Ramblings of a Canadian Mom

Since Loblaws is so close to me and they have a sale on diapers, I thought I would pop in to grab a couple of things. Before putting anything in my cart, I thought I would check in the makeup aisle. Sure enough, there is still a shelf with various makeup bags targetted to tween/teen girls that say, "TOO PRETTY FOR MATH." I couldn't believe it. I was going to buy one just to take a picture of it, but I didn't want to contribute to the sales of this product. I don't think they realize just how wrong this message is, nor many people they have pissed off. This is the letter I sent:

Dear Loblaws,

I appreciate your reply to my email, however, the products HAVE NOT been removed from my store. I was at your College Square location today and the bags that say "Too Pretty to do Math" are still there. I am insulted and will no longer be shopping at your stores because of this. Since I am a mother to 2 young children, you are losing a considerable amount of business. I went directly down the road to your competitor for my groceries - the bill came to $151.32. This would have been your sale if you had actually pulled the product. I'm sure that you've lost the business of many other customers because of this. I am astounded and sickened that a reputable company like Loblaws would put produce this product. It should never have made it to your shelves and should be removed immediately. I would appreciate a response.

Thank you,

Amy Owen

Liam is asleep right now holding his monkey. When he falls asleep in my arms he's usually got a tight grip on my shirt. If I transfer him just the right way into his crib and then stick his monkey in his arms, sometimes he is fooled into thinking that I'm still there...for a little while. You recognize the monkey, Audrey? He'll fit into the slippers to go with him in a couple of months.

Monkey love goodness:

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Our birth story: We went to the doctor just after our due date, who scheduled an ultrasound to check up on how things were going. We went for the ultrasound on Friday, July 14th. During this ultrasound, we found out that my amniotic fluid was quite low and the technician told us to head for the hospital for induction. Liam was doing fine, but it was better to be induced with fluid that low. We got to the hospital Friday afternoon and they agreed that I should be induced, but were too busy doing other inductions to do it. They told us that we would be a priority the next morning and that they would call us. At this point, we called Erin and got her to start driving from Oakville, since she was going to be helping out during the labour and delivery again.

Saturday morning, the hospital called and told us to come in. We got there at about 9:30 and waited for a few hours, only to be told that they had gotten too busy to do it. They told us to go out for lunch and then give them a call. About 2pm they told us to come right in. I was admitted to a room and told that they would insert cervadil - a drug that helps to soften the cervix, but wouldn't necessarily bring on contractions. Just after this, they all ran to do an emergency c-section. Around 8:30pm I was given the cervadil and told that they would check me in the morning.

Sunday morning, my doctor came in, the cervadil was removed - not a fun experience! They started a pitocin drip to get my labour going and I started having contractions right away. I threw the idea of going all natural out the window and asked for an epidural. Instead of starting out small and building up, the way they do when you go into labour naturally, they started out really painful and close together. I was given an epidural and all of a sudden started to feel very nauseous. My blood pressure crashed and the nurse realized that I was frozen much higher into my chest than I should have been. There was a mad rush of people, the epidural was turned off and then we waited to see what would happen. A short time later I started to feel the contractions again. I was 8 cm dilated at this point, so they called the doctor and told him to head in.

Since I couldn't get up because of the epidural, the nurse decided to drain my bladder while we waited. When she went to do it, she realized that my membranes were already out and Liam was not far behind! He took his time coming, but then when he was ready, he went fast! She called in another doctor and some staff, I pushed for about 10 minutes and Liam was born. Had a healthy set of lungs right from the start. They gave him to me and left him on my chest for a long time while they cleaned up. It was nice to have him for so long before they did anything to him. He was breastfeeding within an hour of his birth.

Here I am, missing Emma, when I get an email from my Mom with this picture in it. My heart just popped with love for my baby girl. Here she is, asleep with her "baby" dog.

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I got an early Mother's Day gift yesterday...Baby Boy gave me a glimpse of his foot, or something. I was standing in front of our bathroom mirror after taking a shower, combing my hair when he started getting really active. Because I was standing in front of the mirror I saw my belly dancing around from a new perspective and all of a sudden a little something poked out, just under my ribs on my right side. It was just a little something poking out, but I'm sure that it was his foot. I can't wait for July to be here so that I can see his little toes!

The Sens lost last night. They sucked. I don't want to say anything more about it.

Here is an article that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper this morning. I can't believe so many women are opting for a c-section when our bodies are made for giving birth! Personally, I'm terrified of having one. It takes so much longer to recover, can affect breastfeeding, and carries way more risks than a vaginal birth. I don't know anyone who would choose to have one, just because they thought the pushing would hurt too much. Anyway, here is the article:


Canadians are 'too posh to push'
1 in 4 births is a C-section: Taxpayers foot bills for women too scared of normal birth: report

Margaret Munro, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006

One in four Canadian babies now arrives with the help of a doctor's scalpel as more women "too posh to push" opt for caesarean sections at high cost to the medical system, according to a national report.

