chidealer

Erik's Birthday

2009-07-02T20:47:19Z

Our baby boy came into the world on June 9th, 2009 at 11:26am. He weighed in at 3343g or 7lbs 6oz. The evening before was a full moon and Erik's cousin, Hunter, had used our couch as a palette for his crayon artwork. His journey from the womb into this world began on Monday June 8th, 6 days after he was due (June 2nd). I suppose Erik was a little too comfortable hanging out in his warm cozy spot that he really didn't want to come out and my doctor decided it was time to convince him otherwise. She booked me into labour and delivery at McMaster University Medical Centre in west Hamilton for 1:30pm on the 8th for a prostaglandin gel to help promote the onset of labour. As of my due date I was only 1cm dilated and that hadn't changed at the time they saw me in L&D for the gel. They monitored me for 20 minutes prior to the gel and 1 hour afterward. They sent me home around 4pm and was told to call L&D at 8:30 and come in for assessment and to see if I required a second gel. If that didn't get things going I was to come in the following morning for induction with oxytocin. Well, at about 7pm that evening I was chilling out in my room playing Final Fantasy III on DS while me husband Lars, sister-in-law Kristina and her husband Jeff were hanging out in the living room playing Wii, when I started feeling cramping. I was told to expect some cramping so I didn't really think much about it until it got to the point where the cramps were happening every 5 minutes apart and the pain was getting more and more intense. Kristina was convinced I was in labour and she insisted that Lars finish packing his overnight bag for the hospital. In that time we took our dog Honey around the block for a walk, in which I had to stop 5 or 6 times to deal with contraction pains. Once Lars was ready to go, we hopped in the car and headed to Mac around 9:30pm. Seeing how late it was in the evening, Lars decided he needed to stop for coffee at the drive-thru Tim Horton's on the way to Mac. He dropped Kristina and I off and then went home to pick up my banana popsicles which he had forgotten to pack in the cooler bag that also contained my celebratory Innis & Gunn beer. Arriving in L&D, I told the nurse what I was there for, pausing to have a contraction. She guided me to an assessment bed and when I had another contraction, told me I wasn't getting another gel and that I'd be staying in L&D until it was all over. By the time Lars got back my contractions were getting seriously painful. The nurse told me that the gel would make them more intense and that she could offer me some morphine to help with the pain. I took her offer and got hooked up to the IV - it definitely took the edge off. When the morphine ran out, the pain returned ten-fold. I also started to feel pretty nauseous. There was gravol in the IV but the nauseating effect of the morphine was lasting well beyond it's pain relieving effect. The nurse convinced me to try going to the bathroom and upon my return to the bed the nausea got the better of me and I lost the apple pie I had eaten earlier. Those kidney shaped basins the hospital provides for puking so aren't adequate for a normal persons volume of barf. Fortunately, after that unsightly incident a birthing room became available for me to move into. I was hoping to have some time in the tub but I was still feeling nauseous so I had to stay lying down along with an IV for more anti-nausea meds. The contractions got worse and worse and the worst part was that after each contraction, there was little response from Erik in the womb. I was still only about 2 centimetres dilated and the doctors were getting concerned about Erik's heart rate. They told me I may need to have a C-section if he didn't start responding better. The doctor broke my water and poked his head and Erik's response was good. The nurse said he looked like a completely different baby after that and my C-section chances were then reduced (phew). After a couple more hours I was dilated to about 4cm and my contractions were getting so bad that I was feeling nauseous during them. I eventually caved and asked for an epidural around 5:30am. Kristina stayed with me and Lars left the room since I could only have one support person with me and Lars can't handle needles very well. I was in so much pain that when the anesthesiologist came in she had to talk through my contractions about all the dangers of the procedure to get my consent. I couldn't have cared less at that point, I just wanted it done. The needle in the spine was pleasant compared to the contractions and the pain relief it provided was phenomenal. The only way I could tell I was having a contraction after that was the dip in the signal on the monitor. Unfortunately, the epidural pain relief also caused Erik to go back to his bad heart rate pattern. The dreaded threat of the C-section had returned. The doctor put a monitor on the head of the baby to keep better track of his heart rate, and tickling his head once again woke him up and his heart rate improved. I was also 6cm dilated at this point and making good progress otherwise. I finally was able to get a bit of rest and so could Lars and Kristina - out came the Gameboys! I couldn't stop looking at the heart rate monitor, though. The last thing I wanted was a C-section. At about 10am I was feeling contractions more than before, like Erik was really close to finding a way out. I called the nurse in and asked if a doctor could come check me to see if I was closer to the pushing phase. She said all the doctors were busy but that she could check me if they didn't become available anytime soon. When she checked me her response was "oh my!" and I asked her if I was at 10cm yet. She said she wasn't sure because there was a head in the way. She had me reach my hand down so I could feel the head. That is probably one of the most bizarre experiences I have ever had in my life. I still had to wait for the doctors to come in but the nurse, who was also a midwife, was telling me I could start pushing if I had the urge. The doctors arrived, along with a resident doctor, a nursing student, the NICU staff and numerous other bodies - too many to count, at least a dozen. There was no chance to be embarrassed, I just wanted this kid out of me. The epidural did make it harder to push, but I could still feel the pressure. Unfortunately it didn't feel like it was going anywhere when I was pushing. They ended up attaching a vacuum to poor Erik's head because his heart rate was dropping while I was pushing. After a few more tries with the vacuum and no success, one of the doctors broke out the scissors and I could tell they were going to perform an episiotomy. I remember being in an utter state of horror and screaming "NO" but they cut me anyways - they were mostly concerned with the health of the baby so in retrospect I really don't mind that they did it. Unfortunately, my body still couldn't handle the the size of the baby and he tore me even further. I couldn't really feel it because of the epidural and the intensity of the moment. Watching the baby come out of me was incredible, he looked so big to be coming out of me. My stomach shrank 3 sizes that morning! And then the resident doctor took the honours of cutting the umbilical cord, not offering for anyone else to do it, probably because of the situation I was in. The doctor then explained to me that I had a fourth degree tear, meaning the baby had torn past the episiotomy cut and gone all the way through to my asshole. She explained that this was an extremely rare complication and that I would require a butt-load of stitches (no pun intended). I had three or four layers of stitches, the total number I don't know and don't want to know. Erik was taken to be cleaned off and checked out. Kristina took lots of picture which can be seen here. Lars got to hold our baby boy first since I was still being stitched up. Once the doctors were done, I got to hold Erik, he is so beautiful and perfect. The rest of the story isn't quite as pretty so I will save that for another entry.

