First Aid/ CPR

Our first "Not about Madelin" blog since she was born! This weekend Josh and I took a course for Infant/Child CPR. It is now called Emergency Child Care and is basically one that all child care workers must have. This course is for children from birth up to 10 years so a lot of the procedures included what to do for adults. We were really shocked by how much has changed since we last took our first aid/CPR classes. I took mine only five years ago. One of the biggest changes is the breath to chest compression ratio. It is now 2:30 for everyone. No more having to remember separate ratios for different age groups. Another change is you no longer take the person's pulse to check for a circulation. The instructor said that even doctors can have difficulty accurately finding a pulse. Most of the changes made things a whole lot easier. The coolest thing we learned was how to use an AED (don't remember what it stands for but it's the machine that electrically shocks the heart back to life). It was a long day and all three Blommesteins where practically asleep in the back of the room by the end, but we feel better having done so. If you're interested in taking or renewing your certification it would definitely be worth it. The number for the Red Cross is 1-888-307-7997 or St. John's Ambulance 604-321-2651.

Aspiring to be the next David Blaine

During the pregnancy, we had four different ultrasound appointments. Each time we were lucky to get photos of Madelin. In every single set there is at least one photo where she has her hand up by her face. In fact, one technician tried really hard to get an open hand shot of her for us, but commented that she was always making a fist.

Fast forward to Maddy now. She still loves to have her hand by her face. She has yet to scratch her face so we don't even put those glove things on. Sometimes she sucks on the back of her hand, but mostly she just rests it on her face or chin.

At night or during naps we swaddle her so that she doesn't wake herself when she jerks in her sleep. No matter how we swaddle her, she often manages to squeeze a hand free!! At first we thought that we were just novices at swaddling. Perhaps we hadn't mastered the art of the tight swaddle and she was getting free. Then Shauna let us borrow Mackenzie's old swaddle wraps. They are specially designed for swaddling complete with velcro closures. Maddy is so determined, that she can STILL get one hand free. Once we watched her as one hand slowly wriggled up her chest under the tightly wrapped swaddle and out her neckline. One time I unwrapped her and her arm was on it's way up, but the swaddle was tight. She couldn't get the arm up with the sleeve of her shirt and all. So she was in the middle of wriggling just her arm and leaving the sleeve where it was. Usually this technique works well for her except this time the puff of her sleeve foiled her plan. Finally she gave up and fell asleep with her arm all crunched up at the top her sleeve. Poor girl. We will start her formal magician training next week. Look out David Blaine!!

Five Days With Madelin

This first week with Maddy has been so amazing. She has changed so much since those first days that we are madly taking pictures to capture everything. Thank good for digital cameras or we'd be drowning in debt from the cost of film. So far things are going well. She latched on well and breastfeeding is becoming more and more natural. It'll be nice to be able to feed her without the need for a million and one props or pillows. I cherish the time we get together during the feeds, and it feels like we are both beginning to get the hang of it. The best part is when she is done, she has this "drunk on milk" look on her face and what looks like a little smile (probably just gas though). Priceless!

We gave her a sponge bath on her 3rd day. Her hair was in desparate need of a wash. I thought she'd cry and cry, but she seemed to like the warm water on head. Now that the umbilical cord has fallen off we can go ahead and give her real bath soon. Thank goodness it fell off, it was really beginning to smell!!

As parents, we are learning at a furious rate. Now that my milk has come in, her poops have changed. The biggest change is how often it happens!! We're learning to never leave a bare-bummed baby without some kind of protective sheet. You'd think that by seeing what's in the diaper, she was done. NOPE!! I guess there's always room for more! It's been pretty funny and always brings some comic relief to the extreme exhaustion.

I guess I should stop now or some of you will never visit out blog again. Thank you to everyone for the good wishes. We feel so lucky that Madelin has chosen us to be her parents and we can't wait for her to meet you all. For now, we are happy enough to just keep her all to ourselves!!

Here are just a few of the millions of pictures. There will be more soon.

Introducing our baby girl.

It's been quite the trip these last 9 months, but we are so happy and excited to introduce our daughter, Madelin Lee Blommestein (Maddy). She was born Oct 14th at 12:21am weighing 6lbs 13oz. Mon's water broke 6am the day before and mostly had mild contractions until 6pm. After which, the really hard work started. She did really awesome and things really started to progress. At about 12am she was ready to push and within 20 minutes we became parents and we are so thrilled. Here are some quick shots, will keep you posted as we get settled as a family.