~Ethan's Family Birthday Party~

We celebrated Ethan's birthday party with my best friend Melissa who had come up for a visit at his favorite restaurant: Boston Pizza.  We had a great time and Ethan enjoyed the Happy Birthday song sang by the servers!  Pictures of course!

~One Month Flew By!!!~

WOW!  One month ago little Carter Michael entered our lives…where did the time go?  We have been blessed with the easiest baby!  He pretty much eats and sleeps on a 2-3 hour cycle.  He’s had a few gassy episodes but a little bit of Ovol hasn’t quickly helped.  He has an amazingly strong neck and has been able to lift his head up since he was born, now he can lift his head up and turn it while holding it.  He loves tummy time with Mom and Dad, hates his car seat unless the car is moving and enjoys time in his bouncy seat.  He is mostly in love with Mommy but will sometimes settle for Dad.  He sleeps on his side, just like Mom and rolls from side to side on his own.  He has such a serious little man look to him, and is going to be a much bigger boy than his brother!  He had his check up appt with our family Doctor on Friday and has already gained 2 lbs and grown 2 inches!  He is already into some 3 month clothes too! 

He HATES cold wipes on his bum and will forever love Daddy’s boss Gary and his girlfriend Kelly for getting us a wipes warmer.  Mom is far to cheap for that!  He snorts like a little pig when he’s hungry and lets you know…when Carter is hungry, he is HUNGRY NOW!  He is being exclusively breastfed right now and has no problems with it and is not hard on Mom…unless he wants to nurse non-stop.  Then Mom gets a bit frustrated and needs to have some space!  He has a bit of reflux that I’m still trying to sort out…he can’t be sat up right away after eating, he’ll throw everything up.  The nurse at the hospital said that his stomach flap was probably just a bit immature and closes too fast.  It isn’t affecting him that I can tell but I suspect it may contribute to the gas since he doesn’t always burp after every feed. 

We had an ultrasound on his hip on Monday, he may have hip dysplasia and need to wear a brace.  I googled it and let me tell you, it doesn’t look like fun!  6 weeks of keeping his knee parallel to his hip in a brace that wraps over his shoulders.  It isn’t life threatening however so I’m just rolling with it! 

Big brother Ethan is treating him well, so far he pretty much ignores him.  He is acting out a bit however and I don’t think I’m dealing with it the best.  I have been very exasperated by some of the things he does to act out and haven’t responded well…I recognize it though and am trying to deal with it. We’ve been making sure to spend time separate with him doing fun things so he doesn’t feel abandoned.  Plus adding fun things to his day that we can do since Mom is not working. 

So one month of me being a Mom to two little boys and so far, so good.  I’m just starting to get some routine to my day so that I’m not wearing sweat pants, dirty shirts and have unwashed hair and unbrushed teeth in the car pool lane at school.  Plus I need to have a feeling of getting things done so I have a wonderful new app on my Ipad called Wunderlist and I have all kinds of to do lists in it so I can check things off my list!  I’m feeling a bit bottled up at home but as Carter starts to get a bit of a schedule I have lots of fun things planned for us!  Big brother Ethan has Piano class on Saturdays until May, Pre-school M-Thurs, swimming for March/April on Sundays, Soccer starting April-July on Sat, and a reading program at the library from April-end of June on Friday mornings.  Carter and I are going to go walking at the Multiplex M-Thurs after we drop Ethan off a school, a Mommy and baby Yoga class on Tuesdays and lunch with a friend on Thursdays.  On Fridays’ we’ll head to the library with Ethan for fresh books and Sat/Sun we hang out with Dad and probably go swimming.  I want to keep busy but also keep a slow enough pace that I can enjoy all my time with my guys before the craziness of working full time with them comes back.  For now we’re playing it by ear and having fun…I still can’t believe that I have two little boys…this life is going to be adventure!!! 

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~My Boys!~

Well there is no doubt that these two are brothers!  Check this out and see if you can tell who is who!

~Welcome to the World Carter Michael!~

On January 28th at 10:20pm we welcomed our precious new son Carter Michael into the world. Hearts were crushed, smiles flew around the room, and an enormous sigh of relief was breathed by both Randy and I simultaneously. A.healthy.baby.

How did we get to that moment? Stick around and read more if you want to hear his birth story. (I promise nothing tmi).

For the week prior to Carter's birth I had a few false starts, contractions that would start and stop and get me thinking that today was the day. Poor Randy was sick of me calling him at work and saying I think it's time! When I woke up on Monday morning and went to the washroom I *knew* it was the day. (Told you I would spare the gory details). The contractions started at 8:30am. They were mild and I carried on as normal around the house. At 10am I let Randy know it was definitely time to pack it up and head home from work and I hopped in the shower. He got home, showered and started loading our hospital bags and Ethan's overnight bag in the truck. He went downstairs to get something and let out a war whoop, Ethan had set up a 'washing station' for his trains and had virtually flooded the whole basement.(On our new flooring to boot). So a slight delay while they mopped up the mess and we were off to drop Ethan off at daycare.

