Neil Yan Dot Com

Well, it’s been a great year! Ben’s on his merry little way (4 days to go!), Obama is elected as president, the stock market crash of a life time (not so merry, but at least we can say we lived through it..for now), financial bailouts, the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, crazy and wettest weather on record, and the list goes on and on! (Let’s not forget the Britney Spears comeback tour!!)

I can honestly say looking back this year, it’s been amazing for Sheila and I! Some major highlights include (in no particular order):

1. Road trip to NYC to watch the US Tennis Open
2. Also, able to catch the 13th last game at the old Yankee Stadium
3. Our Paris trip during Spring break! Super adventurous, super wet!
4. Finishing 68th at the Toronto City Chase (out of 500 teams)
5. My little sis getting married
6. My little bro getting engaged
7. and of course, Ben imminent arrival (he won’t be a New Year’s baby..we’re still at home and it’s 9:30PM)

See you in the new year!!

Ever seen that movie “Aliens”? That’s what Sheila and I see on a regular basis, but not on the tube. Ben has been pretty active over the past month, tossing and turning, but mainly kicking. A few months ago, we couldn’t identify what body parts were moving inside, but today, we can feel a heel or a knee jut out from Sheila’s belly. It’s sort of feels like those solar blankets on a wavy pool, the way it moves around, except that every now and then, a small bony part pokes your hand. Kind of weird, but really cool.

Here’s a picture from the Alien (1979); sort of like it, but let’s hope Ben doesn’t come out that way. Cross our fingers!!

There’s this old folk lore that a woman starts cleaning the day before she’s due to deliver a child. It’s called “NESTING”. Further research on our friend Google shows that it’s not really a folk lore. I’ve seen it in nature right outside my front door. Two years ago, a robin built a birds next 5 feet from our front door in an elbow in our eavesdrough. It was pretty wild. After about 2 days of building, the robin basically laid her egg and sat in the nest for 2 weeks. Every morning and every afternoon, I would greet the bird. She probably found a better, more quiet location the following year. The egg didn’t hatch. I took it down and gave it to Sheila, who in turn showed it to her students.

So, back to nesting. In another online article, it said MEN also nest. We show it by getting the baby room ready, organizing baby stuff, and just general cleaning. That would mean I’ve  been nesting for the past 3 months

Right now, Sheila’s got this urge to clean this box of papers that’s been sitting in the living room for some time. She says she’s bored. I think Ben’s on his way

Here’s a link to the article: http://www.pregnancy-info.net/nesting.html

At 6:33AM this morning, I roll over in bed and I hear this somber voice say, “baby, today’s the day”. Although I didn’t show any anxiety, my heart rate jumped from a restful 60 BPM to about 170 BPM in 3 beats. Half of me was still asleep. The other half said, “What the hell do I do?” The sleepy half just rub Sheila’s belly gently, shed a small tear of happiness, rolled over to the other side of the bed after a few minutes, and went back to bed….all while I’m making plans for the frantic journey to the hospital in my head.

So I guess the question is, “AM I READY?” We’ve been planning and preparing for 9 months now. I’ve been blogging for 4 of them. I’ve learned lots along the way. Friends and family have prepped us both. “Are we ever going to be ready?”

Today, we made our final big purchase. The Graco Nouvelle Tour Deluxe Travel System…yes, it’s a mouthful. I was online for an hour last night researching car seats. The Graco is the Cadillac of car seats; one review said if you like them large, get the Graco. It’s rated one of the top 10 car seats. We bit the bullet and went high! The travel system includes the stroller. I’ve been humming and haaing about a jogger. It’s just not practical right now for Ben. Besides, my running has tapered off since October. I’ll revisit the jogger after 6-8 months after Ben can sit up in the stroller…and when I plan my next race.

In the end, Sheila’s morning statement turned out to be a false alarm. Rookie mistake.

I guess, ready or not, Ben’s going to be here within a week.

An update: Sheila’s 1cm dilated as of Thursday, and the contractions are happening every few hours. Mother nature has “stirred the pot”.