The report says rising rates of medical intervention -- 24 per cent of Canadian babies now arrive by C-section compared to 17 per cent in the early 1990s -- has helped drive up the cost of childbirth to more than $1 billion a year. The figure is based on the cost of hospital inpatient care, but does not include most of the fees paid to midwives and physicians.

C-sections cost 60 per cent more than vaginal births, according to the report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information released yesterday. It pegs the cost of a caesarean at $4,600 and a vaginal birth at $2,800.

Doctors say the rising rate of C-sections is driven, in part, by fear of childbirth and the too-posh-to-push phenomenon that sees women request caesarean surgery even though they have no recognized medical problems.

Across Canada, the rate varies from a low of about 19 per cent in Manitoba, to a high of about 28 per cent in New Brunswick and B.C. In Ontario, the rate is about 24 per cent.

In some cities, such as Vancouver, doctors say the caesarean rate is approaching 30 per cent -- almost twice as high as considered medically necessary by the World Health Organization.

"We have women coming in with the impression that caesarean section is an easier alternative to vaginal birth," says

Dr. Jan Christilaw, an obstetrician and head of specialized women's health at B.C. Women's Hospital.

She says celebrities like singer Britney Spears, who had a caesarean last year, have helped drive the trend.

"A lot of information out there is completely skewed and it very unfortunate that it is out there," says Dr. Christilaw, who noted some women have the mistaken impression that C-sections offer an "esthetic advantage."

The reality, she says, is that vaginal birth is not only safer and cheaper but also easier on the body.

"There is no reason to think there is an esthetic advantage in having a C-section," Dr. Christilaw says. "And if women are frightened of vaginal birth, it is because they don't appreciate that we can take care of pain in labour. If things go wrong, we can do a C-section if we have to."

Dr. Christilaw worries Canadian rates could continue climbing towards U.S. rates, where close to 35 per cent of babies are delivered by C-section.

"Even if it rises two to three per cent more, the cost would be staggering," says Dr. Christilaw, who says she stresses the benefits of vaginal births at every opportunity.

"For women it can be so empowering and so beautiful," she says. "If you can end up pushing your baby out in the most natural manner possible that's best for women and babies. That's the bottom line here," says Dr. Christilaw, a member of the expert panel that helped produce the new report, Giving Birth in Canada: The Costs.

The report also puts a price tag on caring for newborns and shows the smaller the bundle, the higher the cost.

Very premature babies, weighing less than 1.5 pounds at birth, are rare. But they cost an average of $118,000 to care for in hospital and stay for 113 days. Full-term babies without complications have a hospital stay of two days, costing about $800.

The report also says more babies are spending time in neonatal intensive care units -- about 13.6 per cent of babies, up from 12.6 per cent 10 years ago. Dr. Christilaw, past president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, says the trend is driven by the rising rate of C-sections, which can lead to breathing problems for the first few days of life, and the growing number of twins and triplets being born to women undergoing fertility treatments.

Women, however, now spend less time in hospital when giving birth than they did 20 years ago -- about two days for vaginal births and four days for C-sections, down from more than five days in 1984-1985.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2006

If you know anyone with a peanut allergy, please pass this on. I have a peanut allergy and I have some of these in my cupboard. I thought they were safe because they have the "guaranteed peanut free" label. I hope no one has an attack because of Nestle's mistake! Since they make a point of guaranteeing peanut free products, you would think they would be more careful. I received this email from Anaphylaxis Canada:

The following alert from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, (CFIA), pertains to undeclared "peanut protein" in "Nestle Coffee Crisp Wafer Bar".

PLEASE SHARE THIS ALERT MESSAGE WITH ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY BE AFFECTED.

For more information on the recall, please contact Nestle Consumer Services at 1-800-387- 4636 or the CFIA at 1 800 442-2342 / TTY 1 800 465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday) directly.

This message is brought to you via the Canadian Anaphylaxis Registry, a public service of Anaphylaxis Canada. Anaphylaxis Canada's mission is to inform, support, educate, and advocate for the needs of individuals and families living with anaphylaxis and to conduct and support research related to anaphylaxis.

Visit our website at www.anaphylaxis.ca to view previous allergy alerts and recalls.
******************************************************************

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Nestle Canada Inc. are warning people with allergies to peanut protein not to consume the Nestle Coffee Crisp Wafer Bar described below. The affected product may contain peanut protein which is not declared on the label.

