Sunday, April 26, 2009

Baby shower

My work (Canadian North) had a baby shower / pizza party for us on Friday. A co-worker made a nice Tigger cake for Colin. We got a laundry basket filled with practical gifts. We are very appreciative to everyone.

We tried giving Colin a pacifier for the first time and he wasn’t that receptive to it. You sort of have to hold on to it or he will push it out. Using our pinkie seems to be the best soother, second of course to feeding.

He is showing signs of increased awareness to his surroundings. He can almost stand up on his own when someone is holding him. His jaundice color is getting better. His eyes are still blue. We can see his eye brows more defined now.

Colin’s aunt Cynthia and cousin Sadie were here to visit. They both think Colin is very cute. It was so sweet to see how much Sadie adored her cousin. She liked to touch his head and tell us what all his parts were. We enjoyed having them here and appreciated all the chores Cynthia did.




















Sunday, April 19, 2009

Cynthia and Sadie arrive today

Colin is 18 days old today. He weighed 8 lbs 10 ounces last Wednesday, so he's averaging 1 lb / week. It's sad that he's growing out of some of the onesies that used to fit. Everything is going well with baby and mommy though. He met his friend Winifred for the first time at the hospital.

Grandma Therese left last Monday and we enjoyed having her here to help us out. Colin's Aunt Cynthia and cousin Sadie will be arriving this afternoon and staying till Wednesday. Sadie is around 2 and a real cutie. I'm thinking the cats will have their paws full with her.

Colin enjoyed the Easter egg hunt that we had last Monday. He got a card, a few toys, Oh'Henry bars, a big chocolate dog, and a bunch of eggs. We were happy to eat them all for him :)

We got professional baby photos done by local photographer Caitlin Cleveland. She took 318 pictures during the shoot at our place. She was amazed at how well behaved he was.
























Saturday, April 11, 2009

Enjoying the long weekend

Everything is going well with Natasha and Colin. It's tough for Natasha having to get up so many times during the night for breastfeeding, so i'm looking forward to being able to help with that when we express milk into bottles.. which won't be for another 4-6 weeks. At our last midwife appt, Colin's most recent weight is 7 lbs 12 ounces. Colin also got a blood test, and we're praying for good results.

We've received some more gifts from family and co-workers.. thanks! Colin got his first red packets (Traditional Chinese gift of money). We love the quilt that my co-worker made.. it's definetly going up on our Nursery wall.

One of our good friends, Nikki, had her baby girl this morning. Her name is Winifred and she weighs 10 lbs 6.4 ounces. Congrats Nikki and Curtis!

Some more baby firsts: Lost Colin's cap while grocery shopping, first public washroom diaper change, and first time going to church (not a peep from Colin either). Some pics:






















Sunday, April 5, 2009

The first couple days

After spending a few days with Colin brings new meaning to love. We both feel so blessed to have such a cute and healthy baby. God answered all our prayers. Natasha is recovering well and we are both adapting quickly to the having to wake up every hour for feedings/diaper changes. Colin's nan Theresa came up yesterday and she is a great help. At the airport when picking her up, we got our first exposure to a mob of strangers adoring Colin.

So of course, we experienced a bunch of "firsts". The first diaper change, outfit change, bath, book reading, car ride to airport, grocery shopping, and meal together with family at dinner table.

When Colin was born he weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces, and after two days he gained 4 ounces and now he is 7 lbs 1 ounce. This is unusual because babies normally lose weight in the first few days.. but we're not surprised because he eats like a true Leung :) He has a touch of Jaundice but he is fine. He's the boy of a thousand faces and loves having his right fist next to his face, just like when we saw him first on our ultrasound. He's got the cutest cry that sounds so sweet and not really a typical cry. Our cats, Charlie and Max are behaving themselves and leaving Colin alone... in one pic Max is scoping his new friend out.

We know we are biased but he is a superstar! Hope you enjoy the lovely pics. There are a few pics in there that you'll burst out laughting at for sure.






























Thursday, April 2, 2009

Bundle of joy arrived!

Colin was delivered on Wednesday, April 1 at 7:37AM weighing 6 pounds and 13 ounces. Everything went super smooth and he is 100% healthy. Our midwife gave him a perfect APGAR score of 10/10/10 (APGAR=Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance, Respiration). A score which she has given to less than five people over her twenty years of working. We feel very blessed that everything went so perfectly.

So here’s the story: Natasha started getting contractions around 9:30PM Tuesday evening which were about half an hour apart and lasting about a minute. She thought these were just false labour and so I went to bed for the night. Natasha woke me up around 1:30AM because the contractions were still coming, but now they were 10 minutes apart and I could tell by the look of pain on her face and the fact that she couldn’t get up off the floor that it was the real deal. At this point, I started to record the time between contractions and their length. From 1:30AM-2:30AM the contractions went from 10 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart and brutally painful. So we called our midwife at 2:30AM and she came to our house soon after.

The midwife and I coached Natasha through the rough contractions until 4:45AM at which point we decided it was time to head to the hospital to start active labour. In the labour and delivery room, Natasha tried standing over the bed, “relaxing” in the inflatable hot tub, stretching out on the bed, and finally using gravity by squatting on a birthing stool. Natasha only needed to use the laughing gas which really helped take the edge off. Hour by hour went fairly quickly and the hardest contractions started around 7AM. Colin eventually plopped out at 7:37AM and started crying immediately which is a great sign. He was cleaned up and put directly on Natasha’s chest, which is the recommended way of transition. Both of us were SO relieved.

Natasha was so starved and thirsty after giving birth, she must have drank a couple litres of orange juice and water and ate whatever she could get her hands on. One of our friends visited us soon after so I took that opportunity to dart home, tidy the house a bit, and grab the car seat and diaper bag. While I was gone, Natasha was up walking with the nurse and midwife and fainted. It was no big deal but just strange. We got to go home around 2PM because the midwife said everything was looking good and she would visit us at home a few times during the day. She did an awesome job throughout the entire process.

Colin is doing very well at home. So far we had 4 diaper changes and when he isn’t feeding, he sleeps adorably. Here are a few snapshots of this incredible day.