from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 10:29 PM
subject Les Canadiens atteints de VIH pourront entrer aux É.-U.; High-tech airport scanners won’t stop a determined terrorist: terror expert
Dear Stephen,
Last night was the first night we slept at our apartment in 2 weeks; we gave up the “Chambre d’accueil” so we could sleep at home for a change. We are still up every three hours to pump milk. This morning we were back at the hospital for 6:30am for a feeding. Now they have bumped Rose up to 3 feedings per day, meaning we need the room again, as one feeding will be late at night or mid-morning.
Today was a first day back at work for both Clo and I. We are both exhausted as a result. She is training her replacement and I am trying to delegate as much as possible so I can work less. Once Rose is home from the hospital it will be harder to work.
She gained 85 grams yesterday, brining her up to 2.35 kilos, but she needs to be eating on her own at all feedings for a 48-hour period before they will discharge her. As much as I appreciate the care she is receiving I am more and more frustrated with the lack of mental or psychologic care. It is not fun leaving your first born child in a hospital.
Were any of your kids preemies?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 8:45 PM
subject Un ancien porte-parole de Bush a travaillé pour Harper; Sharing hospital rooms may raise infection rates: Canadian study
Dear Stephen,
I took the rest of the week off DHC work to work on Rose and the apartment. We are currently at 3 feedings per day, meaning we go to the hospital every 9 hours, which doesn’t seem like much except when a feeding occurs at 6am or 3am or 12am. In fact after three nights home we are returning to the hospital tonight to sleep and will stay until Rose leaves, hopefully in no more than 3 days. I think she is ready to start feeding by breast only, and see how she handles the lack of Similac supplement, which I detest because I think it is artificially increasing her weight gains. She gained 70 grams yesterday, for example. Growth is good and normal it is just that I think she should be only on breast milk. In other good news she left her “condo” today and is now in what we call the “chalet”, which basically means she has left the incubator and is now in a shallow pan.
Given these new developments I have to light a fire to the apartment renos. I bought a door for Rose’s room today and had the fun job of trying to fasten it the roof racks and drive it home in the middle of yet another snowstorm. It is almost all installed, just the molding to do, and some sanding, as of course nothing is square or straight in the apartment. And we are both scrambling to try to get curtains sewn and stitched and installed, mostly to cut down on heat-loss, but also for our neighbours. I’m sure our elderly neighbours don’t appreciate that we tend to walk around mostly naked, especially in the kitchen.
Tomorrow at some point between 7am and 7pm we are expecting a delivery of our new freezer from Corbeil. I don’t know why they can’t narrow down their delivery times; there must be a lot of appliances being delivered all over Montréal tomorrow.
OK off to pack another overnight bag, get some food together, and try to fasten some snaps to the new covering Claudine made for her feeding pillow, and then back to the hospital.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 5:08 PM
subject Ignatieff dénonce vivement la prorogation; Bodies of two soldiers return to Edmonton for burial
Dear Stephen,
The transmission finally gave out on the car yesterday as I was on my way home from the hospital. That CAA + membership paid for itself with the tow, but won’t help with the cost of repairs: $1295! Yikes. We haven’t confirmed with the garage but will probably go ahead with the repairs. We don’t have the time, energy or headspace to think about finding a used car or try to sell ours. What would you do? Would you fix or sell?
Off the the hospital shortly. Today the big achievement was that Rose took 2 breasts with no DAA (supplemental milk through a tube at the same time as feeding). This happened while Fannie was visiting. She stopped by to take back some baby things that we didn’t need and dropped off the rocker, which we will keep Rose in for the first month or so, in our room. I worked on her bedroom door; it is now painted on one side, with the porthole almost ready to be installed. It is taking longer than I had planned.
We were back from the hospital after the 6am feeding, and now we are heading back for the evening. She also gets another bath today, before the 9pm gavage.
And what is up with proroguing parliament yet again? Is this going to be some yearly event with you now? I don’t understand, aren’t all you elected officials supposed to be working?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 12:06 AM
subject Attentats contre un gazoduc: un militant remis en liberté; Montreal man spared beheading for fatal school fight in Saudi Arabia
Dear Stephen,
I’ve been kicked out of the hospital. No, not for bad behaviour or anything like that, another new mother needed a room and is bunking with Claudine. No husbands allowed! Three to a room is too weird or kinky for them, even though Clo and I usually share a cot. Peau à peau is comforting for adults as well as babies.