We were warned by friends and family that we’re going to be bombarded with all sorts of information and advice. One little piece of information that stood out was about crib bumpers. A crib bumper is that padded decorative “cloth” that lines the crib on the inside just above the mattress. It’s suppose to serve as a decoration and to prevent the kid from slamming his/her head on the bar/rails of the crib (I think). If anything, it’s very decorative! So, it was to my surprise when a friend told me Health Canada DOES NOT recommend using a crib bumper because it can cause SIDS! WHAT!? Who’s Sid? Sid Caesar?!

SIDS as I later find out is an acronym for SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME. I’ve heard about it in the news in the past. Mothers have been prosecuted because their babies have been found dead in their cribs. Some blame it on SIDS. As I understand it, no one knows why these babies die in their cribs. There is no evidence of abuse in all cases, and rarely is there a sign of suffocation. These babies just die. It’s just weird!

So, Health Canada and the SIDS Canada have come up with a few “guidelines” that have help reduce SIDS deaths from 273 in 1989 to 139 in 2003. Although the cause is still unknown, some of these measures have helped reduce the number of deaths:

1. Have the baby sleep on his back!! This is the big one!! I guess some babies can suffocate if they sleep on their tummies. So, NO BABIES CAN SLEEP ON THEIR TUMMIES!!
2. No bumpers, blankets or toys in the crib! Anything that can be a choke or suffocation hazard is bad!
3. Don’t sleep with the child in the same bed if you’re DRUNK, STONED OR EXHAUSTED! This one seemed like a no-brainer.
4. Make sure the baby is not too warm! Do not use duvets, thick blankets or comforters. Dress the baby as you would when you go to bed (naked probably isn’t a good option for you nudists).
5. Make sure the mattress is firm and flat
6. No waterbeds, sofa, armchairs or daybeds.
7. Make sure the baby cannot fall out of bed.
8. Make sure there are no spaces between the mattress and the wall or headboard.
9. Never put the baby to sleep on a pillow or near a pillow. Again, another suffocation hazard.
10. Make sure your partner is aware that the baby is in the bed. Jumping into bed can have dire consequences if he’s not aware.

So, I guess I’ll use our safari crib bumper as a decorative border near the change table. It’s weird how Health Canada advises not to use them, but they’re still available for purchase in Canada. Now that’s our government at work!!

Here are the links to more SIDS info:

SIDS CANADA: http://www.sidscanada.org/index.html

Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/babies-bebes/sids-smsn/index-eng.php

By the way, here’s a link to Sid Caesar for those who don’t know who he is: http://www.nndb.com/people/842/000022776/

I guess we take a lot of things for granted, and memory is one of them. We start to miss it when we start losing it. Sheila’s no exception. Lately she’s been commenting how forgetful she is. I basically attribute it to the busy season, her school schedule/work, and of course her pregnancy. I’m no doctor, but when your body has to go through some dramatic changes, somethings got to go. Firing off neurons is probably low on the priority list; remembering people’s names versus “GROWING A FETUS”…what’s her body going to do?

Sheila’s usually “with it” when it comes to having her days planned (part of being a teacher). So, I guess it’s kind of frustrating when she can’t remember her next OB appointment 5 minutes after she booked it. Writing things down in her day calendar has been a pretty good routine, but what good is it when you can’t remember where you put it?

It didn’t think much about the forgetfulness. Fortunately for Sheila, there’s been lots of research on why pregnant women become forgetful during pregnancy. They haven’t nailed down any particular cause for it. I know the cause…IT’S THE PREGNANCY!! You do a friendly Google search on “memory loss during pregnancy” and you’ll get 1.5 million results.  

It was ironic to read an article in the Toronto Star today about a writer who is pregnant. It just so happens to be about memory loss during her pregnancy. It truly describes what Sheila is going through. Here’s a link to that article: http://www.thestar.com/article/551101#Comments

When there’s an opportunity to make money, whether legally or not, there always seems to be someone in this world who will take advantage of that opportunity. Case in point: umbilical cord blood (or stem cells as they’re known now). In the past, the umbilical cord was disposed of after birth. But recent research breakthroughs have shown that these stem cells can be “provoked” to develop into blood cells that can help in diseases like leukemia. Supposedly, there are about 70 known diseases that have shown signs of a possible cure if not remission when stem cells are used. So, these little cells are quite valuable.

