Hi everyone.

It’s been an interesting few days. Jade has had what seems to us as lots of Apneas and Bradys, which is nerve racking. But the nurses assure us she’s ok. On the other end… she’s gaining weight like crazy! It seems that as soon as she hit 1000g she passed a sort of threshold.

She’s grown over 40g two of the past three days. Last night she was 1105g, she’s approaching that 2000g mark pretty quickly!

The nurses think the reason why she was having so many Bradys and Apneas was because of “washback” when they feed her. Her stomach doesn’t close off from her throat completely yet, so the milk can sometimes wash back into her throat. This burns her throat a little and probably scares her, so she holds her breath.. her heartrate goes down.. and she scares her parents!

They took another X-Ray of her lungs and head and didn’t find anything to worry about, in fact, they said her lungs had improved so this is why they think her apneas were due more to factors other than her lungs.

We’re very lucky to have the nurses there to tell us what’s going on. They know exactly what they’re doing and keep us informed.

But.. that’s about it. I’ll have more photos for you this evening. I’m also reworking the movies so that they are easier and faster to download.

Stay tuned!

Chris

Today would have been my brother Dominics’ 34th birthday. While he may not be here to see Jade at the hospital, I am sure he is watching over her and keeping her strong.

The past few days have seen many commerations taking place in Europe. Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944 and, of course, on June 6, D-Day, the Allies invaded Normandy and started the liberation of western Europe.

It’s hard to understand what those soldiers were fighting for 60 years ago. If you look at it historically and politically, if they had failed on D-Day, the Russian/Soviet Army could very well have gotten to Berlin way before the Allies… with the possible result of communist rule spreading through most, if not all, of Europe.

The soldiers then could not have predicted that outcome though..

Every Canadian soldier who participated in WWII did so as a volunteer. They were not forced to join the fight, they simply did because they believed they were protecting their way of life and their families and were willing to give their life for that.

That is why I try to remember them. They showed a measure of bravery that I can only write about.

I had the priviledge of visiting Dieppe, Vimy Ridge, and a village on Juno Beach (Courseilles-Sur-Mer) last summer at this time.

It is hard to describe the feeling you get when visiting these places. The serenity and beauty of the cemetaries takes your breath away. The majesty of
the Canadian monument at Vimy Ridge gives you goosebumps. The gratitude of the residents of these small French villages makes your heart burst with pride and humility. It is quite overwhelming.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit France, I urge you to see one of these places. They are easy to get to by train and you will never forget them. I took a ferry from the UK to Dieppe. And took a train from there to Arras and Normandy.

Feel free to look at my pictures from last year. They are linked on the left side of this page…
“Dieppe”, “Arras” (Vimy Ridge), and “Courseilles sur Mer”.

Dieppe:

Normandy:

Juno Beach:

You get ultra mega points if you know what that word is… but I’m not giving any hints… heeeheee.

Anyway, not a whole lot to say because not too much has happened. And that’s good!

She grew an amazing 40g in one day on Monday. We were a little worried at first because we thought maybe her kidneys weren’t quite keeping up with her feeding. She looked a little puffy around her eyes too. But today we went in and the nurses didn’t seem worried at all about it and didn’t give Jade any diaretics or anthing.

She had a few more “Bradys” today… times when her blood oxygen level goes down for too long.

The Grandmas will be very happy to hear that their blankets are now around Baby Jade. There are little ones and big ones, all bright and beautiful. I unfortunately didn’t bring my camera but will next time. The nurses were all very proud that they managed to mix the 3 blankets Jade uses so that they all matched. Pink and Yellow. Very nice.

Anyway, I’m off to bed.

Have a great day!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not updating lately, I’m sure you can imagine how busy we’ve both been lately.

All is well though, Jade is still growing about 10g everyday. Last night she was 972g which is about 2lbs 2oz I think. She’s looking noticeably “fuller” lately, she doesn’t seem to have as many wrinkles of skin in her elbows and knees. Her head is definitely growing, we can’t really tell by looking, but her little pink toque is starting to get too tight for her so that must mean something! There are already other toques ready to assume their duty.

She’s opening her eyes a lot more now when she’s awake. She used to just squirm about, but now she squirms AND opens her eyes. What’s more, her pupils are contracting a lot more so we can actually see the color of her eyes sometimes. They’re bluey-green.

Hmm… lets see what else. Oh, we’re slowly accumulating all this baby stuff! I think our apartment is going to eventually overflow with baby fixings… not that that’s a bad thing… but WOW we already have all this cool stuff and we still need other things!

Theresa and her mom will be wallpapering Jades room on the weekend, that’ll bring it one step closer to being done. It’ll look awesome when it is.

That’s about it I guess. I keep hearing about all these people who are reading my site… I’m amazed there are so many people interested in our little girl. OK, no I’m not… she’s pretty amazing herself!

Thank you for reading.

Chris