Pregnancy – Gjertsen [dot] ca

It’s a Waiting Game

Rob Gjertsen — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 04:19:29 +0000

Read Time:24 Second

Well, we have reached February, and Kidlet 2 will be arriving soon. Over the past few months, we have been preparing and getting things ready. Now, we wait…

And wait.

And wait…

When my wife was pregnant last time, we didn’t know if it was a Boy or a Girl. We were as ready as we could be for whichever surprise awaited us.

This time it is different, and we do know.

So much different, and so much the same.

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I Told My Pregnant Wife, I Lost the Photos

Rob Gjertsen — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 13:55:53 +0000

Read Time:3 Minute, 9 Second

In early 2016, we found out my wife Heather was pregnant with our daughter. It was a crazy time, both daunting and exhilarating. I don’t think anyone is ever truly ready, or prepared…

When getting ready to tell our parents of the impending arrival, we decided to make use of a visual aid (aka: Slide Show). It wasn’t a drab PowerPoint like some might think, but instead it was a fun and musical presentation, thanking them for everything they do for us, and then shrining the surprise upon them.

We have kept digital copies of all our records for a number of years now, and pictures for even longer. While putting together the pictures for the slideshow, I started pulling out some photos and putting them together.

I started looking for pictures from the first summer my wife and I were dating, but each of the folders were blank. “Huh? That’s weird…” I think was my initial reaction…

No problem, I’ll just restore those files from my local backup.

Me: “The backup folders are empty, too….???”

Heather: “What?”

Me: “Oh, nothing.”

WTF….

Me (thinking to myself): No problem. I’ll grab them from my cloud backup.

The folders are still empty. It was at this time I believe, my wife walked in rubbing her tummy, asking me what I was doing. I believe my response was something along the lines of “Oh, just working on the slideshow.”

After I was able to get my wife leave my office, I decided it was time to pull out the big guns. My cloud archive. There was no way it wouldn’t have them.

You see, it has taken me the last several paragraphs, to bring you to this point, where I will cover a few facts:

My wife is blissfully walking around our home, in her early pregnancy glow, picking out colours and sheets for the nursery. She has no idea I’m about to spoil her day with this news.
I have 3 different backups systems, two of which allow for versioning (I believe data is priceless). The chances that they are all bad, is exponentially minute.
I’m not ready to tell my pregnant wife, that I lost all the photos from the first summer that we were dating, and am quietly contemplating how to escape the house without her knowing. Mexico is nice, right?

Me: Ok. This shouldn’t be that bad. I keep all my old hard drives. I’ll get the old one, and pull the data off it again, and figure out what happened.

Well, I did just that, with the same results I had experienced each time before. You see, I had replaced that hard drive because it was starting to fail, and it turns out the sectors that stored those photos had gone bad.

As you can see with this scenario, even what many would consider a robust and multi-level backup system can fail, if your initial dataset is bad.

Thankfully, it turns out I had (for some unknown reason) put the lost photos onto a CD Disc, which I found about a month later. So this particularly data loss story, does have a happy ending.

I would encourage everyone to give their data storage, backup, and/or archiving methods some good thought and discussion. Speak to experts you know, and PLEASE test your backups regularly. A backup that hasn’t been tested, is useless.

Not sure how you should or want to proceed, or if your methodology is sufficient for your risk tolerence? Reach out to me via Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn and I’d be happy to discuss.

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Pregnancy Update – T plus 6 Days

Rob Gjertsen — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 23:16:50 +0000

Read Time:1 Minute, 39 Second

Status: Tired & Overjoyed

Last Monday, August 29th, I sat down at the desk in our home office, logged onto our PC, and started to write a Blog Post, titled “Pregnancy Update: T minus 22 Days”. I started writing about the weekend that we had, celebrating my Sister’s Birthday, seeing our niece Georgia, and the general busyness that would be the coming week. Monday has been a long day, as I had gone into the office early to get a jump on the day, and by the time I was sitting in the chair within our home office, I was exhausted, so I decided to step away and I would finish the blog post another time.

Today is the first chance I have had since then to finish this post. I’ve had to change the title in the meantime, and what day more fitting to update this post than on Labour Day.

Freya Eileen Faith Gjertsen

At 5:30am Tuesday, August 30th, Heather woke me up to inform me that her water had broken. 16 hours and 42 minutes later, at 10:12pm, we welcome into this world our Daughter, Freya. Weighing in a 6 lbs 3 oz, she was born exactly 3 weeks early, only half as early as her Father, which I am just fine with.

An absolutely amazing experience, seeing her enter this world and seeing that we had a little girl (we had chosen not to find out if the baby was a boy or girl during pregnancy), was something I will remember vividly for the rest of my life.

I could not be more proud of my wife, Heather, more thrilled with the little Princess I have in Freya, or happier with the positive reaction that Cali has displayed towards her since we introduced them on Thursday, and is ever watchful over her little hooman, ensuring she knows exactly where Freya is at all times.

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Pregnancy Update – T minus 24 days

Rob Gjertsen — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 15:58:37 +0000

Read Time:31 Second

Status: 91.56%

Today is my Sister’s birthday, so I would be amiss if I didn’t take this opportunity and say “Happy Birthday Alicia!”

Last night was a rough night. Nobody in this house slept well, and with each severe “Ugh” and “Guh” from Heather throughout the night, I was convinced we would be making a trip to the hospital.