We made it to the hospital around 1pm and I was sent to OB Triage where they hooked me up and tracked my contractions, I was having them about every 3-5 minutes. So she checked me and I was only dilated 3-4cm. I was shocked, I had been dilated 3cm for two weeks already, the all morning contractions didn't do much for me obviously. The nurse tells us to get up and start walking around to get it moving along. So I walked, and walked, and walked; for 2 hours! The contractions were getting pretty painful with me having to stop walking with every one and grab the wall rail. We headed back after 2 hours to see where we were at...no change. What?!?! I almost cried. So go home or keep walking...I didn't want to go home, I was already there and obviously it was going to happen that day. I asked about inducing me as I was scheduled to be induced the next morning anyhow. Nope, not happening. So we walked for another 2 hours and had supper before going back again to be checked. The contractions were VERY painful at this point. I actually scared some guy in a hallway when a particularly tough one hit me and my hip snapped out and I almost fell in the hallway. Randy caught me and braced me against the wall but the guy came running thinking I was dying or something...poor guy!
So we head back to triage at 6:30pm and guess what? Now I'm at 4-5...whoopee...so again I ask to be induced and again they decline. I asked for my OBGYN to be called but they wouldn't because there was an on call OB to take me. On a side note, this is my most frustrating part of delivering a baby in Grande Prairie, you don't get your OB for delivery, you get whoever is there and on call. So again she tells us go home or keep walking here. By this time I'm exhausted and Randy is frustrated so he convinces me to go home. I really, really didn't want to...I was having monster painful contractions but I went. I popped a Tylenol when I got home and crashed on the couch; I even snuck in a cat nap!

At 9:30 I got up off the couch to use the washroom and *knew* we needed to get going to the hospital. We arrived and I was rocking some seriously painful contractions that on a scale of 10 were an 8. Into triage we go again and guess what? I was 6cm..what the heck! She said my waters were bulging though so they gowned me up and sent me to delivery.

The delivery nurses asked me what I wanted for pain and I asked for an epidural and refused all narcotics (morphine etc). They make me feel stoned and I didn't want that. So she heads out to call the Dr and person for the epidural and to prep to give me an IV. She comes back a couple minutes later and tells me my worst nightmare...no epidural. The person that gives it was gone for the day and wouldn't make it back in time so the Dr refused to call them back. They offer me phentenol (sp?) and I agree, the pain was unbearable. So she tries to start the IV and misses, fml! So the Dr comes in, breaks my water and proceeds to try to get the IV. He had Randy help him hold my arm and put pressure on the other IV spot. I have almost perfect finger mark bruises on my wrist as a result...





Apparently it's been awhile since the Dr put in an IV because a) it took like 10 mins, b) he spewed my blood all over the delivery room when he screwed up the first try. So by the time he to the stupid IV in I was screaming in pain and begging for drugs and then felt the need to push. So what does the Dr do? He crossed his arms on his chest and said 'well then push, no time for the drugs now'. I died inside at that moment...there was no turning back now.

I won't lie. It was the most excruciatingly painful thing I have ever felt and I hope to NEVER feel that kind of pain ever again. Thankfully I only endured about 30 mins of active labor and he was delivered in 3 pushes in under a minute.

The Dr let Randy announce that it was a boy and he was immediately placed on my bare chest. They no longer do suction at all or take baby away to be weighed etc right away unless you want. I wanted tummy time right away and to be able to breast feed right there. 10 fingers, 10 toes and everything else just right, Carter Michael came into this world at 10:20pm, Jan 28th weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20 inches long. A full head of dark hair; no doubt the cause of my endless heartburn in the pregnancy!

We stayed in the hospital till the 30th before being able to go home. He was checked out by Dr Odaibo who was Ethan's pedeatrician after his surgery. He did find that one of Carter's hips may be out so we are scheduled for an ultrasound at he end of Feb to see. If it is he will need to wear a leg brace for around 6 weeks to correct it and prevent a permanent limp. I'm not worried at all about it, it isn't life threatening so I can handle it!

It's been almost three weeks now since his birth and we're getting to know each other. He likes chest time with both Mom and Dad and has trouble sleeping between 10pm to 3am.  He thinks it's party time!  He is gaining weight like a champ and we're pretty confident he is going to be a very active, rough little boy...not at all like Ethan.  One thing's for sure, there will never be a dull day in this house with 2 little boys running around!  Here are my cute little guys!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

~Pregnancy 37wk 5 days~

Well I’ve made it this far!  I never believed it would happen, neither did the Dr frankly.  We’re both glad for it, the longer the baby waits, the better for the overall development!  I am in a foreign land though, I never went this far with Ethan so I’m experiencing ‘new’ things.  Not my most favorite experiences but new things.  Ie.  The inability to roll or move in bed without excruciating pain in my pelvis;  lack of any energy at all after two minutes of engaging into any activity;  the actual consideration of getting Depends because I’ve almost had 3 accidents this week… But there are more enjoyable things too…I can see when baby makes moves, there is definitely a healthy, active baby coming.  I am enjoying naps in my lazy boy.  I’m not usually a nap kind of person.  My mood has been good, no terrible, horrific hormones raging.

