Early Start = Late Nights

In no way do I want to come across as being critical of the good folks at Early Start or Healthlink when I make this post. I think it's a great resource for parents of new baby's and young children, and they've been a great help to us with both of our daughters. I just have a couple of stories from the past week that I thought would be funny to look back on.

I guess the first one isn't all that funny, and we definately had some legitimate concerns with Ashley's health that we wanted resolved, but it's a good example of finding something out the hard way.

We found some blood in Ashley's diaper the day after we brought her home. It wasn't a poopy diaper, just "void" and a bit of blood, so we called the Healthlink people to find out if it was something we should be worried about. The nurse on the line asked if Ashley was experiencing any other symptoms from a list they had there, and in minor ways, it appeared that she was. The most concerning one was that she seemed to feel pain when I would gently touch her tummy below her belly button. That, coupled with the blood in her diaper, were reasons enough for the nurse to suggest that we take her to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital. We did, and my parents met us there to watch Emma for us.

The long and the short of it is, after a five hour wait (which seems really long when you've had almost no sleep for days) the Doctor's told us that everything was completely normal. I guess the blood in the diaper is caused by the hormones that are transferred from Mom through the placenta and during nursing, which trigger a false menstruation in baby girls. It's normal during the first week of the baby's life, although not all baby girls experience it, including any baby girls I've ever known. The tummy pain turned out to be gas, and completely unrelated to the blood in the diaper, so we were sent home happy to have a healthy baby, yet a little discouraged about the potential sleep we might have gotten, had we been a little more educated.

The next night, as I was holding Ashley, I noticed that she was breathing really rapidly as she slept, and had done so several times since birth. I decided to time her breaths per minute, and she consistantly hit near or above the 70 mark, which seemed a little high to me. I called the Healthlink people again, just to find out what the normal breathing rate was for newborns, and it turns out that my suspicions were correct, it was a bit high. I had taken her temperature before I called, and it was fine, and she didn't seem distressed in any way, so I had no real concerns other than that she had had brief exposure to my Dad, who had been suffering from what he thought at the time was pneumonia, and I wanted to be sure that this wasn't the early signs of a serious lung problem.

Well before I knew it, the nurse on the line had called the paramedics, and a few short minutes later we had a fire truck and an ambulance parked outside and a living room full of 3 fire fighters, 2 EMS technicians, and 1 perfectly healthy baby. It turns out that rapid breathing is also normal as babies get used to actually breathing air during their first few weeks of life. The EMS technicians checked her out and offered several times to take us to the Hospital if we still felt concerned, but we were never all that concerned in the first place, so we declined and sent them on their way. Another late night.

Again, I want to say that I think Healthlink is a great service to have, and I'm glad that there are people who stand by and are trained to help keep our babies alive and well. I just feel like a paranoid parent everytime emergency staff get involved and it turns out to be something minor like gas, or hiccups, or infant periods. When it comes to your own children though, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

T.E.A.M. Bournes

One of the names we originally tossed around when we found out we were most likely having a girl again, was Heidi. With Tammy's Norwegian roots, and the high probability of the girl having blonde hair and blue eyes, we thought it would be a good fit. Another good reason for the name Heidi would be that we could use the "Them" in "Them Bournes" as an acronym of all our first names, much like Marc Gilchrist does with his site. The down side of using Heidi is the high probability that I would never remember the order of the "e" and the "i".

When Ashley was born, we just thought she looked like an Ashley, and so Ashley she became. Now the question is, do we forget the acronym thing, or change the name of the site? We could go with T.E.A.M. Bournes, which is an ok substitute, and a pretty accurate pecking order, but there's something about M.E.A.T. Bournes that sounds so much better. It's still up for review, and will probably never change, but visitor input is still appreciated.

Ashley Sariah Bourne

The day finally came, and we now have a new baby girl in our family! Ashley was born on the 12th of February, 2008 at 8:17am (10 days overdue). She was a gooey 7lbs 4oz at birth, and she measures 19.5 inches long. For being a day later than her older sister, she's still a pound lighter and two inches shorter than Emma was at birth. She has the same cuteness in her face though, and the same head of thick dark hair.

We've spent the past couple of weeks wondering if the baby was ever going to come on it's own, and sincerely hoping that we wouldn't have to go through another induction, and dreading the prospect of having another C-section. This past Monday was Tammy's 41 week appointment, so Sunday was spent fasting and praying, and my Dad and my brother assisted me in giving Tammy a priesthood blessing, all of which really helped our confidence level.

