Maija Puddle.com

Time flys when you are having fun, seriously! The Puddle gang just feels so blessed and overwhelmed this summer by all of our friends and family that came to visit! We are so thankful that people actually spent their time and money to come and see us, wow! It was so special being able to introduce our precious lovebug for the first time to everyone who came. Now if we can be discipline enough to save some money and visit Canada and New Zealand for James to meet the rest of his amazing aunts, uncles, great-grandparents, other family and people we hold so dear.

Discipline feels like the word for this fall as we’ve set some goals for ourselves. Besides planning to spend loads of quality family time, re-establish our dating life, and hanging out with new friends and old friends who have moved closer, we’re on a mission to have a productive next few months. I’m working on my thesis, and working on spending less money so Jonathan can buy me more presents… that part sounds strange but it is a goal and he’s the one who wants to buy me more. I think that’ll keep me busy enough. Jonathan goal other than the one I just revealed would revolve djing and getting in shape, and spending time with James so I have more free time. He probably has more but those come to mind first. James is working on learning to crawl, he’s quite frustrated at himself at times as he gets on his hands and knees and just rocks back and forth. His frustration though produces quite a lot of strength as he slides all around the room seeking mischief. I think walking isn’t too far off his radar either. If you put him on his feet his is more than eager to take off running although we hold him up as he has no idea what balance is yet.
In my effort to get organized I finally started to do things I’ve been meaning to for awhile such as make a stamp of James’ hand and foot prints. Ok so I decided it would be too creepish for him to wake up to me putting ink all over his hands and feet in order to get a clear print. So instead we did it together and the result is bubbling with his personality. He tried to grab the paper as I tried to stamp his hand on it. He loves paper and tries to eat it. I’m determined to not be the mother of the boy who eats paper at the back of the school bus (flashback) so I spend large portions of the day taking it out of his mouth or covering his mouth when he raises it to his lips. Ok, back to what I was saying. You’ll see our son has a lovely footprint of 6+ toes. He stops dancing for no one so ink print had no chance. Voila, very unique 7 month prints of James’ hands and feet. Love that munchkin!

Falling behind on blogging once again. There never seems to be enough time for anything out of the necessary now. Being a mother is so great and I wouldn’t trade it for anything but I do wish that I could visit some time genie and be granted a few extra hours a day. Daily I get about an hour between putting James to bed and putting myself to bed. So I have a choice each night between tidying up, spending time with the hubby, writing a friend an email, getting ready for the next day, reading or the option I haven’t been choosing lately – blogging.

I can not believe our little guy is turning 6 months in less than a week. That is CRAZY! Its like we’ve jumped into some time portal or something. Its been amazing though to watch James learn how to sleep through the night (which he learned at 2 months – Thank God!), smile, chitter chatter, play with his toys, eat mushed foods and roll over (that one was in the last week.) Things have changed after becoming a mommy that’s for sure. I find myself thinking about James all the time subconsciously – what is he wearing, is he warm enough? is he hungry? is he tired? Getting ready to go out now takes half an hour to get ready which has been a big lesson for Jonathan who was accustomed to just putting his coat on the moment we walk out the door.
Happy to report that James has gotten used to us as we have to him. Geez, thank goodness, I wouldn’t know what to do if he hadn’t. He doesn’t know any different after all. The little munchkin seems to enjoy watching his dad play video games and joining in the trance jam sessions. He seems to be fine with my daily escapades and meeting new friends.
This summer everything seems new and exciting as we watch James eagerly exploring his new world. (You should see some of his concentrated stares – no blinking for over 5 minutes straight!) We are happy to have so much family and friends coming to see our side of the world and no doubt meet the new family member. Sigh… wish summer would last forever

If the video doesn’t fit in your screen, click here to load in Facebook.