It’s been tough running Ethan to and from school every day, he only goes for 2.5 hrs and its in the middle of the day so you always feel like you are coming or going from school or planning to get there.  I am not enjoying the task at all.  I foresee me enjoying it significantly less when baby is here too.  There is no way around it though, he needs to go to school :) 

I am hopefully that I will bounce back after having baby quite quickly and not suffer through the problems I did with Ethan.  I had massive sciatic back problems and ended up dragging my leg around for almost a month, it was not pretty!  This time I will likely look for a chiropractor or go for a massage if it happens. 

I’m looking forward to experiencing a ‘normal’ baby though.  After all the uncertainties and worry associated with this pregnancy and us having another baby I am finally feeling like everything will be okay.  Both Randy and I are excited to experience bringing a newborn home from the hospital right away.  He’s taking a week off with us and will help with driving Ethan to and from school for awhile till baby and I get our ‘feet’ under us.  I’m uncertain at this point if any of my family are coming up…we’ll see.  We are open to visitors!

I go back to the Dr next week of course.  At that time we’ll talk about next steps if baby doesn’t make their own arrival plan.  I have been having contractions and lots of downward pressure so I don’t think there will be any issues with baby coming on their own but you never know.  As much as I’m ready to meet our little one and be done with being pregnant I’m still being patient.  I can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or girl though! 

~Pregnancy Week 33~

I can’t believe I’m already at week 33 of this pregnancy.  It felt like it took forever to get over the Week 24 mark and now it’s flying by!  I have one more week of work then my leave begins.  I am beyond ready! 

I have bi-weekly appointments with my Dr now and the latest appointment showed baby happily stowed head down and looking great.  We’ve had so many ultrasounds and tests throughout that I am starting to release some of the worry that something will be wrong with baby.  It’s weighed so heavily on my mind…its like waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I know I will love baby no matter what and we will adjust our life to make anything work but I so just want a healthy baby to bring home like most other people.  Anyhow we will see in a few weeks…

The last few weeks of the pregnancy have been fairly uneventful.  I am pretty uncomfortable right now, my pelvis feels like its splitting into pieces with every step.  I would compare it to feeling like you are getting kicked between the legs with every step.  It doesn’t help that I keep slipping on the ice…I did the splits this week, that was not fun!  It’s hard to get up from a low position now, my stomach muscles are non-existent now.  I’m starting to really show now although I saw my family Dr this week and he couldn’t tell I was pregnant, it was kind of funny and took me back to the first time I met him.  Of course I have the usual aches and pains that come along with pregnancy…my back, my knees…even though I’m already a bigger person the added weight does a number to my body.  I still haven’t gained much, I’m not exactly sure but possibly around 15lbs now.  I’m very happy about it as I really didn’t want to come out of the pregnancy with any added weight, I already have enough to get rid of, LOL! 

Ethan is all about the baby right now, he likes to tell people that there is a baby in Mommy’s tummy and it’s going to ‘pop’ out.  He’s very careful around baby and even came up the other day and planted a kiss on my tummy for the baby.  I’ve let him feel when the baby is kicking but so far I don’t think he gets that part of it.  Also he is very vocal on his choices for names…he does not like the boy name we’ve picked out.  I don’t even know if Randy and I have finalized the boy name yet if it is a boy, I need to talk to him about that one I guess :)  Ethan sways back and forth on his choice for boy or girl, overall he’s pretty excited about it all.  I do think we’re going to have problems with him accepting a change to his home environment though, he’s used to making as much noise as he wants and playing throughout the house.  I’ve started explaining to him that we need to be quiet when baby is sleeping and we’ve watched Calliou shows where he has to be quiet because Rosie is sleeping and have talked about it.

The Dr doesn’t think I’ll make it to full term, we’re hoping to make it into January at least.  My official due date is January 26th so if baby arrives early like Ethan we may have a New Years Eve baby.  Wouldn’t that be crazy!  I was told at work that if I have the first Canadian baby of the year that there are awesome gifts and perks etc that you get…I wouldn’t complain about that!  I just am hoping to clear Christmas so that I can have a separation between the holiday and baby’s birthday.  But time will tell!

Baby’s room is finally coming together.  Just yesterday Randy put the carpet and molding in.  Today I need to touch up paint the walls and around the closet frame.  The door needs to go on then we can set up all the furniture.  It’s all in the garage waiting, I can’t wait to get it unpacked and see how it looks.  Then I need to do some wall art etc and wait to find out if we are bringing home a boy or a girl to finalize the decor.  If it’s a girl there will be a flurry of shopping happening to make it a little girl room!  If it’s a little boy I already have the cutest nursery set.  Needless to say, pictures will come forth!

So follow us on the last leg of this pregnancy as we get ready to add another little one to our family to make it complete.  We’re in the final chapter of this year long journey to have a baby…I can’t wait to hold baby in my arms and get to know this little one bouncing inside of me!

~Some New News~

We are pregnant again!  We didn’t wait in the end…we decided that it wasn’t worth it, we are ready and want baby to join us as soon as possible!  I wasn’t worried about not getting pregnant again, we have a pretty good track record, LOL!  I was not disappointed.  I think I was pregnant within 3 weeks of my miscarriage! 

I had my first prenatal appointment with the specialist last week and she was shocked to see me there so soon but was thrilled for us.  (I REALLY like her, if you need a OB/GYN in GP ask to be referred to Dr. Cano) I go for my first Ultrasound on July 19th and see her the following week.  So far,so good.  I’m nervous as of course and am reading into every little thing but I know that whatever happens it is out of my control.  I had massive exhaustion and nausea for the last two weeks but this week the exhaustion has slipped away.  It makes me worry but I’m going to remain positive. 