We went to the appointment on the Monday, and they told us that they were going to issue the induction papers the next day as Tammy was already 9 days overdue. Tammy had been having irregular contractions all week, so we left the appointment and went to the mall to walk around and see if we could get things moving a bit. Right before Tammy had gone into labour with Emma, we had walked around the mall and when we went to the food court, we ran into the Wolffs, and soon after we were in the hospital having a baby. We joked that perhaps we should try that routine again, to see if it was the secret recipe for success. Well we didn't see the Wolffs at the foodcourt, but we did see a lady that Tammy used to work with, who was there with her family, and sure enough, the contractions started coming every 5 minutes or less. We scarfed down the rest of our meal, raced home to get our birthing things, dropped Emma off at my parents house, and then headed for the Foothills hospital.

We got there at about 8:00pm, and by that time the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and getting stronger. We didn't spend long in the triage unit, since there were certain risks involving Tammy's previous C-section, and since we were already 9 days past due. Tammy's Mom and her sister Kimberly drove in from Carstairs and joined us in the delivery room where we spent the next 12 hours helping Tammy power through her contractions.

We had been at it for about 6 hours, with expectations that everything was progressing along at a decent pace, when the doctor told us that Tammy was only dialated 2 to 3 cm. It was at this point that Tammy started seriously considering having an epidural, but her Mom talked her out of it, and the doctor suggested using a combination of nitrous oxide gas, and some fentanyl that Tammy would take intravenously instead. We decided to give that a try before going all the way to the epidural, and we're so glad we did. The fentanyl really took the edge off the contractions, without slowing them down or leaving Tammy incapacitated as epidurals tend to do.

I was so proud of how well Tammy dealt with the pain and how well she kept her focus. The nurses were impressed as well, and recommended that Tammy star in a birthing video, but I want to talk to our agent first. My stomach was turning on me all night, so I stepped out to use the washroom, and when I came back, Tammy was pushing. The doctor's and nurses were rushing around trying to get set up, because the baby was finally in a rush to come into the world. I found it funny that we had been there for 12 hours and still managed to catch the staff off guard.

After only 12 minutes of pushing, Ashley was out and I was balling. I was so happy for Tammy. She delivered our beautiful baby exactly the way she wanted to. We were both amazed that, even though she could feel a lot of pressure during the actual delivery, she didn't feel any pain, especially since there was a need for some signifigant surgery afterwards.

She lost about a litre of blood during the whole process, which led to an extra days stay in the hospital, and frequent checks on her blood pressure. We were lucky enough to get a private room, and outside of a couple of ornery, war-time nurses and two fire alarms, we had a pretty decent stay there. I wasn't allowed to stay overnight at the hospital, so I stayed at my parents house with Emma, which helped her not miss Mom too much.

We brought Ashley back to my parents house on Valentines Day, to pick up her big sister and visit with some cousins, and then we headed home. It's been a little hectic here since then, but everyone is doing great, and we're all just so happy to have Mom and Ashley home.

Overdue

As of today, the baby is now considered overdue. I guess it wouldn't be a Bourne if it wasn't a little late. We had the same scenario unfold with Emma when she was born. It took eveything short of dynamite to get that girl to finally come out. Tammy has been experiencing more birthing symptoms than she ever did with Emma, so we're taking that as a good sign, and hoping things progress quickly towards a natural child birth over the next few days.

No matter how much time the baby does give us to prepare though, I still can't see myself handling the delivery very well. This sort of thing really stresses me out, but I'm grateful that I'll at least have Tammy there to help me through it.

Child Care Instructions

My cousin in-law, Woody Crapo, posted this list of helpful instructions on proper child care on the family website. It comes at a great time for us, as we really needed the refresher before our bundle arrives.

How Cold Is It?

It's colder than a brass toilet seat on the shady side of an iceburg.

It's so cold, I had to kick a hole in the air just to get out my front door.

It's so cold, Tim Hortons is selling hot chocolate by the slice.

It's so cold, Emma can only play as far as the extension cord will let her.

It's so cold, I actually saw Richard Simmons wearing pants.

That's probably enough. We've barely left the house since Saturday due to the incredible deep freeze the city of Calgary is experiencing this week. It's been consistantly below -40 with the wind chill since Sunday, and it's only starting to creep up to around -10 today.

I've been working from home all week, as there is no furnace system in my office yet, and no place to plug in a car for that matter, and with the baby being due at any moment, I didn't want to risk being stranded in Crossfield when the moment finally arrives.

Both Tammy and I have ventured out a few times for various reasons, but poor Emma has been cooped up in the house for the longest period of time in her entire young life. She's starting to show signs of cabin fever, so I think we'll try and go out somewhere tonight.

