What's Next?

Please, take my jewelry, my designer sunglasses, just leave me my hair!

We women go through a lot to bring these beautiful babies into the world. There’s the nausea, swelling, and general aches and pains while you’re pregnant, then when the little nuggets arrive there’s the sleep deprivation, cracked nipples and for some, BALDING. Yes my friends I’ve discovered that I have a bald spot. Now most women that I know care a great deal about their hair. They spend good money to get it styled or coloured, they buy product to keep it healthy and shiny, and they put in time every morning to make sure their hair is looking good when they leave the house because if the hair is bad, it doesn’t matter if the outfit is great… hair is a true extension of our femininity… at least that’s how I feel. When I discovered the bald spot I honestly was in denial. I pretended like it wasn’t really there or maybe a part of me believed if I didn’t look at it again until the next day hair would magically reappear overnight. No such luck.

Last Thursday John watched Evan so that I could go to the spa and get my hair done. I was counting down the days as I hadn’t highlighted or cut my hair in so long! Of course my stylist noticed the bald spot. Sweet thing didn’t say anything until I mentioned it… Then she assured me it would grow back, although I could see the doubt in her eyes. She told me she had seen new mom’s who had thinning, but none with an actual bald spot. Great! Oh and of course it couldn’t be at the back of my head where no one would ever see it, nope its right in the front. Normally if I wear my hair down I part it in the middle, not anymore. I’ll be rocking the side part for the foreseeable future. I’ve already decided if I don’t see growth on the ol’ bald patch in the next month I’m going for a hair transplant consultation. Below is the photographic proof. If you see me in the grocery store please pretend like I didn’t share this with you.

There it is...


The side part, my new best friend...

If I Do Say So Myself...

I think John and I made one hell of a cute baby!

Here are a couple of pics from our shoot with Christine Tripp.

Who Do You Trust?

Friday was a busy day and also a very confusing day. It started with our photo shoot at Tripp Photography. Evan was really good… he wouldn’t sleep for us so we didn’t get any of those “peaceful sleeping baby” shots, but I think I’ve snapped enough of those on my own. Ha! I can’t wait to see Christine work her magic!

After the shoot we went to Westboro for the lactation drop-in class. Thankfully we got there early so the consultant saw us first. They work on a first come first serve basis so if you get there late you could be waiting a while. The consultant was really sweet and immediately identified the problem. Apparently my milk lets down very quickly so in an effort to keep himself from choking Evan has been pulling off my nipple and pinching it. Ahhhhhh… makes sense! The consultant told me to start feeding in a lying down position with Evan on top of me so that gravity helps reduce the speed of the milk flow into his mouth, then as the feed goes on I can gradually move my body into a seated position. Brilliant! Now she also said that my nipple woes probably have nothing to do with yeast (aka Thrush) and that this new method of feeding should help. She did however suggest an ointment for my nipples to help along in the healing. It’s a cream that Dr. Newman (a well known Toronto based pediatrician) created to help mothers like me. Only thing is you need a prescription for it, so when we left the class I got on the phone to my doctor. Unfortunately he was away on holidays and Evan’s pediatrician’s office was closed. I really couldn’t imagine going another day with the nipple pain I was experiencing so I went to an Apple Tree Medical Centre. Thankfully I got in right away. I told the doctor what I wanted a prescription for, but he wanted to take a look at my nipples first. I barely had my bra off before he concluded that it was yeast. Then I told him I treated Evan and myself for Thrush a month ago. He asked what we used and I told him Gentian Violet. He told me he would never prescribe that because it’s been proven to cause cancer. WHAT?! He told me to never use it again and wrote up two prescriptions (neither which were for Dr. Newman’s cream); one that I have to give Evan orally and one that I have to apply to my nipple twice a day. So who do you trust? Who do you believe when everyone is telling you something different? Being at my wits end I decided to go with the advice of the last doctor. I went straight to the pharmacy and we’ve been on the medication since then. My nipples are getting a bit better. I hate giving Evan medication so early on (especially since he doesn’t have clear symptoms of Thrush), but the doctor told me we have to be treated at the same time or it’s pointless.

Thankfully that very busy and confusing day was followed by a wonderful date with my honey! Yes, my mom and dad came in to watch Evan and John and I enjoyed a delicious dinner and WINE (Wahoo!) in Little Italy followed by gelato in the Glebe. It was our first official date night since we’ve had Evan and it was really fantastic. We decided it’s something we should do at least once a month because you really don’t realize until you’re alone together how long it’s been since you’ve truly connected.

