The sky is falling!

No, not really, but there are two really cool reasons to look up into the night sky tonight.

Way back in the day, blog used to cater more to my inner geek. I wrote about why we should explore space, and ranted about the evolution versus creationism debate. I don’t remember when I last wrote on the subject, but when I saw this meme at About Miche, I couldn’t resist:

JustSayHi - Science Quiz

(I would’ve done better if there were more astronomy questions! Theoretical astronomy and cosmology – stuff like chaos theory and string theory and the origins of the universe – have long been a fascination of mine.)

So, back to the free show in the sky tonight. First, there will be a gorgeous total lunar eclipse tonight, and for a nice change it is both at a reasonable hour AND at least here in Ottawa, the skies should be clear. The eclipse will be visible from most of North America, as well as South America and Western Europe, and the next lunar eclipse visible in Canada won’t be until December 2010.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow — that is, the earth comes between the sun and the moon (as opposed to a solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the sun and the earth.) The moon won’t disappear completely, but will become a deep red or orange colour. You can see the earth’s shadow take the first ‘bite’ out of the moon starting at 8:43 pm EST, and totality begins at 10:01 pm and will last until 10:51 pm. For more info on lunar eclipses, see this excellent primer.

As if that weren’t cool enough, you will also be able to see the American military spy satellite USA 193 as it passes over Ottawa starting at 6:06 pm EST tonight. (You can get information about tracking the satellite in your hometown’s sky starting here.) This is the satellite that’s been in the news lately for its decaying orbit – either the US military will shoot it down in the next couple of days, or it will crash to earth some time in March.

You should be able to see the satellite with the naked eye. It will be about as bright and the same size as the brightest stars, and will take about five minutes to move across the sky. It will rise in the southwest and rise more or less overhead across the southeast sky before disappearing to the northeast. This website has a star chart with the path marked across it.

Cool stuff!

A little rant on “Family Day”

So it’s “Family Day” in Ontario, also known as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s ill-planned if not well-intentioned vote grabbing proposal. And I’m sure there are more clever scribes than I with rants against this silly holiday, but I can’t help myself. I too must rant.

It may be “Family Day” – but, according to one article I read, only about 40 per cent of people in the province are actually entitled to the day off to be with their families. Large stores and malls are closed, municipal and provincial government services are closed, and most civic places like libraries are closed. (Which, to me, begs the question — what the hell are we supposed to do with our families then? Stay locked up in the house for the whole day? That’s a recipe for disaster if I’ve ever heard one!) Beloved works in Quebec, so he doesn’t get the day off. If I weren’t on maternity leave, I’d be working because Federal government employees don’t get the day off, either. So, if I weren’t already off, we’d have to either pay double-time to a daycare provider willing to work on the stat holiday, or use up a personal day and stay home. Not a huge deal for us, but with city-run daycares closed, lots of families will be SOL and scrambling for care, or explaining to unimpressed employers why they need an extra day off.

Tristan already has a PD day scheduled for this Friday, and both his school and Simon’s nursery school are closed today. What never crossed my mind until late last week was that our nanny is also entitled to today as a paid holiday. Luckily, she took pity on the look of abject terror that must have crossed my face as I realized I’d be facing an entire February day stuck in the house with two rambunctious boys and a 10-day-old newborn, and agreed to my plea that she take the boys for a couple of hours in the morning.

But what I really want to know is what the heck the province is doing by imposing this “family” time. Are we really so overworked, so overscheduled, so out of touch with each other, that we need the province to step in to save our families? Granted, my boys are still only 4 and 6 years old, but we still have dinner together every single night. We still play together on weekends, and when I’m not ridiculously pregnant or tending to a newborn, we go on lots of family expeditions large and small. We can have fun going to the grocery store or the mall together, and we play games together. Why are the ‘experts’ always lamenting the loss of family time and why do people find it so hard to connect with their families?

