It's June...I mean Jane

Tomorrow officially starts the next season of my life as a stay-at-home-mum. One good thing about Ben coming early is that he came home at the brink of Dane's 2 week Spring Break. Tomorrow Dane goes back to Fraser Valley, thus the new season begins. To be honest I never really thought this day would come. I never envisioned this for my self but I'm really grateful now that it is here. Having such an amazing employer (Jacob's Well) and living in
Canada, I get a year of paid maternity leave. Whoo-hoo!!

Unfortunately my life as a stay-at-home mum isn't starting out exactly as we had thought. The obvious being it is starting way earlier. Also, I can't really walk for more than 15 minutes and I can't drive yet because of my leg. I'm working on staying positive and remembering how far I've come since we discovered this giant blood clot in my hip. We are looking forward to the day when Ben and I have free reign to cruise the town in the BOB.

My mum is coming over to Vancouver this week to help me out and get Ben and I to our various doctor's appointments. He has a weigh in at the pediatrician on Thursday and I finally see the hematologist on Friday.

The Power of the Soothie

The video is a minute in length. Neither Jane nor I condone the parenting techniques shown in this segment. No animals were hurt during the filming of this video.

P.S. Ben weighed in today at 2390 grams or 5.25 pounds. The doctor and his parents were impressed.

Great Friends & Family meeting Ben

I'm not sure some of these come in sideways but Dan Ray, Joyce, Julie, James, Beth, Carol (and Kirk and Chrissy) all came to meet Ben last week!

A little braggging...

This is what Babycenter (read: random website that showed up when I googled "baby development"), writes regarding babies rolling over:

"Your baby may be able to kick himself over, from his tummy to his back, as early as age 2 to 3 months. It may take him until he's about 5 or 6 months to flip from back to front, though, because he needs stronger neck and muscles for that maneuver."

This morning I watched Ben roll from this tummy to his back -unaided- twice. I tried it again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Boo-yah, he is technically -2 1/2 weeks old and is doing things a 2-3 month "might" be able to do. I'm telling you, he'll be riding his bike to White Rock by April. We won't talk about the fact that while attempting to breast feed he often starts sucking on his own wrist. Coming soon: the weigh in.

Happy Birthday Grandma Chris. We love you.

Jane, Dane, and Ben

Easter Weekend: Practicing Resurrection

What's in a name?

Many of you have asked how we chose the name Benjamin Wade. There have been some interesting rumors flying regarding a certain "Ben Wade" character from the movie 3:10 to Yuma.
Part 1: Although Dane is a big fan of this movie our Ben Wade was not named after him. You know how it goes...Dane and I sitting around and Dane saying, "George...Harry...Bob...Joe..." and the list goes on on until I am a little annoyed at our game. Then one day when we were in the process of moving into a different suite in our building. We had to do a lot of talking to and about "Ben" because Ben lived in the suite we moved into. Long story longer, our move took a lot of communication with our neighbor Ben. "Ben is going to clean on Wednesday. Ben painted one of the walls green. Ben seems nice." Voila! We kept saying this name and decided we really liked it.
Part 2: A little more straight forward. Wade is Dane's brother and we love Wade and thought it would be a way to honour him. The photo is of Wade (very tie savvy) helping Dane (who has a more casual look) put on a tie at their sister's wedding. Wade and Jenn are having a baby too (we actually had the same due date until, well you know the story.) You can check out their baby blog here.

More of Ben's new friends (& other cute pictures)

Ben with Rachel and Julie.

First Night on the Town

As many of you know we have a little place we go to celebrate certain events. Unlike us, this place is hip and cool but we just really love the food at Joey's. We thought we better take Grandma out to say thank you for all her help these last week/months. We also wanted to celebrate Aunt Julie being here, Jane being able to walk/limp enough with crutches to go out and of course Ben coming home from the hospital. All and all the event was pretty seamless (even if it does take two cars to get us all there) and yes they had the "chicken." Ignore the coaster that says something about Whistler Brewing, trust me we were at Joeys. Dane opted to wear the photo button his mom made him. IN fact he wore it all day and received many compliments.

Saints of the Modern Era?

HAHAHA

It is late, and I am getting loopy. Gotta go change the little guy, and give him a bottle. Night all.

Shalom,
Dane

Dad and Ben

"I know I've made some mistakes; but I would love to hang out with you again kid. I swear to God, it's just going to be me and you this time. Hometeam." -Rocky in Rocky V

photo shoot before bedtime

Hometeam

Ben and I are thinking about watching Rocky V tonight - a movie for the ages, a movie about the bond between father and son. Watch it if you got it!

tight like crossed fingers,
Dad and Ben

Are you up for the challenge?

This post would have gone up right before Ben was brought home from the hospital but, well, we were a bit busy and without internet access. In order to come home from the hospital when you are Ben's size you have to pass THE CAR SEAT CHALLENGE!! The hospital staff have to make sure preemies are safe sitting up in their car seat before they can go home. In order to participate in the car seat challenge you need:

1) a small baby
2) a car seat
3) 4 receiving blankets
4) 4 face clothes
5) another blanket for his lap
6) the actual outfit (including the toque) that he is wearing home

The challenge: sitting up in the car seat for one hour with an oxygen saturation monitor on your foot. Your saturation point can't drop below 88 for more than 10 seconds twice in the one hour test.

The nurse helps you get him all settled in the car seat with all the blankets, face cloths etc. propping up various body parts and then they set the timer.....ready GO!

Our little guy passed with shining colours. If only we knew how Mr. Shum did.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Craig

Talking to the Bones

What to listen to: Daniel Lanois's new album "Here is What is"

What to watch: Sean Penn's "Into the Wild"

What to read (during the early morning feedings): Ezekiel 37:1-14

We Are Home (finally!)