Trying to wake James up for a snack:

James’ best friend (for now) video:

This past Saturday we held a blessing party for our wonderful son. It was so special to gather together with friends and family to bless our boy. Many family and friends emailed their prayers and special words for James as well. We read and prayed these over him. I had tears in my eyes for most of it, maybe even Jonathan but I’m not sure he’ll admit to that To everyone who shared this special time with us, thank you so much.
James we love abundantly! As parents we promise to try and ask God for help, guidance and love so we may provide a home filled with love, God’s spirit and presence, peace, joy and nurturing wisdom. Thank you to all our friends and family who are holding us to these promises.

I can’t believe our little guy is already 5 weeks! wow! Its been surreal settling into our roles as parents. We love our son to bits and a small part of me secretly gets so excited when he wakes us up during the evening; I feel like I already started to miss him.

Looking back I guess I’ve learned alot in 5 weeks with the help of  parenting guides, knowlegable friends and good ole faithful google.  I was so nervous before James was born I watched countless youtube videos on how to  breastfeed, change diapers, bathe newborns and even how to give newborns massages. I still feel like a new parent who needs to get advice on everything new that I’m unsure about, but its just because I want the best for our boy. But I do have to laugh at myself looking back to those first days, you live and learn.  I was so unsure about breastfeeding at first that I didn’t want to do it unless I had to So I let James sleep as long as he wanted the first two nights. Big mistake, he didn’t wake up when he was hungry and by the time he did, he was too weak to eat.

And then there was diaper changing. It wasn’t until the third night I realized his diaper should be changed at night as well as during the day. Embarrassingly it was day 3 of James life, and I still hadn’t changed his diaper myself. So my first diaper change was in the middle of night. I couldn’t clean all of the poo off James, as I was so worried about hurting him. I just put a clean diaper over his messy bum praying the mess would solve itself. In the morning I complained to a nurse that I couldn’t get all the poo off of him, so she (probably humouring me) took my child and cleaned him off. Despite my first failed attempt, I’ve actually grown to enjoy changing diapers. (I know this is probably a premature notion as the novelty might just wear off soon.) I get the same satisfication for changing diapers as I get from throwing trash out, or doing a pile of dirty dishes. James loves having his diaper changed as well. He becomes quite peaceful and relaxed, even though I’m sure he is looking forward to the clean feeling I think he’s really after the milk. We have a routine of diaper change first, and milk after.

So we are both surviving as new parents and even enjoying ourselves. We are tired as most parents of a newborn are. Each night is worthy of a new story, as we wake up to find ourselves  burping or cuddling our pillows  or talking to James in our sleep. Despite our zombie-like state we love being parents and love our son.

Saturday morning I woke up excited for the day. Jonathan and I had planned a relaxing day together; we knew it would be the last Saturday alone for the two of us (cause even if baby didn’t come, family were on their way). I woke with a start at 10am feeling like I was leaking, and ran to the toilet. About ¼ of a cup of ‘water’ came out, which wasn’t enough to convince me that my water had really broken. Instead I worried that I was leaking amniotic fluid, so I crawled back into bed and asked Jonathan to pray that the baby would come soon, as I feared it would run out of fluid. Then I told him the amusing dream I had all night, where I’d been in labour all night but the contractions weren’t very strong. In my dream, I kept picturing a row of lights lighting up signaling the strength of the contractions. Bing…bing… bing… 3 out of the 4 lights had been illuminated. We laughed and put it down to subconscious wishful thinking.

