The birth of our first son.

On Wednesday, December 16th, 2009, at 2:28 pm, we welcomed a new baby boy to our family. Logan was actually due on my birthday - December 23rd - so instead of sharing a birthday, Logan and I will forever have our birthdays exactly one week apart.

Yang actually first started feeling contractions on Monday, Dec. 14th just before 5 am (meaning Yang was in labour for almost 58 hours in total!) Contractions were pretty far apart at first. Yang felt that she could get through the day and I went to work. We started timing how far apart they were Monday night - 15 minutes apart when we first starting keeping track. Monday night was pretty tough for Yang as she could only get sleep in between each of the contractions which were getting closer and closer. Tuesday morning, they were getting pretty close together (3 to 5 minutes apart) so we headed to the North York General Hospital at around 9 am. The nurses checked her out in the assessment room and determined that Yang was only 1 cm dilated. They sent us home as it was just too soon. We actually had an OB appointment later that morning and our OB assured us that we would have the baby within the week. This news was a bit discouraging to the already exhausted mother-to-be. We wanted to know what sign we should be looking for to go back to the hospital. The answer was when she could no longer bear the pain.

I actually went to work on Tuesday after the appointment, but came home at the end of the day anticipating that it might be my last day of the year. Meanwhile, Yang's contractions just kept on getting closer and closer. And she was getting more and more exhausted. At 6 am, Wednesday morning, she actually puked and was not able to keep anything down from that point forward. The contractions were still just 3 to 5 minutes apart. After a pretty rough morning including seeing some blood come out of her and two more pukes, we headed to the hospital again. It was 10:30 am when we got there. The nurses assessed her again. Yang was so exhausted that if they told her that she was just 2 cm dilated, she would've asked for some pain killers, something Yang was adamant she would do without before all this labour started. The nurses said that she was 6 to 7 cm dilated, and that it was going to happen today.

The nurse assigned to us, Patty (who was amazing!), told us that the baby would come out during her shift. She took us to our birthing room and put Yang in a jacuzzi to give her some more comfort. I called my parents and left a message with them saying that our baby would be here in a matter of hours.

After about an hour in the jacuzzi, Patty brought Yang to the birthing bed, and helped Yang through her contractions. They examined her again, found that she was approaching 10 cm dilated and called for our OB. We actually were anticipating that we would be without our OB for the birth of our baby as she was scheduled to be on vacation during that Christmas week when Logan was due. But even though we delivered a week early, she still couldn't be there as she had to go to a funeral that day. Instead, we had Dr. Hershenfield, who ended up being Logan's doctor, so it worked out well.

Dr. Hershenfield, Patty, and myself helped Yang through the pushing phase. The first sight of some of Logan's head hair was just thrilling to see. As Yang pushed more and more, more of Logan came out. Yang was so amazing throughout all this. No epidural, no pain killing medication, just all determination. Words cannot fully express just how proud I am of her.

At 2:28 pm, Logan came out and was immediately put on Yang's chest for some important skin to skin time. Both mom and baby were so alert and able to bond right from that first moment. Yang and I looked at each other and it really sank in; we're now parents.

I was able to cut the cord and took pictures while they weighed Logan for the first time - a whopping 7 pounds 10.6 ounces. He measured 21 inches in length. We named him: Logan Leafs Chatterjee.

...

My parents and brother came to the hospital in the evening to meet their new grandson/nephew. We made some calls to some people to tell them the news. This was earlier than everyone expected. We stayed in the hospital overnight. There were some tests the nurses wanted to perform on Logan during those first 24 hours. I changed all of Logan's diapers during that time, and was woken up by his cries all night. Yang was feeding him every couple of hours while trying to recover herself from what she just went through. This was our new reality; life for us has changed forever. We're now responsible for the well-being of this new person.

We left the hospital on the evening of December 17th and headed for home. My mom stayed with us for the first few days helping us with cooking for the most part. Pretty much every day we had some sort of doctor's appointment or appointment with a lactation consultant. There were some scares in the beginning with his rising bilirubin levels (cause of jaundice), his cries all night due to hunger before Yang's milk came in, his weight loss, his weak cries, and a couple of vomits, but it's been two weeks now and his doctor today was very impressed with his progress (he's 7 pounds, 15.4 ounces today!).