The affected product, Nestle Coffee Crisp Wafer Bar, is sold as a snack size bar stamped with a code beginning with 5180 followed by a series of number and letters.

These bars are known to have been sold in a 247g " Nestle Favorites" package of assorted peanut free snack size bars bearing UPC 0 59800 20958 8 and best before date 2006AL29. These individual coffee crisp bars may have also been sold as part of other snack size bar packages. Consumers are advised to check the individual Coffee Crisp bars to verify if they have the affected code 5180XXXX .

The affected product has been distributed nationally. There has been one reported reaction associated with this product.

Consumption of this product may cause a serious or life-threatening reaction in persons with allergies to peanut protein.

Nestle Canada Inc., North York, Ontario is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

For more information, consumers and industry can call one of the following numbers:
Nestle Consumer Services at 1-800-387- 4636
CFIA at 1 800 442-2342 / TTY 1 800 465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).

Its frrrreeezing outside today, but I kind of wanted to try a new aquafit class with a friend. It isn't a prenatal class, but those don't start up again for a few weeks. The instructor is supposed to be really good and I though it would be nice to do it with a friend. I would have had to leave the house at 4 to get the bus there on time. So James would have had to come home from work a bit early. Also, I kind of wanted him to pick me up from the class so that I didn't have frozen hair all the way home. Anyway, I decided not to try because I didn't want him to leave work early. He ended up leaving work early anyway to pick up some hockey equipment he had fixed. Oh well. I'm a bit disapointed, but hopefully I'll be able to try for Wednesday night.

I have my first massage therapy session tomorrow night. Basically getting my butt, legs and lower back looked after. I've only ever had one massage before, at a spa, so I'm not quite sure what to expect. The therapist is supposed to be trained in prenatal massage. I'm looking forward to it and have already told James that I'll probably be useless afterwards.

Emma and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen, which is nice and sunny on days like today, making chocolate chip cookies. We listened to the Curious George soundtrack and Emma danced around the whole time, so it was a pretty good afternoon. Not all that productive, but these are memories she will cherish when she grows up (I hope). I was productive enough this morning. Finally got that junk drawer cleaned out, chicken soup started, and a few loads of laundry. We made a huge batch so that I can freeze some of the cookie dough. I usually freeze small bags of it, enough to hold one or two dozen, in little baggies so that I can just bring it out when we get unexpected company or I get an unexpected craving. The girl from the rehab centre thought I was some kind of super mom because I had cookies coming out of the oven one day when she got here around 10am. I let her think that, but all I did was pull some dough out of the freezer! I make damn fine chocolate chip cookies if I do say so myself. I have a secret recipe that I don't share with anyone! Its based on a recipe that I got from the "Betty Crocker's Cookie Book" but I've made a few little changes to make it mine. I'm such a chocolate chip cookie snob now.

The weekend: Oh...a warning. If you are hungry now, you might get hungrier because I'm partly talking about good food and partly bitching about my family. So, if you read on, you may end a combination of hungrier and disgusted at my family. Just a warning.

Friday: Had a "date" with my mom to go to one store to look at maternity bras and have dinner. She ends up bringing her idiot husband. I get a bra, that I realize now isn't really that comfortable. We leave, they drive me home and that's it. No dinner. The whole time her husband acts like an ass. Wouldn't look after Emma while we were in the store. You know those huge bags of cheese curds from Cosco? He ate a whole bag himself on the way there and back. I don't care what people want to eat, but you can eat like a civilized person. The only word I kept thinking to myself in the car, while trying to not to gag, was "gluttony." While eating them he would suck off his fingers, one at a time, all the way to the knuckle, then would lick the palm and BACK of his hand, reach into the bag and grab another handful. I couldn't hold back my gag when he asked me if I wanted one. Yuck. Since I've been pregnant, people's poor eating habits are overly irritating and disgusting to me.

Friday night: After the excursion with my Mom, James decided to take Emma and I to East Side Marios for dinner. Yum. Emma won over our waiter with her cuteness, so we got really good service and extra stuff for her. I got fettucine alfredo with shrimp. So good! She picked a horse out of the treasure chest of toys and then pretended to have her horse say goodbye to all of his friends in there. Good thing the waiter just left it at our table for awhile! I think she may have had a little crush on him!

