Tomorrow, I head back to work after taking three weeks off when Logan was born. I'm feeling that the new year has finally begun for me.
To mark this occasion I wanted to reflect back on the year that has just ended. 2009 will be a year I will never forget. Tons of our friends had babies in 2009! Welcome to the world, little Ian, Dev, Ben, Anya, and more. In particular, I'm very happy to know that my son Logan will grow up having a friend named Dev...
Here are the most memorable events for me that happened in 2009:
#5: Buying a new place; the market was good, so Yang and I bought an investment property and tried our luck at being landlords. It's been a learning experience to say the least, but I'm glad we did it.
#4: Trip to Costa Rica. After trying for a long while to have a baby, we decided to take a break and go on vacation. We did a GAP tour around all of Costa Rica. We met some interesting people, ate some yummy food, and had some fun adventures including canyoneering, rappelling, ziplining, and horseback riding. It was a great trip. That was March, 2009. Nine months later, we had Logan!
#3: Yang being pregnant for most of the year meant eating uber-healthy foods, maternity wear for work and special occasions (Lily & Richard's wedding, Jenny and & Edmund's wedding, Xmas parties, etc.), road trips instead of flying for vacations to Quebec City and New York City (thanks Narmatha and congrats Ilora and Mohsin), reading lots and becoming experts on babies and strollers and vaccine schedules, etc., and taking lots of pictures of a truly unique time in our lives.
#2: Our friend Dev drowned in Algonquin Park on Sunday, August 16th, 2009. He was a friend from work, a traveler from India who had been in Canada for almost four years. We saw him last on the Friday before he was to head back to India; we hugged and said goodbye. I remember thinking at the time that I honestly didn't know if I'd ever see him again. But I was happy for him in that he was finally heading home to be with his family and live his life back home; his sister was due with a new baby in just two weeks. He spontaneously did the trip up to Algonquin over that weekend and tragically drowned while there. I remember finding out on Monday the 17th and having to tell Yang about it. That's a day I'll never forget.
#1: The birth of our son Logan. Monday, August 17th was also the day we found out that we're having a boy. Four months later, on Wednesday, December 16th, he was finally born. Life changed forever for us that day. Welcoming Logan to the world was probably the happiest day of my life.
2009 had such highs and one deep low. It's a year I will never forget. That said, I'm very much looking forward to a fun and fulfilling 2010.
-rajib
Showing posts with label rajib. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rajib. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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
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
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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
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
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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
#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
Friday, June 29, 2007
Let's start a blog...
Hello world!
We've been married for ... 41 days now. We've been talking about starting a blog for some time. It's the start of the Canada Day long weekend right now... so I think now is as a good a time as any!
It's actually a busy weekend for us. Yang actually wants to see a movie on its opening night! This is a first! Lots of errands to run on Saturday. We have a wedding reception to go to on Sunday night in which we are actually helping out. And we're hosting a Settlers party on the Monday.
We also want to get all our wedding pictures and video organized and continue to set up the condo as we want it. Let's see how much of that we get done this weekend...
I think I want this blog to be about us marking the milestones of our life, as well as capturing movie reviews, the latest on the Leafs, and other fun stories. I'm sure it will evolve as life goes on.
That's it for now.
-rajib
We've been married for ... 41 days now. We've been talking about starting a blog for some time. It's the start of the Canada Day long weekend right now... so I think now is as a good a time as any!
It's actually a busy weekend for us. Yang actually wants to see a movie on its opening night! This is a first! Lots of errands to run on Saturday. We have a wedding reception to go to on Sunday night in which we are actually helping out. And we're hosting a Settlers party on the Monday.
We also want to get all our wedding pictures and video organized and continue to set up the condo as we want it. Let's see how much of that we get done this weekend...
I think I want this blog to be about us marking the milestones of our life, as well as capturing movie reviews, the latest on the Leafs, and other fun stories. I'm sure it will evolve as life goes on.
That's it for now.
-rajib
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