Wednesday, July 09, 2008

july nine

So everyone is asking me about the Urine test that I had to do yesterday by collecting Mack's pee on an absorbant pad in the diaper then I have to place the absorbant pad on a filter paper that they gave me, and make sure it's completely soaked. Voluntary urine screening began in 1971 and has evolved with changes in choice of tests and times of sample collection. Over 25 inherited Mendelian disorders can be identified. They have one goal that has remained a priority: early prevention of genetic diseases.

Description: The aim of the provincial newborn urine screening program is the early detection of certain hereditary metabolic disorders, with prompt commencement of appropriate treatment. Detectable disorders are those caused by the organism's poor assimilation or absorption of proteins and their derivatives (amino acids and organic acids).

Procedure:
Before leaving hospital with a newborn child, mothers are given a kit containing a yellow information sheet and a filter paper for collecting a urine sample when the child is 21 days old.

Then, parents:

read and complete the information sheet;

collect their child's urine using the absorbent pads included with the kit;

soak the filter paper with urine (it must be wet on both sides, otherwise urine analysis will not be possible and the sampling will have to be repeated);

carefully follow the sampling instructions

That's it. Very simple providing you get the pee without any soil from poop.

Caroline took this picture of Mack & I on Monday. I just love it. He loves to cuddle in this position on your chest. He's too cute. Thank you for capturing it Caroline!


This afternoon we ran some errands with my mom, and Sean fell asleep for a bit in the car. This has been the ONLY way to get him to nap lately. I'm honestly thinking about starting a routine daily where I put him in his crib, and tell him he can play or nap, but it's "down" time at the same time each day. I know it's going to cause some scream fits, but I have to be prepared for that. And tomorrow night we decided that we're going to put him in his crib at a specific time, and we'll obviously deal with a few nights of screaming - but we hope he gets into the routine of falling asleep in his crib. I cannot take this "stay awake until he crashed hard on the couch" business. I'm done with it. It's not good. I need routine now that I have two kids. I can tell you that I learned my lesson with Sean and being so laid back and easy going/relaxed with bed time/nap time, and now I'm paying for it. And me being a night owl (sleeping in, in the morning) doesn't help either. I need to get myself into a routine as well. Even if it kills me. However, now that I'm breastfeeding Mack (on demand) it's going to be really tough. I can see it.


Today I wore my new earrings from my Summer of Yarn Love pal. Thanks! I love them!

Mack was too cute tonight when I went out with West Island Knits to our bi-weekly Stitch N Bitch. Since Jamie has ball next Thursday night, providing that I have a babysitter for Sean, I'm throwing an impromptu meeting. Tonight, we were 8 of us, Amy, Angela, Madeleine, Eugenie, Manon, Marie-Lynn, Marie-Tangerine (Marie-Lynn's daughter) & myself. Oh, and Mack too! He came along as well, but slept the entire time. Sean was at home with his daddy. God knows what trouble they were up to! I did get to knit a few rows on my misty garden scarf, which is coming along!

I found somewhere to wear my new 5$ shoes to! My cousin is having an engagement party in August and they go nicely with my dress. (I think I'll look better this time around in this dress, as last time I wore it just after buying it - I hadn't lost all my baby weight yet after having Sean (who was almost 3 months at the time I wore the dress) - but this time, I'm already weighing less than I did then, and the engagement party is not until August, in exactly a month from now).

Crap, it's late. I guess the breastfeeding post will come tomorrow. I should have time to post about it tomorrow, we have the cleaning lady coming in the morning, a few errands to run in the afternoon & my friend's husband coming in the evening to explain to Jamie & I all about RESP's (Registered Education Savings Plan) for Mack & Sean. It's about time I got cracking on that!

Reminding you again (& I'm being an enabler!) the August Sock Club kits are on sale and I'm designing the pattern! I think I'll remind you all until they go off sale! Come by and support me! It's my first design. And yes, I'm designing it with a newborn & toddler (who is a handful!) I'm very excited for this kit - it's going to be wicked!

9 comments:

Amelah said...