So all in all it was a great weekend and now this Monday, despite the rain, is proving to be pretty darn good too! Here are some recent pics of our 12 pound 2 ounce beautiful baby boy (we weighed him at the drop-in class… can you believe he’s over 12 pounds?!).

Evan with his Nana Jean (John's mom) during her visit last weekend...


My cousin (aka "Big Evan") with my baby (aka "Little Evan")...


Evan with his proud Grandpa (my dad) at his retirement party...


Even though this one is blurry I just had to post it...


Here's our little old man hanging out at my girlfriend's cottage (thanks for the hat Melis!)...

Not So Much...

Okay, maybe it’s not all good here… I mean Evan is good, mommy is not. Last night I broke down when my nipple split in half. I’ve been dealing with nipple pain for a while now. For some reason I still haven’t gone to a lactation consultant. Like I said in a previous post when I was complaining about nipple pain, I apparently like to hurt. Well that was the old me, this girl doesn’t want to hurt any more. Last night at our 3am feed I pulled my nipple from Evan’s mouth to discover it was completely split. No wonder it was killing me. I called the Ottawa Public Health number today and spoke to a nurse. She said from the way I described the pain (shooting pain throughout my nipple and breast and a burning sensation, along with cracking/splitting) that it sounded like thrush. I told her we had already dealt with thrush, but we only did a 3 day cycle of the Gentian Violet which she said was not enough. She also said Evan does not have to have the white spots in his mouth for me to be suffering from it so purple mouth is about to make a return. I’m really not looking forward to dealing with this purple dye for the next 7 days, but I realize now that I have to get a hold of this thing because it’s ruining my life. Melodramatic? Why yes, I am.

I know what you’re thinking, yesterday I was saying that everything was great and now I’m saying that my nipples are ruining my life, well welcome to the early days of motherhood; one moment things are great, the next you're balling your eyes out.

So tomorrow is a big day! At 11am we’re going to get professional photos taken of Evan at Christine Tripp’s new studio in the Glebe (needless to say I won’t be applying the Gentian Violet until later tomorrow afternoon), then off to Westboro for a lactation class. I’m hoping we have a better night tonight than last night because big days are tough on little sleep.

All Good Here

Evan is such a good baby… I’ll tell you just how good he is. For the last week Evan has slept anywhere between 4 and 7 hours IN A ROW at night. Awesome!

The other thing that makes Evan such a good baby is that he is a good traveller. We discovered this last weekend when we drove to St. Catharines, Ontario (6 hours from here) and back. John was the best man in his friends wedding so he flew to Toronto on Thursday morning. That night Evan and I stayed with my parents at their place. Early the next day, my mom, dad, and I loaded up the van with my dad’s bike gear and Evan’s bare essentials (which took up most of the available space). It worked out nicely that Evan and I could hitch a ride with my folks as my dad was starting a bicycle tour from Niagara on the Lake the very same weekend.

On the way there we left early. We stopped every two hours for a feed and a diaper change and Evan slept in between. Glorious! My dad took off for his bike tour on Saturday morning. My mom stayed with us so that she could look after Evan when I went to the wedding reception. It was so wonderful to get away for a few hours and know that Evan was in the very capable, caring hands of my mother. I was able to enjoy a delicious meal, a bit of wine, some great adult chat, heck I even hit the dance floor! I was home by 11 and didn’t mind one bit. I had the perfect night and got to come home to my perfect baby boy.

The way back home was a bit different, but still good. We left a bit later in the morning and stopped to visit my dear friend Kim, her husband Peter and their new bundle of joy, Rory James Shaughnessy. Rory was born two and a half weeks early and weighed in at 5 pounds 8 ounces. I have to tell you, I could not believe how small and utterly adorable he was in person. Kim had shared pictures with me, but it wasn’t until I held him that I could truly grasp his size. He was light as a feather… unlike Evan who is almost the size of a 2 year old now.

Then we were off again, Evan didn’t really get fussy until the last hour… it was a bit rough, but who can blame the little guy for wanting to get out of that car seat?! I was a bit squirmy myself.

When we arrived home I was thankful to have our first big road trip behind us. Now that I know it’s possible we might just plan a few more trips this summer!

Evan's first wedding!


Rory hanging out on my mom's lap...


Can you believe there are only 6 weeks between them?!