Christmas at the Chrabaszcz

This year Christmas at our house was a bit different, with the addition of Rebecca. We spent the days leading up to Christmas, busy taking care of Rebecca, with no real special plans. We got to spend a wonderful day with Keith's mom, and siblings on the 20th. Where we all helped make a wonderful turkey dinner and then opened presents. Though I would have to say the best part of the day, was just spending some quality time visiting with Keith's family.

Then we got a special treat on the 23rd, which was seeing Keith's grandparents for the first time in a long time. We didn't have time to visit for long, but it was a wonderful Christmas gift.

Then on Christmas even we went out to the Christmas eve service at ferry point church. This service is one of my favorite things about Christmas. For those who don't know, Ferry Point is an old Lutheran church that closed down years ago. Now it only has 2 services a year, and one of those services is the Christmas eve service. This service is made special because it's at 10pm, on Christmas eve, it's also candle lit. It's also unique because it brings together a very wide range of people, some from the Lutheran church near by, some from the Meeting Creek church, and then also a lot of strangers who come from far and wide to comes and experience the unique service. This year we were even more lucky to share the Christmas eve service with Keith's dad, and his girlfriend and he son and his girlfriend. I always enjoy sharing my special traditions with new people.

Then Christmas morning, my parents came over for breakfast and afterwards we opened presents with Emily and Rebecca. We had great time opening presents and I loved seeing the look on Emily's face no matter what is was she opened, from socks the a dollhouse. This is the first year that Emily really understood what Christmas was about, well the Santa part at least. She was so excited about Santa coming, she even put cookies out. We tried to explain about Jesus, but she's to young to understand that whole part. We did a devotion Christmas morning, but like it is with most kids, she was more excited to open the presents. Each year she'll understand more about Jesus, and we plan to keep Christ in Christmas no matter how hard it is. Then Christmas afternoon we went out to my sister's house to spend the rest of the day together. We spent the day visiting and eating and playing cards. It was the perfect way to spend Christmas.

Then on Sunday we got to spend the day at my parents house, having our Christmas celebration. We started the afternoon enjoying one of my mom's amazing Christmas dinner's. Then the afternoon was spent opening more presents and then playing some fun Christmas games. It was a great day, for the first time in a long time the whole family was there for the whole day. My brother in law usually works on holiday's but this year he didn't have to work and therefore got to spend the whole day with us.

And so that's Christmas at the Chrabaszcz house, we still have one more Christmas celebration on January 10th, with Keith's dad. I am glad that we get a break before the last Christmas celebration.

We had just a great Christmas this year, and are so blessed this year. We got to share this Christmas season enjoying a new baby. She's such a blessing to us.

Kate

Family Names

I decided to find out what our family's name mean and where the name originated from.

Keith- means-warrior desending
-origin -Celtic
Allan-means-handsome
-origin-Celtic


Kathryn-means-pure
-origin-Celtic

Jayne-means-Gracious or merciful
-English

Erna-means-Ernest
-origin- German

Emily-means-Admiring
-origin-Latin

Jayne-means-Gracious or merciful
-origin- English

Rebecca-means-Servant of God
-origin-Hebrew

May-means-From Mary-Bitter Heart
-origin-Latin

Chrabaszcz-origin-Polish

I find it very interesting discovering what our names mean. We did not pick either Emily or Rebecca based on what the name ment, but I do like both meanings. Do you know what your name means? Leave me a comment letting me know what your name means.

Kate

Rebecca's First photo Shoot

Well here's some pictures from Rebecca's First photo shoot. We wanted some pictures for christmas cards and such so we got her all dressed up and took over 100 pictures. Here's a few of my favorites.




Little finger's

It took awhile but we finally got a few pictures of her awake

My little Angel!
All curled up



These are my favorite pictures.

Kate

The Birth Story of Rebecca May Chrabaszcz

I know what you might be thinking, that I had a scheduled c-section so how excited could my birth story be. Well not everything went according to plan, and I want to share it, so here it is. It may be a bit graphic for some people for read with care.

