Finally Here

Hi Internet, I have not quit blogging just yet.  I've just been a bit busy and I have my hands full with my baby. She was born on November 21st.  She came a month in advance.  I was a little worried about that but she is in good health and was not considered premature.

The diabetes specialist told me that she could come out 2-3 weeks in advance.  I had an appointment on a Monday with the doctor and on Friday, the baby was born.  My blood pressure was so  high on Monday.  The delivery went really fast.  I was glad it happened in the morning.  At 7am I have experienced back pains and some discomfort and at 9h30 we rushed to the hospital.  At 10h51 my little Camille was born.  I have asked for a peridural and the midwife laughed and said it as a bit too late.  I pushed 2-3 times and she was there.  The midwife told me that if I have waited longer I would give birth at home.  I even called the maternity ward around 9am if the pains were signs of labour.  Midwife on the phone said not to rush, because giving birth the first time can take up to 10 hours.  Glad I didn't listen to her.  My pregnancy was a little bit hard, especially during the last trimester.  I couldn't bare the insuline injections no more.  But the delivery was easy and I recovered very fast.

The  baby is almost 2 months old, and I still feel tired.  The first weeks were really tiring.  I am so glad that the hospital made me stay 5 days.  This is common in France to stay that long.  They "trained" me to take care of the baby.  I was grateful for that, because I don't have my family around to help me. Pediatric aids were there to help me to nurse the baby, showed me  how to change diapers, etc.  I had 3 meals a day, and the 5 days were a blessing.  Being back home was hard, no one to prepare the meals and clean up for me.

I have also to take care of the Canadian citizenship for the baby.  She is automatically Canadian but I have to get an citizenship certificate from the Canadian Embassy since she was not born in Canada.  I have to wait a little, on the form they even ask for the colour of the eyes of the child.  Hum, we still don't know.  For now they are blue, but they will turn brown eventually.  I would never thought that eurasian babies would have blue eyes at birth.  This is unlikely that they will stay blue though.

About to Burst

On the 31st of October, I had an appointment with my new OB/GYN, since my old hospital transfered me to another one.  It was a routine check, but it turned out that  the Doc decided to hospitalized me.  The same scenario as last time.  Routine check = hospitalization.

 The cervix was open (I was at 34 weeks), open enough that I had to stay at the hospital for 6 days.  I couldn't really hold it together, I burst at my husband and thought the baby was coming anytime, since I have also experienced painful contractions while they did the monitoring of the baby. She decided to pull a "trick or treat" on me.  The contractions stopped rapidly after I have taken some pills.  They also gave me corticoid 2 days in a row, it was supposed to help mature the lungs of the baby if she ever comes out too soon. 

 It is a relief that everything got back to normal, they were worried that I had eclampsia, since I have high blood pressure, diabetes, proteins in urine, etc.  They treated my urine infection for a few days and I was good to go.  But they insisted that I had to lay down, and doing NOTHING.  I told them I was working at home and even that, the doc has forbidden me to work, "no stress" whatsoever. 

Back at home, I managed to stay still one day, then the next day I was so annoyed that the house was a mess, that my desk was a mess, with invoices pilled up.  I really thought I had it easy, working from home, no significant amount of stress, doing some household chores whenever I want. Looks like I have to control myself a little.  My husband is doing his work (working from home too), while cooking, and doing all the chores.  I even ask if he was guilty when I was "serving" him, because I felt guilty for not being able to help out.  He also has to deal with my bad mood.  I really have to be patient, and suck it up for a few weeks. 

Overly careful

I just got back from the hospital for my diabetes follow-up.  The doc took my tension, and she was alarmed once again that my blood pressure was high.  She sent me right away to the emergency consultation at the maternity unit.  This time, I knew the drill, baby's heart rate and blood pressure monitored.  Turns out, the blood pressure dropped, low enough that they sent me home after 40 minutes.  I have mixed feelings about their methods.  I am glad that the baby is fine and that they go out of their way to check the wellness of my baby, but at the same time they stress me out.  I am also grateful that I had to pay nothing for all of this.  Last time they kept me for 4 days.  They could have only checked me a day and send me home already.  I was in any way in danger and the baby was fine.  I understand more how the health care in France is in chronic deficit.  

This makes me wonder if I can handle another pregnancy.  Even if 36 years old is not that old, I do carry a baggage : age, ethnicity (Asians are more inclined to do gestational diabetes), and being overweight, a sick mother in law, etc.  If I ever have another baby, I hope that it will be in less stressful conditions.

Homemade Kimchi

With more time in my hands, I've decided to make some kimchi.  We could spend a fortune for a jar of kimchi in France.  I have discovered korean food 10 years ago, when one of my friend introduced me to Korean cuisine.  At home, it's usually cambodian/Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese cuisine.  But Korean, we didn't know nothing about it.  In Canada, we can find easily Korean restaurants.  I haven't found any in North of France, but there must be some in Paris.

Last summer, my sister brought us to get some Bibimbap.  Ever since, my husband and I are hooked on this dish, so we try to make it every two weeks.

Here's bibimbap dish at a restaurant in Montreal:

My first homemade kimchi:

Next time, I will put more hot pepper.

Here's a link learn how to make your own kimchi:

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/tongbaechu-kimchi

Held Hostage

I know, I haven't posted much since last summer.  I wanted to post about my trip back home and the U.S. but I never came up with something to write.  Anyways, now I am back in France, trying to have a quiet last trimester for my pregnancy, but things didn't turn out the way it should be.

First, my MIL called a month ago, asking her son to bring her to get a MIR.  I was quiet worried but we didn't hear from her for 3 weeks.  Then, she was hospitalized  for her gallbladder.  I was right to be worried, it is something inoperable.  Let's just say that she will not be around to see her granddaughter grow.

I tried not to be too upset about her condition.  I had to focus on the baby and my driving exam.  I was pretty zen and finally passed the damn exam.  A week later, I had lots of appointments with the hospital and one thing led to another, they kept me for 4 days.  I felt I was in prison.  All I did was waiting, between tests and the meals.  They ran me a lot of tests, blood tests, monitoring the heartbeat of the baby and took at least 20 times my blood pressure.  They finally let me go yesterday evening.  My blood pressure was quiet high and with the diabetes they don't want to take any chance.  Also, they decided to transfert my file to another hospital for the delivery.  Another stress.  I just hope that things will work out and I'm trying to stay calm despite all of this.  I will try to take one day at a time now.