Hailey's story

On Tuesday, March 23rd, I was having more trouble than usual sleeping. It felt like I had indigestion or something. I was on an anti-biotic for a possible bladder infection so I thought it might be a side effect. I heard Vanessa coughing in her room and thought, " oh no. I thought that was over." When I finally got up to check on her, she had opened her door and was lying on the floor just outside throwing up. My poor baby.

I called Eric upstairs to help me out and clean up the mess while I put Vanessa in the bath and washed my hands really well. He found he had to clean her bedding too. What a morning! I asked Eric to stay a little longer and take the car to work. We weren't going to be needing it.

Good thing I did. My "gas pains" started to get more regular. Like every 3-4 minutes regular so I called my mom to come over and hopped in the shower.

Eric and I left Vanessa in good hands and went to the hospital knowing that she had gastro. We were at the hospital about 9:30 and went straight to a room for monitoring. At 12:30 they had they're base line and knew the baby was healthy and coming today. They took blood and gave me an IV. It took them 5 tries to get blood. (a week later and I'm still bruised) I went into the jacuzzi tub for some relaxing. I'm not sure it was relaxing but I was feeling cold and it did warmed me up. They allow you 30 minutes in the tub and at about 25 minutes my water broke.

I got out of the bath and went back into bed to wait for the epidural. It didn't take long. The epidural took the edge off but the contractions were still painful. By about 2:30 they were taking my breath away again. At about 3:30 Hailey was ready to meet the world. To bad the doctor was still at her clinic. Hailey was desperate to get out but we waited until 4 pm to put my feet in the stirrups. By 4:02 she was born. That was the easiest part of the day. There was no pushing at all and the pain was over. We had our happy healthy baby girl. We were elated she was finally here. She is a big baby. Long and lean at 9lbs2oz and 21 1/2 inches.

After the delivery, the doctor told me that she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck twice and around her waist. There was also a knot in it. I'm glad she arrived when she did because there could have been a lot of complications.

We held our new bundle of sweetness for hours. She had to be tested for diabetes on a regular basis because of her weight. By then end of the first day, her feet looked like she had walked on glass but they never found diabetes. The nurses noticed she might have jaundice. They ran another blood test and decided to give her light therapy. This was really hard because it meant the only time we could hold her was when I was nursing. In the incubation tank, she had only a diaper on and her eyes were covered. As you can imagine she was having trouble getting cozy. In the middle of the night I called Eric because she had been crying for an hour and I could do nothing for her. I gave him the choice of picking up a suce at the store or spending the rest of the night with his finger in her mouth. He came right away with the suce. That worked like magic.

Because of the jaundice, we stayed an extra 2 days. We were climbing the walls but we came out healthy.

Vanessa did come and visit Hailey and I. We planned it while she was nursing and I had explained to her before that Hailey had been in Mommy's tummy so long that she needed extra sunshine now. We didn't want her to be scared of the lights and incubation tank. When she visited she took it all in and wasn't phased by any of it. She even looked at my lanolin lotion and said that Hailey needed her sunscreen. Soooo funny!

Vanessa took a couple of days to get over her gastro but she was well by the time we came home. Eric went home on Friday afternoon to send my mom home for the night so she could stay in her own bed. Good thing because she came down with gastro that night. No good deed goes unpunished. Vanessa and Eric came to pick us up at the hospital. She's been pretty fantastic with Hailey. Holding her and kissing her really gently. She keeps telling us that having a baby sister is fun and Shh Shh be quiet. She's sleeping. Vanessa keeps saying, " She wants me." and puts her arms out to hold her. When we first sat her down to hold her she kept saying, "oh my goodness. Oh my goodness." and now she says she's getting big.

We've been breastfeeding and although it's going a lot better than with Vanessa this time it's extremely painful. I was concerned that she wasn't getting enough milk because I was so anxious. The nurse came to visit and told me I was doing everything right and that her mouth was probably just to small. Hailey was weighed and she is putting on double the amount of weight daily that she needs too. It means I can relax a little. She's not going hungry.

Let me introduce...

Hailey Lauren. Born March 23rd, 2010 at 4:02pm.

We're over joyed to meet this very happy and healthy baby. It's been a week full of excitement... Sometime this week I'll share the events with you.