I'm pretty sure 18 days in the hospital in 2008 will be my life long record. I'm home, Ben's home, Dane's home and Grandma and some "Great" Aunts are running around doing stuff for us. I don't even know what to say about all of this but Dane seemed to do a good job describing things. It is really beyond me why/how all of this could happen.

Daily Essential: sleep, Ben's cuteness factor, our helpers

New Skills obtained: self injection, how to breast feed a preemie (not that I know how to breast feed a term baby)

Skills I hope to obtain: the ability to convince my insurance company to pay for my very expensive drugs (I'm currently failing at this), ability to live in the chaos (did we mention our storage unit flooded last week....), ability to sleep through Ben's weird noises that make a new parent panic

Goals: I have about 15 mins left of Season 3 Veronica Mars and am hoping to finish it by the time Ben starts kindergarten

Thanks for all your calls, prayers and nice messages.

Parenthood

You too would understand our surprise if your nurse, after only an hour earlier telling you that Ben would most likely be released on March 16th, strolled into your room and declared, "Here he is! He is all yours now." After Jane and I caught our breath and changed our shorts, we began the adventure of parenthood. Ben is doing well. After a long night, we finally found a cuddle position that he liked and he bobbed up and down while sleeping upon my belly - I imagined Ben dozing in a little dingy while riding the up and down motion of a wave somewhere in the ocean.

I feel like I have traveled a long distance across of foreign landscape in the past day or so. A lot of these surroundings remain unfamiliar to both Jane and I. Ben is being patient with us, especially when he runs off ahead of his two slow-learning parents. How peculiar a feeling it is to have this little person looks up at you, feign a suckle, and then let rip an incredible stream of pee. He is a good little guy. :)

I am home now, and Jane and Ben and Grandma Chris are back at the hospital starting this new day. Grandma Chris is a lifesaver (Grandma Jackie, you might want to have your bags packed and ready).

Thank you for all of your kind notes and prayers. Continue to pray for Jane's leg, as her mobility is starting to return a bit. Pray for Ben that he would grow. Pray for me since I have a lot of grading to do this weekend, end of term and all, and not much time to do it. We love you.

Shalom,
Dane and Jane and Ben

WTF?!? - Part II

We got some more hard news yesterday from the blood specialist. Jane's clot is worse than we originally had thought. It actually stretches from her inner thigh to her ankle. How is this possible you ask? Well, we wonder the same thing. There is talk that she might have a genetic protein disorder that puts her at risk for blood clots. Still, this road continues on for us.

Her leg is still quite swollen and the pain is manageable with pain killers. She is on bloodthinners and is now learning to inject herself twice a day. She should come home by the end of the weekend, but treatment will be about 6 months. She will be on the injections for a few weeks, then she will move onto oral medication. Hopefully in the next few weeks, walking around will get easier and she will be able to use the leg more. For now, the white stockings will have to do. :)

Ben is doing well. He keeps taking out his feeding tube and showing it to people. He is also a pooping machine and looks more like Jane everyday, which makes me happy.

Please pray as you are lead. We are not hanging on to anything anymore, but something/someone is holding onto us. :) That was a cheesie line - cheesie but true. We still laugh a bit and I am learning to work it in a wheelchair. Love to you all.

Shalom,
Dane (and jane and Ben)

WTF ?!?

Jane was readmitted to the hospital this afternoon with a bloodclot to her leg. She is swollen and in a lot of pain, but hospitals have drugs for that. :) She will be there taking bloodthinners through an IV over the next couple of days and hopefully things will progress so that we can come home again. The doctor said that her situation is "serious, but we know how to treat her," which was reassuring.

Ben Wade is doing well-he continues to grow and can now take a full bottle in one sitting. His hair is getting lighter and he furrows his brow just like Jane. Mr. Shum, his roomate/neighbor still has some bowel issues but is generally in good spirits.

As you can imagine, Jane and I are past the end of our emotional rope over here. Please pray as you are lead and we will try our best to keep updates coming.

Go Barack. Watch a Rocky if you have one. Sleeptight.

Shalom,
Dane (and Jane and Ben Wade)

A special post for the Splinter Grand parents

We changed him into his first non-hospital outfit last night and then he spit up on it (and all over Dane). Within the hour we had him in the outfit in the pictures. Thanks for these clothes - they are perfect!

A short film

Ode to Mr. Choy*

Now that Ben has settled in the intermediate nursery (where most babies are just getting bigger) we have had a chance to meet his neighbor, Mr. Choy. All babies in the nursery are tagged as such "Halton, Baby Boy." You have to make a note on their card if you want anyone to know their first names. I suppose some parents have trouble picking a name, especially if their baby came unexpectedly early. This is the case with Mr. Choy. Therefore the nurse yesterday kept referring to him as Mr. Choy. And let me tell you how incredibly funny it is to look over at a 5 lb baby with a head of black hair and hear the nurse say "Oh Mr. Choy, do you have a dirty diaper?" Today Mr. Choy took the cake when he blew a major poop out all over the nurse, his clothes and his bed. He was the talk of the room! More on Mr. Choy later.

*name changed to protect nursery anonymity. His real name is Mr. Shum.

A few more photos...

Yesterday Benjamin moved out of the NICU (Intensive Care Nursery) into the Intermediate Nursery. Within 24 hours of that nursery he moved out of an incubator into an open air cot/crib and then into another nursery within the same hospital.His current location is basically just for babies who need to grow and learn to eat. It is much more casual and we can go in and take him out of this bed whenever we want. Here are some pictures of Ben in his new digs. Sorry for the delay in photos but now that he is in the "healthy baby room" I think we'll be able to take more. Coming soon: a video!