Good news and bad news...

Joan had her one month check-up yesterday, and follow-up hearing test.

Good news is, she's not deaf. They tested when she was born, and her left ear was fine, but they got no response from the right, so we had to have her re-tested with the "big machine." Everything was perfectly fine - the nurse said sometimes they can't get a reading in the hospital, because the ears are still filled with gunk from delivery.

Other good news - she's growing well and is now 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

Other good news - the swab from the eye infection came back negative. It was just a clogged duct and a little cold after all. A waste of antibiotics, but better safe than sorry.

And now for the potentially bad news:

She's being referred to a pediatrician for two things - first her insane vomiting. Usually it would qualify as spit-up, but sometimes, she vomits. Tons of it. Sometimes with such force, it shoots out her nose as well as her mouth, and hits objects a foot or more away. It's not affecting her growth at all, but the doc says it warrants a closer look by a specialist. He thinks it might be reflux. They might give her Zantac or something like that until she outgrows it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he found a heart murmur. He assured us it's likely nothing and something perfectly harmless - it's a very small number of kids who actually have murmurs that cause problems. He said it's extremely faint, but he wants to make sure it's nothing. Hopefully, we can get her seen by someone soon. I like to think pediatricians have short waiting lists.

I'm really hoping he's right, and that it's nothing, but I'm a little nervous. When she was first born, the nurse said there was something odd with her heart. She heard it skip beats. She called the NICU nurse down, who said that it was more a slow-down, rather than a skipped beat. So they called the pediatritian down, just in case. He said she was fine - noted that she was a little more pale and jittery than she should be, but that her heart seemed fine - he said the tempo was changing, and that sometimes doctors and nurses find it a little alarming, but it's perfectly fine for a newborn heart. Maybe that was actually the first glimmers of a bigger problem. Hopefully not. Her heart had actually stopped several times during her delivery. She had her cord tucked under her arm, so during the big contractions right at the end, her heart would stop. They were discussing a c-section, but it kept bouncing back after each contraction, so they kept holding off. Hopefully, that didn't cause some sort of damage.

Otherwise, things are chugging along well. I have a busy couple of days ahead. I have to tidy the house today - my parents are coming for a visit tomorrow. And tomorrow, I promised John I'd take him to the early years centre. We had to go to one for Joan's hearing test, so we let John play while we waited for her turn. Wow. He's been out of daycare for way too long. He didn't interact at all with the other kids. There was a circle time running, which he used to love in daycare, but he wouldn't sit - just ran from toy to toy, like he'd never seen a toy before in his life. When we went to go, he had a major, major tantrum. And he hadn't even seen the Tonka trucks! Mike said he acted like he'd been kept in a closet all his life, and had been set free for the first time. So, I vowed I would take him back the next time I have the car - which is Thursday. Should be fun. Chances are, Mike will be working, so it will just be me and two kids. It took two of us to drag John away the last time. Should be interesting on my own.

Oh - more good news for John - while Mike took Joan in for her hearing test, I stayed with John, and got a little tour of the facility. It turns out, the ENTIRE best start program is up and running there!!! That means nothing to anyone up north. But under the Liberals, east Hamilton was made one of two or three pilot sites for Best Start - Ontario's answer to Universal Child Care. It includes centralized services and daycares within existing schools, which is exacly what this centre had - it had hearing tests, speech pathologists, an early years centre and a paid daycare all in one existing school.

However, there was one part of the program I'd heard was scrapped entirely when the Conservatives came in, but it actually exists. It's universal pre-school. It's a fully government-funded half-day daycare program for 3-year-olds, which mimics real kindergarten. The orininal vision was for every kid not already in institutional care to get a half day each week, in the year before JK, to get used to a school atmosphere. But now it's a half day, every day. John qualifies to start in September, because he's turning three this summer, and there's a program in our school catchment! Isn't that awesome!? That will be so good for him while I'm on mat leave. Five days seems like a lot, though. But it's only 2 and a half hours, and they play games and have a snack, and have structured school activities in a mock kindergarten class. I think he really needs that. He's just been in home-based care, which was very, very good for him. He really blossomed there. But I think he's reached a point where he needs to get used to larger groups and the chaos of a classroom. He really shrinks in larger groups, which will be a problem come school in a year and a half. Hopefully, the program for September isn't full yet. I'm waiting for a call back from the co-ordinator. I don't think I can make use of it after I'm back at work though - it would mean moving him three times in a day, which would be a logistical nightmare, but even September to January would be valuable, I think. Besides, it was designed for the kids of stay-at-home moms, so that school wouln't be their first exposure to a school-like atmosphere.