Things are advancing on all fronts except for the car. Rose is gaining weight and strength and is spending more time awake. Clo is up to 2 to 1 feedings over gavages, and might start all feedings sometime tomorrow, depending on Rose. We are trying to follow her schedule more than that imposed by the hospital. And I now have a fille sans fils! She lost her wires tonight, mostly due to a sudden influx of newbies. The neonatal division was humming full speed ahead to keep up with all the new arrivals and I suspect that our monitor was needed, which is just fine with me, as I find all the wires a drag.
The one drawback as of late is the car. I called the garage back on Friday to try to work a deal but they had already closed, and they were closed again today, and most likely will be closed tomorrow as well. Which means that even if we go ahead with repairs it might not be done in time to bring Rose home from the hospital. We are anticipating this to happen as early as Tuesday. I am going to check with CAA to see if a car rental might be part of my membership.
Finished the door to Rose’s room today, and have been puttering around on general cleanup and tiny little renos, like adding curtain rods. More of this tomorrow. Have also, finally, begun placing some artwork around the apartment. Haven’t hung anything yet, but at least the process is underway.
Off to bed, and to spend some time with our cats, who probably feel a bit neglected.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 11:35 PM
subject Isotopes médicaux: un retard serait extrêmement grave; Liberal ads attack PM’s decision to suspend Parliament
Dear Stephen,
Everything is becoming accelerated: it looks like Rose will get her marching papers tomorrow! So now even after spending the whole day on little projects around the apartment it still doesn’t feel ready. I have to borrow James’ car tomorrow at noon to get Rose. I was planning to work all day tomorrow but now it will be just the morning. I don’t know if I will be able to concentrate. She already seems bigger and stronger and she feeds for over an hour each time now, which is keeping Claudine exhausted. I went to the hospital for the five-six o’clock feeding and then again for seven-eight. We made a little yellow jacket for her from material from the jackets all visitors are required to wear and had a photo seance. Now I’m a bundle of nerves just trying to get the car seat straightened out and packed up. None of her winter clothes fits her yet but luckily Joanne lent us a zippered quilted sac that fits into the car seat and should keep her warm enough. Were you this excited when your daughter came home for the first time? I wonder if there is more of a build-up for parents of preemies. And from what I’ve read a 2-3 week stay in the hospital is almost nothing compared to some babies that spend a month or more. I can hardly imagine.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 3:47 AM
subject Remaniement en vue à Ottawa; Mourners remember slain journalist, soldier
Dear Stephen,
Rose is home, safe and sound. I just put her down for the third time tonight. She wakes up about every two hours to feed. Claudine is exhausted and dozes off while breastfeeding. We started watching Gone with the wind this evening but didn’t finish. We want to watch all the classics while on parental leave. I had forgotten all about child benefits; tomorrow I’ll fill in the paperwork, but I think we’ll get over $100 per month! Awesome. We may need to buy more diapers; she is still too small to fit our re-usables.
Ooops, she’s up again. Late-night snack?
So you’re planning a cabinet shuffle for when Parliament gets back to work. Good move; will probably help take a little heat off the whole proroguing debacle.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:33 PM
subject Charest critique Harper en sa présence; Canada ready to help Haiti: PM
Dear Stephen,
It is still a little hard for me to believe that I am indeed somebody’s father, and that I have a tiny little daughter staying at my apartment now. She’s absolutely adorable, the most beautiful newborn ever, for sure. We’ve had a number of visits and calls today: Henrietta, Anne’s mom, came over with lasagna and pâté Chinois, and Caroline and François came over for beer and snacks, and then Sarah came over and we ate lasagna and salad and chocolate. We are still not finished Gone with the wind. Clo went out briefly this afternoon to get some groceries and mail some letters, such as Rose’s declaration of birth, and I went out once in the morning to move James’ car, which we will have until tomorrow, but otherwise we have been content to stay in the apartment and adjust to one another. My mom is now hooked up on Skype with a webcam and so have “chatted” with her twice, first this afternoon and again late this evening with my dad. It’s amazing how a little creature as tiny as our Rose can command a room with her presence. OK off to grab a couple hours sleep before her next feeding.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 12:42 AM
subject 271 rescapés arrivés, 400 attendus bientôt; 1,415 Canadians unaccounted for in Haiti
Dear Stephen,
Spent Friday night with my daughter and lovely wife. Worked during the day in a slight fog of fatigue. Haven’t slept more than 2 hours in a row since Sunday evening. It is amazing how one can get used to so little sleep, so quickly. Claudine is napping right now and I have Rose in the sling; she falls asleep almost instantly when placed in it. We went for a walk all together to the market to get some veggies, steaks and wine for supper. I also find it amazing how time seems to pass so quickly now. Of course, I could spend hours just watching Rose, she is just so cute and compelling.
