Introducing My Son! He's Here!

I am proud to introduce to you Jack Eric Van Allen!

My little man is finally here. I am so happy. No more big pregnant belly!

Jack was born at 10:44am on September 28th weighing in at 7lbs 13oz.

Let me start by telling you about my delivery and Sunnybrook experience. So the c-section was scheduled for 8am. Obviously I was WAY too excited to get much sleep the night before. So least to say, I was very tired when the alarm went off at 4:30am. We were told to be there for 6am, so I wanted plenty of time to make sure I had everything for the hospital.

We arrive and are told that my c-section will be delayed. This was because the water broke of the woman who was scheduled to have her c-section after me. I was sooooo disappointed that I had to wait! Seeing that I lack patience you can just imagine how I felt. The nerve of this women going ahead and breaking her water!!! (Obviously I am just kidding….kinda)

Turns out we only had to wait a couple of hours. I strolled into the operating room at around 10am sat on the table and got my spinal tap. Ouch! I don’t remember it hurting that bad before, but I survived. So the c-section starts and when I glance up at the nice scene of clouds, treetops, and blue sky spanning the ceiling, I realize that it actually has a mirror effect because it is so glossy. Say what?!?!? That’s right – I was able to watch the whole surgery via the “mirror” on the ceiling. I’m sure this will be very off-putting for some women, but I was actually quite interested to see what was happening.

I actually watched my Doctor pull little Jack from my belly. How neat is that? I also got to see my uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. When my Doctor was sewing me up, she gave me a little biology lesson: “See Andrea, this is your uterus, these are your fallopian tubes, etc., etc.”

The following two days were spent getting to know our new son at Sunnybrook. The nurses and staff were fantastic; as was the room we were in. We were discharged on September 30th.

So here I am at home again with a tiny newborn. I forgot how much newborn babies sleep! It’s great! I also forgot that extreme tired feeling of waking a baby up every three hours during the night to feed. I know this stage doesn’t last forever, and knowing that is getting me through this period.

My plan is to exclusively breastfeed Jack for at least a few months. This is kinda new to me, because my Daughter was supplemented right from the start because she had lost too much weight in the hospital – this in turn made it very easy for me to throw in the towel on the whole breastfeeding business with her.

It’s amazing how stressful breastfeeding can be at the start. You have no idea how much your baby is getting. I found I was wondering all the time if Jack is getting enough to eat. It really stressed me out – enough to do something about it because I had the can of formula out and ready to go!

My solution was an amazing Breastfeeding Counsellor. She makes home visits, which is what I was looking for. She was so fantastic. She was at my home for almost two hours and really gave me the confidence I need to get this job done! She weighed Jack before and after a feeding and I’ve since learned that he is getting plenty to eat and therefore gained some peace of mind. If anyone out there is in need of such a service, I highly recommend her. Her name is Maria Lameiro and she can be reached at mariacecilia@doulanatur.com or 647-214-1516.

I have so much more to tell you about – i.e. how my little Gracie is adjusting to being a big sister, which is another whole blog in itself. So I will save that for the next entry. In the meantime, I’ve included a great photo that shows the amazement on Gracie’s face of this tiny human known as her little brother Jack.