Sleepy

Catching some ZZZZs with Tata's Pink Blanket

Thanks to Cristina for this cute little onsie. I must admit, I was afraid to put it on her. Would it keep us up all day and night? Nope. Even tough babies gotta sleep sometime! And she's one helluva tough baby and (thank God) a wonderful sleeper. Yes, she's up every 3 hours or so - like most babies, but she does get some good hours in where I try to join her (or occasionally sneak on to the computer, shhh you'll wake the baby).

Presley just turned 9 weeks and on August 1st had her first set of shots. Ugh! Poor thing. She took it as well as could be expected and like her mom, loves her tylenol. She's weighing in at 11lbs and stretching out at 60cm.

Six Weeks Later

Presley is amazing. Every single moment we spend with her is incredible. Yes, even when she's screaming her head off at us for no apparent reason but to clear her little lungs out. Her first few days on earth were spent in the NICU attached to I.V's and heart monitors and surrounded by premmies and other special need newborns. For five days she was pricked and prodded and she was a tough little girl through it all. We're wondering what types of piercings and tattoos this early childhood trauma will warrant later in life. Yikes! Entering the world at 9 lbs 11 ounces she was the biggest baby in the nursery. She came to be known as The Big Girl and she was adored by everyone. Here are a few of her favourite nurses...

Nurse Carol

Carol was awesome. We spent most of our days with her learning to feed, burp and sterilize. Carol also had the pleasure of taking us through our first diaper change, as well as the patience to deal with our parade of guests. Tough as nails and sweet as pie.

Nurse Sabia

The evenings/wee hours of the morning were spent with Sabia, who coached us through Presley's first bath and witnessed my first pump of colostrum. Wonderful sense of humour and wise beyond her years.

Looking back now it still seems like a surreal dream. The support from the staff at St. Mike's was fantastic. We could not have done it without them. Obviously.

Life with Presley is magnificent! She's the cutest, smartest and most smiley-est baby ever! See for yourself....

5 days

An Offer You Can't Refuse

2 weeks
Sitting Pretty

3 weeks
Ready For My CloseUp

4 weeks

The Cherub

5 weeks
Baby in the Hood

6 weeks
Shits & Giggles

Our Little Girl

She's finally here! And well worth the wait! and what a wait it was!

Friday May 30th - The ultrasound turns out to be not as perfect as planned. With baby's movement decreased and the amniotic fluid low, we are advised to head over to the hospital for the dreaded induction. We arrive at St. Mike's at about 7:00pm. They perform another ultrasound and confirm that the amnio fluid is low. My blood pressure has gone up and they start to suspect preeclampsia (although my blood pressure has been perfect throughout my entire pregnancy - go figure!). With so much working against us, by 8pm they slip me some cervidil to jump start labour.

Saturday May 31st - By 9:30am - no progress. The docs give me another 12 hours to see if it kicks in. I spend the day walking, bouncing on the birthing ball, knitting, listening to music and breathing through quite a bit of cramping. By 9:30pm - still no progress. They bring in the foley catheter. Extremely unpleasant. Movement becomes a little more difficult, but I do my best to stay upright and positive. Six hours later - still no progress. They bring in the big guns - oxytocin. Movement becomes almost non-existant.

Sunday June 1st - At 11am (40 hours later, with contractions coming at two minutes apart and lasting about a minute long - still no progress) I'm in the O.R. leaning over for a spinal tap. At 11:57am, just in time for lunch, Presley Mary Grace arrives via caesarean section.

Although Presley is a big, healthy girl she was born with a cleft palatte. The only difficulty that causes for now is feeding. Since she has no suction she cannot breastfeed and must nurse from a special nipple. I'm pumping as much breast milk as I can and we're all mastering the Haberman. We've met with the cleft palatte team at Sick Kids Hospital and she will need surgery somewhere between 9 and 12 months.

Although our birth plan was shredded and thrown out the window our main concern was Presley's safety and health. Our new mantra will have to be "Shit happens. Deal with it and move on". I have a bit of healing to do and Jay and I may never sleep again, but we're okay with it all. Our little girl is so incredible, we have been truly blessed.

The Waiting Game

Frustrating day! So I treated myself to a manicure and a massage and then Jay and I took ourselves to the pool for some aquatic squatting and then to refuel with some curry chicken thai!

Frustrated 'cause doc won't extend the induction date. She wants us to call the hospital on Saturday to see what's available. She has chosen the least invasive induction method (prostaglandin gel) that she can think of and she's quite taken aback at how we really really don't want to be induced. She claims that 90-some% of her patients WANT to be induced. Although I understand where she's coming from - she's concerned for my age and the baby's size, bla bla bla, I still think that we should be the ones that make the final call. The baby's fine, my placenta is fine, the anmio fluid is fine, my blood pressure is fine. Look...

