The Story of Nathan

In honor of Nathan's one week birthday I thought I had better update the blog with his birth story. If you missed the events leading up to last friday you can read about them by scrolling down.
Last Thursday was a nice day spent with just me and Naomi. We went to storytime at the local library, had McDonalds for lunch, and shared lots of hugs and snuggles. During her nap I got a call from the maternity ward at ARH (click on the link to see pictures of the new hospital) and they told me that my section was scheduled for 9:15 on Friday morning and that we should be at the hospital at 8:00. That evening Ron's parents brought us dinner and we spent the evening together, just the three of us. Around 8:00 we dropped Naomi off at my parents house again and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. It was hard to believe that my baby girl would be a big sister the next day.
Ron and I had a great night sleep, although both of us were feeling nervous and excited.
On Friday morning we woke up and headed to the hospital. When we got there the nurses were saying that every room in the maternity ward was full. It had been a very busy night:). They got me all ready for surgery and took us down the hall to the OR. While we were waiting we met with our surgon (Dr. Goswami) and she assured us that everything would be fine and had us sign some concent forms.
At 9:15, as scheduled, I was wheeled into the OR for my spinal. Unfortunalty, it did not work and I had to be put under general anisthetic, just like when Naomi was born.
Then finally after the months of waiting, Nathan Henry Klassen made his entrance into the word at 9:56am on Friday, May 22, 2009. Ron was able to see him right away and watch the nurse weigh and measure him. Everyone was suprised to hear how heavy he was. 11 lbs 5 oz and 23 inches long! A beautiful baby boy!

I woke up in recovery and soon was transfered to our room. Ron was waiting for me and told me that Nathan was in the NICU. Nathan was having trouble maintaining his blood sugar levels because he was such a big baby. As soon as I could I asked Ron to bring me to the NICU to see our son.


When I first saw him my inital reaction was that he looked a lot like Naomi did when she was first born. It was so nice to finally see him and hold him in my arms. The nurses had tried to give him an IV 4 times, but they couldn't get it in because he is so chubby. Instead they inserted a feeding tube in his nose so that they could constantly feed him formula to keep his blood sugars regulated.
I got up every 4 hours for the next day and night to go visit him and nurse him. He nursed really well right away, but was not getting enough since my milk had not come in yet. The nurses tested him by taking blood from his heel every few hours. His sugars thankfully stayed at proper levels.
After 24hrs in the NICU our little buddy was finally able to join us in our room. It was so nice to have him so close by. Just before he came to our room Nathan got so frusterated with having the tape on his face he pulled out his feeding tube and it left a huge red mark on his cheek. Although he was nursing well he still needed a topup of formula after each feed, and he eagarly gobbled this down every few hours.

We enjoyed many visitors during the next day, but the most special momment was when Naomi got to meet her little brother. It was so wonderful to see how gentle and loving she was towards him. She just held his hand and kept saying "Hi, Hi" in a quiet voice. We asked her if she wanted to sing a song for Nathan and she said yes. Then she sang "Jesus loves me" without any prompting from us.

Ron and I both missed her so much while we were in the hospital. She seemed so indepedant when she came to visit us and didn't seem upset about spending the weekend with Opa and Oma. In fact it was quite the opposite. She just kept saying that she wanted to have a sleepover at Omas house. We know she was well taken care of and obviously had a wonderful time.
The next evening we got the ok to go home. We packed up all our things and our precious "little" son and began our new life as a family of four.


Things have been going well since we got home. He has been up for a few hours every night except for last night, but sleeps well durring the day. Even when Naomi is playing her recorder right by his bassinet:) He is now completely on breastmilk and does not need any formula. This is such an answer to prayer, because I was worried that he would not nurse well after getting used to having a full tummy of formula. So far he is nursing like a champ and no longer needs to have the formula to feel full.
Naomi is adjusting well and really seems to love her little brother. She is loving having her daddy home to play with all day and all the extra attention.
We have been so blessed by our families. They have come to visit every day and taken turns bringing us dinner every night since we have been home. Thankyou, we love you all!

I love my little family so much and I am enjoying each day with them. I think this post is definalty long enough. If you have read all the way to the end "thank-you", and if you just stoped by for the pictures "thanks" also :) I just had to get this all down to preserve my memories since the days have a way of running into each other and I don't want to forget all the little details of my little mans big day.

Nathan Henry Klassen

May 22 @ 9:56 AM
11lbs 5oz

I'll blog the whole story later, but for now I am going to enjoy my beautiful children and wonderful husband.

The best laid plans....