My doctor(who is amazing), scheduled me for my planned c-section at 38 weeks, which was December 1st, 2009. So on November 30, I got us all packed and ready to go, my parents came and picked up Emily, and took her to there house, while we were in the hospital. Then Keith and I went to bed early, as we knew that we had a big day ahead of us. But true to form as soon as I lay down, the baby started kicking and rolling and I couldn't get to sleep. So when 4:30am rolled around, I didn't much want to get out of bed, but up I got. Keith went and had a shower and I finished packing the last minute things, and then we were off to the hospital. Well with one small detour.......Tim Horton's, of course I couldn't eat, so just Keith got coffee and breakfast. We arrived at the hospital at 5:40am, we were a little early. The nurse led Keith and I to our room, and then proceeded to get me ready for the surgery. They started by giving me my IV, which only took 2 tries to get in, which might be a record for me. Then my catheter, which hurt more than I thought, as last time I had drugs in me before the put it in. After that we just waited as they filled me with liquids to help keep my blood pressure up.

Just before 8am Dr. Fouche arrived at the hospital and came to check on me. Then the OR nurse came and we were ready to go. They walked me to the OR, which even though I had been in there once before, I still didn't remember how to get there. Once in the OR they prepped me for the spinal, which is pretty much the same thing as an epidural, except there is no IV attached, it's just a needle into the spine. I was very nervous about the spinal, as when I was a teenager I was given a lumbar puncture and it was very painful, also when I got my epidural with Emily, I had problems letting the doctor put it in. Once I was prepped for my spinal the doctor, told me he was ready to proceed, I was still really nervous, but had been preparing for this moment for months and was ready to over come my fears, and I did. When the doctor first touched my back with the needle, I pulled away, but then I told myself that I needed to push against the needle for this to work, and I did just that, and within seconds the freezing was in. Then when they did inject the spinal I didn't even feel anything.

It's now around 8:30am, and the surgeon has just arrived, so they get me strapped to the table, literally. My arms are strapped spread eagle style and they have a belt around my hips. They then tip the table so as to take off the pressure. True to form, not long after the spinal kicks in, my blood pressure drops and I start to feel sick, but the doctor was watching me closing, and quickly gave me a intervious injection of something to counter the drop in my blood pressure. Now finally the surgeon gets into the OR, and we're ready to go. Just before she starts she lets me know that she was about to start, and then after asks me if I can feel anything, which thank goodness I couldn't. So they get you all open and then they have to stretch out your muscles so that the whole is big enough for the baby to come out of. Which Keith was watching, and he said the 2 doctor's were pulling as hard as they could to stretch my muscles. Then once that was all done, they had to turn the baby. Oh did I forget to mention that she was breech. So they spent a good while trying to get her turned around, and thank goodness for the belt around my hips, because if it wasn't for that belt I would have fallen off the table. Finally, in order to get her out, one of the doctor's had to push down on the top of my uterus, while the other turns her. The doctor was pushing so hard that I heard my heart rate drop and it was hard to breath.

Finally after what seemed like forever, they tell me it's coming, and at 8:44am, Rebecca May Chrabaszcz was born. But wait it's not over yet. So the doctor announces that it's a girl and hands her off to the scrub nurse. They then take her over to the little bed that they have there. After a couple of seconds the 3rd doctor asks the nurse if she's happy. She says yes, but not a second later, she tells the doctor that she's not happy. The doctor then goes over to where Rebecca is laying, and starts working on her, it takes a few more seconds and she lets out a small cry. Then after a little while longer, she finally starts crying like she should. By this point I'm very worried and am also crying. I keep looking at Keith for reassurance which he gives, telling me that everything would be OK. So after a agonizing 24 minutes, the nurse finally tells Keith that he can come look at her. So off he goes, and he gets her and brings her to me.

By this time the other 2 doctor's have me all stapled up and we are ready to go to recovery. In recovery they give me a shot of benydril for the itching. The nurse has just got back with Rebecca after getting her weighed and measured. They tell me that she was 7lbs and 6oz and 19 3/4 inches long. I was amazed, Rebecca was born a full 3 weeks before Emily and was only 2oz smaller at birth. The nurse asks me how I'm feeling and if I want to try breast feeding. I get excited and eagerly say yes. So we get all ready and lay Rebecca next to me, and she has no interest, which was disappointing, so we just have some skin to skin, until they take me to my room.

Once in my room Keith and I start making the phone calls to let everyone know that she was born.

I wanted to tell my story, because it was a much better experience then what I had with Emily. With Emily, I don't remember anything for the first 6 hours after she was born. My body was in so much shock and pain that I couldn't stay awake. I also got very sick in recovery, and didn't actually get to hold Emily until the next morning.

Kate

Baby Becca

Rebecca May Chrabaszcz Born December 1st

at 8:44 am

weighing 7 pounds and 6 ounces

and 19 3/4 inches long

The End!