Saturday: Big grocery shopping trip with James and Emma. Emma was very good. Every time she got what we needed off of the list and put it in the cart she would say, "mission accomplished." I have no idea where she got that saying from. She spent the whole time going on missions. They were having a sale on beef roasts, pork roasts and whole chickens - 2 dollars a pound. So I'm standing by the beef roasts, waiting for some women to pick one and she is taking her sweet time. I pick up a roast and she snatches it out of my hand, like how dare I touch one of them before she was finished making her selection. Then, to make things even better, another lady, behind me, shoves by me, elbows me in the BELLY and then says, "excuse me." WTF? So I said "Exuse ME, I'm pregnant and you just elbowed me in the belly to save a few bucks on a roast?" She didn't even acknowledge what I said because she was too busy grabbing meat. I ended up walking away with no roast because it just wasn't worth it. What else was I supposed to do? Yell at her? She elbowed me in my pregnant belly. I wasn't wearing my coat and its pretty obvious that I'm pregnant.

Saturday night: Made a yummy dinner of roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese sauce. Also had butterscotch pie for dessert. It was so, so good. Just before dinner, at 6pm, James; brother and his girlfriend call to see if we can get together or they can come over. We were supposed to go out for dinner with them on Sunday night, but at 6pm on Saturday they decided that they were too busy on Sunday. I normally would have invited them to share dinner with us, but the girlfriend doesn't eat chicken, beef or pork because of dietary requirements and expects to have something separte made for her. If I know ahead of time that they are coming, I make a meal for everyone that she can eat, but I refuse to drop everything and make special food for her. Its unbelievable that I am expected to do it. What really bothers me is the expectation that I should do it, but also that she cheats on this diet whenever she feels like it. I'm sure that they think I was being a bitch, but I told them not to come over. James ended up going out for a drink with them after dinner, but at least we enjoyed out nice dinner in peace without them. Oh, and what does she eat when they are out? Chicken wings. Emma and I had a little "party" after they left, with popcorn and a movie. She likes having nights with just the two of us sometimes. I let her crawl into bed with me and she fell asleep hugging me. I love those moments.

Sunday: My mom was supposed to come over just to drop off a dress she bought for Emma. Turned into her inviting herself and idiot husband over for cofee, which turned into lunch. James steamed some smoked meat and made amazing smoked meat on rye sandwiches for everyone. Emma went home with mom so I got to nap an hour long nap with James. My mom thinks that we used the opportunity to get it on, but we were so tired that we just took a nap together. It was really, really nice to snuggle up together in the afternoon. I made homemade mac and cheese for dinner. I didn't like it, but James and Emma did. I have to figure out how to make it creamier.

Damn hormones are giving me nightmares again. Last night was one of the worst. I had a dream that I was in the hospital and there was a man standing on the edge of my bed, whispering something over and over again. I tried to scream, but no sound would come out, so I tried to push the help button, but every time I tried to sit up he would take his hand and push me back down. I was finally able to scream for help and a doberman showed up, looked at me, and walked away. Eventually the creep guy walked out of the room and I pushed the help button. No one showed up. I layed back down on the bed and all of a sudden a hand reached out from under the bed and started pulling me under. I think I was screaming in my sleep because I woke myself up ... and James too. I told him about the nightmare and neighter of us got much sleep for the rest of the night. Creepy. If you've ever seen Lost, the guy looked like one of the Others and his chanting sounding kind of like what happens when they are around on the show. My recurring nightmare, that I only have when I'm pregnant, is driving down the road in the winter, sliding off of the road, falling in the car onto a lake, going through the ice and not being able to get out. I only have those when I'm pregnant. Freaky.

I have the left over roast chicken on the stove to make chicken noodle soup. I think I'll wait for James to get home so that he can do the straining picking the bones out. I hate doing that part. Add some egg noodles and the veggies and we'll be eating in no time. The house smells so good with that cooking on the stove. I might even make dumplings to go with it. Now I'm hungry. Don't know what to make for lunch... Can't go anywhere today because its too damn cold outside! Its about -30 with the wind chill. Blah.

Gold for our men from Newfoundland! Yay! I don't watch a lot of curling, but I watched this game. I curled when I was in grade 6, 7 and 8 in Whitehorse. I wasn't very good, but I enjoyed it. The move back to Ottawa and the beginning of high school put an end to that. I told Emma that I had to watch my team and she says, "Mommy, my team is the same team as your team. I hope they win the race." So cute. I could eat her up.

I don't know why I'm doing this to myself again, but I am going to a children's consignment shop with my mom tonight that sells Bravado bras. I figure if I don't find one, I will just spend some time looking for a cute Easter dress for Emma. I've never been to this store before, but have heard that they have tons of good stuff. I will try not to let it get me down again. I let things bother me way too much.

We spent another hour today on her Easter bunny door. I bought an Easter Bunny cutout (the kind with the moveable arms and legs) from the Dollar Store and stuck it on her bedroom door. Then I drew egg shapes on construction paper and we coloured those to stick around the door bunny. Here is a picture:

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