I already bought my kit :)
I still think ur crazy lol making a scarf, 2 kids under 2 and designing a pattern lol love ya :) this means extra time for me with my nephews hehehe
I had fun last night @ knit night

Caroline said...

Thanks for the explanation on the urine test, I knew nothing about it!

Turtle said...

nice package! i so love your 5 dollar shoes! your garden is doing so well, our temps have just gotten warm enough to encourage the gardens growth. Hmmm, i do not remember any mention of a urine test when daughter was born..

Unknown said...

There is really something beautiful about getting kids on a schedule. While I love spending time with them, I realized that I enjoy the re-energization that occurs once they are in bed!

Anonymous said...

good luck! hope Sean adjusts to the new rules of the house soon :)

Jennifer Lori said...

I remember doing Jakob's urine test, I think it took me 2 tries to get enough to soak the absorbant paper that you have to mail.

Jakob wakes at the same time every day, takes 2 naps a day, plus goes to bed at the same time every day. His naps are only "off" if we have plans that interfere. He wakes up at 6:30 every morning, which 2 years ago I would have said was killer, but now we're so used to it, that it is nothing. He gets a bottle, then plays for a bit, then breakfast then plays (or we drive to work).

At 9:00am he gets a bottle before his nap. He is already yawning. He'll sleep until anywhere between 10:30 and 12:00, although I usually wake him up around 11:15 or so to make sure he takes his afternoon nap. I won't wake him if we have afternoon plans, so he gets the extra sleep.

He has lunch at 12, then plays until his next nap.

At 2:00pm I give him his 3rd bottle of the day and put him down for his nap. This one is hard, because he often decides he doesn't feel like sleeping. Too bad for him, he stays in his crib whether he sleeps or not. Often he'll just play and talk to his toys. I leave him there until 4pm, but if he is sleeping then I leave him until he wakes up. I only go in if he's absolutely hysterical, and then I'll give him more milk (which I try to avoid) or rock him. It's rare I have to go in.

After his nap we play (or drive home from work at 5) and he gets supper at 6:00. Then we play, or give him a bath, etc, and then bed.

Bedtime is at 7 unless he's a few minutes late 'cus we're late getting home or he's still in the bath. We put on his pjs, he gets his bottle in the rocking chair in one of our arms, while we either sing to him or read him a story. When he pushes the bottle away we burp him (if he feels like it) then put him in bed. 99% of the time he is still awake when we put him in bed.

75% of the time he falls asleep on his own within 20 minutes, tops. 20% of the time he'll talk, laugh and play for up to 2 hours (but usually not that long), THEN fall asleep on his own. 5% of the time he starts to cry hysterically and it turns out he didn't get enough milk and we give him more, then he falls asleep, usually on the bottle.

It's the same thing, every single day. I LOVE it, because I can plan stuff, and I know I have usually 2 2-hour blocks to get stuff done, plus I know that every night at 7:30 latest, I can sit down with Yannick, have supper, whatever, and Jakob won't wake up until morning.

He was on the same schedule when I was bfeeding too, although the bedtime was later 'cus it only got earlier as he aged and demanded it, and I was lucky, 'cus his bfeeding "on demand" happened to only be 6 times a day- breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, snack.

Congrats on the weight-loss, btw, it really shows in the pic Caroline took!

Tara said...

Getting kids on a schedule is totally doable even if you're breasfeeding, but I can see how it might seem daunting when you bottle fed your first. And don't worry, if you stick to your guns (the important thing is NOT TO CAVE, no matter what), BOTH your boys will fall into a routine eventually.

g-girl said...

Did you have to do that same test for Sean? I'm guessing you did. I wonder why something like that isn't done in the States..or maybe there is something like it and I just don't know about it! good luck with getting sean on a sleeping routine. it'll take time and patience I'm sure but you'll be so glad you did it!!

Bea said...

I think the urine test is really fascinating. What a great idea.

I do hope you get your scheduling worked out. I'm sure he'll take to it once he figures out that you mean it. I hope the crying/screaming doesn't make you insane first though. Don't give in either!! Just come talk to us if it gets hard and we'll give you some support.