Mom-hair

 

So apparently my comment about the mom-hair caused more reaction than the horrific poopslosion that Lukas put us through at 3am. Okay, so I never cut my hair off. It's always been long, and the few times I have cut it, I immediately grow it back. So, take a picture, it'll last longer. Oh, nevermind. I'll just post one for you instead.

Stisso, this is your new life!

Well, we've been parents for two months now. Lukas is showing us the ropes, and we're jumping through all of his hoops. We've taken the crash course in parenting 101, and so far, I've learned the following:

What it feels like to be a dairy cow. Nothing says 'mooooooo' like a double electric breast pump.

What chaos really means. You don't know chaos until you wake up to feed your screaming baby at 3am, only to find that they've pooped through their clothes. Upon removal of said clothes, you learn that they've actually pooped on their entire lower body. After much kicking, smearing, screaming, and a copious amount of baby wipes, you clean up the baby, only to have him pee all over himself and your bed while you're reaching for the clean diaper. Finally, after stripping the bed and changing the baby (again), you turn to pick him up, and he immediately spits up all over himself and you. Are you going to feed that baby, already, or what?

Never turn your back on a naked baby. See previous comment on chaos for an explanation.

Never say never. We said we would never give our baby a soother. We said we'd never sleep with the baby in our bed. I said I'd never get one of those short mommy-haircuts. We've done it all...and I have no doubt we'll continue to contradict our ill-informed pre-baby selves. Hah.

Videos of Lukas

To see the videos that we've made of Lukas, click the link below!

LINK TO LUKAS VIDEOS

Photos, Photos, and more Photos!

If you scroll down, you'll notice that there are various slideshows of Lukas, in all his cuteness. For future reference, these slideshows (and any new ones we add) will be published and linked on the right-hand side of this page. You can revisit them anytime!

Lukas Photos - Random Cuteness

Lukas Photos - Lukas and Friends

Lukas Photos - Lukas and the Cow

Lukas Photos - first party

Lukas photos - first days

The story of Lukas

We're pleased to now present, for your reading pleasure, the story of the very early arrival of the newest Stisso. Enjoy!

On September 4th, I was very, very sick. I hadn’t had a ‘gallbladder’ attack since getting pregnant, but it was only a matter of time. My mom and I were supposed to go to the Spa together and get pedicures, but we had to cancel our appointments at the last minute. I was really upset because I was looking forward to having pretty toes! She ended up coming over and spending some time with me, and we decided to go buy some baby stuff nearby. Strangely enough, I wasn’t getting better (which normally happens within hours with these attacks) and I started wondering if all the side effects of being sick might cause me to go into labour. It was one month before my due date, and one week before we could have the homebirth, but I started thinking that preparing for an unexpected trip to the hospital might be in order. My mom agreed and helped me get a few last minute items.

I called the midwife office that afternoon, because both our midwives happened to be on vacation for the month of September (to return by the due date). I spoke to one of the midwives, who suggested that my gastro attack was being exacerbated by the pregnancy. She also guessed that the symptoms might bring on some hard Braxton-Hicks or even real contractions, but she assured me that I shouldn’t be going into labour at this point. She told me to take it easy and stay hydrated, and to call back the next day if things didn’t improve.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, but I still had a nagging feeling that we should prepare, just in case. I had Matiss install the carseat, and I packed a hospital bag. We went to bed like every other night, though I was still feeling off. Around 1:30am, I woke up to a little cramp in my belly. I went back to sleep, then noticed the exact same pain a few minutes later. I instinctively switched sides to see if it would help, but it returned at about the same interval. This roused me enough to sit up in bed, and that’s when I noticed that my water might had broken. I got up to check, and by the time I made it to the washroom, it was confirmed. I didn’t do much other than sit there and curse a bit (I needed one more week for my homebirth!), then I accepted what was happening, got up, and woke up Matiss. When I told him what had happened, he asked me if I was joking. I assured him I wasn’t, so we got up, had a chuckle, and paged a few midwives – not really knowing which one we should be talking to, since we hadn’t met our replacements yet. Jan was the first to call us back. She assured me that though unexpected (and requiring a few changes in plans), we were far enough along that the baby was likely fine, and we didn’t have to transfer care – in fact, we made it past that post by 1.5 hours, on the nose.