So, today we had a tour of the CReATe Cord Blood Bank. One of the fantastic things about this place is that it’s literally across the street from where we live. Here’s the deal this place offers: after Ben’s birth, the OB cuts the 40cm or so umbilical cord, drains the cord blood out of it into a bag, put the umbilical cord into a bottle and then is preserved in some solution (all this is provided in a “kit” supplied by the blood bank). Then, within 24hrs, the entire kit is delivered by courier to the cord blood bank for processing and testing. Assuming there are no infectious diseases detected in the cord blood, it is separated into a special freeze pack bag, and then ROBOTICALLY submerged into a secured container of LIQUID NITROGEN for storage!! We own the stem cells, but this place helps stores it for us at -273 degrees Celsius.

If you ever need to use the stem cells for a blood transplant, or whatever (and it can be used for the child, parents, or a relative), we call them up, they take it out of deep freeze and then deliver it to us for use. For us, it’s like an insurance policy; let’s hope we never use it. Is it pricey? You bet! $1000 up front to process it and $200 per year thereafter. The only other thing that this place has over any other cord blood bank (private or public) is that this place also stored PERISTEM Cells. These cells (unlike stem cells) has the potential to develop into cartilage, organs, etc. This technology is still in its infancy, but these are the cells that scientists used to grew a human ear on a mouse (see link below). The theory is if the kid loses a limb, a kidney or liver, these Peristem cells can be used to grow another one which won’t be rejected by his body. Sounds like sci-fi!? It does! But a recent article in Discovery magazine interviews a rebel bio-researcher who says the technology is almost there to do all this stuff, the only thing preventing it is politics and funding. But who knows, maybe in 20 years, Ben might live in a world where these things are as common as the flu vaccine. Growing organs for transplant is natural. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, we’ll let research continue its course and we’ll take our chances. Let’s hope we never have to use his cord blood, but at least we’ll have it if we need it.

Here’s the link to the “earmouse” story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1949073.stm

Here’s the link to the cord blood bank: http://www.createcordbank.com/

We finally got the tour of the hospital! Reality has finally set in. The tour was a good wake-up call that within a month, our boy Ben will be delivered in a sterile, quiet environment. Yes, QUIET! We twelve couples walked through the delivery ward, and there was not a sound. There was supposedly 3 women in the ward of 10 rooms giving birth!! It’s not like on TV or the movies where the woman is screaming and swearing endlessly. After spending about 20 minutes in the ward checking out a birthing room, we finally hear a baby cry! It was surreal. But again, there were no nurses running around with hot wet towels, no dads standing around sweating, no nervous family members pacing around, NOTHING!! It was like a library, but worst! The nurses we did see were very friendly, smiling, and seemed to be having a fun time. I guess who wouldn’t have a good time, it’s where life starts!!

As for the room, is was a small cozy room 20′x20′, with a funky bed that has a million positions. All the gadgets a birthing mom can want was available: birthing ball, birthing bar, massage gadgets and towels. LOTS OF TOWELS! Also, tucked into the corner was a cushion chair that supposedly pulled out into a flat bed..for ME (when/if I need to sleep over). I’ll assume not too many men pull that bed out…besides, who’s got the balls to sleep while your girlfriend/wife is pushing a bowling ball out in the next bed?

After the labour ward was toured, we moved onto the postpartum ward where the mom stays to recover (for up to 60 hours, but usually 36 hours). That too is quiet! All we see were 2 babies with their mothers. What was strange about the babies were they were wrapped pretty tightly in a blanket like a burrito! They actually looked like a burrito with a head on top; kind of cute, kind of weird. But I guess that’s what we’ll need to do for the first 2 weeks as the kid adjusts from being in a cramped space in mommy’s tummy to the world of abundance space. The cool thing about this ward also is that it offers breast feeding classes…but that’s another blog topic!!

In the end, we went home and sat down and we both had this worried look on our faces. THIS IS REAL!! WOW!