Week In Recap

Good morning Book of Kai friends and fans, we had a pretty long week and I was away on training so didnt have time to blog. We encountered two more centipede attacks this week, with one being 9" and the other around 8". Both were dispatched promptly but they were also the biggest we have seen since we moved here.

Slipper is size 11

What was even more concerning was the fact that the larger one was found not only in the apartment,  not only in our room, but also near to Kai's crib. Deborah just caught the movement in the corner of her eye an the centipede was moving with it's head in the air like a snake ready to strike. There has been a lot of rain fall recently so we are assuming they are looking for somewhere warm. We pretty much live in the country with a lot of lots over grown with grass, acres and acres of agriculture land and a Stud Farm, so encountering nature is expected every now and then.

We were having some issues with Kai and constipation since we changed his formula and it progressively got worst as the weeks went by. We started rubbing his tummy, bottom and under his feet with Castor Oil (bajan home remedy for our non-bajan readers) and started giving him some water between formula feedings but no more than 2oz a day and that helped but didn't completely solve the problem.

We had an appointment to take Kai to get his first set of vaccinations and decided to address the constipation and his apparent Umbilical Hernia. She told us not to limit his water intake an also recommended Prune Juice; one part prune juice, one part water, twice a day. The formula was also changed back to the Similac Soy and he has improved slightly. We will continue to monitor it and he seems to enjoy the water an prune juice.

I also have to get around to writing the first book in the Book of Kai series, and hope to launch it for his first birthday, so look out for that. We would also like to do a give-away for Christmas to an expectant mother in need. "The Newborn Survival Kit" will have in all the essentials to make it through the first month after the child's birth and we are hoping Corporate Barbados will come on board to donate the items. Should this be successful, we would make it an annual give-away.

So stay tuned as we gather momentum and build the book of Kai one brick at a time. Don't forget to check out our Facebook page.

Kai's Island Adventure

Today was supposed to be Adventure Day, we had lots of errands to run and it was about time for Kai to see some more of the land. Our first stop was Skymall, we always get good reception there and everyone is always so thrilled to see Kai. Almost three weeks after his birth, he still turns the heads of the people working and visiting there. One lady whom we assume was going to shop, met us at the midway point between Trimart and the mall; and at first glance of Kai started to walk backwards while expressing how adorable he was. She wanted to know his gender and age, but at first her quick action to walk backwards and across our path threw us off a bit. 

There was also another case in Cost-U-Less aka Cost-U-the-same-amount-as-any-other-store where while shopping these two older ladies asked us if they could take Kai home with them. Deborah smiled and told her that she can't because we would miss Kai, to which the lady replied that we would be allowed to visit. I'm not sure if Kai secretes pheromones that attracts ladies who want to kidnap him or what, but if he has this effect at this age and 98% of the time he is sleeping... I don't want to see how it will be when he is walking and talking.

We went all over the island today, from Haggatt Hall to East Coast Road, from Mile and a quarter to Britton's Hill and all in between. I took Kai to visit his older brother Dominic today as well, He is 7 years old and has been eager and waiting since he heard of Deborah's pregnancy to see his little brother. I can just see that the two of them will get along just fine... I know boys will be boys and bothers will have their little tiffs, but that's all apart of life and they will work it out. There is also Jayden, he's my cousin Janelle's son (around 2 years old) and and since we grew up together, she would also like our kids to have the same bond we had. So Kai, Dominic and Jayden will have lots of play dates, and hopefully exhaust each other enough that they sleep good at night. I almost forgot about Arianna, she is Deborah's cousins daughter and she is 4 years old, Ari was pretty ecstatic when she first met Kai and even asked her mother if they could take Kai home. So I'm sure that she will be included in the festivities and games.

Now back to our little trip, the rain was falling today and had some pretty spectacular cloud coverage. It looked like something from a movie and I was just waiting for a tornado to touch down. As we got past Farley Hill and into St. Andrew and along the East Coast road, we could see the mist just covering the top of the hills and for a moment it was as if we were in another country. When we reached close to St. John Parish Church the mist was all the way to the floor and we really couldn't see that far ahead of us, now I don't know if this is a regular occurrence but I've never seen it and thought it was pretty awesome. 

Now all of this happened and we saw lots of pretty interesting things while on the road, and would you guest that Kai slept through ALLLL of it? Oh well, we have lots of time to do it again when he is awake, and much more. So Kai's Island Adventure pretty much passed him by, but he was there. *chuckle*

Before we started our journey I snapped a few pictures of Kai. I will only put one here but you can follow along via his official facebook page for The Book of Kai. The facebook page will be the photo gallery, provide short status updates and provide easier interaction while the long stories will be posted to the blog. So head on over to facebook and "Like" the page.