I’m guessing my due date will be right around the end of January, beginning of February.  I guess I will need to start thinking of fun things to do for winter birthdays, LOL!  I will probably go off work at Christmas and stay off, I had Ethan a month early so I want to have everything ready in case we have the same surprise!  We had planned to travel home for Christmas this year but I doubt it will happen now…I won’t want to travel for 8 hours when I’m 8 months pregnant! 

I have almost lost my resolve to not learn what we are having…but I’m holding out!  We are praying for a little girl but a little boy will be a great playmate for Ethan so it’s a win-win whichever way it goes. 

Anyhow I’ll keep you posted.  We’re so excited to be on this path again! 

~Workout!~

I’m trying to stay healthy and active through the pregnancy!  I was very active when I was pregnant with Ethan as we were in Ft Nelson for most of it.  We lived on the 4th floor with no elevator and I was a rental agent for almost 300 apartments and none of the buildings had elevators.  I was always going up and down freaking stairs!  I also helped Randy grout around 75 bathtubs while I was there.  Lots of upper body work doing that!  I managed to walk away from giving birth at the exact weight I started at…the same day!  I was pleasantly surprised! 

So this time around I’m a little more then nervous about my weight gain.  I have a very sedentary job and not a lot of walking, stairs etc. in my day to day.  So I’m planning on keeping active throughout.  It’s not easy because I’m battling that fatigue you get in the first trimester…so I’m taking it easy.  I’ve got a whole nine months to go yet!  So I’m doing water aerobics twice a week.  There is a prenatal class on Monday’s and then deep water classes almost every other night of the week that I’ll just modify to what I can do.  My assistant and I are going walking as well twice a week to the Multiplex during our lunch breaks.  It serves a couple of purposes.  a. I get to walk and get some exercise, b. It makes me take a break from my desk and clear my head.  We also spend most of Sunday at the Multiplex as Ethan has swimming lessons and then we play for a bit.  I’m trying to get a Yoga class in on the weekends but haven’t managed to get it in yet.  I’m a huge ass chicken and want someone to go with me.  I have two buddies that will go with me but something keeps coming up to prevent us from going.  I’m not sweating it if it doesn’t happen but am hopeful I can do a few Yoga classes as they help so much with relaxation and stress release.

Once baby is here we will be at the Multiplex working out. They have some great Mommy and baby workout classes that I’ll take part in.  (Once I’m getting some normal sleep and feel human of course!) I’m so glad to have our membership there…it makes it easy to inject some activity into our life and for me to get out and workout!

~Baby on the Way!~

Well it very early to let the cat out of the bag but we are pregnant.  I might be 3-4 weeks along at this point but I am not great with secrets and figure what harm is there in telling about it! My family Dr is guessing my due date will be around November 19th, we’ll see!

I have my first prenatal appointment on April 9th.  I’ve been referred to a specialist due to Ethan’s premature birth and issues with development in utero.  I have been told to expect lots of testing and pre-natal ultrasounds as well as a echocardiogram in utero.  I’m glad to have been able to plan this pregnancy and to be able to ensure that my body is free from any kind of drugs and that I’ve been taking my prenatal vitamins for a couple of months now.  Now that baby is growing I’m into my vibe of eating good and doing some light exercise to keep healthy and maintain a comfortable weight throughout the pregnancy.

It will be a very different pregnancy then with Ethan.  With Ethan we moved from Calgary to Ft Nelson to Grande Prairie and had some very stressful things happening for us.  Now we are happily settled in Grande Prairie with a house and good jobs and secure life.  I feel so much more secure and comfortable about this pregnancy! 

We have names picked out already but I’m going to look at some again…I’m not sure I’m sold on our girl name so I want to keep looking. Randy is pretty adamant about it being the one that we picked but let’s get real, I’m the one making the baby so I get final say!

We’re not going to find out what we’re having…I love the supreme surprise of it!  God’s secret till that special day!  So I’m doing our nursery very neutral, mostly just going to re-use what we had for Ethan’s room other then buying a rocker-glider for the new baby.  I’ll lose my craft room upstairs to the new baby but I’ll just take over the guest room downstairs and re-set it up!  We hardly have guests anyhow!

We’ll be doing lots of stuff to get ready for a new baby in our house…we’ve got to finish our renos on the house…kitchen, countertops, flooring upstairs and down, new bathroom vanities, windows, siding…it’s going to be a lot of work but I can’t wait!  We plan on starting full swing in April.  At this point I don’t think we are going to sell the house this fall.  The prices are just not where we want them to be and so we’re going to sit on it and see what happens in a couple of years.

I’m already feeling pregnant…the tiredness, hormonal bitchiness, zits like a teenager, back pain…I almost wonder if I’m further along then I think!  I’m sure I’ll have a better idea on the 9th when I see my OBGYN..I’ll keep you posted!

So excited to go down this path again…our last time.  I’ll be posting lots in the next couple of years for sure!

