Journey from Hell to Heaven

In the afternoon we were admitted to a room in RGH's old maternity wing where I was given medication for induction...still smiling and didn't feel much pain yet...and later we were sent home to wait...to wait for contractions...


The legendary "assessment room" = staff room = storage room...where I felt like I was in hell...from 2:30am to 7:00am I endured 4+ hours of contractions and extreme pain...I still remember the wall right beside the pillow...where I kept hitting my fist on it when the contraction is soooooo painful...


The room has no air conditioning...and nurses would come in and grab equipments / coffee / hot water while I was lying on the bed crying in pain...and DrewBaba only had a small office chair to sit on while going thru the pain with me...


Finally after waiting and waiting and pain and more pain...we were rushed to this nice delivery room (finally) where NokNok was born within 1/2 hour...Dr. A almost didn't make it back to RGH for delivery...and I delivered without any pain relief...no epidural no nothing...NATURAL BIRTH (??????????!!!!!!!!!)...didn't know how I managed to go thru those few hours...if it wasn't our Lord and DrewBaba beside me every moment...I couldn't have done it...

I still remember every moment of that night and morning...it was pain that I've never experienced before...extreme pain I really thought I was going to die...I've said a million times I want to give up...just take my life...but at the end of the suffering there was a heavenly gift waiting for us...thank God!

Meaning of the Name

Lucas

Origin ~ Greek
Meaning ~ light giving, luminous, illuminating

Christopher

Origin ~ Greek & Latin
Meaning ~ carrier of Christ, having Christ within

耀

Pronunciation ~ "Yiu"
Meaning ~ to shine, to illuminate, to reflect, to be bright

We pray that Lucas will shine not for his own sake but for our Lord’s. It'd be a blessing for him to grow and become a responsible disciple, to illuminate God's grace among his generation.

諾

Pronunciation ~ "Nok"
Meaning ~ covenant, promise

We pray that Lucas will remember the covenant between God and His people, He'll never forsake them and His love endures forever.

馬太福音5:14-16

你們是世上的光。城造在山上是不能隱藏的。

人點燈，不放在斗底下，是放在燈臺上，就照亮一家的人。

你們的光也當這樣照在人前，叫他們看見你們的好行為，

便將榮耀歸給你們在天上的父。

Matthew 5:14-16

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand,

and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men,

that they may see your good deeds

and praise your Father in heaven.

Birth Announcement

Chinese New Year Feast @ Home

小貓Mama Craving for Milkshake

Very good and tranditional chocolate milkshake from White Spot!!!! Yummmmmmy!!!! But how come 小蟲Baba is only having Caesar salad??? =p

小貓Mama Craving for Pasta

But didn't expect the portion to be this BIIIIIIIIIIIG!!!! Anton's on East Hasting, Burnaby...

自小養成閲讀習慣

小貓Mama loves to read!!! Chinese books...English books...Christianity books...cook books...love stories...suspense stories...biorgraphy...everything!!!

Learning to be a reader at a young age sure opens a big window towards the big big world out there!! Hopefully 尹小小 will learn to become a reader as well and appreciate all the knowledge from the different books.

Since learning to be a parent is a long and tough journey, CannisMama has been reading lots of books during the 9 months. Thanks to the local library, there are many good books with very useful information ne.

尹小小's Gifts from Overseas

Many thanks to our dear family & friends from overseas...you are all spoiling 尹小小 with all these wonderful gifts ne!!!!! =)

差不多了

差不多時候到了,尹小小快要來這世界,真快的要當媽媽了!

心情很mix…但每次心裡害怕的時候,便想起這詩歌…

無論在任何崗位,第一及第二段也是我的心聲!

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歷煉荊途
May Chan and Jimmy Chan
© 2007 AFC Vancouver

神，你的聲音，
當天叫我甘心擺上了這一生。
深相信主的恩典引導我，
讓我充滿著昐望，
期待你再返的光芒！

隨著你聲音，
今天以信抵擋心裡試探擾侵。
多得你准許艱苦試驗我，
讓我可靠著耶穌，
行在這逆旅為你高歌。

仍然盡心敬拜，仍然盡性呼應，
仍然盡意宣告，是我主得勝！
前路任主帶領，
就算面前荊棘滿路，我深知道，
神用永遠大愛捉緊我，
神用最偉大救恩把我釋放。

榮耀裡你是我的盼望，
何用怕至暫至輕苦痛境況？

Dining Around the World in 270 Days

Food is always something that 小貓Mama & 小蟲Baba loves and makes our lives sparkle...we particularly enjoy trying different cuisine around the world!