Anyway, I'd better get going.

What's in a name?

Alright. I feel the need to address the name issue.

Joan. It's such a simple name, but it inspires an anusually strong response from people.

Joan was Mike's pick when I was pregnant with John. He wanted Stephen as a boy's first name, but I won that one. Nothing against Steve, but in every dream I had while I was pregnant, I was having a boy named John, so to me, Stephen just didn't fit. Well, there was one dream where he was a girl - but still named John. But in the delivery room, we agreed that I could have John, if he could have Joan in the event of a girl.

That's the basic root of Joan. He likes the name, because everyone knows it and knows how to spell it, but it's not used anymore, so she'll be the only Joan in her class. This matters to someone named Mike, I guess - he was one of about six. I can't relate. I was the only Megan I knew until high school.

Boy's names were easy this time. Mike has always wanted a boy named Dave. My only demand was that Glenn be in the mix. I like it as a first name, but it was agreed to as a second name, making our boy's choice David Glenn. Matthew and Tom were also in the running.

However, just like last time, the girl's name was the hang-up. Mike wasn't willing to budge from Joan until the very end. As in, after she was born. So she was Baby Walchuk for the first two days of her life.

But coming up with an alternative proved impossible. Given more time to think, she probably would have been named something else. He decided he didn't like our original compromise name of Sarah anymore - too common. We thought about Laura - Vicki's middle name. We even thought about calling her Laura Ann - both of Vicki's middle names - in honour of the two Walchuk Christmas babies. I'm sure they'll be able to comiserate about their moms' poor timing later in life. She was almost Laura Mae, but we thought it sounded too hickish. That's when Catherine entered the picture. Laura Catherine. A little classier. Other names which came up were Kathleen - the "K" sounds nice with Walchuk. Jennie, after Mike's great Grandma. We both really liked it, but Mike didn't want Jennifer, and thought it was too weired to call her Jennie as an actual name, even though that was his g grandma's actual legal name. (she's from Newfoundland.) But, given a couple more days to think, she probably would have been a Jennie.

So, as I was discharged, it was down to two - Laura Catherine and Joan Catherine. Discharge was our deadline for a name. We had to hand in her OHIP form, and Mike didn't want to hand it in blank, even though you're allowed to. He thought it would be bad luck or something.

So we were standing at the nurse's station, baby in one hand, blank OHIP form in the other, and Mike says - "you decide." I didn't want to be eternally blamed for chosing the wrong name (my pick was Laura) so I said "Paper, rock scissors." It was in the hands of fate.

Fate chose Laura, best out of three.

The nurse told us we'd chosen wisely, we filled in the form, and left.

We got as far as the hospital lobby before Mike turned to me and said he was sad - in his mind, she was a Joan, and really didn't like the name Laura as much as he thought he did. What am I supposed to say to that? I was there with John - he was always going to be John to me, and the thought of naming him Steve made me really sad. So we turned around, went back to the nurse's station, made her get out the white-out, and we changed her name to Joan. As we were doing it, the nurse called to two others walking past "guys - they're going with JOAN." And said it with a surprising level of disgust.

But Joan it is. We didn't even register her untill the last minute, in case we decided to change our minds. But Mike thought that would really be bad luck, and he'd already sent out birth announcements and word had already spread, and we already had a blanket embroidered with Joan, so it was really too late.

I don't mind the name anymore - it's grown on me over the past month. My only qualm is that it's too close to John. We justify it by pointing to John and Joan Cusack, who are siblings. Their parents got away with it, so we figure we can too. Though the first few days were very, very confusing, to say the least.

"Which one are you talking about?"
"John."
"But you said Joan."
"No, I said John."
"No, you said Joan. I heard it."
"I think I know what I said."
"This is stupid. We should have gone with Laura."