Sometimes, I feel like a bit of a slacker for not having the boys scheduled in more activities. They have swimming lessons in the summer, and last year they went to a week of gymnastics daycamp. I’d’ve had them in skating this winter, if I weren’t pregnant. But that’s only one night a week. Am I at fault for underscheduling and not challenging them more? I don’t think so. Tristan’s report card just came in, and he’s exceeding expectations in reading and mathematics, and meeting expectations in every other area, so I’m confident that he’s being appropriately challenged. Moreso, he loves school, as does Simon. I’d be afraid that pushing too much on them would backfire, and that they might resist and lose their natural love of learning if too much is forced on them.

I digress. What I wanted to say when I started this little screed is that this whole Family Day thing seems bogus to me. If we can manage Family Time without the province leaning on us and causing us to have to scramble for daycare and employment arrangements, I think most people in the province can do the same thing.

And seriously? If you really want to tempt me, I’d be a lot less likely to rant if that day off were in the summer time, with green grass and sunshine. February? No thanks.

In which my four year old observes the wonders of human anatomy

I was walking around the house after my shower without my shirt or bra on, giving my poor beleagured bits some fresh air to help them heal. (It’s getting better, but still not great. Lucas is spitting up a bit of my blood when he nurses on one side, which has happened with all three boys and yet never fails to completely freak me out, but I also think it’s less painful and that his latch is improving.)

Simon, who has seen me naked plenty of times, took a long look at me and said something I didn’t quite catch. I asked him to say it again and he said, brightly, “Double!” I was just puzzling over what he meant, as he was obviously looking at my chest, when he asked with a tone of amazed curiousity, “Baby can eat from TWO sides?”

Yes, the human body is an amazing machine indeed.

Breastfeeding sucks

Ouch.

No really? Ouch.

I’m not sure you’re getting the message here. I mean it. Ouch.

It gets better, I know. I nursed Tristan for ten months and Simon for 16 months, so I know it gets better, but holy fuck does it ever hurt right now. I’m lumpy and engorged and bruised because the milk has come in but the supply hasn’t regulated yet, and my nipples are cracked and raw. Even my shoulders are aching from being rolled forward and from tensing up with the pain. I swear, the shock of pain when Lucas latches on is as intense as the worst of the labour contractions — just focused to a laser point one centimeter wide across my nipple. Luckily, it eases to a dull throb after the first few sucks, but it still takes a conscious effort on my part not to clench my hands and squeeze his poor wee skull as I hold him to the breast.

It would probably be funny watching me getting him ready to latch, if it didn’t hurt so damn much. Only five days old and already he recognizes when we have assumed the position — nursing pillow on lap, blanket on pillow, baby on blanket — and he’ll settle down and open his mouth in anticipation. He’s pretty good about opening his mouth wide, but still gets his hands up in the way as often as not. I’ll tease him a few times just to make sure his mouth is open as wide as possible before stuffing the boob in, but every now and then I’ll flinch in anticipation of the pain and back off. He’s not overfond of the teasing, go figure, and has given me an earful if I feint too many times.

One of the midwives has expressed concern that he may be tongue-tied, which only makes nursing more difficult and painful, but the others are not convinced. I guess we’ll just have to wait it out and hope it gets better soon. There’s no doubt in my mind it’s worth it in the long run to endure what is hopefully a short term pain, and I still have lots of tylenol and ibuprofin left over that I never had to use after the delivery. In the interim, can someone tell me why I keep having new babies in the coldest season of the year? Because in addition to all the other aches and pains associated with breastfeeding, it’s just cruel to add the extra pain of the effect of a cold draft on wet nipples, if you get my meaning.

Ouch!