~Loving Life These Days!!!~

I am loving the direction our life has been going the last couple of months, especially this month!  Ethan has had no problems for quite some time now (knock on wood) and I am settled into my new job and we’ve had a great flow of life. 

It has been a slower pace since it has been cold outside but we’ve had lots of fun doing crafts, playing with cars in the basement and just hanging out with each other.

January will be a bit of a crazy month for me…we have a major shift of positions coming up mid month which means I will be working some overnight shifts, early mornings (4am start, Yikes!) and lots of weird evenings and weekends.  Then at the end of the month I head to Medicine Hat for a week…let me just point out that travelling from Grande Prairie to Medicine Hat is not a fun thing…it is like 12 hours of travel!  So we have two travel days on top of it!  They will be long work days too while I’m there; 7am starts till 6pm then supper from 6:30pm and we socialize until the wee hours of the morning…network, network!  You never know when one of these people will make a critical decision about something to do with me!

So since I’ve known that January is going to be so freaking tough on me I took some time on my holidays to downshift and have a break. We had a great time at home at our Mom’s house for Christmas but it was sure nice to come home on Tuesday!  Ethan and I hung out in our PJ’s on Wednesday and watched TV and played with all his new toys.  Yesterday and today I took him to daycare so he could play with his little buddies and I could have some me time.  It’s very rare that I take him to daycare when I’m not working but I know it’s important to have time to myself.  I always plan to come home and veg out but I end up going window (or otherwise, LOL) shopping in a tonne of different stores that I normally don’t make it into.  It’s nice for me to be able to browse without feeling like Ethan is bored stiff and so I don’t have to rush.  I love shopping slowly and looking at things…  I don’t think I could just come home and sit anyhow, the house would be far too quiet without Ethan here, LOL!

I’m looking forward to tomorrow;  we are heading out to our friends the Smiths’ house.  They live on an acreage about 45 minutes out of  Grande Prairie.  We are going to skidoo to the river just down from their house and take all the kids tobogganing on the hills there.  Leanne and Greg have taken their kids there for the last couple of years;  Ethan is just now big enough for it!  We are going to light a bonfire and make some hot chocolate and roast some hot dogs.  Thankfully it is only supposed to be –3 here tomorrow so it should be fairly comfortable to be out in.  It will be nice to get some fresh air too!  I’m really looking forward to it; I love tobogganing!   I hope I get some pictures too, I haven’t taken any for awhile.

That’s what we’re up to…like I said, it’s all good for us right now!  Hoping that it will be even better in about a year and a bit from now too…

~One Year Ago~

What a whirlwind introduction to being parents. Baby, Surgery, first meal, home...whirlwind. We've had an amazing year of getting to know what an amazing son we have and how we are going to be as parents.

We've postponed the birthday party because our little man is not feeling too hot. We spent Friday night at the emergency room. He had been puking for a couple of days and wasn't eating and was crying non-stop. They didn't determine what was wrong, just sent us home with antibiotics. So we've got a sick baby on our hands. We'll have the party on my next weekend off in two weeks.

So keep posted for party pics and send up some good thoughts for little man to be feeling better soon!

~Late Update~

Sorry I didn't get on here till today to update on Ethan...the computer has been busy every time I had time to do it! Anyhow, thankfully Ethan came through his test with flying colors! We are feeding him now, he started at 10ml on Wednesday afternoon and is up to 35mls as of his last feed. He needs to be at around 55mls before he can go home though.

He is getting an ultrasound right now to recheck his kidneys after I raised some questions over a previous test. The drs are confident that everything is well since he is having no complications that would lead them to believe there is a problem but they are following up anyhow. Nice to put my mind at ease. We are also doing his carseat test today to see if we can take him off all the monitoring equipment. I hate all the wires and bells and whistles! So they put him in his carseat for 90 minutes and if he doesn't set off any alarms then we can take him off the monitors.

His nurse today said that she thinks that there is a chance that we may be discharged from here and will take him home ourselves. That would be okay with us!

Randy and I snuck out of the hospital yesterday afternoon between feedings and hit up some kids stores. We went to Babys R Us and picked up an outfit, a pillow for holding him and some baby sunscreens. His nurse had told us about this store on 170th Street called E Children so we went there next. OH MY GOODNESS!!! What a store! Anything and everything you can possibly think of you can find it there! A little pricey for some things but overall there is a great assortment of things for all price ranges. We picked up a couple of things there as well and vowed to remember to take Grandma Grounds there...she is officially the spoiler of our son...

Anyhow it was nice to get away even for a few minutes. Randy took off to a movie today and to do a little 'shopping' around West Ed. I'm guessing he looked at a billboard and saw that it is Mother's Day this weekend...hahaha something else for him to remember now!!! While he is doing that Ethan and I are having a long cuddle time in the recliner next to his bed. I've got a couple of magazines and he's got lots of sleeping to do so we are a fine pair. His Auntie Melissa is driving up from Hanna tonight to meet him too. She'll probably come by tomorrow to see him but we can't wait to show off our little guy to her!!! He got to meet his Uncle Curtis the other day and they got some pics taken together. I'll post lots of pics once I'm home again and it's easy to do it...

Anyhow that's what is up for us! I'm off to see if my little man is done getting his ultrasound!

