Pumping question

I have a question for all the parents out there and it has to do with breast feeding an more specifically with pumping breast milk. Angie and I have tried this and it works (kind of). Let me explain, we can pump milk and we get some, and sophie gladly east from the bottle.... So far so good. But we can't pump enough to get ahead in any way so basically we pump and it is gone the same day.... So we are not sure what the point of it is. We were thinking that we could pump and build up a little bit of milk inventory (let's say enough for a few feeds) and give angie a break for a feed or two and I can feed. But we don't seem to be able to achieve that. Are we doing something wrong or missing the point of it?

Any help would be great.

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January fishing

So continuing my once a month fishing thing going with a trip to the niagara whirlpool. This time went with my good friend Mario (The Healthy Butcher). Didn't really look at the weather forecast, I knew it was going to be cold but didn't know it was going to be snowing like crazy. We left at 5:30am and got there before the sun came up and it was really snowing. There was no snow in st. Catherine's but as we went up the mountain it was really coming down. There was one other crazy guy from barrie there by himself so we didn't feel completly crazy. Didn't catch anything, but had a great time and how many people can say that they fished in January and every month since april. Anyway, as usual a great time, but I would really like to catch a fish on the niagara one day. Someone help me with this please (usually not this bad at fishing). February I am thinking a 2 day trip on lake nippissing or simcoe, some ice fishing to mix it up :)

Till next time.
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Happy New Year

It has been a long year, but it ended incredibly for us and included some very tough times, but also some incredible ones. The births of Scarlett and Sophie, my wedding to Angie and Natalia's lung transplant made 2009 a year I won't forget. At times it really did seem like way too much and literally I lived each day one day at a time. All plans and schedules (except the hospital visitation) went out the window.

To be honest, I really don't know how we all got through it intact. Almost unbelievable. So on the eve of 2009 I am looking forward to a new beginning in 2010. A new year with some nice simple goals like being a good father and getting back to a nice active life (I miss that like crazy). Can't wait to start biking to work and exercising on a daily basis again. I am motivated for it again the way I haven't been in quite some time and I can't wait to take Sophie on her first run this spring. Hope you like the running stroller pumpkin :)

Happy New Year to everyone, and wishing you a great year.

John
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She writes

We all knew that Natalia was going to write sometime and she did not disappoint. Well done sis, especially the pictures, simply incredible. Those are scars to be very very proud of.

Here is Natalia's blog.

John

Xmas

Well, Xmas came and went, we sort of cancelled it this year because it has been a long year. BUT we did have an incredible time meeting up at TGH. We all haven't seen each other together in many many months since we have been doing shifts at the hospital with Natalia, and literally can't afford to have too much time overlap. So since Natalia has been doing amazing and she was up for a get together we decided to have our Xmas at the Patient Atrium at TGH. We all gathered at 2pm, all of us including the girls (Scarlett and Sophie), my parents, martin, martin's parents and Angie.

It was really great to see Natalia, see Scarlett and also meet her niece Sophie for the first time. Sophie was born one day after Natalia was put on the ventilator. Natalia had big plans to come to see Sophie right after the birth, even though she was so sick, she wanted to make it to Mount Sinai to see her shortly after birth. It didn't happen quite that way, but this was just as good. Sophie got to meet her favorite aunt in a much much better state and she can't wait to spend a lot of quality time with her in the future (she tells me this every day :)

So overall I can't remember a Xmas that i think more fondly of, it was nice, simple (or incredibly complicated, depending which way you look at it) and it really was what Xmas should be all about. Here are some pics from the day.

Sophie and Natalia

Scarlett and Natalia

Proud grandparents

Patient Court (4th floor atrium at Toronto General Hospital)

New Toronto Star Article

Quick update on Natalia. The last few days have been a lot better for Natalia, she is much better and really getting stronger and stronger. She is more and more mobile and yesterday literally spent the entire day out of bed. This morning she is sore as if she ran a marathon, her calves are killing her today, but this is good pain. So pretty good xmas day (and for those of you that know me, you know I am not a big xmas fan).



Also today is another article by Barbara Turnbull in the Toronto Star. (link to the article here) Barbara also wrote about her own story (link here) and for those of you that have lived in Toronto you certainly remember the shooting that changed her life in 1983. Barbara's life is a true inspiration to me and she has been such a huge part of our journey through this. Her gift to Natalia, the Jesus statue that was given to her 25 years ago while she was fighting for her life is so incredible that I don't have the words to describe it. I am sure Natalia will keep good care of it and pass it on when the time is right. Thank you Barbara.

Recovery

Quick update on Natalia's recovery. Natalia is making big strides everyday and getting better each day. Some days are still very tough with setbacks, some big some small, but overall her recovery is moving in the right direction for sure. She struggles physically and emotionally with the scope of the recovery, but the most important part is that the lungs are working great. She breathes the way she hasn't been able to in a very very long time. Physically she lost a huge amount of weight through all this and now is starting to gain that wait back and this will help with getting back on her feet. She does a number of physio sessions a day which include exercises in the bed and also walking around the 7th floor transplant unit with the help of a walker. Each day is better especially when you look at the progress a week at a time.

One of my highschool friends who is a transplant surgeon in the UK describes having a lung transplant as "being hit by a bus", if you survive and the lungs work, all the other parts that were hit to need to recover as well. Emotionally this has been incredibly hard on Natalia. She knew her CF incredibly well, understood how to battle against it, even though it was a battle she couldn't win. This is all new, new medications, new problems, new drug side-effects and getting a handle on all of it will take her some time, but I have no doubt that she will get through it.

For me, this is literally the first time in a very long time where I am not worried about her immediate survival, I can see the lungs working, her not struggling for each and every breath and that is simply incredible.