All around

Baby boy is now 3 weeks old! I cant believe it.

We went for our clinic appointment this week for our check up. Drew and Chantale had a small bet going as to how big Aidan would be at this appt. Chantale guessed 6 lbs 3 ozs and Drew said he would go for 6 lbs 5 ozs. Guess what? Baby boy was 6 lbs 7.5 ozs! Amazing! Yup Mommy's parts are working just fine thank you!


We also noticed this week that Aidan was holding one of his legs differently than the other. We brought this up with our midwives and we are now going to get an appt with the pediatrician (hopefully soon) as there may be something wrong with Aidan's hip. So far it does not seem really serious as he is just laying there most of the time but this does explain why he screams so much during a diaper change. He does not like to have the leg moved too much. Thank you to our friends at the PCRC for praying for Aidan and we hope that he will be all right soon.

In other news Mommy had her first diaper changing injury this past weekend. I was leaning over to comfort the little one when he shot me in the eye with his sharp little nails! Ouch! I am now sporting a scratched cornea... after the doc gave me eye drops things are much better. I can drive again.

Everything else is going great here. Grandma has come down for a visit for a while to help Mommy and play with Lilly. So far Lilly really likes having someone else around to talk to. Thanks Grandma, Mommy needs the help!

Big sis Lilly is having some adjustment issues with the baby being here and Mommy being busy with baby but like everything we all have to learn how to cope and Lilly will figure it out soon. Mommy and Daddy are being as patient as possible (and then some!).

A Mystery Solved!

For the past several weeks L has been saying to us, "Take nog off!" then laughing hilariously at some "inside" joke we know nothing about. We have been trying to ascertain what a nog is the whole time but she just keeps laughing about it and repeating it off an on. Well yesterday the case was solved! I was trying to get her dressed in her room when she got up on the chest and pointed to the walpaper border she has been systematically pulling off the wall since we moved in. (we have not redecorated her room yet) She touched it and said, "Take nog off!". Now I am not sure why "nog" means this paper but hey if it works for her... :)

Kids are the best! You can't write better material... really.

Rough day...

Today began between 2 and 3 am... Poor little boy could not settle, started a fever, would not eat, whined for a few hours straight and could not sleep. I called the midwives and they came right over this morning. We almost went to emergency, but luckily A started to come around and calm down, eat and breathe normally. I admit I was scared! It is amazing how fast things can change with a little baby like him - for bad and good. We spent the day making sure he was fed, and sleeping well and making sure big sis Lilly was occupied.

Mommy is very tired only having gotten a few hours sleep last night and about 1 hour today... your brain starts racing and you are listening to any sounds baby and toddler make.

On the upside - A is now 5 lbs 11 ozs!

Thank goodness for good, compassionate & skilled midwives. Thank you to Sky and Chantale.

Happy (early) Birthday Lilly!

Yesterday we had a great visit with Grandma P., Auntie Deena, Uncle Peter and cousins Riley and Kyra! Lilly will be 2 years old this week so they all came down to celebrate with Lilly and her new brother! Thank you for all the nice presents!

And a good "clean"time was had by all... then the water turned purple thanks to some fizzing bath bombs provided by Grandma for the occasion! Then it was off to bed for everyone... Big bathtubs are awesome!

Daddy and Aidan decided to sleep in the other day while Mommy and Lilly had breakfast. Aww aren't our guys so cute?

Milk - it does a body good

Well it does Aidan's little bod good for sure! When he came home on Saturday he was weighed by the midwives and they did a baseline for him that was 4 lbs. 12 ozs. He was weighed yesterday and he is now up to a whopping 5 lbs. 5 ozs! Holy cow - no pun intended. Aidan is now 1 week old - time flies...

The milk came in on Monday and whoa was it ever uncomfortable. We got through it and now things seem to have evened out and he is feeding very very well. This is a concern for babies born as early as he and Lilly were as some do not have their sucking reflex developed yet. We are very fortunate that both our babies have been able to feed well right from the start.