~Ethan's Test Today~

So we are sitting in the waiting room right now waiting to hear the results. They took him down at 9:30am and the test was scheduled for 10:15am. He was so calm and happy when he went, we really hope it goes well. Mary and Cole are here with us now for a quick visit so they are keeping us company. We are all praying that Ethan's surgery was a success...I just want to feed my little man!

His PIC line got plugged last night so they had to remove it this morning and put in another IV, this time in his foot. Poor little guy! Hopefully he can eat though and then it will be a distant memory! He also may have the drain tube removed today or tomorrow if the test went well...we really hate the drain tube so we are hoping that it can be removed!

Anyhow, I'm going to go see if he's back from his test, He should be really soon!

~Ethan is 9 Days Old!!!~

So today Ethan turns a big 9 days old!!! Crazy how time flies. We were a little late getting up this morning, Mommy is getting a little worn down and needed a little extra sleep. So we missed the Drs rounds. We talked to his nurse though and she said the only change they made was to increase his fluids so he is getting more nutrients. They are going to fatten him up! Poor little guy has an empty tummy though so he cries in hunger from that. It's heartbreaking knowing what the problem is and knowing that we can't give him anything. We know that he isn't starving though so that keeps our mind at ease. He is still getting regular doses of tylenol for the pain but it seems to be enough so that he is comfortable.

He was crying all night and this morning till we got here I guess. The nurses said they couldn't get him to settle. So I plopped down in a rocking chair and Randy handed him to me and we cuddled for 2 1/2 hours and he was calm and quiet. Then Mommy had to eat something so Daddy got to change his first dirty (and I mean really dirty) diaper, the nurses gave him his dose of tylenol and now him and Daddy are cuddling while I am online. His Grandma Grounds will be in today to see him so she'll be happy that she can hold him. We'll get lots of pics I'm sure!

Other happy news to report! They have moved his contrast dye test ahead! He'll have the test on Wednesday and it will be here at the Royal Alex. So send some prayers up that it shows a total success! We want to feed our little guy and take him home!!!

Mommy snuck away for lunch by herself today. It was nice to get a break from everything...I might have to find a Dr here to check me out. Not feeling the best the last day or so. Not sure if it was dinner last night or if I'm just completely burnt out. I haven't stopped going for over a week. We did finally talk to the Social Worker here today and they don't have any family rooms right now but when I need a mothers room she thinks that one will be available. So I'm supposed to call her when it comes time to start feeding Ethan. We're assuming that he will be bottle fed/syringe fed at the start cause he needs to get used to it so I shouldn't need to be here to breast feed right off the bat. Not that I wouldn't want to be here doing his feeds...

Anyhow so that's all that is new from us today. He is looking really good and I'm finally feeling more positive about everything that the little guy has had to go through. Not that it isn't still hard to look at the 4 inch incision that pretty much cuts him in half...Anyhow, I'm out of here, I'll probably give some of you calls in the next few days.

~Ethan on the Move~

Well we went into the NICU on Saturday morning and got a surprise. Ethan was getting transferred to the Royal Alex NICU. They needed his bed at the Uof A so they transferred him. He spent the first day in the A pod for babies who require serious care. While he was there he made lots of progress. He got extubated (removed the breathing tube from surgery)and he was able to cry again. Mommy and Daddy got to snuggle with him for over an hour!!! We were so happy and if I had remembered the camera I would show you!!!

We came in this morning to see him and he was in a bit of pain so they gave him some tylenol to ease it. We got to hold him for a couple of hours again!!! He also got his IV taken out of his hand. Right as we were leaving for lunch they told us that he was doing so good that they were moving him to level 2 care in H Pod. YAY!!! Today he gets rid of the UVC (belly button IV) and they are inserting a PIC line (through his arm or leg to a major vessel) right now. That is so that he can get more nutrients through the IV. The other types of IV's cannot support the amount he will be getting. So although Mommy is freaked out by it and actually hiding right now in the family room so she doesn't have to see it, she is also happy to see progress.

We spoke to his Nurse Practioner today (basically a dr) and she told us that once his dye test comes back successful then they start feeding him orally. Once he shows the ability to handle feeding he will be put on a list to piggyback him up to Grande Prairie. Meaning that if a plane comes down from GP with someone then he will piggy back with it instead of it returning empty. She gave us no timeline...it all depends on him and him gaining weight. He looks great though!

Also we got back all the tests and checks for other abnormalities and so far his back is fine, his heart is good, and his brain is good. I haven't seen the all clear for his kidneys but I know they did the test and no one has said anything so I can only assume it is all well. We are making a list of questions for the neonatologist for tomorrow morning. He has a twisted right foot that we need to have checked out so we are asking about it tomorrow morning. No one has said that it is anything severe so I haven't been too worried about it but I'm guessing that it hasn't been a huge priority given everything else.

So the long and short of it all is that he is looking good, in a little pain but otherwise on the mend. We just can't wait to take him home.

Randy and I had to leave the hostel residence at the U of A because it was on the wrong side of the city from the new hospital. We were at a loss of where to stay so I called my friend Mike and he was nice enough to let us stay with him until we can figure out other arrangements. There are family rooms here at the Royal Alex but we have to wait till Monday to find out if we can get in. It's all so frustrating. Anyhow we are comfortable with visitors now so if you are in the area give us a call so we can show off our handsome little guy!