I'm off from work for three and a half weeks including all the holidays. The time has been all about waking up every few hours, changing diapers, being poo'd and pee'd on, doing laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and taking lots of pictures. And that's all nothing compared to what is being demanded of Yang around the clock. It certainly hasn't been a vacation and I really feel like I missed my birthday and Christmas this year, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Logan is part of our new family now. We're very much looking forward to raising him right and watching him grow. These past two weeks have been unforgettable. Life as I knew it has forever changed.

Logan's very proud new dad,
-rajib

The countdown is on...

We're getting pretty close now. It's December, the baby is due in just over 3 weeks.

Last Friday was a pretty sad day for me. It was Yang's last day at EGD. That may have been the last day we ever worked together. We've been working together for as long as we've known each other, so it's a big change being downgraded to "normal couple". I already miss going to work together, eating lunch together, and coming home together...

There's a big positive coming up soon though! Baby is growing and is very active. I really can't wait to meet him in just over three short weeks!

Just 23 days to go (until due date)...

-rajib

i felt it move!

I felt a kick last night in my wife's tummy for the first time, while playing video games with her. That was a totally cool experience.

Yes, we're expecting! And very excited to be as well! Kid1 should be arriving in this world on or around December 23rd. WHAT a coincidence!

We have our second ultrasound scheduled for this coming Wednesday (we'll be 19 weeks at that point). We might be able to find out the sex of our baby that day. We'll both be thrilled either way it goes.

I really can't wait to meet Kid1. This year is going to be such a memorable one for the two of us... just five months from now, EVERYTHING is going to change.

Feeling Kid1 through Yang really made it sink in for me. There will soon be a new member of our family. I really am excited to meet him or her!

-rajib

Remembering 2008

This is Rajib! I realize that it haas been a long while since I posted anything on this (I just checked - it has been 569 days). I ... I was busy? I dunno. Obviously, lots has happened in our lives since I last wrote. Let me see if I can pick my favourite events of 2008...

#5: Celebrating our good friends' weddings: Congrats to Ram and Shima and Adam and Shami!

#4: Celebrating our birthdays: We played lots of Settlers and other games with friends for Yang's 29th and headed to Fallsview at Niagara Falls to gamble for my 32nd.

#3: Summer in the city: Going to the beach at Ashbridges Bay, Taste of the Danforth, Cherry Picking in Niagara, and just going for walks in parks around us.

#2: Big trip to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. This was a last minute backup trip (we wanted to go to Peru), but it worked out very well. I loved Vegas! Yang loved the Canyon. We both loved the trip!

And #1: We had our first anniversary on May 19th, 2008, Victoria Day long weekend. We celebrated by just doing our own thing: a nice dinner out the night before, spoiling ourselves at a spa on the day of, Yang's amazing cooking on the night of, and actually watching fireworks all over the city from the comfort of our condo window. I realized then that it was the first Victoria Day we've spent in the condo. In 2006, we hadn't moved in yet. In 2007, we were on our honeymoon. The condo actually has an amazing view of fireworks all over the city. It was the perfect way to end the perfect first anniversary with my perfect wife.

-rajib

New Discovery

Rajib and I have known each other for almost 3 years now, but we had never been skiing together until we recently discovered a new ski spot, which is only 1 block away from our condo.

We decided to check it out over the holidays, so we went last Saturday. We had a late breakfast at home, took a shower, then got dressed for skiing. The drive was only 3 minutes to Earl Bales Park ski center from home. Being able to start the ski day slow and relaxed was such a plus, it made us much happier not having to drive a long way out of the city. We decided to purchase 2 hours of lift tickets. The ski rental and lift prices were fairly reasonable. It costs $70 for the both of us.


The Earl Bales Ski Center isn't big. But since we are both very much at the beginner level, a small hill wouldn't come close to a reason to dissatisfy us anyways. It turned out to be a day with lots of fun. The slop wasn't as crowded as I expected, until 4pm, when the kids could ski for free on Saturday night. It was also a rare sunny winter day with no wind. Weather was beautiful, and we could see the condos at Yonge and Sheppard from top of the hill. Unfortunately ours was blocked by other buildings.

Definitely we will go visit again, can't wait! For future reference, here is the website.

-Yang