It was during a cold snap like this last year that our furnace broke down and we paid what seemed like a ridiculous fee at the time to get it fixed. Turns out prices for such services have gone up, along with everything else in Calgary, but thankfully we've had no troubles with it this time around - knock on wood - conserve said wood for alternate heating source.

It's times like these when I always question the reasoning behind living in such a climate, when we know full well that there are nicer places to go. With how the cost of living has skyrocketed in Alberta over the past couple of years, I'm sure if enough of us pooled our money, we could buy some uninhabited tropical island and set up our own utopian society with me as Supreme Chancellor. How about it folks?

President Hinckley

We got a call on Sunday night at about 8:30pm from my sister Heather, telling us that my uncle Christopher had called from Salt Lake to tell them that President Hinckley had passed away that night at about 7:00pm. He was 97 years old at the time of his passing, and had served as the President of the Church for the last 13 years of his life, and as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for some 34 years before that.

There are some articles on lds.org that summarize his life and service a lot better than I could, but for my part, I'll always remember him as the Prophet during my "coming of age" in the Church. It's his signature on my mission call, and I also had the pleasure of meeting him when he toured our mission and the rest of Canada back in 1998. He's always been one of Tammy's all time favorite people, and together we've enjoyed the many sessions of General Conference that he's spoken in since we've been married. He'll be missed, but not forgotten, as his impact on the growth of the Church will effect generations to come.

On a similar note, we've also recently mourned the loss of one of my young men's leaders, Kevin Way. His funeral was held on the 11th of January, and was both uplifting and well attended. One of the speakers at that funeral said something that stuck out to me, and I think applies to both Kevin and President Hinckley. I don't remember the exact phrasiology, but it was something to this effect:

"...When you look at the dates on a grave stone (1910 - 2008 in President Hinckley's case) the most important part of that inscription is the dash that separates the dates. That dash represents all the years and all the service and all the contributions that that person made over the course of their lifetime..."

There was more to it, but the idea is there. The remaining members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have put together some tributes to the Prophet already, and I'm sure his funeral, which I believe will be held on the 2nd of February in the Conference Center, will also be uplifting and well attended.

SOLD

We've officially sold our house, to a young fellow who's parents are helping him finance the purchase, and who plans to bring in a couple of renters to help pay the bills. There's not a lot of young people who can afford to do it any other way in Calgary right now. We feel really fortunate that we were able to get into the Calgary housing market at the time that we did, and grateful now that we are able to get out of it.

Unfortunately however, the deal on the place we had lined up in Lethbridge has fallen through, so we're in a bit of a limbo right now. Not really the best position to be in with the baby being due this weekend, but I'm sure we'll get it all sorted out eventually. I'm taking parental leave as soon as the baby does arrive, so that should potentially free up a lot of time for me to get us packed up and to get arrangements made before we have to be out of here in March.

We are going to miss our first little house. We've lived here for almost 5 years, which is the longest I've ever lived in any house in my life, and it's the house we brought our first, and soon enough, our second child home to. We've got some good neighbours that we've gotten to know pretty well over the years that we will also miss, particularily our next door neighbours who have a little girl that's pretty close to Emma's same age. This area has been really great for us too, with all the parks nearby and it's close proximity to some major ammenities. We'll miss our ward as well, but the Church is not so big yet that we won't ever get a chance to see a lot of the friends we've made there again.

I guess I don't need to keep going on about it, it's already sold.

3 Wheel Drive

Today's Lesson: Check your lug nuts. (comic only slightly related)

How many times have you told someone to "Drive safe" when they leave your house? I know I've said it occasionally, but due to recent events, I'm changing my goodbye advice to "Check your lug nuts".

We were driving home from my parents house on the evening of New Years Day, and as we pulled into our circle, the front right tire (the drivers side in the Hilux) started to wobble like it was flat. There's a lot of construction in our area, so I immediately thought we'd run over a nail or a screw or perhaps a misplaced skilsaw, but when we parked in front of our house and I inspected the tire, there was no sign of a leak at all. It was late, and we needed to get Emma to bed, so I left it alone and decided to take a look at it when the sun came up again.

Daylight revealed that the tire itself was not damaged in any way, but that there was only one lug nut holding the entire wheel onto the vehicle. Not only were the other lug nuts missing from the wheel, but two of the studs had completely sheared off the rotor. All the other tires had a full compliment of lugs nuts, so I'm not sure if we were looking at a failed attempt to steal my wheel, or some form of sinister plot, but needless to say, we're exceedingly happy that we discovered it before something terrible happened.