Well today marks the end of my pregnancy. It's sort of a bittersweet day, because on one hand I know that tomorrow I'll have a new baby, which is so exciting, but on the other hand I know that I'm trading my pain in pregnancy for a different type of pain due to the c-section that I have to get. I can't wait to meet this little person who's been growing inside of me for the past months. Though, I am a little anxious not knowing the sex. With Emily I felt anxious until I found out what it was, and because it was what I wanted I then relaxed. I thought it would be cool to not know, but now I'm anxious, because i don't know how I will react if it's not what I think.

Emily is going to my parent's house tonight since we have to leave town before 6 am. She is so excited to have a sleep over at her Nama and Papa's house. She's also very excited to come and see the knew baby. I'm not sure how she'll feel once it's accually here. I'm not expecting to much problem's with her, but a little ajustment time is to be expected.


Well hopefully tomorrow goes smoothly and there is no complications with the surgery. And if everything goes well we should hopefully be home thursday and will post pictures then.

Kate

Braxton Hicks Contractions

I don't know who's decided that braxton hicks contractions weren't painful, but there are full of it. I know that not everyone has painful braxton hicks contractions, but unforunately I am not one of those lucky people. With Emily they started much sooner during my pregnancy but were only painful once, and that was before I knew what they were and how to handle them. With this pregnancy they didn't start until a week ago, but they are so painful that sometimes they cause me to stop and wonder if I'm accually in labor. They usually happen during the evening or when I'm been active, but not always. They come on so quickly and painfully that i have to stop whatever it is I'm doing and just think about breathing. Usually I then go sit down and within a few minutes they go away. It's getting very annoying because I can't do the things that i want to be doing without having these braxton hicks contractions. I've had to stop mopping and vacuuming and just walking downstairs to get the laundry can be very painful. I find if frustrating because I'm finally not feeling sick anymore and want to get everything ready so that when I come home from the hospital the house is clean and the laundry is all caught up so I won't have those things needing to be done when I can't accually do them. I know that the time is running short and so I want to keep busy and get everything done, because since July when I've been home I have got into a pattern and keeping the house clean has become very important, because I realize that if you just keep it clean all the time, it doesn't take long, as when you let it get a mess then it's so much harder to get caught up. I'm so thankful that I have my mom in town and that she will come over as often as I need for a long as I need after the baby's born and help me with the house cleaning and cooking. If it wasn't for that I don't know what I would do. I know it will all be worth it in the end, but for the next 9 days, it's going to be slow going.

Kate

Preparing for the newborn

Well I have to admit I do feel pretty prepared, which I guess is a good thing since there is only 11 days until it will be born. Now that the baby's room is done, that has take a load off my mind. I also completed one of the jobs today that i've been wanting to do for a while. I made lasagne, well in fact I made 6 lasagne's today. 5 for in the freezer and one for supper tonight. It may not seem like much but it helps knowing that at least for a few supper's after the baby's born i won't have to worry about cooking, if we aren't having a good day. I still have a list of things that need to be done, but the're things that I either can't do till next week or am saving to do till next week, so that I have something to keep me busy for part of the time. I do believe I am feeling a bit of nesting, I really wanted the house clean today, and did get most of it done, but had to stop because I was feeling faint(still recoving from the flu, I guess) It sure is nice to have a clean house.

On other news, our church had 6 expecting mom's, up until 2 days ago, when it started with Jessica, having a baby boy, and then this morning Avey also having a baby boy, and then also Bonny had a baby girl today as well. It's so cool that they were all born within a day of each other, and in the same hospital. If the trend keeps up, I am the next to have my baby, so we should be having a baby girl as well, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see! I would like to send my congradulations out to all the new mom's and dad's with there new baby's.

Kate

Baby's room

Here are a couple of pictures of the baby's room. We didn't change anything since it was Emily's room, which is good since when we painted the room for Emily we didn't know that she was a girl, so now that we don't know whether this baby is a boy or girl the room still works.









Kate

2 weeks to go

Well after my doctor's appointment yesterday everything is look good. I've signed the paperwork for the c-section and so everything is in order. We've also got everything set up for the baby's room. The only thing that missing is the basinet, which we are hoping to borrow from my sister, but she first needs to get is back from her friend who she let borrow it, so we're just waiting to here that she has it and then I guess we'll go and get it. We bought diapers and wipes and sleepers on the weekend, so now we just wait until the day.