~Day 2 of Ethan's Recovery~

This morning we made it into the NICU at 9:30am in time for the Dr's rounds. When we left last night at 9:45pm they were giving Ethan an additional dose of Morphine because you could tell he was experiencing some pain. It totally broke my heart and I left the NICU in tears.

This morning Dr Narvey and the other practioners told us that they were going to be decreasing his morphine by half to 10mcg/kg/hr, and also starting to wean him from his intubator. He is able to breathe on his own but because of the morphine he gets too relaxed and won't. So they are attempting to gradually wean him from both so that a) he doesn't have withdrawals from the morphine, and b) so that he can gradually take over his own breathing. They also told us that they are removing half of his staples this evening at midnight and the other half tomorrow night. A very good sign that he is healing quickly!

Our nurse today also told us that it may be as soon as this evening that they take him off of intubation and that we may be able to hold him tonight. I'm scared of the idea of holding him because he has sutures inside him and I'm scared of tearing them out but the nurse assured me that it wouldn't.

He looks really good though and all systems are a go. They did an echocardigram this morning to check out his heart because sometimes there are heart anomallys that go along with his type of fistula but it all came back great. So glad to hear that. We ran into his surgeon again today in the hall and he asked about him which made our day. What a compassionate man he is.

His little hand with Randy and mine.


Grandma Rogers got to hold him the other day before his surgery. Here is the pic of them cuddling in the NICU.


The morning after his surgery. Scary tubes and wires everywhere but doing the job to make him healthy again.






He got to meet Grandma Grounds yesterday as well. Her and Cliff came to the city to meet the little guy. It was a short visit but she'll be back again next week. Uncle Mike, a dear college friend of mine, is coming by for a visit tonight. It's his birthday too so we got him a card...Ethan's first card, LOL! We went to the gift shop today and bought a Stollery Childrens' hospital bear and another fun little dangly puppy dog toy to put in his bassinet. Both of us will now be upping our support for the Stollery Children's Hospital. We encourage our friends and family to do so as well...they are truly miracle workers!

Anyhow, thank you so much for your love and prayers. We appreciate all of the support coming in for our little man from all over. We can't wait to take him home and be a family!

Ethan Update

As some of you know our little Ethan was airlifted to the Stollery Childrens Hospital in Edmonton for an emergency surgery on Tuesday evening. Randy and I rushed from Grande Prairie as quick as we could but got stuck in some bad weather and didn't make it until the next morning. We made it to the hospital and rushed into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to see our little guy. He was resting comfortably and we were able to sit and hold him for a bit. His nurse let us know that his surgery was scheduled to go forward between 3 and 12pm on Wednesday.

Little Ethan was born with a Tracheal Esophageal Fistula which meant that his esophagus did not connect to his stomach, instead a part of his attachd to his trachea and the other part simply formed a pouch and did not go anywhere. At the time we did not know which type of fistula he had, there are five different types and thankfully our little guy got the easiest one to repair. We met with his surgeon Dr. Lees and he explained the procedure to him and we signed consent for the surgery. They took him into surgery at 8:30pm. Mom and my brother Richard came up to sit with us while we waited to hear how it went and how successful it was. We got the call at 11:20pm that the surgeon wanted to met us and we rushed to the NICU where he met us to tell us that it all went perfectly. You have no idea how much relief we felt when he said that. I grabbed him and shook his hand...he saved our sons' life.

We got to see Ethan right away thankfully. He looks a little scary because he is intubated and has lots of wires everywhere but he is comfortable and healing. We thought originally that we wouldn't be able to hold him for a week but our nurse just told us that we might be able to by this weekend. He will stay intubated for a couple of days and sedated with Morphine to keep him from moving alot and tearing his sutures but its all good because he is healing. Next Thursday, May 8th he has a dye test to determine if the operation was a success. No leaks in the esophagus means we are on our way home quicker. Leaks mean another surgery. However we have read the surgical notes and spoke again today with the surgeon and all indicate a total success.

We will likely be in Edmonton for a couple of weeks and are staying right in the hospital in hostel rooms. Not the fanciest accomodations but all we really need right now is a place to sleep. I finally got some sleep last night once we knew that the surgery was a success. I think I was operating on less then 12 hours sleep in the last 4 days. Randy is doing okay as well. The hardest part right now is not being able to hold him.

I wanted to post a pic of him but I forgot my cord for my camera in the room so I will do it tomorrowish. The hospital has a nice family room with internet access and comfortable chairs for reading that we found today. It is a nice quiet reprieve from the hospital noises.

Anyhow thank you to everyone for your well wishes and prayers while we got through this. We are hoping that everything from now out will be taking us closer to going home so we can be a family.

WOW Suprise

What a day it has been. At 3am on April 26 I (Randy) came home after working and just as i get out of the shower, in comes Wanda "Honey, I think my water broke". Water broke. how could your water break. You still have almost 4 weeks to go before your water is supposed to break. OK so we should get a baby bag ready (one thing that was on the list for this week anyhow). we should get a Wanda bag ready (again another thing that was scheduled for this week. Wait cant get everything that we need cuz its still in the laundry pile for washing. O well just go in some dirty clothes, ill have to come home and do laundry. OK what else do we need. Camera defiantly cant forget the camera. UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Car seat got to get that to. ( good thing we just got it installed and inspected a few days ago). All right i think we got what we need. (Sleep would be nice seeing how i have now been up for 20hrs now. But who could sleep while this is going on).