School Drop off tears

On Friday, Eric had to go start work later. He offered to drive Vanessa to school. I got up with them and helped her get dressed, medicated, fed and out the door. No small feat in 45 minutes. When Eric dropped Vanessa off he gave her hugs and kisses and said, "Have fun at school. I'll see you tomorrow." (He would be working until way past her bedtime.) Vanessa walked off to play and started to think about what he said. You could see she was pretty upset. She came back to him crying. Eric finally said, "It's ok. Mommy will be coming to pick you up after lunch." To which Vanessa replied, "But she's still in her pajamas!" The teachers took Vanessa and told Eric to go. She got over it pretty quickly.

Interestingly enough, she didn't eat any snack or lunch. The teacher said she was too busy playing. She didn't even want it in the car on the way home but when dinner was pizza and a movie she gobbled it down and asked for more!

When we were getting ready to leave school, Vanessa crouched down to play with a 3 month old. She then turned around and told her mother that she was getting a little sister tomorrow. Her guess is as good as anyones. She went on and on about it. She is getting pretty excited about it but she's also demanding a little more attention than before. For two nights now she's been crying shortly after being put to bed. Which is very unusual. She just wants us to come in and be with her. Although it may be the double ear infections that bothers her when she first lies down. Fortunately, she's sleeping through the night again and after some battle of wills she's napping.

frustrations

So it's Tuesday right??

Monday night was my aquaform class. I love this class and was really happy to continue it through my pregnancy. The instructor is really experienced and low key. She loves what she does and it shows. Since this is not a prenatal class, I do whatever feels good for me. Now that I'm near the end I basically go to ease my back and stretch out my muscles. As you all know we hadn't had a car for a year and I still wanted to go to this class. A really nice neighbour which was taking this class drives me. I'm so thankful.

On to later Monday night. I started contractions about 12pm and they were coming every 3-5 minutes. They weren't very strong just uncomfortable. At 1pm I woke Eric up. We've all been having trouble sleeping and he was in a deep sleep. Let's just say he wasn't impressed to be woken up for any reason. I think he might of sworn at me. After regaining his senses, he was very co-operative. I had a shower and called my mom since it's a 20 minute drive to come watch Vanessa. Well. We waited and waited and waited and my contractions were still pretty weak. I called the hospital to talk to the nurses for advice and they were still uncomfortable but not painful. Lets just say by lunch time they were much further apart and by dinner they were almost gone.

As it stands I'm still pregnant, yesterday was interesting. I felt like I put everyone at my beck and call for no reason. I joked with my mom that I was faking it and I wanted a day off and things to be done. Since we were home waiting for this baby to arrive, my mom asked to be put to work and Eric was at loose ends. My mom cleaned out my pantry and organized my spices. After dropping Vanessa off at playgroup, Eric picked up some empty spice jars so that we could get rid of those annoying but inexpensive bags. Now I can see what I have easily and I don't miss things or buy doubles. Believe it or not that relieves a lot of stress. This happened while Eric washed the bathroom.

In the afternoon, we went to the loft. Eric helped my dad organize the garage while Vanessa, my mom and I went to the park. There's a bike path from the loft to the park. It was a gorgeous day and it's a very nice park. It was great to get out. The park was dry and Vanessa was thrilled to try everything out.

We had a nice dinner then Eric was off to curling and Vanessa and I went home to go to bed early. By now my contractions are about every hour so Eric didn't need to be right by my side but he did curl with his phone on.

Yesterday was pleasant but very frustrating being in limbo like that. I got about an hour of sleep which included 20 minutes in the bathtub. I look forward to the next time being for real.

the good, the bad and the ugly!

It's been rough the last two weeks. I'd been reluctant to post because all I could manage to write about was complaints. Except now I've got some fun stuff and I want to document all the harder stuff.

Two weeks ago I started a cough. It turned out to be one of those coughs that keep you up at night and force you to sleep in all sorts of strange positions. I was coughing about every hour through the night for about 3 nights. I spoke to my obstetrician and she told me I could have cough syrup and that helped a little. I finally was getting a handle of the cough and I got gastro. It was really mild. Eric had just had it with little issues. Although since I was sleep deprived and pregnant, it benched me for the day. One day's pretty good I thought.