 

Kai Withdrawal Symptoms

Tonight will be the first night that I will be away from Kai. As expected I'm still getting periodic updates, but still not as good as being there. There will be no reason for me to wake up several times tonight and walk around the house, change his pamper or anything of the sort. I would have to say it's bitter sweet because I will finally get a complete night's rest, but I don't mind waking up to do all of those things.

We missed our walk this morning and since I'm at work tonight, we also missed our walk this evening. I try to take him out before 9am and after 4pm, closer to 5pm. The sun has been out with vengeance as of late so we try our hardest not to be in it between those hours, so today was a home day. We did the usual stuff, changed his pamper, fed him, bathe him, watched him sleep for a while, had a few minutes of him watching us as well and counting the amount of "likes" his photos got on facebook.

I guess I'll have to make the best of this situation and enjoy my full night's sleep while dreaming about him and his many facial expressions. Sometimes when he is awake his eyes dart back and forth like he woke up in a strange place and didn't remember going to sleep there. Then he crunches his eyebrows and then raise one while looking directly at you as if to ask, "and who are you again?". We mostly just laugh our heads off commentating his looks and expressions.

Next thing on the Agenda is to Register our little super star, so he can get his birth certificate and his National Registration Number and Identification Card. Passport would have also been the next step, but our winter trip to The US and Canada got cancelled since we would have been there at the height of Winter and New Year's Day. I'm guessing we will have to watch the ball drop in Times Square another time. Maybe even leave it to when he is old enough to remember the trip... even though I don't mind going several times. Maybe a Carnival Cruise next year would be our best bet since it would be more "baby friendly" since everything will be close by.

Anyway I'm thinking we will choose the Carnival cruise before they get another string of bad luck, I would like to be able to say "I have been". As the saying goes, "the faster you go to sleep, the faster you wake up" so as long as I can get to sleep with Soca Titans blaring in the background, I'll try to fast forward the night and get back to my Kai Kai.

The Kai Factor

Kai has been home almost a week and the Kai Factor has already set in. What's the Kai Factor? ...lack of sleep! Needless to say, we haven't been getting much but we still have our sanity for the moment. The fact that it took this long for me to get around to a blog post should also be an indication. It's not all bad though and he certainly keeps us entertained for the most part.

Since he was home we took him to Bridgetown, Skymall, and two family gatherings. Not bad, and there is also the once daily strolls through the neighbourhood. The trip to Skymall was the most hilarious one of his outings, he was the center on attention with people stopping to stare and some asking if they could see him. There were also a few people in the stores that watched as we passed by, I'm guessing after seeing Deborah with a tummy that looked like she was carrying a twin, they just had to see the end result.

For the most part, he sleeps for about 3 - 4 hours, wakes for a feeding and goes back off to sleep. More recently he has been staying awake a little longer to look around the room and look at us like we kidnapped him. He has a million facial expressions and can cycle through them quite frequently... especially when he has gas. Sometimes he smiles, and it's the most wonderful smile you have ever seen, but most of the time it comes just after he passes gas, but we take it when we can get it. Anyone who has seen him awake can attest to his facial expressions and the way he looks at them.

Exactly one week after his birth his umbilical cord dropped off... thought it would have been on a little longer but I'm not complaining. Just seemed a little soon to me. He is already starting to put on weight an fill out with some chubby cheeks that we can't help but squeeze. I can't wait until he reaches the point where he is awake more often without crying and there is more of a bonding session... until then I'll just have to make do with him periodically sharing his fingers with me. He usually sucks a few fingers (not too often) and then stretches out his other hand to me, so I join him in pretending to nibble on his fingers as well.

His hair, that was once straight and flat onto his head is starting to get more body and a few small curls. It's suits him and we're hoping this Indian hair remains and isn't just his "baby" hair. The Graco Pack N' Play with bassinet also arrived, so now he will have his own space when we spend the day at family or friends. Well he's asleep now, so that's our queue. I must apologize if this post seems all over the place but sleep deprivation has it's side effects.

Official Release: Book of Kai, 1st Edition, Chapter 1: Kai's Birth

Good night everyone, have been having some internet issues so couldn't update as I would like, but guess what??!!! HE's HERE!!!!!!!! Birthday: 19th July, 2013

Kai Nathaniel Haynes was born this afternoon 36 weeks into the 40 week journey. My baby boy is tiny, looks like 6 lbs but we are not sure as yet. Now before people start scrolling all the way down for photos... I didn't take any today. It has been a very, very, VERY long day.