As I lay there, chatting with Jonathan I felt a strange pain go through my body. Thinking I was just hungry I got up and make some breakfast, it was around 10:20am after all, and I’m a starving pregnant lady. So we ate together and during our breakfast I experienced two more of these new types of pain, so I told Jonathan I thought I was having contractions, but couldn’t be sure.
He replied,  “Oh. Well, it’s too early for me to be up, is it ok if I go back to bed for awhile?”
“Sure, I’ll join you then,” I told him. At least he asked. Again though I felt two more pains, evenly spaced out, so I knew I couldn’t stay in bed.
I got up and went to do some dishes, while timing what I thought might possibly be contractions. They were happening every 10 minutes, no, every 9 minutes, no, maybe 7 minutes.
I thought, “Ok, so maybe it’s not really labour, since whatever these pains are, they aren’t exactly evenly spaced out.” But they did keep coming, so I was getting a bit confused. At 11:20am I told Jonathan to get out of bed, and that I might be having contractions, so I need an activity to occupy me. They say labour for the first child lasts 20 hours +/- 5 hours, so I figured if this is it we need to start doing things to keep my mind off the discomfort. We had decided the day before to bake chocolate chip cookies, and this seemed a splendid idea! Yum, yum. However, by the time we actually started making the dough it was 11:40am, and I soon realized I wouldn’t be able to help at all, as my contractions were starting to be quite painful. Jonathan asked how he could help me; I was quite frustrated so I demanded he make the cookies alone! I want cookies!  I tried to busy myself, while he continued. The contractions kept coming though, to the point where I thought they were 5 minutes apart already. Surely I couldn’t have progressed that fast in an hour, could it? I was still convinced this was false labour, as it wasn’t following anything we’d been told to expect (by our mothers and by medical professionals). I figured the contractions would subside soon enough but that I’d continue getting myself ready for the hospital just in case. I began pacing back and forth, leaning on Jonathan’s office chair pushing it up and down the hall whimpering, “This doesn’t make sense, they feel 5 minutes apart! This is weird.”

At 12:20pm (just 2 hours since I woke up) I had to tell Jonathan that he needed to stop making me cookies (he’s rather slow) and give me some help!!! The pain was overwhelming by this point and I was getting quite scared. Is something wrong with me? I could no longer stand through a contraction, but I wanted to have a shower if indeed we were going to the hospital. Jonathan had to hold me up in the shower, where I had two more contractions. Jonathan suggested we call a friend, to see if their car was available… I meekly suggested it was a good idea.
About 30 seconds later I yelled, “We need to go to the hospital NOW!” The next contraction began and I started throwing up all over the bathroom floor. Jonathan quickly called a cab. Somehow I got dressed, while enduring two more contractions, as Jonathan ran around the house going through my list to gather last minute items for the hospital. And that’s how we left our house; cookie dough on the counter, vomit on the bathroom floor, and clothes all over the place; a pure mess.

I don’t know what the cab driver was thinking, but he quickly figured out what was going on from my whimpering, tears, my just-in-case vomit bag and my contractions. It’s not much fun having contractions when you are under a seat belt! The 5km felt like forever, and I realized that if we’d called the taxi only 10 minutes later, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the house unless there was an ambulance.  The contractions in the taxi were so intense and I was sweating profusely under my winter coat, so started to black out.

Thankfully we arrived before I fainted, and I had two more contractions before actually entering the birthing unit. I was going insane by this point; I had no idea what to do. I told Jonathan I was sorry but if this was the pain I’d be in for the next 12 hours, I was going to get an epidural for sure. (Hahaha… that was me in labour denial, still thinking we had half a day to go, and not a mere hour and 15 minutes left to go!) A nurse quickly took us in, and asked us which pregnancy this was. When we said it was our first, she visibly relaxed; I know she was thinking “Ok lady… this is gonna take some time.” She took us into be prepped, and tried to help me get out of my clothes and into the hospital clothes. I’m not exactly an exhibitionist, but I’ve never had a stronger desire to be naked in all my life. I ripped and flailed until my need for nudity was satisfied. Then she checked to see if I was dilated at all; her eyes grew wide and she announced that I was dilated 8 cm! I’m not sure which was more satisfying, the confirmation of labour, or the reaction on her face. She asked again when I’d started having contractions, and Jonathan answered as I couldn’t talk any more.
“Around 10am,” he said.

She quickly moved us to a delivery room and a midwife came in to prep me. At this point I was in some of worst pain I’d ever felt. I kept telling Jonathan that I couldn’t take 12 more hours of this. So there I screamed, cried, squeezed Jonathan’s hand and flailed my feet. He says I was actually quite composed between contractions, but I can’t remember anything at all. A midwife put a couple of baby heart monitors on, but they kept moving out of place during my flailing which would cause the alarm to go off, as the monitor wasn’t picking up the baby’s heart beat anymore. We were left alone for a while, Jonathan tells me, and when the midwife returned she checked, almost casually, how dilated I was now. Her eyes also grew wide, and she announced I could start pushing “if I wanted”. (I was still so surprised… and it was at this point I realized maybe the baby would be born before 12 hours…) But then the midwife left the room, and I started freaking out. “I don’t know how to push,” I thought.