Just thinking here...

Over the past couple days we have been doing a lot of things here and at the hospital. Most of those things are making sure two kids are fed and clothed and clean and happy (for the most part). Lilly has been having some tantrums when she is tired but she has had a lot to deal with since Thursday! Today seems to be going better for her so we will sit around here at home and get her back on her routine and spend some time with her. She is very interested in everything "baby Aidan" and wants to know what he is doing when she is near him. Today in order to get her dressed we had to lay baby next to her so she could compare her hands to his and Mommy's while Daddy got her dressed. It was very interesting.

I am having my reflective moments too - one of those things you do when you are up at 3am feeding a baby and trying not to fall asleep. There are a couple that stick out in my mind since last night so I figured I'd share...

When our nephew Riley was born (5 years ago!) our BIL Pete sent out an email to everyone announcing Riley's arrival and he also put in something that always stuck with me. Since Lilly was born and now Aidan I can see why he did it. Here is what Pete wrote back then as a new parent, I dont have that email anymore but here is what I remember:

28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11 28:30

The second thing was something our friend Lori T. said to me after her first son was born as we were sitting around in her office. I was still unsure at that point if children were in the picture for us. I asked Lori how she felt about having a baby now that the pregnancy and birth were over and she was just back off a few weeks or months mat. leave. She stopped what she was doing and simply said, "It is the best thing I have ever done."

It is true, we will carry burdens & give rest to our kids and they are the best thing we will ever do. We just have to remember that when they are screaming at us and we are so bone tired and frustrated we cant see straight!

We're Home! Thank you!

We're Home

All we can say is wow. It is the best gift in the world.

We were sent home yesterday afternoon after Aidan went thru a battery of tests to determine if he was all right to go. He had to do his PKU, meet the pediatrician again, check his feeding, do the 90 min. car seat test (to see if he can breathe when in the car seat), hearing test etc. Basically, our midwife tells us we just make our babies faster and smaller than other people (ha ha). So far all is well and we are learning to establish a feeding routine. He is still pretty small so opening his mouth really wide will need work. Lilly is enjoying her new baby brother and is learning to "pet" baby's hair and identify body parts.

Thank you

Grampa Dan for looking after Lilly when we rushed off to hospital Thursday morning.

Sky, Chantal, Julie, Gaby & Nicole for helping us through the pregnancy and delivery

Dr. Heick & Lori for helping Mommy with her back in the last few weeks of pregnancy

Kimberley for helping Mommy learn how to do Hypnobirthing as it really helped Mommy conserve energy during labour and cope with pain before and after delivery

Barbara, Kate, Benita, & Sharon for looking after Mommy in the hospital

Kim, Gisela, Beth, Brenda, Anna, Mary for looking after Aidan & Mommy in the NICU

Paula and Joe, Mary, Cindy and Paul, and Rachelle for looking after Lilly when Daddy had to attend feeding & Kangaroo time with Aidan

Uncle Ron & Aunt Dorothy for delivering baby supplies to our house

Dr.Cresswell for giving us the all clear to go home

The staff at Tim Hortons for feeding Mommy... (ha ha they feed everyone)

Hoping we havent forgotten anyone but we are sleep depr? something... didnt get enough sleep last night...

Lillys got a baby "Brudder"!

Well, that was fast! Lilly stayed in 35 weeks and 4 days, Lilly's little brother Aidan Douglas stayed in 35 weeks and 5 days. I guess his watch was slow.

He was born at 4:14 am at Grand River Hospital, and weighed in at 4 lbs, 14 oz. Pretty easy to remember! He will be staying at Grand River in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) until they figure he is fine. So far, everything seems good, and just like Lilly, he's able to do all the stuff bigger baby's do - he's just smaller.


This time it wasn't nurses who delivered our new son, but it was midwives - even though care was transferred to the hospital - the OB just couldn't get there on time. It was a very busy place, all the rooms were filled up!