Now from the beginning. As you know, Deborah had her bloody show last week and with the help of google we found out labour would be along between a few hours, up to 3 weeks after this event. I really did not get any sleep last night and neither did Deborah, if she wasn't getting up for a glass of water, she was going to bathroom. Around 4 am this morning now Deborah woke me up and told me that she thinks her water broke but she is not sure. Now I'm a big fan of google, so out came the laptop to search for "i think my water broke but i'm not sure" and seems this is a very common occurrence with women and there were lots of stories and things to look for. To look at the colour, the smell and consistent flow... Now Deborah's water didn't come swooshing out with a big popping sound some women seem to get, It was more of a small steady trickle, with no sign of contractions in sight.

Since Q.E.H. is famous for sending pregnant woman back home we decided to monitor this event and see if any contractions would start. There was only the usual back pain and the trickle, so I told her to start getting herself ready for the hospital by making sure she had everything she needed, getting breakfast and a shower then relax and wait for our ride. As stated before, the Ambulance is never an option, and if you play stubborn and call, then proceed to wait for one, you better have someone at home with birthing experience.

We got to the hospital around 7:00 am and when Deborah waddled into the Accident & Emergency section we were ushered straight inside to await an orderly. Anyone is Barbados would know the usual procedure of on arrival speaking to the guard and having a seat and waiting to turn to dust. Up on the Labour Ward now I must say the nurses on that shift were very nice and information was flowing on her condition. It was only then that I found out Deborah was a High Risk patient with Edema and Pre-eclampsia so she was awarded her own little private room. Should any complications arise, surgery would take place on the spot to get out Kai.

I was allowed to go check in on her a few times through out the day and was promised to be called when the actual pushing started. When I went in she had drips to try stabilize her pressure and antibiotics since her "water" was leaking for so long before she came in. Around 11:00am they broke her water and induced labour, now induced labour hurts a lot more than natural labour and the look on Deborah's face said it all. The contractions were in full swing now and the breathing technique was sharp, there was no doubt as to when a contraction started as her body would tense up and the breathing would get faster until it had passed. I was only allowed a few minutes visit at a time since they were trying to keep her as calm as possible and I returned around 2:00 pm, this time she could barely speak and her body was shaking slightly as she struggled between focusing on breathing to say "5 minutes apart".

The hospital shift changed at 3:00 pm and from there it was like the dark side of the moon, total black out. No information, no visits, and on inquiring several times was only met with the response "hold on a minute". I heard a few loud cries and in rushed some student nurses ...I don't have to tell you how worried I became because it sounded very much like Deborah and I told myself it couldn't be since I was supposed to be there. Around 5:00 pm her mother and brother arrived from work and also asked a nurse about her status to which they received the same response.

Around 5:30 pm the nurse came to the door and told that my son was born and he is healthy, that Deborah is also good but the delivery came so fast they had no time to call me and with it being high risk all the student nurses filled the room. Half hour later they came for me to go see Deborah and she too said it happened fast as they were focusing on her pressure and tell her not to push, but she was pushing because the pain was too great. I looked around and down the hall and saw a small baby in an incubator with the temperature set to 36 degrees Celsius, I knew he came early so I wouldn't expect him to be 8+ lbs so asked Deborah if it was him, to which she said she was unsure as to where they took him. It was only after I say the ziplock bag on top the incubator with the stuff we picked out for him to wear that I knew it had to be him. He looked tiny, like around 6 lbs and the shimmy the nurse put on almost swallowed him whole. She put on the shimmy, socks, the hat and whole piece suit with legs then wrapped him in a receiving blanket and a baby towel with the head piece over the hat.

At this point Kai was not crying at all and just sucking his finger with his eyes closed. She handed him to me and I held my baby boy for the first time and started to speak to him, and asked him where he was going with such long finger nails. On hearing my voice he stopped sucking his finger and started to open his eyes. I know they say babies can hear you in the womb, and lord knows I spoke to that child almost every night, but it was still breath taking to see his recognize my voice and open his eyes. It was now time for mommy's trial run at breast feeding so the nurse took him back and he closed his eyes and she handed him to his mother to show her the way to breast feed and to see if the Colostrum was already coming out. He found the breast with ease and after the nurse made sure he was latched on it was smooth sailing, not sure if he was getting but he seemed contented and either way if nothing was coming as yet, his constant sucking would eventually bring it down.

Kai's eyes were the first thing I wanted to see when I held him and I'm glad he opened them for me, my other son Dominic had grey eyes when he was born but the turned dark brown a while after. Deborah says Kai will be a Daddy's boy since he only opened his eyes for me and not her. All in all, I am grateful that this high risk delivery was practically uneventful and my baby boy though small is happy and healthy and all went well. Can't wait to go back tomorrow and hold him again, also have to let Dominic know that his new little brother is here.

Welcome to the world Kai Nathaniel Haynes, there is tons of love here waiting for you and I can't wait to see you grow, experience and explore the world.