Last weekend turn out to be SO different than the one we had planned. Talk about toying with a pregnant woman's emotions!
It all started last Thursday at my normal doctor's appointment. My blood pressure was up, but thankfully not dangerous, so I was sent to the hospital for a Non-stress test. (Basically checking baby's heart rate, movement and my blood pressure). The results of this test were that my blood pressure was still up so they had the lab come up to do some blood work. The nurses at the hospital called the doctor with my results and he said to come in again on Saturday and if my BP was still up I should be prepared to have a C-section that day. So, I went home and told Ron the plan and we prepared to have a baby on Saturday. It seemed like perfect timing. My parents were talking Naomi for the long weekend, and Ron would be home all the following week.
I got a call that afternoon to go see my doctor the next morning because they found white blood cells in my urine which indicated an infection of some sort.
Friday morning Ron stayed home from work and I went to the doctors to see what the diagnose was. Bladder infection! All the pressure and discomfort I had been feeling was not Braxon Hicks but rather this silly bladder infection. They put me on antibiotics and I began to feel a lot better, even after only a few doses.
That night my parents took us out for dinner to Greek Island and then took Naomi to their house for the night so that we could relax and be at the hopstial early the next morning.

Saturday morning came and we both felt such peace about the whole situation. We knew that in a few hours we would be parents again and life would be forever changed. We got up to the maternity ward and checked in. They hooked me up to the machines for another NST, and this time my BP was great. In fact it was the lowest it had been in months! I attribute it all to those who were praying for us and the peace that passes all understanding from God above.
The doctor came in to chat with us about the options. I had wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) from the beginning and therefore had not scheduled a C-section. He said that he wanted to give us every opportunity to have a natural birth if possible, however we could also just give the word and it would be a C-section, so he suggested we talk to the obstetrician.
The obstetrician went over all the risks of a section and had us sign some forms. She was not able to do the surgery that day, and she could not justify a c-section before my due date. She told us that her next available OR time was for Friday May 22. I was disappointed. Although a C-section was not my first choice, by this time I had accepted the fact that this was how it was going to be. When she said that I would have to wait nearly another whole week I could not help but get upset. She told us that her office would contact us to confirm about what time on Friday early the next week.
So, we headed home with all our bags still packed and an empty car seat. We had a nice lunch together and then picked up Naomi from my parents place. We enjoyed the rest of our long weekend with friends and even took Naomi down to White Rock to play in the sand and water. She had a fabulous time.


On Monday I got a call from the obstetrician's office and they told me that Friday was full, so I was an add-on for the following Monday (May 25th), but they couldn't guarantee that it would happen that day. Talk about frustrating!!! I was so sick and tired of hearing, "Well, it MIGHT happen", or "If there are no emergencies before you..." Ahhh! All I want is to have this baby already.
The hospital called on Tuesday morning and asked me to come in on Wednesday morning for my pre-op appointment to go over things for my "possible" section on Monday.
So today I headed to my appointment and answered all the questions and had even more blood work done. Just as I was leaving the obstetrician popped her head into the office and told me that one of the women who was scheduled for Friday just had her baby. So that meant that I went from "possibly Monday" to for sure on Friday!
I am waiting for the hospital to call me tomorrow to tell me what time I have to come in on Friday, but at least I know that by the weekend we will be a family of four!
Sorry this post got so long, I really wanted to get down all the details for my own memories. If you don't hear from in in a while, rest assured it is because I am enjoying my newest baby and trying to recover.

Baby Poll Results

Here are all your guesses:

Daniel - Boy, May 13, 7lbs, 10:30am
Michelle - Boy, May 14, 9lbs 2oz, evening
Angela - Boy, May 19, 8lbs 4oz, 4:18pm
Marilyn - Boy, May 20, 8lbs 11oz, 7:43am
Alexa - Boy, May 22, 7lbs 5oz, 4am
There are a lot of other "unofficial" guesses floating around. The general feeling seems to be that it will be a boy. I guess we will have to wait and see. Just over a week left until D-day!

Anxious Anticipation

These are the last few days of being the mom of one. I'm nervous about the adjustment. My mind is filled with so many questions: Will I be able to handle being the mom of two? Will Naomi get enough attention once baby comes? Will she act out? What will I do if they both need me at the same time? How will I ever get anything done around the house with two beautiful children to care for? Is is possible to love another child as much as I love Naomi? How will this labour/delivery/recovery be? I guess the best way to describe how I am feeling is anxious. Anxious for the birthing process, anxious to meet this new little one, anxious about the adjustment time. Just plain anxious.
With Naomi, I was already in the hospital at this point in the pregnancy getting my labour induced, and I am NOT eager to repeat that process. I feel like I am in "uncharted territory". I have more of the "typical" end of pregnancy symptoms than I did with Naomi, including LOTS of Braxton Hicks contractions. I hope that these are a good sign that I will go into labour on my own and avoid induction. According to the doctors a spontaneous start to labour gives me the best chance to have a VBAC and avoid another C-section. Pray with me that this will be the case, please.
Ron has been the sweetest husband throughout this pregnancy and I know that he is nervous about the transition to a family of four. I think its because we have the memories of Naomi's birth as our only reference point and that experience was anything but typical. I keep trying to remind myself that it likely won't be worse than it was with Naomi and we were able to survive that, so therefore we'll make it through, right? I know everything will work out fine, but I can't help but wonder, how?