But we seem to have ironed it out. We don't get confused anymore. I thought about calling her Joanie, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't know - she's just not a Joanie. Maybe when she's a little more girly. Mike thinks her nicname should be Cat, but she's not a Cat either - not even he calls her that, and it's the reason he liked Catherine as a middle name. I think it will be much better when we have a third. We feel dumb introducing our kids as John and Joan, but John, Joan and Dave doesn't sound so goofy.

The battle for a girl' name for number three has already begun, though. Deborah is Mike's top pick right now. I still really like Shelby, even though he insists it's a boy's name. I'd say the next one will be Jennie, but I think we need to steer clear of J names for number three, or people really WILL think we're strange.

Wow - haven't been here in a whole year!

First off, I'm really, really tired, so this may not make any sense. And I don't care about spelling today.

Well, I guess this is the new "improved" family portrait, taken recently at Vicki and Billy's new apartment.

As most of you know, we have a daughter. Joan was born December 28, at 10:52 p.m. - just one day after her due date - after a 12-hour induction.

Long delivery story short, Mike and I went in for my routine check-up on my due date, only to discover that the baby's head was nowhere to be found. So the OB closed her office and we all went across the street to the hospital, for an ultrasound and non-stress test, to make sure there was still a head.

Baby was fine, but bum-down, which wasn't good news. They won't do deliveries that way anymore, so I was looking at a C-section. They gave us the option to try to flip the baby first, and we said go for it. The next morning, we went in for flipping, and, wouldn't you know it, the baby had flipped back around on her own in the night. Unfortunately, her head wasn't lodged in my pelvis, but floating loose, so they decided to induce me, before she had a chance to flip back again, and the rest is history.

That leaves me at home with two little kids, which has been quite an adventure. It wasn't too bad at the start - Mike's grandma was here to help out and keep John entertained, which he enjoyed (he still talks about how you bought him ice cream!) But now real life is here. We kind of floundered for a bit, but things are starting to sort themselves out. Part of that is imposing a schedule on John. I know, Mike and Megan imposing order. Sounds a little far-fetched, but it's true. He used to have a very rigid schedule with daycare, but since going on mat leave, we've let him fall into an "eternal weekend" kind of schedule - stay up late, get up late. It was fine for me - he'd go to bed with us, then while he slept in the mornings, I'd catch up on my lost sleep from a night of carng for Joan. But obviously, it's not what's best for John. Toddlers thrive on order, and he's getting too old for prime time TV. He was starting to bring up violent things he'd seen, like car crashes and guns, so we decided that if we ever want to watch TV, or movies that aren't made by Disney ever again, he'd need an earlier bed time. That, and we really wanted our bed back. We can handle Joan coming in when she's fussy in the night, but four was getting way too crowded.

So now, we try to have him asleep by 9ish, and he's up the next morning aroud 8 or 9. For my sanity, I try to make him take a nap, but so far it's a no-go. He's tired and cranky, but refuses to sleep in the day. Hence why I am sooo exhausted. Joan's up all night and John's up all day. It's pretty tough, but I'm hoping it will settle down soon. It's for the best - John is happier. He's learned to like his bed. It's funny watching all the stall tactics, though. He wants food. He's thirsty.He wants a different shirt. He wants another book. He wants to just sit and hug. ANYTHING to delay the inevitable. But I find if we just keep plugging along, he eventually gives in and falls asleep.

Joan's doing well. Growing like a weed. I'm afraid of what her weight is now. Two weeks ago, she was 11 pounds 4 ounces - she'd gained 25 per cent of her body weight in just two weeks, and she's still packing it on. She's growing out of sleepers that fit John for months. It's scary. But the doctor has assured me that crazy weight gain is a good thing, so I'm trying not to think about it.

She's getting over a bit of a cold, which gave her an eye infection. She woke up with sticky green goo holding her eye closed. It was lovely. But it cleared up within couple of days with the antibiotics. She seemed to be congested too - she wasn't feeding very well. Pulling off, that sort of thing. That seems to be clearing up too. She has fussy times, but is generally a good baby. She's different from John, though, so we've had to start from scratch to figure out what she does and doesn't like. She's much easier to keep happy - but once she's upset, she's harder to console than he was. Though I keep forgetting she's only three weeks old. John was pretty inconsolable at three weeks old, so in many ways, she's a much easier baby.

Anyway, I'd better go. John is bored and Joan is due to be up relatively soon. I'll post again with more pictures and stuff when I get sme time.