I didn’t have to think about that for long, as the next contraction was so crazy intense it took over my whole body, and pushed the baby for me. I lost contact with the outside world at this point, and just closed my eyes. I could hear everyone talking but was unable to communicate, and just concentrated on the task at hand.
I started telling Jonathan, “Awhh… I’m gonna poo… I’m gonna poo… I can’t help it I’m so sorry.” (Hahaha… yes, I mistook the baby bearing down, for a giant poo.) Finally our assigned midwife came in and introduced herself. I couldn’t tell, but Jonathan said she was awesome; in her mid sixties, grey haired, with a metric tonne of thick brown dread-like hair extensions. She also spoke good English, which helped. She went to check my dilation again and announced that she could already see the baby’s head. She encouraged me to just push slowly, and to breathe. I couldn’t really breath at all during the contractions, but I tried very hard because she kept telling me that the baby needs oxygen, which scarred me. How did I lose this most basic of skills, I was thinking. She kept saying push slower and I yelled that I couldn’t help it. It was such a surreal feeling, the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, but knowing I was now minutes away from finally meeting my baby… but still in so much pain. After pushing with the next four contractions she announced that the next contraction would get baby out. This was the best news I could hear, as there was no way I could take much longer of this… and Jonathan’s attempts to placate me with “You’re doing good, it’s almost done,” I interpreted to be lies. She told me to do a little push with the contraction, but I wanted to make sure it was the last push, so I may have pushed a bit harder than I was supposed to. It felt like the whole baby almost flew out, and I heard a cry within the second of the birth. Jonathan, with laughter and tears in his eyes announced that we had a baby boy! And I just laid down and closed my eyes and smiled. My energy was instantly gone.

The next events are a total blur, but the midwife apologized that she needed to make one small stitch, without anesthesia as it was a difficult spot, almost not worth switching. After what I’d just been through nothing hurt at all. They delivered the placenta with little help from me as I just lay there holding my boy against my chest with my eyes closed. I was poked and prodded some more but hardly noticed anything. Jonathan managed to get enough conversation out of me to agree to a name, as we still hadn’t fully agreed yet. I still couldn’t believe our little James Eden was born at 2:26pm, after me just realizing I was actually in labour for sure, at 12:30pm. I probably pushed for a total of 20 minutes! And little James, so cute. It was such a surreal experience, I just closed my eyes and soaked it in, trying to recover and start enjoying our little one.

Determined to redeem myself and show our midwife I was actually a “normal” person, I tried to maintain a bit of conversation about our baby. I smiled thinking to myself of how I’d always imagined arriving at the hospital, shaking hands with the nurses, introducing ourselves, discussing our birth plan/ wishes, using some of the different pain relieving equipment like the Yoga balls, etc. But I really can’t complain that we had a short delivery, even though a quick descent down the birth canal theoretically means a more painful one; I liked this short and sweet way. We stayed in the delivery room for another 4 hours, recovering, relaxing, and calling family and friends. Which is funny because we only spent an hour in there prior to birth. I’m told the time spent is usually the other way around.

James, you really wanted to make into this world, I hope it was because you were so excited to meet us. Even though I didn’t get to follow my plan:
- had to leave the house in such chaos,
- losing all my dignity and my ability to be civil and shake hands,
- no time to call family and friends before hand to tell them we were going into labour, just surprise them afterwards
We love that our little boy is so full of surprises for us; we anticipate many more joyous events.

Jonathan did finish baking the cookies. They taste great! But I’ll include a photo of James as opposed to the cookies.

James Eden Puddle
Born January 24th, 2009 at 2:26pm.
Weighing in at 2.9 kg (6.3 lbs)