I'm probably rambling - I'm tired, and have only slept for a couple of hours in the last 36 hours.



We'll find out when Cary can come home soon, and Aidan as well.

Drew

Today's lunch

Thought I would just post a quick pic of today's lunch outing...

Lilly is learning all about onion rings and being nice to others from Daddy's co-workers! It is a good thing that L is so small, there is not enough room on Mommy's lap anymore!

Just a week and a half to go before we get to 37 weeks... Today would have been the day that L was born in Mommy's last pregnancy. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and our family over the past months - your support has been felt. Now, if Mommy can just get these pesky contractions out of the way and get on with business that would be fine with her! God is taking care of us...

Visits are fun!

We also had a great visit from Grampa D. this past weekend too! Lilly is very lucky to have her Grampas come visit her so much! It's not every kid that gets to have 3! Lilly decided that Grampa was "fluffy" because he has a mustache! It is amazing how she is making connections to describe her world. We are so priviledged to see this happen. It is a great gift to see a child grow this way.

There was also a visit from Duck Girl this weekend too! Grampa and Daddy went out on a "rekkie" for gardening stuff while Mommy and Lilly went down for their naps. Guess what they found? Ducky swim gear for the lake and pool. Now Lilly will have more stuff to take to all the pools this year. There are water wings and duck flipper sandals too.

Digging in the dirt

Over the weekend Lilly and Daddy had a great time playing in the dirt! Daddy is a really good Dirt Doctor so Lilly is having lots of fun copying what he does. She thinks that his garden tools are much better than hers so she will always grab the good tools now. The plastic ones are fine too, just not the ones that Daddy uses. It was fun watching the two of them work together. Mommy cant really get around right now to play in the dirt too so I sit and watch and take pictures. Lilly has also learned about "sun-notion" (sunscreen) and makes sure that she gets some on before she goes out. The only struggle we have is keeping the hat on! Everyday it is a different hat too. One day it might be the purple hat another day the blue hat. The challenge is keeping track of where the hats end up when they come back in the house!

Lilly had another lesson in planting this weekend too. Drew got her some cherry tomato plants that we decided to plant in planters. We figure that this way she can learn about where food comes from and if she is hungry she can grab one instead of candies or something. Well, that is the idea anyway - we'll see if it works!

Drew has shown her how to "put the plants to bed". She knows that the plants have to stay in thedirt now! She also seems to be getting the idea that the plants are going to get bigger. We had a bit of an issue with some snap dragons we got for her to plant - she went back later and took them out to show us root ball and all! They seem to have survived so far.

Better out than in... well in some cases...

Another preterm labour scare at our house... man oh man. I came down with a norwalk type stomach flu really fast last night and was vomitting for 13 hours. Not fun. We had to call our midwives and good thing we did as it turns out that you can go into preterm labour from the vomitting and dehydration. They came over right away to check baby and me out and to make sure that we had everything we needed. I was having contractions on a regular basis again but these were the ones that start in the back and go to the front - not good. Luckily they lessened off and stopped come morning.

Drew had to stay home from work and take care of me as I was not able to get up for most of today (thank goodness for wireless right now!) He has been doing double duty for most of this last trimester as I have been unable to lift things, wrestle with a toddler, even bend over to empty the dishwasher! (I have to wear a support belt as my back is not strong enough). Lilly and I are very lucky to have such a good Daddy and husband.

This is the second time we have had midwives for our pregnancy and they are just fantastic. The care and level of concern for my well being and our family has been great. My mw even called to check up on me a few times today. We were also able to meet our student mw last night (well I am pretty sure I did but I was so out of it). I am glad that I had the opportunity to listen to a family member who went with midwifery care for her baby. So far things have been great.

I am officially on orders not to leave the city until this kid arrives. Sorry to all our friends & family but you'll only be seing the other 2 members of our family unless you come to our house.

Here's to optimism!