Hans-Jörn and Carolyn

Look what I found in the laundry!

Originally uploaded by Hans and Carolyn

Carolyn found a pleasant surprise in the laundry

happy

Originally uploaded by Hans and Carolyn

That’s all I wanted to say

Originally uploaded by Hans and Carolyn

Time flies by. Alea is now 3 months old and times have been crazy. We spent a lot of energy trying to get her to fully breastfeed, which took three days of no sleep and lots of crying, but she finally started breast feeding. After about 2 weeks we had to start supplementing with a bottle, which made her forget everything about breastfeeding again. Then, she started becoming colicky…. craziness. Anyways, we went back to bottle feeding her, and her system has slowly become more predictable. We love her to pieces and she’s now just shy of 10 pounds.

I thought I’d quickly update you on that. Please also always check for pictures on our flickr account. I often post pictures there.

Cheers, Hans

PS: written on my birthdyay

Hi all,

here a quick update. Alea is now three weeks and a day old. She’s doing great. She’s been gaining wait constantly (now at 2140 g or somewhere around 4 pounds 10 oz.). For the past few days she’s been only bottle or breast fed (they took her feeding tube out because she does so fine).

Today she passed her car seat test (the nurses put her in her car seat and check her vitals for 90 minutes to be safe that she will be fine in the car. This means that she will soon be discharged. Her pediatrician will see her tomorrow and will decide how soon she will be able to leave the hospital. Carolyn will stay with her for at least an entire 24 hour period with Alea in her room, so that Carolyn can get used to Alea

We are so happy about this. except for that I really have to get the kitchen done now, even working overtime - 18 hours a day - I might only get it done on wednesday… but I trust it will all work out.

Cheers, Hans

This time, nothing scary. Alea is doing really great. They’ve taken her of the I.V. last night, which was feeding her with a low concentration of dextrose and water. She being feed with MotherMilk© and Carolyn actually has enough of it, that Alea does not need any formula anymore. Alea is now ready to be transfered to St. Catharines General and she’s waiting for mommy to be released from the hospital.

Carolyn’s blood pressure was still consistently high (she got to hear that all through high school: You are consistent). I think we just have to wait with her.

One really cool thing is that Carolyn is allowed to do Kangaroo Care with Alea. This means that Alea lays naked on Carolyn’s bare chest for an extended period of time. It really helps mom and baby a lot.

I think that’s it for now.

Cheers, Hans

Hi everyone,

finally I have the time to quickly right a post.

Carolyn had the Baby on Saturday via a Cesarean. She started to develop Pre-Eclempsia (high blood pressure + )
. For the safety of mom and baby the baby had to be delivered right then and there. Carolyn originally was hospitalized on friday in Grimsby (level 1 for baby care). Since the pregnancy was only 34 weeks along and they can only take care of 36+ weeks babys, Carolyn was transfered to Burlington (level 2). She got operated within a few hours of us arriving in Burlington, because Carolyn’s condition was fairly critical (with Pre-Eclampsia, the mom usually does not think that she is sick, but she might actually be very sick).

Alea Christina Eich was born on March 22nd 2008, at 2:51 pm, weighing 1800g (3 pounds 15 oz).

Alea required almost no help. She just was on a CPAP, a pressurized breathing tube that provided room air to her (it’s like holding your head out of a car window while driving ). Alea looks more like a 32 week old and the nurses are actually questioning her “real” age. Maybe that’s because Carolyn’s body stopped providing the baby with Protein.

Today Carolyn and Alea got transfered to McMasters in Hamilton (Level 3), because Burlington was not able (it’s not their protocol) to feed the baby through the I.V. Alea now has the highest care possible. She’s very stable, every now and then she forgets to breath, which is why they are giving her small doses of caffeine (I asked for it to be Startbucks). She might be released possibly very soon to come to St. Catharines General.

Carolyn’s blood pressure is still a little bit high, but I’m sure it will come down very soon. She’s already getting up alone and going to the bathroom. Carolyn’s best blood pressure medicine is Alea. Whenever she goes to see her, her pressure drops significantly.

Please hold in there with visits. The hospitals are very strict about who can visit and when. For Alea, it’s like being let into a super Max High Security Prison to get into Alea’s place, so we currently can’t let anyone see her. I’ll keep you informed when things get better. Please call me if you would like to visit Carolyn. She can have visitors, but we are trying to keep it at a minimum, because it’s just to much for her. There will be plenty of time for that when she comes home (she will still have to take it very slow).

Cheers, Hans

Hi everyone,

we finally took some time to research some of the products we would like for our baby… 1) It’s not easy finding natural products that will not harm our baby’s health 2) IT’S REALLY HARD TO CHOOSE ANYTHING IF YOU DON’T KNOW IF IT’S A BOY OR A GIRL Anyways, Baby (Registry) is one of the pages on this site here and we are still going to add a few more items to it.

Also, I would like to point out that my aunt in Germany makes wonderful “anti-dolls” and we would enjoy any of those any time. Check it out: RevoluzZza.

Cheers, Hans and Carolyn

Hi everyone,

It’s baby registry time, but how? It’s not that easy for us to have a baby registry because we are very particular about the things that we would like to have, and those items are most certainly not all from the same place… so what to do?

Well, I registered baby.hansandcarolyn.com (don’t click on it now, because it links back to this page you’ll just find yourself in the evil overlord loop ), and now I’ll just list the things that we would like to have.

Also, I’d love to quickly take the time to promote a really cool store in Toronto. It’s called Ella and Elliot - I’ve not been there personally, but it was covered on a show on TV, one of those crazy designed to sell… or what ever those store makeover shows are. Anyways, I’m going to go there today and have a look. Fun times

Cheers, Hans

I thought I’d pass on the message. There’s a facebook group “International Delete Your MySpace Account Day”. It’s a good idea to cancel all those dead myspace accounts, so that myspace cannot claim those high numbers for active users.

As for me, I’m going to keep mine, because I’m still pretty connected to a lot of bands on there, but this is really about cancelling the dead accounts. Just check out the facebook group! 

Just a quick hello from sunny Florida. This is how December should be… Cheers, Hans and Carolyn