Arrive at the hospital and in we go. YUP water is officially broke. (Nurse says so) Get into room and start the waiting game for those wonderful contractions. The trooper that Wanda is holds off for 11.5hrs of labour before taking some drugs (Only cuz they are gona start giving her meds to speed things along as well as make thing way more painful. Pic of stone wanda will follow in future posts, just trying to get the pics of the new one out there.

Hr 13 or so and baby's heart rate drops from 150 to 50 "PUSH THE RED BUTTON". Nurse comes in thinking its just a placement of the thingy that monitors it. does a quick check and i hear "I see the head" WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO

5:46pm on April 26 we are the proud parents of a little BOY.

Ethan Thomas Grounds

6Lb 1.6oz 18cm long

Every thing is good. He has to spend some time in NICU cuz he has a bit of fluid in his lungs from being born so fast. Doc says we can have him down in our room tom if he stays as good as he has been. Doc also says that if everything stays good then we will be able to take him home on Tue.

Mom is doing great also. everything happened pritty fast, shes a bit tired (not to tired to tell me how to get on her blog and post tho). I imagine when she is home she will blog a better blog for ya all.
So this will be the end of my post here. laundry is almost done and i want to be back for the next feeding.

~Ummm Houston..We have a Problem!!!~

So remember how I said in my post yesterday that we moved the crib into our bedroom? Wellllll apparently the cat is in his glory thinking that it is his new bed! Randy and I both got up several times last night to find him crashed out in the crib all curled up in a blanket that is in there. Both of us kicked him out of course but oy vey! What do we do about this? Obviously we will be having some training time with him that it is not his bed for the next few weeks. If it doesn't improve then he won't be allowed in the room with us. You think a newborn will keep you up at night? You haven't met my cat! Not looking forward to having to kick him out of the room...yowling cat = no sleep. Anyhow, I won't be getting any pictures of it, I'll be promptly kicking his ass out of it!

Also would love some positive thoughts sent our way as we find ourselves in a bit of a struggle. Randy is job-hunting because he has got no work coming in from Brent right now. So rather then waiting without money coming in we are being proactive and finding something else. Problem is that finding work that will pay near what he was making with Brent is proving difficult and of course our bills are set to the level of income he was making. Add to that I am STILL waiting for my ROE from NPR so that I can apply for my maternity benefits. It should be here this week but I'm sure not happy with the length of time this is taking considering that my last day was March 28th. They took it upon themselves to pay my Vacation Pay and commissions on a seperate cheque which added another couple of weeks to my waiting period. Gotta love that one eh? Oh well, here's hoping that I can get it processed quickly and won't have to wait for two centuries to have it start up.

My last word for that is: Sometimes life is totally rotten eh?

On a happy, positive note we went to see the Dr today for our weekly checkup. Last week we had a slew of tests done plus an ultrasound. Happy to report that they all came back perfect, on the ultrasound baby was given an 8 out of 8 rating (whatever that really means, but it sounds good eh?) Dr is happy with everything too. Randy and I got to talk to her about what to expect during delivery at this hospital and she walked us through everything. I was really disappointed to hear that I couldn't rely on an epidural as an option because the hospital only has one guy that can do it and if he is busy tough luck. So I have the options of morphine and gas readily available to me. Woopee! Oh well, we'll deal with that hurdle when it gets here, I'm not going to fret over it. Baby is going to be an okay size, we are at 5.5lbs right now so dr is figuring on an average sized baby. I guess that is the one benefit of going through pregnancy with Hypertension...you have smaller babies on average! Anyhow, we are really comfortable with our Dr and she is so down to earth, not to gloss stuff over kind of person that she is perfect for us.

We have got pretty much everything we need for baby now. I've joined FreeCycle again here so I'm going to keep my eyes out for baby clothes on there...I'm not planning on buying much in the area of clothing. Mom asked me today what we still needed and I said just Walmart gift cards! LOL! Diapers, diapers, diapers right!

Well I'm off to make some supper and keep myself busy for the evening!

~8 Years on this path of Life Together...~

It's hard to believe that 8 years ago Randy and I went from being best of friends to being a couple. It happened so quickly that I don't know that either of us planned it... We love planning our special day together. For our second anniversary we rented a theme room at Fantasyland hotel and got dressed up and went for dinner to a fabulous hip restaurant. For our third we went to Canmore for the weekend and booked a whole day at the spa. Last year Randy proposed and gave me the most perfect engagement ring and a card that I will cherish forever. This year we are giving ourselves a family... So a quiet night will be had tonight. Dinner at The Keg, maybe a movie if there is anything good out. Cough drops are on the menu for me as I have caught Randys' cold. As an anniversary gift I get to have an ultrasound and see our little one this morning. I'm hoping they will give me a picture to show Randy since he can't join me this time.

Anyhow, here are pictures of us on our 2nd anniversary...have we ever changed so much. I'm taking pictures of us tonight all dressed up so it will be fun to see how we've changed...