Last night I went to David’s opening at the Parisian Laundry. I had taken the car to work – yes, it is fixed, picked it up on Wednesday afternoon after our doctors appointment – and I picked up Monica from her apartment, which is super close to DHC. We saw tons of people at the opening, the beer was donations to Haiti, which I hear you, or at least the Government of Canada, is matching dollar for dollar. David’s work is almost colossal, an immense skeletal rectangular structure that snakes its way through and fills in a sparing way the big basement space of the Laundry. In that typically international sculpture style there are random bits of materials, twigs, glass, mirror, fluorescent paint and more objects quietly and purposefully arranged here and there. I quite like it, though I don’t understand it.
Another thing I don’t understand is the Star Wars Christmas Special of 1978. What were they thinking? I just found out about it while researching films to watch during our respective parental leave. I’m going through the Academy Awards lists and the Palme d’Or and followed a link about Star Wars and voila, there it is. Incredible. So bad it is almost good.
Rose napped a solid two hours in the sling on me tonight, now she is feeding again. The cycle continues.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 10:39 PM
subject Ignatieff sonde les Canadiens sur l’avenir du pays; Harper shuffles cabinet to focus on economy
Dear Stephen,
I actually have not been outside today. We had planned on a walk on the Plaza St-Hubert, but in the end it just didn’t happen. We are slowly getting some pictures up on the wall. Aside from the steady feedings (Rose as well as us), that has been the bulk of our day.
I worked yesterday morning, then came home for lunch. Claudine and I took the car and visited the hospital to drop off cards and some gifts (chocolate + photos) to the nurses at the neonatal and delivery wards. Did a little window shopping on the way home, I think we have narrowed down our stroller search. It looks like the Peg Perago Si is still our #1 choice, even though our car seat doesn’t exactly fit over it, I figure I can safely attach it with a couple short bungees. We had Rose with us in it so we could make tests in real time. We also found some re-usable diapers in her size, which we will start her on tonight. Claudine sewed the inserts today with some of the organic cotton.
Just watched 500 days of summer. Cute, feel-good movie.
Hear you shuffled the cabinet. I don’t really have much of a comment as I have been not following the news much. I still haven’t donated to any agency to aid Haiti but plan to do so shortly. I have mixed feelings on the Canadian government plan to match dollar-for-dollar donations by individuals. Why not just set an amount and do it? But I guess this way plays it safe, as your constituents and Canadian citizens in general become your litmus test. The government can hardly be criticized for giving too much or too little if it keeps pace with individual donations.
Off to work tomorrow, and possibly Thursday, just to try to help get a bunch of things in place before the second tech arrives from Finland. I need to get some sleep. Rose slept for a good 3-hour chunk last night, and four hours the night before, but I haven’t been napping during the day, which I should try to do.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 10:21 PM
subject Ottawa autorise 154 adoptions, dont 103 au Québec; Canadians come together for Haiti telethon
Dear Stephen,
Had a good day: slept in, even though we are still only sleeping 2-3 hours at a time, being able to stay in bed until mid-morning is a treat, and only went to work to make some photocopies and visit with everyone. Clo and Rose came with me, it was a long outing for Rose. First we shopped a bit for a stroller before finally buying the one we had our eyes on from the beginning, the Peg Perago Si. The 2010 version (they are just like cars! a new model every year) has a bar that makes fitting our ill-fitting car seat into the stroller easier. Then we visited DHC, closed up and went for supper at Aux Vivres. Rose slept the whole time. Came home, fed her, she went to bed, we’re tidying up a bit but really I am just worn out and will go straight to bed myself. Even a day of not doing too much wears me out. I can hardly bring myself to write to you regularly, or even respond to my other emails. I haven’t done a lick of Third Space work in a long while. There are personal art applications to fill out as well but I am feeling lazy and in a non-art-making period at the moment.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 9:33 PM
subject 19 Canadiens décédés, 213 disparus; Adopted Haitian children arrive in Canada
Dear Stephen,
I forgot to mention to you that Rose has gained quite a bit of weight: she is now 2.7 kilos, or 6.1 pounds. Clo had her weighed the other day. Maybe now she is even more, all she does is eat and sleep!