Beyond Day Three

When I was pregnant, I read something on someone’s blog about Day Three, and how it’s a well-known fact (at least in some circles, it was news to me but made a lot of sense) that Day Three postpartum is one of the worst, hardest days. It’s a perfect storm of dismay: you’ve lost the last of the endorphins from the birth experience; the ‘newness’ of having baby has worn off but you haven’t yet established a workable routine so everything is still topsy-turvey; your milk is coming in (ouch!); and, worst of all, you’re a hormonal mess. In fact, the midwife was telling me that a newly postpartum woman has less hormones than a post-menopausal woman, as the placenta has been almost entirely responsible for hormone production during the pregnancy.

All that to say, Day Three is a mythically scary day. Day Three or no, in my previous pregnancies I’ve always had a particularly rough time in first few weeks after baby is born – emotionally, physically, and especially in dealing with the sleep deprivation. That’s why the whole “Day Three” thing resonated with me; except, in my case, it was more like the first three (or six!) weeks, not days.

And here we are on Day Four, and you know what? Not so bad! Maybe it’s a new level of self-awareness, maybe it’s an easier labour (story to come, I promise!), maybe an easier baby, or maybe just third time’s the charm. Yes, I’d say yesterday was the most difficult day so far, but as the worst, it was better than a lot of the best days from the postpartum days following the arrivals of Tristan and Simon.

It’s been way easier physically. I think my milk coming in yesterday and the sore nipples (not yet as battered as they were with the other boys, but still bruised and cracked) have been far more uncomfortable than the residual aches and pains from the delivery. Because Simon was born with his hand thrust over his head, the tear was way worse then than this time — it’s amazing how much the simple ability to sit comfortably improves one’s demeanor!

We were doing pretty good with the sleep deprivation, too. Lucas had been sleeping a LOT, which helps, but last night that went out the window. I’d been getting maybe six hours of sleep a night altogether, which while three hours less than my ideal, is still manageable. Last night, he was up for most of the night and I couldn’t get him to settle for love nor money. Even sucking on my fingers, the way I’d soothed him to sleep a couple of times the night before, wouldn’t do it for him. I think my milk coming in might have upset his stomach, and am hoping that he adjusts to it through the course of the day today.

Emotionally, well, that’s just been easier, too. I dunno why, but I’ll take it! I think it’s a combination of the wisdom of experience and the knowledge that this is the last time I’ll be doing this that helps. Part of my brain is whining “I feel like crap and I’m sooooo tired and oh my god, I wish you would just go to sleep” but another part of me remembers how truly short this time period is and how quickly it passes. (And no, I don’t really expect that serenity to last even to the end of today, let alone for any great length of time. But it’s nice while it lasts.)

So, if that was Day Three, and that was the worst of it, I think we’re golden!

And with that, my little one is awakening from his four hour mid-morning nap (how cruel is it that his best and deepest sleep of the day exactly coincides with my most alert and unable to nap time of the day???) and will be demanding second breakfast (actually, I think we’re up to elevenses) any minute now. If we get another long nap like this tomorrow morning, you may yet get that birth story…. or not!

In which the player to be named later is named

I’ve told the story here before about how when Tristan was born almost six years ago, although we knew his first name from the time we found out we were having a boy, we had some trouble deciding on what to do for a surname. Beloved and I couldn’t leave the hospital until we completed his health card application, and of course his health card application needed a surname. In the end, we hyphenated our surnames.

This time, when we left the hospital we left behind a health card application that showed the same hyphenated last name that he’ll share with Tristan and Simon, but in the space designated for his first name, we simply put “Baby Boy.” We had a name in mind, had been 60 to 80% settled on it for months, but we just weren’t sure. And for the longest time, we had absolutely no idea about a middle name.

About two weeks ago, we decided on a middle name, and then toyed with that as a first name for a while. Then, yesterday morning when Beloved came to rescue us from the hospital and bring us home, he reintroduced a name we had been toying with a few months ago and I found myself caught between two names I liked very much. We went from no name to too many names!