I took one lug nut off the each of the other 3 wheels and put them on the 3 bare studs still remaining on the wobbly wheel, and drove it to the nearest mechanic, which happened to be Country Hills Toyota. They quoted me over $600 to fix it, so I spat on their shoes and drove it down to Clint Maucieri's shop, and they fixed it for about half that.

I've told a few people this story already, and most have come back with some horror story of their own, and usually the folks in their stories weren't so lucky. I'm usually in the habit of giving my tires a quick glance before I travel anywhere you have to take a highway to get to, but after this experience, I'm adding lug nuts to the checklist. I imagine you might be too.

Christmas 2007

Is anyone getting tired of seeing that picture of my scarred face every time they check out our site yet? I know I am, so let's get on with some posts.

Christmas officially ended in our house today as we dismantled our tree and packed away the decorations. It doesn't seem all that long ago that we were setting up the tree, but the Christmas season always seems to fly by.

Emma was very helpful when we set up the tree, now having a bit of a better understanding of what it's for. She likes to fixate on one particular branch (particularly the ones at the back that no one ever sees) and decorate it to capacity before moving on. We had some good chuckles after she had gone to bed, and we spent the better part of the rest of the evening spreading the decorations over the rest of the tree.

My cousin Malauney did a great job organizing the Bourne Christmas party this year over at the East Stake Center. There were some new faces, but a lot of missing faces as parts of the family have moved away or are serving missions. The food was great and we played the traditional games, but the fun is really in getting everyone together. Of course we did the pinata again this year (though the tradition seems odd as there is not even a drop of Mexican blood in our veins), and Malauney wisely selected one that was not made to look like a beloved children's cartoon character. We've had some traumatic reactions to that in the past.

The Bourne Christmas party was held the same time as our ward Christmas party, so Tammy took Emma to the Panorama ward Christmas party so she could get a chance to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what she wanted as far as gifts go. Every time we asked her what she wanted, the answer was always the same, "A blue present". When Santa (who was really Grampa Olsen, and the kids might have known) asked her, she didn't say much at all, she just gave him an uncomfortable stare.

I had a half day on the Friday before Christmas and then spent the afternoon at the Modus Christmas party. We actually had turkey this year, which was nice. In the raffle, I walked away with a gift certificate for $50 to Fas Gas. Not quite as fancy as the Keg gift certificate from last year, but appreciated nonetheless. They also handed out some pretty decent goodies in our gift baskets as well, though we did have to find a new home for the smoked oysters. After the party, I completely blocked work out of my mind and didn't go back until the day after New Years. It was a very nice break, and despite all the lurgy that was floating around the family, I actually spent the holidays feeling well.

After I started and finished my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, we spent the evening over at my parents house, but quickly rushed home to get cookies and eggnog out for Santa, and carrots out for Rudolph. Emma was asleep by the time we got home, so Tammy and I finished wrapping presents and settled in for a long winter's nap, hoping that Emma would give us the gift of sleeping in just a little bit. It was our first Christmas morning at home, as we've always slept over at Grandparents homes in the years before, so we were all pretty excited to get up and spend the day together.

Presents went by a lot faster since it was just the three of us, but we spent the rest of the morning making and eating a big breakfast and playing with Emma's new toys and games. That afternoon we went out to Carstairs and spent the rest of the day at Tammy's parents house, opening more gifts and visiting with everyone. The wives went out early the next morning to go Boxing Day shopping, and then we had a pot luck dinner and played games over at the Mason's for the remains of the day.

I was the 20min speaker at church the next Sunday, so sometime during the festivities I had to prepare a talk on "Enduring Well". I took almost all of Saturday to write it, and still didn't have enough to fill the time allotted to me, so I came up with a plan to fake an illness in the middle of my talk and then leave out the side door. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the youth speaker did. He stopped in the middle of his talk, turned around to the rest of us on the stand and said "I'm going to throw up." and ran out the side door, completely stealing my move. Fortunately, the other talk went a little longer, and we had a surprise musical number, so I ended up being OK for time.

We didn't get back to my parents house until New Years Eve, and we celebrated it as our Christmas eve as well. We opened gifts, played some games, ate tonnes of food, and went to bed far too late for people with 2 year old goonies. New Years Day was pretty cold, but we hit the rink in Citadel and the park across from it anyways. We didn't stay long because it was just too cold, and poor little Lucy ended up getting a touch of frostbite on her cheeks. We spent the rest of the day playing more games and eating more food and as the evening came to a close, the back to work blues set in, and it was time to head home.

After spending so much time with Tammy and Emma, I always wonder why I ever do anything else. We had a really great holiday, and we're all sad it's over, but we're all very excited about the baby coming in the next couple of weeks here, and I'm planning on taking some parental leave when it does, so we're all looking forward to that.