But instead, today will be a day of time spent shopping at the mall, possibly some Dim Sum for breakfast, if I’m lucky a peaceful nap this afternoon, followed by an evening filled with catching up on things for work.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

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Pregnancy Update: T minus 28 days

Rob Gjertsen — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 01:13:44 +0000

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Status: 90.27%

Captain: We have reached Full Term!!!

I was very much a preemie. In fact I was born very early, by more than a month actually, and I see this as having been a precursor to my habitual need for being early for things today.

I have to say though, that reaching this stage of the pregnancy as silly as it sounds, is a huge relief for me. The possibility of the baby needing to stay in prenatal care reduces around this time, and for some reason that was something that (I guess given my own birth) was something I was really concerned about, so now I can let go of that stress item, and move onto the next.

It is absolutely wondrous feeling the baby squirm, punch, and kick from within Heather’s belly, but when you can see the baby move from within, that is a whole different level of wonder (and weird).

Oh, the belly. It moves…

For the first time during the pregnancy, I saw the baby move last night, and boy was it moving, which was really kewl, and something I plan to enjoy as much as possible while we can.

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Pregnancy Update – T minus 30 days

Rob Gjertsen — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 16:23:09 +0000

Read Time:53 Second

Status: 89.42%

Oh, the waiting…I’m sure it’s the waiting that is the worst, but in so many ways it is amazing in the thought process you go through as individuals and as a couple, waiting for this little miracle to join, and in so many ways become, your world.

I spent the day out at the farm yesterday, finishing work on the old 1950 McCormick Farmall Cub, the tractor which my Dad’s Father purchased back in 1953, and which has stayed in the family to this day. Over the past number of years, a lot of time, money, and effort has gone into restoring the tractor to much of it’s former glory, and for the first time in probably 15 years I heard it run and got to drive it testing the work that has been done, which was amazing.

We have a family get together coming up at the beginning of September, so I’m not sharing any photos other than the one at the beginning of this post – the ‘big reveal’ is coming soon.

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Pregnancy Update: T minus 35 days

Rob Gjertsen — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:55:25 +0000

Read Time:33 Second

Status: 87.6%

According to my Daddy app (yes, that’s the actual name of the app), Baby G is now the weight of a cordless drill, and the size of a small toolbox.

Most nights after dinner, we will sit down on the couch, and I will rest my head in Heather’s lap and read a story to the baby. Until now I have been chewing through our immense stack of children’s books, however I have now made my way through them all, so it’s time to change things up.

I believe our next adventure will be one of my Star Trek books, which Heather will love I am sure…lol

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Pregnancy Update: T minus 36 days

Rob Gjertsen — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 14:37:40 +0000

Read Time:1 Minute, 13 Second

Status: 87.26%

On a sunny Thursday evening in May, I met my niece Georgia for the very first time. When we walked into the maternity room of Langley Memorial Hospital where my sister had been two days earlier when we saw her last, we saw a little bundle that was our niece, swaddled up sitting next to my sister.

Those first few moments of joy and wonder, as we traded hugs with the exhausted new mother & father, were only eclipsed as we stood beside Georgia and looked down on her and she looked up at us for the first time. It’s this same awe and wonder which I look forward to seeing in the eyes of our siblings and their spouses, as we greet them after the upcoming labour & delivery of our little one.

Preparing for the arrival of baby is an adventure in it’s own right. You read books, only to have other books contradict what you have read. You read articles, and websites, only to have those ‘disproven’ by the next thing you read. And then there are the opinions, and they speak for themselves.

Here’s my opinion about something.

The ‘Finnish Baby Box’ phenomena that some are aware of, is something that I have been familiar with for years, and it is (in my opinion) such an amazingly great idea, I wish other countries would take notice and action to provide something along these lines to expectant parents.

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Pregnancy Update: T minus 38 days

Rob Gjertsen — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 15:50:56 +0000

Read Time:57 Second

Status: 86.58%

I really enjoyed this movie’s ability to be comedic, and also deliver some good messages to viewers, even the young ones.

If this was a grading system from when I was in high school, we would get an A. At least the A would be for effort I think…

It is gorgeous outside this morning, and I plan to spend the day working out at the family farm. A quick trip to Home Depot to grab a few things, and then out to Aldergrove for the day.

Heather is struggling with the heat now, and unfortunately our air-conditioning unit only does so much. The baby’s movements continue to fascinate, startle, and captivate me.

I have been extremely tired lately, and I am starting to suffer from the shift in ‘Daddy Brain’ lately, which I’m struggling to keep in check with my responsibilities at work.

An interesting article that I read on the subject recently, was published by WIRED, and it was an intriguing read.

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/how-becoming-a-father-changes-your-brain/

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Pregnancy Update: T minus 40 days

Rob Gjertsen — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 15:17:49 +0000

Read Time:50 Second

Status: 85.84%

Go Canada Go!

Last night was one of the first nights that Heather and I had a chance to sit down together, and watch the Olympics with any sort of dedication, and we focused our attention on the pool. It was an amazing showing by the Canadian swimmers last night, and they have made our country proud.

I love how online advertising system work. I have banner ads for cribs, strollers, playpens, server monitoring software, antivirus software, and orbital sanders currently scrolling through on one of my other tabs. Now if only I could get them to realize that I bought the crib already, we received the stroller as a gift, already have the monitoring & antivirus software packages, and the orbital sander was a search for RPM details.

So if I could ‘check off’ my advertising shopping list, the only item in the banner ad rotation right now, would be the playpen (not too much of a priority this very moment in time.

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