She came over to see how I was doing, and since I wasn’t really having any strong contractions (though they were fairly regular already), and given that I hadn’t eaten anything in 24 hours, she thought it would be best if we took some gravol, got some sleep, and take some homeopathic herbs in the morning to get things going (or else they would induce me at the hospital, which we did not want). We agreed it was a good idea, so we popped some pills and went to bed. It didn’t last long, though, because as soon as we hit the sheets, my contractions started getting stronger, and they were already 5 minutes apart, lasting a minute. I tried getting in the bath for a bit (we had to move our beautiful labour pool out of the way first….grrrr), but I was so uncomfortable that I got back out and just laid in bed, dozing between each contraction (thanks to the gravol). Matiss was right there with me (no snoozing for him), rubbing my back and staying quiet so I could sleep. We paged Jan to come back around 4am because things were not slowing down, and she told me I was completely effaced and 3cm. I was discouraged, given the strength of the contractions, and started questioning whether I’d be able to do this without drugs. She told us she’d be back between 9 and 10am to check up again, and then we’d talk about going to the hospital. Again, this was not what the baby had planned.

By 8am, I was having contractions lasting longer than a minute, coming every 4 minutes, and they were strong! I started pushing with each one involuntarily, so I told Matiss we needed to call Jan. I was so worried that I was going to screw things up by pushing, but when she checked me, I was almost 8cm! In less than four hours I had gone from early labour, through active labour, and into transition…and now we had to go to the hospital. This is when things got really interesting. Jan went on ahead to get our room ready, while poor Matiss was left packing the car and rushing to me every 3 minutes to hold me up while I moaned my way through each contraction. We left the house (to an audience of construction workers tearing up our street), me in a housecoat and not looking so pleased about the rush-hour drive we were about to make across town. Matiss was a champ, maneuvering through the traffic, rubbing my leg, and somehow managing to stay calm while I held on to the ‘shit handle’, screaming through each contraction and pushing more and more…at one point, I started wondering if I was going to make it to the hospital. We actually flew by our midwife’s car on the Queensway, but I didn’t care…I just wanted out of the car!

Matiss pulled up to emergency, threw on the hazards, and got me out of the car. He carried all our stuff, and had to drop it every two minutes so he could hold me while I somehow made it through a series of brutal contractions. I vaguely remember people in emergency staring at us, and the nurses were nice enough to just point us in the right direction without question. I guess the contractions slowed us down, because Jan went running by us as we made it to labour and delivery, and we had a room ready to go. I was so happy to be in bed again, but I was having crazy contractions, my back was killing me, and I was still pushing. Our second midwife, who we had met before, showed up, and when they checked me again, I was about half a centimeter away, and it didn’t take long to make it to 10cm. I had already been pushing so not much changed after that, other than some seemingly lengthier breaks between contractions, and a slight meltdown on my part.

I’m not going to lie here…I was seriously rethinking my decision to have a baby, and to forgo the epidural. I kept asking how much longer it would take, and when people wouldn’t give me an exact time, I was getting irritated. An OB came in the room to talk about whether I should take some antibiotics, and I remember wanting to kill him because he was so cheery and nice…I just wanted him to shut the hell up, heh heh. They had to send Matiss away to register us at the hospital, and those contractions I had without him were the worst for sure. Even when he was there, I was convinced that I could somehow will the contractions to stop – I didn’t care if I had to be induced later, I just wanted a break! Of course, this was ridiculous, as I could feel the baby moving down with each push. That’s the other thing I wasn’t really prepared for – how much pushing was involved. The midwives were so happy about how far we had progressed, and while I pictured an entire head had already emerged, they were telling me that they could see an area ‘about the size of a loony’. This was NOT what I wanted to hear, and suddenly the prospect of crowning was becoming very alarming indeed. The next phase is a bit cloudy – I remember a whole lot of cursing and screaming on my part, some indescribable, overwhelming sensations, and Matiss keeping me focused as well as he could. Two or three more pushes, and our came our baby boy.
Lukas Osvalds (“Ozzie”) Silins was born at 10:50am, weighed 5lbs, 11oz, and was 47cm long. I’m proud to say that his arrival was perpetuated without the help of any painkillers (though I certainly reconsidered my options on several occasions!). After spending three hours with him in the birthing room, snuggling and getting to know one another, the midwives realized he was breathing a bit funny, so we consulted a pediatrician who suggested that Lukas stay in the nursery and get some antibiotics. They checked him for infection, and although all signs indicated that he was getting better, we weren’t able to hold him for the first day he was in the nursery. It was very hard for both of us, but the next day we were able to hold him and feed him. A day later, after some haggling with the doctor, we were allowed to take Lukas home, where we all immediately fell into a happy life together. Our midwife, Jan, has been indispensible and we're so grateful to her for everything she's done and continues to do for us. She's become a great friend in all this.