This week was Vanessa's turn for both the cough and gastro. We had a few rough nights and some short fuses during the day. We took Vanessa to the doctor Thursday to find out her lungs are fine which is awesome but she does have an ear infection. I'm glad we went but she got much worse on Friday so we cancelled her birthday party. Of course Saturday morning she woke up almost healthy!! After a week of restless nights and no naps for Vanessa, she is sleep deprived. Since my parents had been exposed to Vanessa during the week, they through her a birthday party on Saturday. Low key is what we all needed. Vanessa thought it was the best birthday. Her birthday expectations were simple. She wanted cake, streamers and hats. She got all that thanks to my mom and home made pizza. YUMMY! As a bonus she got lots of gifts that she loved and oooed and ahhhhed at all the right moments. There are pictures, really, but I don't have them. I'll have to get them from my parent's camera.

Sunday my family gave me a huge break and took care of Vanessa for the day. What a nice day I had. I did pretty much nothing and loved it. The house was quiet and I worked on laundry and TV viewing. Just before dinner we were invited to my parents again. Mmmm roast beef this time. Although Eric can't say enough about the mashed potatoes, it was all really good.

We went home early to get Vanessa to bed. It was still 8:30 before she went to bed. I did the usual bedtime routine of stories and songs. For the first time since she was less than a year old she fell a sleep to my singing. What a peaceful moment. I got to watch her sleep which is extremely rare. I lingered there and thought about how everything was going to change in the next week or so and how Vanessa has really no idea. I wished my camera was in my pocket to take a picture of this peace. I managed to get off her bed and close the door without a peep from her.

I've got more to say but it's really late so I'll be back tomorrow. Good night!

Cough Cough

I was very nervous that this week was going to be really rough because Vanessa was off from school. Little did I know it didn't turn out as expected. Vanessa's been great. We relaxed on Monday but Monday night was restless for me. I've come down with a serious cough that kept me up. On the plus side I had a doctors appointment Tuesday afternoon. Vanessa and I went to playgroup and Mary-Jane took her while I went to my appointment. whoo hoo. Vanessa played outside all afternoon and loved every minute with her friend from near Mary-Jane's. I talked to my OB about my cough and she gave me a prescription for Benalyn and Ventalin. She did tell me that I might have issues delivering with the ventolin so I tried to stay clear. Last night I had another restless night with was such a waste since Vanessa slept 13 hours.

Today we went to Chris and Kieran's playgroup. It was fun. Especially watching Kieran play and walk around to all the toys. We had to cut things a little early because 13 hours wasn't enough for her and I was fading. We got home for a very early nap to bad it was only for Vanessa. At 2pm I called for reinforcement. Eric was kind enough to come home and take Vanessa to fill my prescription for ventolin and get a humidifier. I took the ventolin and had a very lovely nap while Eric cleaned the kitchen and made dinner.

Tonight looks much more promising and I have a dear friend that's going to take Vanessa to playgroup for me. Hopefully I'll have a good night sleep and get something accomplished tomorrow morning. That could mean a nap or organizing baby clothes. At this rate what ever makes me feel better.

on hold

The baby is coming! The baby is coming! In less than a month we'll be a family of four. Very exciting but terrifying. We've been working on the master bedroom/bathroom renovations for a while now by planning and gathering materials all while getting the baby's room together. On Thursday we decided to put the renovations on hold. There was just too much going on and we thought we'd work on smaller projects that can be accomplished in a day. This way we're not in mid renovation when the baby arrives. This week we're putting the finishing touches on the baby's room and moving the baby stuff in it.

The house has been a disaster area for a couple of weeks now. With our new focus, this week-end we put a dent on putting it in order. I'm looking forward to being able to invite people over and not look at mess all day. Soon all the stuff will go into the new nursery. I know I have most things the baby needs but it will be nice when I know where to find it.

Over the next couple of weeks I have a few doctor's appointments, my parents come home, Vanessa should have a birthday party and a 3 year check up. We've also planned to go to the cabane a sucre with Vanessa's school. Very busy but I'm happy about that since it creates lots of great naps for both of us.