So we spent the first 40 hours or so calling him Baby and Baby Brother and Little One, and testing out all the name combinations we could think of. After spending the first night in the hospital trying out one and the first night at home trying out the other, we’ve finally (oh how I hope it’s FINALLY) come to a decision. My apologies, Nancy, because he was very nearly Benjamin. I love love love the name Ben, and it’s only the fact that we have a recently deceased and wickedly mean cat named Ben (who really never did stop hating me in the 10 years we lived together) that made us finally decide against the name Ben.

And so, with no further ado (and hopefully, no further changes of heart!) I am actually tearing up just a little bit as I introduce to you the Player Now Named:

Lucas Sawyer

Lucas Sawyer


(And he already has his own photo album on Flickr!)

My first one-handed post

Wow!!! Thank you all for your sweet words – Beloved and the family and I are as delighted by your joy as we are by the newest little member of our family. It will take a while for me to reorient myself to mothering a newborn (it’s harder than I remember!) but I so loved Mad’s comment about me not missing a blogging day that I had to stop in and say hello. (It was Beloved who posted the photos last night.)

I know y’all are dying to hear the details and I can’t wait to tell the story, but for now you’ll have to wait until baby is willing to be put down or I learn to type faster with one hand!

Oh, and as for his name? We still have no idea!

Friday’s child is loving and giving

Just one last post before we head out to the hospital for the induction! The hospital called to have us come in for 7:30, but when I called the student midwife she called the hospital back to delay it until 8:30 to give the other midwife time to sleep after their long day yesterday. Just waiting for Granny and Papa Lou to arrive, and for my last cup of coffee to percolate.

Can you believe this agreeable little baby of mine actually let me sleep somewhere around seven hours last night? It took me a while to fall asleep, which never happens, but I slept pretty well in two and three hour chunks and was fast asleep when the hospital called at 6:00. I had a few contractions on and off, but nothing regular and nothing painful. (I’m sure I’ll be having those soon enough!)

By the way, the title of this post was inspired by my mom, who started reciting the lines of the old poem at the beginning of the week when we were first facing a Tuesday’s child (full of grace). I’ll admit that when I thought my water broke at 1:15 on Wednesday morning, one of my first thoughts was “Oh no! Wednesday’s child is full of woe!” But Friday’s child is loving and giving, and I can confirm that because I’m a Friday’s child, too! *grin* What day were you born?

At least, this child BETTER be born on Friday!!!

Unfortunately, I won’t be bringing my laptop to the hospital (no wi-fi, darn!) but I’ll have my notebook and my camera… and lots of juicy details for you in the next couple of weeks. Thanks again for playing along with me yesterday, I can’t imagine a more fun way to pass a very strange but ultimately memorable and enjoyable day!

Liveblogging labour – part five

The midwife has come and gone. One of my favourite memories of this labour, if not this entire pregnancy, will likely be Tristan and Simon, clad in their pyjamas, creeping down the stairs to see what the midwife was doing, and having them and Beloved sitting on the floor together across the room, listening to Baby’s heartbeat on the doppler. You can’t buy memories like that!

Still not much in the way of contractions, but the Player to be Named Later and I continue to fare well. Assuming I don’t go into active labour some time overnight (which would hardly surprise me, given his to-date propensity for nighttime shenanigans), we’ll head out to the Montfort tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9:00 for the induction. The midwife said I could actually continue to wait it out, as long as FOUR DAYS!!!! That is just not going to happen, if for no other reason than the leaking would in fact make me lose my mind. The midwife checked with the hospital on her way over, and though they have five people on a list for induction tomorrow, they will make room for me and my ruptured membranes.

So I guess I’ll watch LOST and then just go to bed. (On a really thick stack of towels and waterproof crib pads!) Seems ridiculously anticlimactic after this very strange day, but I don’t know what else to do! As if I’ll actually get a decent night’s sleep, but I’ll give it a good try anyway. Lying calmly in the darkness, being grateful for a bountiful life, is almost as good as eight hours of sleep, right?

This has been a blast today — thanks for coming along for the ride!!