It’s an understatement to say that Matiss and I are completely and utterly smitten and in love with this little man, who can scream remarkably loudly for such a little human. We never thought we could be so happy to be exhausted, disheveled, and up to our eyeballs in baby fluids. We look forward to each day we have with him, and it feels like we've known him forever. Let the adventures continue!

Pregnancy Photos

Tales from the belly

During my pregnancy, I subscribed to a little website to track our progress. I thought I would transfer my thoughts to the blog. Ah, the ramblings of a crazy preggo....

Mon, Sep 3, 2007 It's the final countdown....(cue cheesy song)
Well, we're getting down to the wire. There's just about a month to go, before the newest Stisso makes it's grand entry. The nursery is in progress, the carseat is ready to be installed, the labour pool and homebirth supplies are being collected...yes, you heard right. Homebirth. Labour pool.

Matiss and I made the decision many months ago that we would have this baby in the comfort of our own home, so long as things are looking good. For those of you who are shocked, appalled, or generally concerned about our choice, fear not. After months of research and discussion with our midwife, we're as confident as ever that things will go well. The midwives bring all emergency equipment to the house, though we don't expect to need it. In the event that the labour isn't progressing wonderfully, a change of scenery may be warranted, but it'll be made well in advance of any big emergencies. It's actually not that uncommon for couples to have their children at home in other developed countries, mostly in Europe. Just in case you're wondering, no study has shown that an attended homebirth is less safe than a hospital birth.

Why on earth would we want to do this? Well, not having to travel back and forth from the hospital is one bonus. I can eat my own food, watch my own t.v., talk on my phone, use my own shower, and walk around my own house/neighbourhood while my labour is starting out. The benefit of feeling at ease in my own surroundings is likely to help my labour progress at a good rate, and the privacy that I'll have with Matiss and the midwives (and nobody else) watching over me (and loving me, and caring for me) will allow me to relax as much as possible. Finally, nothing makes me happier than to imagine Matiss, myself, and the babe in our own bed, cuddling and enjoying the moment, just after the birth. No doctors, nurses, discharge papers, or travelling. Just us and our new life together. How sweet!


Mon, Aug 13, 2007 - Random analogy: baby, and Lord of the Rings.
I'm beginning to wonder about the monster. Since nobody knows if this baby is a boy or a girl, people have to come up with gender-neutral names (uh, like monster). Penny has been calling the babe 'precious' for months now. I keep trying to tell her that 'precious' is also the nickname for an evil ring of power that threatens to destroy mankind in LOTR, but it hasn't phased her. I'm still keeping an eye on her, just to make sure she doesn't start displaying signs of turning into Gollum.

So then we had an impromptu ultrasound last week. It was taped, but the tape didn't work, so I can't show it to you. What I can say is that the babe is HUGE now (not that I needed an ultrasound to show me this...the cramped living quarters are becoming apparent to both me and the monster these days). Also, it's fully developed, which is neat - breathing, swallowing, and looking around. In fact, it was staring directly at the camera for the whole ultrasound. Admittedly, the staring 'eye' was a bit unsettling, especially for Matiss (don't worry, it has two eyes...we were just looking at the profile). I just realized this morning that there's another eye that unhinges people when it stares into your soul....THE eye. The eye of the dark lord, Sauron.

I'm beginning to wonder where this is going.

In other news, Matiss and I painted the nursery and Matiss singlehandedly assembled the crib this weekend. It's now the only clean room in the house. I heard Matiss giggle as he walked by it this morning. Things are definitely going to get interesting from here on out.