Baby Loves Placenta
- May 28

We have an ANOTHER ultrasound appointment on Friday and if the results are perfect (as they always have been) - we hope to figure out how to reschedule the induction on our own since we won't be seeing the doc after the ultrasound unless some thing's wrong. But hey, we've still got tonight and all of tomorrow to hope for (fingers crossed!!) And, on the plus side -- the cervix is softening. Could it be that the homeopathics my naturopath prescribed are kicking in!? Hope so! Or perhaps baby's just waiting until we see Sex and the City before she makes her grand appearance!

Post Date Post

So here's the deal-eo. I'm forty weeks and 8 days into the pregnancy and baby is just way too snug and cozy and would prefer to stay in her womb a little while longer. Who could blame her and who am I to argue? Our family doc, on the other hand, feels that baby's getting bigger everyday and that I may be too small to carry the labour through. And so doc is starting to talk (cue scary music) "induction". Initially it was scheduled for this coming Thursday, but with such a positive ultrasound result yesterday we were able to negotiate a few more days and it has been moved to the 31st. We have another ultrasound on Wednesday, a doc appointment on Thursday and yet another ultrasound on Friday. Sheesh!

We've been taking a stab at as many natural induction methods as possible. And I feel kinda guilty attempting all of these natural approaches knowing that she's perfectly fine and healthy. Why can't we all just leave her alone? But we've gotta try everything that we can before they squirt me up with some miracle gel or attach us to any sort of dreadful IV. Today I went to see my naturopath who pricked me acupuncture-style and recommended some homeopathic remedies to try and get things started. We're keeping our fingers tightly crossed!

Just a few things...

Here we are, three days past our estimated due date and feeling super fine. Well, maybe a little tired and heavy, but fine all the same. Lately it's been all about lists -- things to take to the hospital, things to get done before baby comes home and let's not even get into the birth plan. I may only have a coupla days or perhaps even hours before our wee one arrives and I've been thinkin about ...

things I will miss (in no particular order)
• this big huge belly bump o'love - watching it grow, watching it move, feeling the twists, kicks and tumbles.
• hearing, "wow, you look GREAT!"
• Jay singing The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota into my belly
• strangers smiling at me for what I thought was no apparent reason. (I quickly learned it wasn't me they were smiling at but at the miracle of life. ) still, nice all the same.
• using the baby excuse - ie oh, can i have the last cookie (piece of cake, chocolate, etc)? it's not for me, it's for the baby. *wink*
• my high-carb diet of pasta, pizza, ice cream and burgers

things I will NOT miss (again, in no particular order)
• sore back and swollen hands, knees & (k)ankles
• hearing, "wow, you are HUGE!"
• horror birth stories
• people looking at me all bug-eyed, like this huge belly and me come from planet Preggula
• the hardship that is getting up -- out of bed, out of chairs, sofas, etc.
• Jay's scruffy two day old stubble rubbing up against my sensitive skin while he sings The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota into my belly

Due Date, Schmoo Date

Well, our due date came and went and here we are calm, cool and very EXCITED!!! So what's a groovy couple to do on their due date weekend? How 'bout a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

• shop till you almost, uh, drop! last chance to get a few things before baby takes over. and Jay finally convinced me that we really need a small flat screen TV for our bedroom, especially since we'll be spending so much time in there cocooning as a brand new family. Oh well, so much for feng shui!

• go for a dip! we're lucky enough to have a salt water pool at our gym. Floating in the water made me feel as though I had lost 1,000 lbs! My back, knees and swollen hands and feet can't stop thanking me.

• take in a flick! once baby comes, it'll be tough to sneak her into the cineplex. So we decided to treat ourselves to one more movie -- The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. For Azlan!

• slip in some siesta! We're squeezing in as much nap time as possible. Not only is it good for baby prep, but it's a cozy way to spend a rainy long weekend.

• make a little love! Since sex can induce labour by releasing a hormone called oxytocin, which causes the uterus to contract and semen contains a substance known as prostaglandins, which will help soften the cervix - why the heck not!? And hey, it's not like we need to worry about getting pregnant!

• cast a belly! From previous posts you can see how attached I've become to the baby bump. And although I'm sure that I won't miss it for long once it's gone, we still had to make a ...uh... little memento. Besides, it's been quite a while since I've been "plastered"!

Full-bodied mama