Emily is almost completely potty trained which is good, and just in time too, I'm just hoping it's not to soon until the baby comes and she reverts back when the baby is born. We've got almost all our plans worked out for when it's time. Emily get to go and stay with my parents for the whole time i'm in the hospital, which means Keith can stay with my at the hospital, because those first couple of nights it's reall hard to get the baby out the the basinet. WE still don't know how much time Keith is taking off after the baby is born. I'm hoping a week, but we'll see what him and his boss decide. He's supposed to be asking soon.

I'm really not looking forward to having another c-section but i know it's the only way to get my baby out and I am very ready to meet this precious little person, and find out if we need to buy clothes or if it can wear what Emily wore, because it's another girl. Everyone seems to think different things, just depending on what they this we should have. I am hoping for another girl but would be completely ok if we had a boy too. Keith really wants a son! And Emily doesn't care, she's just wants a baby.

Well i'm sure to have another update soon!

Kate

Sunday's a day of rest!

Well another day has gone by, and i think i am starting to feel better. So far today I've had only one time when i didn't feel so good and that was while we were practicing for worship this morning and we had been singing for an hour and a half and i got very hot and dissy so i stopped singing until the feeling went away and luckily we were almost done practicing, so that helped too. I then spent the better part of the afternoon relaxing in bed trying to sleep which didn't come, but I still felt better afterwards because i had been relaxing.

I'm excited and a bit nervous for my doctor's appointment tomorrow, I'm hoping that Doctor say's that i'm getting better and that we will keep the date, because i would be very disapointed at this point if she told me i couldn't have the baby yet because i was to sick. I guess we'll see what she has to say tomorrow. I'll be praying for a good outcome.

Well not much to report, have a great night!

Kate

Wishing I was feeling better

Well today is day 2 of the blog. I'm really starting to feel frustrated with this flu that I've got. I want to be able to get back to my normal routine, of cleaning and cooking, but everytime I try I either have a couphing fit or it becomes increasingly hard to breath. I would have thought that the medication the doctor gave me would have been helping my now. I'm so glad that I have a doctor's appointment on monday so that, if i'm not feeling better by then we can talk to the doctor about other options. I hope that I'm better before it's time for the baby to be born, because that's all i need right now.

Emily who has also been sick with me, is still sick as well. She sleeps most of the day, which if you know my little girl isn't normal. She didn't wake up till almost 10:30 this morning, which gave her over 12 hours of sleep, and most days she has a nap in the afternoon as well. We'll see how we're doing after lunch as to whether or not we'll need a nap. I'm just glad that Keith hasn't gotten sick, because if we were all sick nothing would get done, at least he's feeling sorry enough for me that he did the dishes last night without being asked. He can be sweet when he want too. Well i hope that today is a better day than yesterday and that i will get some house work done, but there's no garentee's at this point.

Kate

The Journey is almost Over!

Well, this is my first blog entry, but the journey is almost over. I have only a little over 2 weeks until i will be having a scheduled c-section to deliver my new baby. It's been a long and tiring 9 months, but i know that the result will all be worth it. My pregnancy has had it's ups and downs with a few scares in it. I spent the first 4 months very sick and stressed out. I ended up on medical leave when i was only 4 months pregnant do to the fact i couldn't handle the stress of my job(Manager of a clothing store). After that things went smooth for a while, but got my first scare only weeks after being on medical leave, when i started bleeding. Luckily I had an ultrasound scheduled for only a couple of days after and so I only had a few day's of agony to wait before I found out everything was fine and that they didn't know the cause of the bleeding but that everything was fine with the baby. Then things smoothed out for a few months. I got used to being a stay at home mom, and even enjoyed taking care of my house. Then in september, i had a scare of false labor, inwhich i was having small contractions for about 11 hours, only after seeing the doctor and being put on the strip for a while did we fine out that the contractions weren't doing anything, and once again everything was fine. And now the final scare happened last night. I have been sick for over a week with what we think is H1N1, but after talking to a nurse we were advised to stay home unless i was having problems breathing, which started late Wenesday, and after putting up with the labored breathing for all of thursday, Keith made me go to the hospital. Once at the hospital i was given a dry powder inhaler and a perscription for a medication to help open up my lungs. Today I've felt pretty good for the most part, but now this evening i am once again experiencing a bit of labored breathing, and hope that when i take my next dose of medication that it will help. So all in all it's been an interesting 9 months, and i can't wait until i get to meet this new little person and get on with the regular parts of my life.

Kate