Thu, Jul 19, 2007 - The extreme sport of pregnancy.
Until now, pregnancy has been just dreamy. A beautiful growing belly, great hair days, and cute baby-moments like feeling them hiccup and seeing them on ultrasounds. Oh sure, there was a little bit of nausea, and a few aches and pains, but things have been completely manageable.

However, in this last trimester, I have been unkindly thrust into a new world. My bubble is bursting, friends. I fear the future. What I've learned this week alone:

* Kicks to the ribs are NOT cute. They hurt...they hurt alot. Since I don't have access to the underside of my ribcage, I can't do anything to prevent them, and I can't even brace for them. When did this kid have time to be trained in martial arts, anyway?
* While I always knew that the belly would get in the way, I didn't realize that it would limit my movements by threatening injury. This morning, I got out of bed like I always do - by sitting up. Only this time I managed to pull my abdominal muscles in the process. Yes, I have injured myself getting out of bed. Wow. Also, when I drop something on the ground now, there's an internal discussion on whether it's worth picking up. Again, this has nothing to do with laziness, and everything to do with pain management. Compression of organs is no laughing matter.
* I can't believe I'm going to write this out: I'm finding the idea of adult diapers more and more appealing. Okay, so I don't need a diaper, but with my bladder becoming more and more senile, I'm at least thankful to know that they exist. Yep. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Anyway, I have been awoken, both literally and figuratively. I can't go back now. I can only look back fondly on the days I could run my pregnant belly up hills, without needing medical assistance. Only 10 weeks to go. Pray for me, friends.



Fri, Jul 13, 2007 - It's all downhill from here!
Well, I'm now in my third trimester - less than three months until this baby makes the grand appearance! As you might have seen in the photo album, my belly is getting much bigger, though it's only starting to get in the way - I have lost direct eye contact with all anatomy below the waist, and bending over is becoming a challenge.

The monster is active and likes to massage my organs from the inside. I think it's possible that the baby has inherited Matiss' handyman skills, and is performing large-scale renovations in the baby-condo that is my womb. I also experience almost daily baby-hiccups, which are both amusing and very distracting. According to my baby books, the monster can now see, hear, smell, and taste - everything is in place and from here on out, the only real changes will be some development of the lungs and brain, and packing on the baby fat.

We have started seeing our midwives more often, and they're great as always. For those of you who didn't know, we're striving towards having a homebirth, and we've started discussing the logistics of this in more detail. We're both really excited about it, and if all goes well, I think it will be an amazing experience. Don't worry - it only works at home if both mom and baby are in perfect health throughout the labour, and even in an emergency, the midwives have all the necessary equipment and protocols that we'd have in the hospital. The neighbours might be in for a show, however!


Fri, Jun 1, 2007 - Tales from the X(ray)-files
We went for our second ultrasound today, and finally got a couple of pictures. What we've learned in all of this is that the baby is definitely NOT a morning person, much like mamma. Last time, it turned it's back on us and went to sleep. This time, it was pretty much curled up on its placenta pillow, and mostly just yawned the entire time (which was pretty neat to see). The baby still kept its back to us for much of it, and even if we wanted to know what gender it was (which we don't), it remains a safely guarded secret, as it kept its legs curled under itself for most of the ultrasound (except to do a little tap dance on my bladder at one point. Good stuff!). Baby's weight is just over a pound, and everything's measuring well.

We did manage to get a couple of shots this time, which you can see in the photo album section (there are two pictures). Both are a bit strange: in the first one, the baby's doing some kind of yoga move or something. It's lying on its belly with the back of the head facing us (to show me what a big brain it has?) - and it's sucking its thumb in the back. The second picture, which reminds me of something out of the X-files, is a front picture of the baby's face in mid-yawn. Looks like an alien...but an adorable alien, no doubt. The pictures are cute, creepy, and convoluted all at once, but we still love looking at them. I just hope the baby is cuter in real life, heh heh...


Tue, May 22, 2007 - First contact...
I'm now 21 weeks - into my sixth month. Can you believe it? Over the last week, the baby has started moving around quite a bit. If I rest with my hand on my belly, I can feel the occasional jab from the outside, too! Matiss was finally able to experience this the other night, for the first time. The babe gave its Papa two swift kicks - the first of many, I'm sure!