In the past 9 months while 尹小小 is inside the belly...we did try many flavours and hopefully 尹小小 will learn to appreciate these different tastes as well! Let's call this experience "dining around the world in 270 days = 9 months x 30 days!

It's always a pleasure to dine out with our buddies...meet our little friend...Rachel Cheng!!!! She's already a "dine out veteran" by age 1...hopefully 尹小小 will be accommodating like her and we can still dine out together as a family after 尹小小 is born!

Featuring ~ Piato Estiatorio on 4th Avenue

Com temporary Greek restaurant...good food...good price...good ambiance!

http://www.piato.ca/

Happy Birthday Nathan!

尹小小 is so blessed to have many buddies from the church family...it'll be wonderful to see them growing up together! To celebrate little Nathan's birthday...HedyYeeYee & YvetteYeeYee & us decided to made a diaper cake for him...it's our 1st time making it...and 小蟲Baba did help rolling all the diapers for us...not bad for our 1st time heh? =)

The Christmas before you were born...

尹小小...do you know...the Christmas before you were born was a very memorable one...not just to 小貓Mama & 小蟲Baba but to many of us living in Vancouver...

We had a very beautiful White Christmas...but it was also one of the snowy-est winter in 30+ years...airport was closed...schools were closed...snow was piled up to people's knee...and cars parked along the road were hidden by the heavy snow...

小貓Mama & 小蟲Baba got stuck in the snow for 3 hours trying to get home from Vancouver to Richmond...小蟲Baba tried to push our car uphill (with 小貓Mama & with 尹小小 inside)...those few weeks were absolutely chaotic...but again...thinking back now...every moment is memorable...

We will always remember going thru this winter with you in 小貓Mama's tummy...you were kicking and kicking all the time...while it's super cold and snowy out there...you were warm and cozy inside...

Just so you know...when we saw the beautiful snow and the power of severe weather...we remembered this beautiful world was wonderfully created by our heavenly Father...and so are you...so enjoy and be a responsible person and take good care of the Father's world in your generation!

又越過高山又越過谷

So far all has been well in the past 9 months...but there were still 2 incidences that kinda caught us by surprise and scared us for a moment or two...glad all turned out well...and it only made our experience with 尹小小 more memorable...

Incident #1: "Did I suffocate 尹小小????"

We never knew 小貓Mama is actually a belly sleeper until at around 7 months...one night 小貓Mama woke up noticing she was sound asleep with her belly down...OMG...all the weight was on 尹小小 for who knows how many hours????!!!! Probably it has been at least a few hours because the pajama was even imprinted on the belly!!!! Immediately 小貓Mama turned over and felt blood flowing to the belly...尹小小's little heart was pounding sooooooooooo fast as if he's trying to revive himself (usually we cannot feel 尹小小's heartbeat under normal situations)!!!!! But suddenly after about a minute of super fast heartbeat...尹小小 stopped moving...oh no!!!!

So 小貓Mama woke up 小蟲Baba and asked him to call the emergency nurseline...of course 小蟲Baba was just coming to his consciousness in the middle of the night...seeing a crying wife asking him to call the nurseline...saying, "I might have suffocated 尹小小!!!!"...he freaked out big time not knowing exactly what happened!!!!!!!!!!

So we called the nurseline....after 10 min. of admin. procedures finally we got to speak to a RN...

RN: Is baby moving?
小貓Mama: [sob sob...] I don't think so...
RN: Do you see blood?
小貓Mama: No...
RN: Do you see water leaking?
小貓Mama: No...
RN: Are you in any pain now?
小貓Mama: [sob sob...] No...
RN: The handbook says you should lie on your left side and observe baby's movement...if you are still concern...call your doctor or go to your closest emergency room...
小貓Mama: Okay...thanks...[sigh...I already know these la...]

So after resting on the left side for another 15 min...slowly we feel 尹小小 kick kick again...whew~~~~~what a relief!!!! And that concludes our 1st 午夜驚魂 experience...