quiz!

2008-04-24T18:25:36Z

After last weeks incident with the Hamilton SWAT team, I decided I should check out how fit I would be if I came up against:

96% :

I am 100% Addicted to Coffee

why is Hamilton so damn sketchy?

2008-04-19T01:22:08Z

So today I realized why I had desired to move away from Hamilton so badly in the first place. Toronto has its quirks, and after living here for 2 years I’ve seen some pretty nasty looking bums on my nice High Park neighbourhood streets, I’ve been sexually harassed in the downtown core, I’ve seen cops chasing people and speeding around in their cars like they were in Super Troopers, but nothing compares to Hamilton sketchiness.
I finished my exam at McMaster University early and decided to go for lunch with one of my good friends at the campus pub, the Phoenix. However, being a beautiful sunny April afternoon, the wait for a table was excessive and I needed to be getting back to Toronto at a reasonable hour so we opted to go to a patio in Hess Village.
Well, the HSR is an experience all its own, I tell ya. While my friend Ashley and I were waiting for the bus, a husband (I think of Caribbean descent) and wife (very Caucasian) were also waiting. This dude was so obnoxiously loud I was surprised his wife was just standing there and taking it. I think he was speaking English because I could catch the occasional word. But honestly, I had no clue what he was saying, or rather, yelling. He held up the huge line getting onto the bus by not having his change ready, still yelling, and proceeded to yell the entire bus ride downtown. By the time we got off at Hess St. my ears were ringing. I’m still not sure if he was angry or if that was just the way he talked. All I know is that I have never experienced anything like that on a normal downtown bus and not the Barton bus. You would expect bullshit like that down in those parts of the city.
Once in Hess Village, Ashley and I had some lovely pints and pub fare at Ceiliah House. Since Ashley had just moved into a new apartment that was conveniently located a block away from the pub district, we decided to swing by so I could check out her new pad. Walking across George St. we encountered a news van and what we thought looked like an ambulance from a distance right in front of her new house. It turned out to be a paddy wagon and behind it was an entire SWAT team. I’m not kidding, bullet proof vests, camo gear, big boots and semi-automatic rifles coming towards us. We decided to cross the street. The neighbours didn’t seem to know what was going on and we were afraid to cross the yellow caution tape in order to enter her front door. Fortunately, it seemed like we missed most of the action. The assault team was disassembling into their respective unmarked vans so we decided to ask them if it was okay to go into Ashley’s building. We got the response “Its now safe to go home” and a small explanation that there was some threats of an assault with a weapon in the house next door.
Boy am I glad that I’m moving back to Hamilton!

