Unplanned Vacation

The other day at 10 AM we heard the sounds of renovations going on in the next apartment. Annick went out, newborn in her arms, and asked the workers to kindly close the door. They said, "of course, of course," and did. But not 1 minute later came a knock on our door. It was one of the workers. He sheepishly told us that they would begin sanding any minute, as they were refinishing the hardwood floors. That would be followed by varnishing in the afternoon. There was a collective freakout in our apartment. We waited out the sanding to see if the varnish fumes would indeed be intolerable. I heard the workers begin applying it at 1:15, and by 1:30 we had booked at hotel room. Not exactly the way we wanted to rest up after the delivery, but we decided to try to make the best of it. Things went well until bedtime. As you'll notice from the photos below, there are no pics of Oscar. Emma decided to make it all about her, as she's having a little trouble adapting to her brother's arrival. The night in the hotel didn't help.

Emma fell asleep in her car seat on the way to the hotel, the result of a double whammy of her refusal to nap or sleep at night and a building cold.

Checkin' out the view from the 24th floor.

Emma noticing her hardware for the first time, having seen mom feed Oscar.

Emma in the baby cage. It started out fun and games, but degenerated pretty quickly after that, culminating in a screaming fit from 1-3 AM.

Moving to the new nest.

We twisted some arms and got released from the hospital after about 36 hrs. I imagine they weren't too worried about Oscar's weight. (All he does is eat and sleep. I guess he does have a bit of Dad in him.)

Wrinkly feet

Burpin' the big baby.

It's always a good time for a nap.

Starting to look a little less ragged.

Let's say he's about to laugh.

OSCAR LUCCA SCRIVENS

Introducing Oscar

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. How the day unfolded
2. a) The early hours
2. b) This is for real
2. c) Down to the wire
3. Get to the important part!
4. The first visitors

1. Introduction

To date, the longest entry in this blog is about a loaf of bread. Now is the time to rectify that situation. For all of those who entered the pool, our little boy was born on April 21st, 2007. Everything went very well, he and mom are doing great, and the nurses and doctors have been giving top marks to both. Even dad got some recognition for his (albeit minor) contributions.

2. How the day unfolded

As some of you, (especially Denis and France), are aware, yesterday's delivery was preceeded by a couple of false alerts. So even though all indications were that it was "go time" we tried to spend as much time as possible chilling out before calling in the reinforcements.

2. a) The early hours

Annick had been having contractions since around 4:30 in the morning, but they were coming only about every 8-12 minutes, and she was able to sleep between them. We got up like it was any other day. We went to a flea market at the local community center and picked up a nice Winnie the Pooh chair for Emma for $2. Stopped at the park to play in the sand on the way home. Cool as cucumbers...

Does the wood grain in this cabinet look like a baby face to you?

2. b) This is for real

Kiss this belly goodbye.

Around 11 AM we called Denis and France and asked them to come pick Emma up after lunch. Fortunately Emmanuelle was very cooperative and said "Ciao" on her way out the door. We toughed it out at the house until around 3 PM and then made our second cab ride to Ste-Justine Children's Hospital. At this point I should point out that Annick has a character trait known as "esprit de contradiction". It's completely beyond her control, and may be genetic. As soon as they strapped her to the monitor, her contractions went from taking her breath away every 5 minutes to nothing special every now and then. The nurse mentioned the possibility of sending us home. Again. Annick, of course, would have nothing of it. We had the monitor unhooked and went for a 45 walk in the basement of the hospital, much of it spent leaning against walls in agony. When we went back upstairs, even our sceptical nurse was convinced.

Walk your way to stronger contractions
Now, tell me this isn't real labour. I dare you.

2. c) Down to the wire

By this time it was getting a bit late, but progress was finally coming fast and furious. We did what we could to control the pain (a rather asymettrical team effort), but eventually Annick did opt for an epidural. By that time, however, it was nearly time to push, so you might say that Annick got to experience the best of both worlds. She essentially did the whole labour without the epidural, though it was probably kicking in at the very end. The actual "pushing" only lasted about 20 minutes. Oscar was officially born at 10:05 PM on April 21st, 2007.

3. Get to the important part!

Smile for the camera!

Oscar Lucca Scrivens is a big, healthy baby. 4.06 kg, which works out to something like 8.95 lbs. He is 54 cm long, and has a lot of dark hair. (He's also a bit fuzzy.) If Emmanuelle is my spitting image in female form, Oscar seems to have a bit more of Annick in him, which might explain why Emma was two weeks late and Oscar was born on his due date. As for the significance of his given names: A. We like them. B. Lucca is a town in Italy; our visit there was described in an earlier blog entry. C. We like them. Oscar passed a quiet first night sleeping in mom's arms, while dad recovered from his hard work on a cot on the floor.

BB Scrivens


4. The first visitors

Denis and France brought Emma, who seemed pretty interested in her new younger brother, if a little perplexed. She has been practicing his name for the past few weeks, and is even working on the word "frère". Eventually she got a little bored with him and turned her interests to a bottle of Yop. She'll come around sooner or later.

The only time I can get her to sit still long enough for a nice photo.

Kiddie Cat

She likes kitties.

VISITS!

The only thing better than visitors coming from a long way away is visitors from a long way away bringing gifts! Thanks everybody.

It's not just the memories that count, it's capturing the memories.

Just happy to be here!

Stripey kids of the world unite.
Kaya teaching Emma an electric booty dance.
Ewan and Kaya jammin' with Uncle Zane.
Tuckered out and time to go!

Eathter Buddy!

It took about 2 seconds to explain the principle of Easter egg hunts to Emma, then we let 'er loose.

Getting instructions

A new appreciation for plants.

SCORE!

It must have been the dust bunny who left this one.
Treasure chest.


You mean there's something IN the eggs?
Hmm, that doesn't look safe at all!

Marche Jean-Talon

Easter wouldn't be Easter without a chocolate fondue. (Traditionally eaten for three straight days, if I remember correctly.) That in mind, we had to get provisions at the market. Given the long weekend, it was mayhem, but we managed to find everything we needed.

Houdini

Emmanuelle's latest kick is to hide wherever she can. Usually it's not too tough to find her, because she's usually giggling her head off. Indications are, though, that she's preparing to take her skills to the next level.

Strategizing

No room to spare.

Why was I born with such a gigantic noggin?

Success!

Goofin' around

Winter's making a last gasp, with wet, sloppy snow making it tough to have fun outside. That's not stopping us from having a few laughs inside, though.

Emma sitting on her baby brother.

60 foot tall pregnant chick.

Sommelier in training. (Those are coffee grounds on her nose.)