Incident #2: "You might need an emergency surgery????"

Since Christmas time (again...around 7 months) 小貓Mama has been complaining about a sharp pain on top of her ribs but only on the right side...just right under the breast bone...and the pain usually comes after a meal...at first we thought it was just normal...maybe 尹小小 was just kicking too hard inside???

So at our regularly check up...we casually bring this up with the doc...thinking she would say it's no big deal like many other pregnancy discomforts...however the doc replied: "It might be your gall bladder...either stones or an infected gall bladder can cause such pain...you might need an emergency surgery to remove the stones or gall bladder if it gets any worse. I'll send you to an immediate ultrasound to confirm."

What????!!!! Surgery while I am 7 months pregnant??????!!! That's crazy!!!!!!! The following days waiting for the ultrasound was just like years...小貓Mama & 小蟲Baba keep praying and praying that we'll be able to handle anything that comes up...even if it's a bad news...

Thank God there was actually an appointment available on Dec. 24 at 8am (!!!!!) so that we don't have to wait until after the holidays when the lab might be even more busy...so amidst the huge Christmas snow storm that week...小貓Mama managed to drive herself (in the little convertible) early in the morning for the ultrasound appointment...

Thank God again...the sonographer was a really kind lady...she checked everything carefully...gall bladder...kidney...stomache...and told 小貓Mama everything was okay (usually they are not allow to comment on the result...but she said she didn't want me to worry about it over the holidays...what a thoughtful and kind lady!) And she even showed 小貓Mama the progress of 尹小小 on screen too...what a bonus!!!!

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To many people...these might be small things and not worth mentioning or remembering...but to us...there are funny moments/worry moment/scary moments/silly moments/frustrated moments...every small step of the way reminds us our Lord are with us!!!!

全球唯一Hello Kitty醫院

台灣彰化縣這間婦產科醫院，全間以卡通人物Hello Kitty為主題，由大堂裝飾、床單、病房號碼牌等，都印有Hello Kitty圖案，是目前全球唯一獲正式授權採用Hello Kitty圖案的醫院。

Hello Kitty主題醫院的育嬰室內，初生嬰兒蓋著印有Hello Kitty圖案的毛氈，就連醫護人員也穿上相同案的工作圍裙，令整個房間洋溢著可愛輕鬆的氣氛。

小蟲Baba: [滴汗 -__-"] No!! No Hello Kitty for 尹小小 please!!!!

小貓Mama: [Too bad...] Don't worry...it's exclusive in Taiwan!!!

尹小小 Bedroom Reno Phase III

After another evening of hard work and effort by 小貓Mama (verbal effort ~ directing), grandpa & 小蟲Baba (physical effort ~ actually moving things around), we're finally very close to being done with 尹小小's bedroom!! We've progressed from the decluttering phase to the furniture moving phase, now down to the decoration phase. Can't wait to put up the window valance, the table lamp, the bedding, the paintings, etc.

Not bad considering we've turned such a messy storage room into a nice nursery now!!

Before...

After...

小蟲與貓與尹小小の新年拍拖日

Because of the snow storm in Vancouver these past few weeks, also most of our friends are out of town on vacation, we had a very quiet and relaxing (*boring*) holiday this year. No party-ing, no countdown celebration, just stayed home most of the time.

After the snow eased off a little after Christmas, finally, we had a chance to head outside and find somewhere to go. Lunch and tea at Secret Garden!!! And of course, 小貓's favorite sweets there, the mini scones!

Mama's Biggest Sacrifice...So Far

Yup...this is my laptop wallpaper (thanks to HedyYeeYee, the photographer)...it's a big bowl of Chrishi Don!!!!!!

I have to say...so far 尹小小 has been a very nice baby...I haven't been suffering much during the past 7 months of pregnancy...but the biggest and most torturing sacrifice so far for me is NO SASHIMI!!!!!!

It breaks my heart everytime I see pictures of fresh sashimi...not to mention having the real thing in front of me but I can't eat any!!!!! I have decided...as soon as 尹小小 is born...my first dine out meal will be fresh sashimi for sure!!!!!

Uni...Ikura...Sake...Toro...Amaebi...Ika...wait for me!!!!!! >.<