Today Esme, our Doula, came for a visit on Saturday and we discussed our birthing experiences and some tips to follow in the coming weeks and months. Elie came for a quick visit afterwards and I prepared a chicken and watched the Habs game on TV. Amazingly, they won 6-0. I’m happy for Halak. I watched the Vancouver game later on as well.
Typical night: up every 2-3 hours for the diaper change and feeding.
This morning Bernard and Jean came by with his piano; it was a quick and easy delivery. They stayed for a brief visit. The piano is an electric Roland, and fits beautifully in the window nook off the living room. Later in the day David and Iliana came for a quick visit and dropped off a couple cute outfits for Rose. They seem quite taken with the concept of “baby”. I’d like to take Rose to see his exhibition at the Laundry but she doesn’t seem to see very far beyond a couple feet or so. Still, it could be fun.
I went to work for a couple hours today but it was just to meet some of Jenny Holzer’s technicians and talk about possibly placements of work. She is showing at DHC in the summer for the next show. There is still lots of little details to be taken care of before the Thursday opening of Eija-Liisa, unfortunately. I’m going in for 7am tomorrow to meet flooring contractors and Willie, our electrician. Electricians start work really early, mostly to beat traffic.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:48 PM
subject Crise de la listériose: le gouvernement n’a pas apporté de changements; Vitamin D may fight Crohn’s disease: Study
Dear Stephen,
I’ve worked every day so far this week starting at 7am; I am working Electrician hours, with Willie, learning a few tricks of the trade. There has been lots of changing of lighting tracks, re-routing cables, dimmers, etc. Electrician hours are nice; hardly anyone around at 7am, no traffic, even on the metro, and I get home early, around 3:30pm to have a nap with Rose dozing on my chest. Except today I finished after 5 but the opening is tomorrow and the big glowing red squares were not working out; I was crawling under the floor with fluorescent tubes, coloured gel tubes, fixtures, large sheets of red chloroplast and all the wiring gear to get to the windows in G3 and somehow make them look like what will be the new “signature” of the DHC: a red square. Finally got G3 more or less finished, then ran out of time; Claudine wanted to go to yoga for 6pm. Tomorrow after the press preview in the morning I’ll finish the larger window in the new satellite space. Apart from that, the exhibition is mostly ready. It will have to be; tomorrow evening is the opening!
I’ve been so worn out from work and not sleeping through the night that I completely missed the SKOL board meeting last night as well as Eija-Liisa’s talk at the Grande Biblioteque. I need to safe my strength for bringing Rose out to her first art opening, which will be on the day she was supposed to be born.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 12:22 AM
subject La Cour suprême n’ordonne pas le rapatriement d’Omar Khadr; Family ties bind Governor General to earthquake-hit Haitian town
Dear Stephen,
Rose went to her first public event last night, the opening of the Eija-Liisa Ahtila exhibition at DHC. We were longer getting there than we planned as we took the car and suddenly there was major snow squalls grinding traffic to a near halt. The opening reception was held in the lobby of the new satellite space and it was packed and so we mostly hung out by the catering table. Claudine had to leave early for a WWKA meeting and jam session, so I took Rose and wandered the lobby. It is true what they say: a baby is a total chick magnet. Everyone, mostly girls, wanted to see or touch or hold her. Monica and her friend Chantal were there, we made plans for brunch for tomorrow morning with her and Steve, who flew in tonight. I stayed at the opening until it closed, basically obsessed with holding my daughter. We piled into the car and picked Clo and Dagmara up from Gaspé and then went to the Super Studio. It was Rose’s first after-party. She didn’t stay too long; it was smokey in areas, and she was sleeping and probably exhausted from her big night out. Clo took her home and I stayed a bit longer, until about 3am, and the party certainly picked up later on but I too was exhausted and the vodka shots only made me more so.
Today we had a brief visit from Claudine’s friend Janine, and Sarah came over after supper and we watched Closer, which wasn’t terribly exciting, though I found Clive Owen’s character to be funny. He had all the best lines.
I have only a couple days to get a proposal in to Sagamie to make a book; I am thinking of some sort of 10-year anniversary tome for the Dear PM project.
-chris
DEAR PM 