is appreciated, and your warm words mean a lot when I’m struggling through the fourth feeding in a row in the middle of the night.

daddy and baby

Two weeks ago, on the 17th of May, my mom picked Yannick and I up in the wee hours of the morning and we drove down to the hospital for our scheduled C-section. Yannick was half asleep. I was wide awake and freaking out- I’ve never had ANY surgery in my life and was really, really scared of the unknown.

At the hospital we got put into a room and I had to change into a hospital gown. The nurses and residents came by and did their various tests, like blood pressure and stuff. I had to drink a small glass of a very salty liquid, I think it was to settle my stomach. About 2 hours after we were told to be there, they were ready to take me in. I had to walk to the operating room on my own while Yannick stayed in the first room and put hospital scrubs on over his clothes.

In the operating room I had to get up onto the table and wait for the anesthesiologist (sp?) to do the spinal epidural. The table was so narrow! I was so nervous about what was going on (literally) behind me that my back started cramping up, but blessfully it didn’t hurt one bit and before I knew it my legs started feeling that funny full-yet-tingly feeling that my lips get when I’m frozen for dental work. They had me lie down and luckily pulled out a tray for my arm (the one that wasn’t hooked up to oxygen and blood pressure monitors) so I wouldn’t feel like I was falling off the bed, since they prop you up at a bit of an angle and like I said, the bed is REALLY narrow.

Once I was frozen Yannick was allowed in and he sat by my head and they raised a screen at my chest level. Yannick had our video camera with him and took some footage then tried to put the camera over the screen- I yelled! I was naked, spread-eagled and cut open on the other side of that screen- NO ONE needed to see that! The nurses promised they’d let him know when the baby was about to come out, so he put the camera away in the meantime. On my part I felt only a bit of movement and a lot of pressure, but absolutely no pain at all. The worst was the feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t breathe in fully. I didn’t really feel any tugging, but I did feel jostled around quite a bit, so much so that it was almost like being rocked back and forth. Before we knew it they said “the baby’s coming!” and Yannick turned on the camera and we have video of our squirmy little guy coming around (the side, thankfully) of the curtain and being whisked about 2 feet behind us to a little station they had set up. Yannick said “he’s cute!” and I said “he’s got hair!” then Yannick left me to go over and be with our son.

In minutes they had him weighed and bundled up and given to Yannick. I’d been worried about this since Yannick has never held a baby in his arms. Ever. He only started playing with his sisters’ boys once they were around 2 years old and has never held a newborn, changed a diaper, etc. And now here he was the only one who could hold our son while they sewed me back together. And he did it like a pro! He cradled our swaddled son in his arms and brought him right next to my face so I could see him and we were allowed about 10 minutes before they brought the baby to the nursery.

I’d wanted Yannick to stay with Jakob until they go to the nursery just to tell the nurses that we didn’t want him to get any formula, so he left and my doctor kept on sewing me up. It felt the same as the delivery- just more tugging and pressure. About 5 minutes in I started to feel nauseous, and let the guy know. Within another minute or so I was ready to throw up, but they gave me some Gravol via IV and it kicked in right away. It probably took them about an hour to sew me back up and then I was brought to the recovery room a few floors down.

sweet dreams little one…

The recovery room didn’t go so well. They told me I had to stay there until I could move my feet and bend my legs, which would normally take about 2 hours-ish. All in all, I was there for 5 hours. They gave me a shot of morphine for pain, then another one. I complained of feeling very itchy, and they thought it was the epidural wearing off, so they gave me some Benadryl…with another shot of morphine. The itching got worse and worse and I started scratching myself so hard I was cutting myself. That’s when I remembered having a similar reaction when I was given pain killers after my car accident…and the reaction was to morphine. Great. I told the nurses and they gave me some drug that flushes all other drugs from your system. It worked well, except that it also flushed any traces of pain killers from my body. Next thing I knew I was literally sobbing in pain as I felt every single cut through my abdomen and belly. They gave me a shot of Demerol which worked wonders, and by an hour later I was pain-free…but still itching like crazy. Then they wouldn’t let me go upstairs until the itching was under control. I don’t know why they didn’t give me more Benadryl, but in any case they FINALLY let me go upstairs to my room and see my baby. The itching took about 2 full days to go away, for the drug to leave my system completely.

I’d been scratching my face so much that I was swollen when I got up to the room and my poor family thought something horrible had happened. Luckily Yannick had been down a few times to see me in recovery and had told them what was going on, In the meantime my lucky son had about 20 visitors and everyone got to hold him and see him and lavish him with attention while his mommy was otherwise indisposed.

oh! the places you’ll go…

The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful, if you don’t count having a catheter inserted and being drained without painkillers an event, nor learning how to breastfeed an event, nor having lots of friends and family come by an event, nor taking about 3 full days before being allowed to enjoy solid foods (thanks for asking Deawn!) an event. But I’m not going to get into all of that. The most important thing was that we did it. We spent the first night in a semi-private room then got moved to a private which was wonderful since the other baby in the semi was a screamer. We figured out how to breastfeed and how to eat or sleep at the same time. We changed diapers. We went for walks down the hall and did “laps” to the elevator and back to get moving. And on Sunday afternoon, we got to come home with our son.

And now it has been two weeks. I don’t know where the time went. The days blend one into the next as we count down the two weeks we have remaining to get everything we own out of this house and into the next one. I’m panicking just a wee bit, but doing what I can to hold it together and accept as much help from friends and family as possible to get things done on time. Right now the only thing getting me going through the long hard hours are the few moments a day I get to see Yannick and the knowledge that in 2 weeks we will be in our new home as a new family.

Two weeks. Already.