Flock

2008-03-23T03:53:00Z

I've been recovering all day from an awesome night last night. It was Martha's 30th BDay Party last night, she had a show at Clinton's which was so much fun, she played all mostly covers and had a bunch of guest performers. I suppose all that singing inspired us to go to karaoke immediately after her show. I didn't want to miss out on more partying but belting out tunes at XO, conveniently located right next door to Clinton's, was way more appealing at the time. Perhaps it was the drinks...it helps take away the inhibitions of performing.

So on another hilarious note, my dog Honey loves to watch TV. Even funnier is watching her wonder where the dogs are when I play the YouTube video and she can still hear them.

Now time for an episode of Lost...how 'bout it Honey?

crafty

2008-03-20T04:42:01Z

So I just finished a paper for my climate change course. Its due at 4:30 tomorrow and I still have ein Vorstellungsgespräch to write for German tomorrow. The work is almost over, I'm looking forward to the end, getting back to the lab and having a bit more spare time at home with my hubby and my puppy.

Not that I haven't spent an immense amount of time doing all sorts of random shit at home. I get so into doing my crafty projects that I lose myself for hours despite having papers to write. Last weekend for Lars' 30th Birthday party I made him a Guitar Hero cake and this fantastic box for donations towards his gift.

Lars loves Nine Inch Nails so we splurged and bought him the deluxe album set for the newly available online album Ghosts. It cost $300 + $70 shipping (holy crap!). I didn't think he should have to pay for such a thing on his birthday so I asked for a little help from our friends and made the donation box for the party.

Today I also learned about the biosynthesis of morphine. Alkaloid chemistry is very cool. In fact, humans have a gene that is capable of producing morphine although its not well expressed. I guess we're all related to poppies somewhere in the evolutionary chain. I still have to start my presentation for that class too, I'm going to be looking at the biosynthesis of hyperforin, isolated from St. John's Wort, one of my favourite mood enhancers!

Its past midnight, I should go to bed soon...right after I finish this White Russian, dude.

Reading Week

2008-02-17T18:20:56Z

There's french toast cooking in the kitchen and I have a stack of labs in front of me. Its Sunday, I've missed kenshuu again :( thanks to a bout of freezing rain this morning and no desire to drive 65km in that shite to get to East Hamilton. Practice basics...
We got the Q-Trap up and running last week, finally! Thanks to Meghan who had the time and motivation to take apart the beast to Q0 and clean it.
Time to finish my research, now that we fixed our DGS problems and the mass spec is working. I finally had the time to measure the D/P ratio on my FITC-AChE too! So what's left?

Repeat of mixture screen with higher binding affinity inhibitor, leaching study, perhaps some Km/kcat data...time for french toast.

After kenshuu

2007-08-12T13:12:21Z

Its almost 9am, I'm wishing I could stay in bed with my husband, but I'm having serious aikido withdrawal. Kenshuu starts at 10am and since I missed class last week thanks to an overdose of etonogestrel. I'm still not completely recovered but even if I take it easy, I want to get more training in since I'll be missing 2 weeks of class at the end of the month for a vacation!
And after kenshuu I get to go to the Toronto Festival of Beer, what better way to settle my stomach than drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Besides, beer after aikido class is tradition, even if it is Sunday morning.

oh baby

2007-08-09T18:33:37Z

I'm sitting at home, feeling like I've taken a bad hit of ecstasy, hoping the nausea will eventually pass and I can get back to normal. Last week I tried a new method of birth control, the NuvaRing, and for the most part it was really easy to use and something I didn't have to worry about taking a pill everyday. Yesterday I went to my doctor to try to figure out why I was getting nauseous, headaches, dizziness, tingling throughout my entire body and the insane urge to burst out into tears every 5 minutes. I hate being female.

On another note, I have to congratulate my sister and her husband on their new arrival, Matthew Erich, born on August 4th, 2007.