We were able to record the heartbeat off the doppler machine we rented this month. So, if you're interested in hearing what a baby's heartbeat sounds like in utero, check out the 'video' section of this website. It's pretty cool!


Tue, May 15, 2007 - Over the hump!
So, here we are...at 20 weeks. That means we're halfway through this pregnancy already. Does that make anybody else a bit nervous? Things are progressing nicely - I've finally accepted that this bump is due to a little monster in my belly. I can finally feel the little flutters and kicks I've been waiting for - I usually get a couple good sessions in each day.

Also, the midwife took pity on me and ordered another ultrasound...so hopefully we'll have some pictures to share with you soon!


Tue, May 8, 2007 - The ultrasound's in, and It's a.....
Brat! Maybe a boy, maybe a girl, definitely all brat.

We had our ultrasound today. Matiss, my mom, and I went in to see the wee babe. There it was, cute as a button, sucking it's thumb, squiggling around...we were all instantly in love, of course. Then it did a somersault, and a quick nosedive into my pelvis, turned its back to us, and refused to turn around again. Nothing the ultrasound technician did made any difference - this bean was happy snoozing where it was, and that was the end of that. So, we have NO pictures to show you, sadly. I've waited five months for this ultrasound (my first and only!) and I've got nothing to show for it...except a big silly grin, because as it turns out, this little brat is taking after its mother, it seems. I don't like being stirred that early in the morning, either, and good luck trying to get me to do what YOU want. Looks like Matiss is in trouble.


Thu, Apr 12, 2007 - There's a horse in my belly!
Yep....a galloping horse! Matiss and I were at the midwife's today, and we finally got the reassurance I've needed to start believing that this is actually happening. She found the baby's heartbeat right away - thumping away at a rate of 140 beats per minute. It sounded like a galloping horse, and it was the best sound! So, I guess my bloated belly is NOT just due to gas, as I tried to tell everyone. It finally feels like I'm walking around with a sidekick!

I've even felt the odd flutter, here and there. I refused to believe that it was anything other than...well, you know...gas....but now I'm starting to think that maybe we've got a little soccer player on our hands. Hopefully it's better at sports than it's mama.

So, I'm officially coming out of the pregnancy closet. I'm sharing this silly website with the world. I can blame my corny inclinations on hormones - that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. So, check back every now and then, to see the amazing growing belly. We're also hoping to post a soundbite of the galloping horse soon, and in about a month, this little bun will go for it's first photoshoot, via ultrasound.

There's a BABY in there!!!!!


Thu, Mar 22, 2007 - One down, two to go!
Well, we seem to have survived the first trimester. Most of you know our little secret now, though I refuse to let anyone get too excited before we hear a heartbeat, which should be in a few more weeks (that means you, mom and Shannon!)

So, what have we learned up until now? Not much, I'd say. I was blessed with very mild symptoms (not once have I hugged the bowl!), though I have yet to sleep through a night...where did my bladder go? I also have 1) sworn off asparagus, which I love, and 2) taken up eating hot dogs, which I don't love. I do have a nice little belly, but I'm sure it's not baby - I've been told that pregnant women get bloated. So, I'm nicely bloated, I guess.

I survived my first fun holiday sans booze. St. Patty's day was great - we had a party for Matiss, and I still got to sing Irish tunes at the bar, pound my fist on the table, and drink green....water. Meh. At least I wasn't hungover the next day. The next challenge will be getting through Canada day sober. Ouch!

I don't know when we'll share this site with you...partly because it's so cheesy, but so are many things associated with pregnancy and parenthood. Get used to it.


Mon, Jan 29, 2007 - Now that's a happy birthday!
On January 23rd, I celebrated my 31st birthday...and the first gift of the day was a positive pregnancy test! Matiss and I were both really happy, though it took several more tests (including a blood test) before I would believe that it wasn't some kind of twisted joke....so far, it seems that everything is as it seems, and we'll hopefully be adding a little Silins munchkin to the mix by next October. Yay!

A week later, and everything's pretty much the same, except that my bladder appears to be shrinking and I'll be enjoying my first superbowl without beer - and the Colts are in the finals, to boot! It's been some much-needed good news for our families, and we're looking forward to sharing all our adventures with you over the next few months.

Of course, we haven't told most of you yet...but you'll be hearing about it soon enough!