Hospital Stays & Bed Rest

Well, quite a bit has happened since I last wrote on this blog! Work wise I ended up with two teaching contracts that comprised a .67 FTE.  In regular-people language this means my job(s) were 67% of a full time position and; therefore, enough of a contract to score us full benefits for another year and to score me a decent maternity leave pay (my school district tops up mat leaves to 95% of the actual wage a person was making when they go off on mat leave).  My jobs were teaching high school dance and teaching grade 7 science and I loved them both and was fully prepared to work for as long as I could until going off on maternity leave.  Clearly, baby had other plans.  I worked in the dance job for six days and I worked in the science job for three blocks (yes, you read that correctly, three BLOCKS) before being forced to go off on medical leave.

Enter this week's adventures!

On Wednesday I got up to get ready for work and was bleeding a bit, so with my knowledge of placenta previa (which I have) I decided we needed to call the midwife and get to the hospital pretty quickly.  By 9am we had my vitals and baby's vitals checked (all was fine) and we met with our obstetrician (we adore her).  The OB told me two things, I was either a) going to have this baby today or b) I was going to have to stay in the hospital for a while.  And then they told me they had to take my blood pressure (it was up to 170, not even kidding).  By 10am I was settled into my little shared room in the antepartum ward at the hospital and was like, "Hmmm...NOW what!?"  The health professionals told me I had to go 48 hours without bleeding before they would even consider letting me go home.  So I sat and waited.  I made it to 22 hours and then bled a bit again and all that time I went without bleeding was reset - ugh.  During all this sitting around and waiting and staring out the window we met with various doctors, OBs, anesthesiologists, etc. who continued to fill us in on my situation.  As it turns out, not only is the placenta previa it is also anterior, which means it lies right over the spot where the OB needs to make the incision to get the baby out.  Sweet deal, right?!

Taken on Wednesday, the first day of my hospital stay. 

In case some of you didn't know, this placenta has been a complete hag since the beginning of my pregnancy...I had implant bleeding and was off for a week on mild bed rest back in May because of it.  And then at the 18 weeks ultrasound we learned I had placenta previa, and then every check up ultrasound I had after that continued to confirm placenta previa.  I've now had 8 ultrasounds and 21 blood tests and the doctors are certain that this placenta is definitely not moving out of the way.  So what does this mean? Well...

I will certainly need a c-section because there is no way this baby can be born naturally.  I've taken some time to meditate on the miracle that is childbirth and modern medicine over the past few days.  Wow - humbling experience to say the least.  My OB has informed us that because of the previa and anterior placenta they will conduct my c-section in the regular OR as opposed to the maternity OR because they have to cut through the placenta to get to the baby, which means more bleeding than usual c-sections.  They will have two OBs in the OR and they will have more doctors and nurses present, just in case.  They will also have a blood transfusion set up and ready to go in the chance that I lose too much blood and need a transfusion.  Worst case scenario, if the bleeding does not subside once baby is out and the placenta is removed, I will need a complete hysterectomy.  Receiving all this news at once was a bit of a blow...but we took it all in and I cried a few tears through whispers of, "I don't want to die!" and Joel expertly and calmly said, "They never said you would die".  I ended up telling the doctors to do WHATEVER they need to do to keep me and the baby healthy and well, and if it ends up in the "worst case scenario" then who even cares!?!  At this stage in the game I'm thinking we might be a two cat, one kid family anyhow because I definitely don't want to experience this again.

Thankfully I had a pretty good view!

Anyhow, I ended up being in the hospital for three nights and four days and now I am home and doing pretty much nothing.  I feel like I need to relearn how to walk after sitting still for four complete days!  I'm on high alert and having a constant conversation with this baby, telling it to be good and stay put for at least a few more weeks.  My c-section is tentatively scheduled for November 26th, but that could change based around the OB's schedule and all the other doctors' schedules, etc.  Of course, if I end up bleeding again I need to go back in the hospital and if it's a lot of blood they will take the baby out immediately.  I'm 32.5 weeks pregnant right now, and this baby already weighs 5 pounds 11 ounces, so it's not like we're in danger of a super low birth weight, considering this kid already weighs more than I did when I was born! Ha!  I've also had the necessary steroid shots to boost baby's lung development, so now baby has lungs comparable to that of a 34.5 week old developing baby, which is a big comfort.

I pretty much didn't move from this bed for four days.

I know all this sounds really scary - it is.  This is not the way I imagined bringing our child into the world whatsoever, but being on the antepartum ward for four days made me realize how incredibly blessed we are.  We are going to be okay, whether this baby comes via an early emergency or on it's scheduled c-section date.  My roommate at the hospital was only 20 weeks pregnant (not pregnant enough for a 'viable pregnancy' yet, meaning if something goes wrong, the baby has almost 0% chance of survival) and she was bleeding/cramping and hardly anyone visited her.  The lady across the hall from me had some crazy, drunkard boyfriend who never came to see her and they only yelled at each other on the phone as their form of communication (she also had pre-eclampsia).  Meanwhile, one nurse was calling me a princess because Joel and my parents were constantly bringing me food and friends brought me movies and coffees and funny books to read....I'm a lucky girl :)

If you haven't read Mindy's book, I highly recommend it! So hilarious.

So, now I am officially on medical leave and maternity leave will start once this baby is born.  I'm at home and not on strict bed rest, but what my OB likes to call "decreased activity".  I'm currently functioning like one hour at a time and hoping that the level of anxiety I'm currently feeling decreases even a tiny bit! I'm a self-proclaimed Anxious Annie though, so I'm really not surprised.

Joel has been absolutely amazing and incredible in all ways.  There's no one else I'd rather go through this with than him.  I love him so much.

And that's it for our epic update! Positive thoughts, prayers and love sent our way is greatly appreciated,


xxk&j&baby

The Problem With Shoes...

So the rainy season has started here in Victoria.  I got a text from my sister (who works outdoors as a landscaper) today and it said, "Holy crap is that the sun?" and my response was, "Yes, because I forgot my sunglasses!"

It's also (finally!) the long awaited Back to School season! Hallelujah! As excited as we are for Back to School (Mama gets a paycheque? Qu'est ce que c'est?) I have run into a huge roadblock, guys.

SHOES.

Turns out shoes are a big problem when you're 7+ months pregnant.  My beloved Toms don't fit.  My flats don't fit.  My runners don't fit.  And that's about the extent of my shoe collection, to be honest.  My flip flops have been my footwear of choice since June 14th...I don't think I've worn a different pair of shoes since then.  It seems I'm going to have to go shoe shopping this weekend for at least one pair of shoes that will fit these fat feet of mine because mama can't teach in flip flops!

The photo on the bottom left is proof that even my cute ankle boots are a struggle.  It literally took me 15 minutes to get them on. Outfit on the right garnered me many a compliment, to which I say, THANK YOU people for the compliments because this cute outfit will probably not fit next week! 

In more serious news: the delivery of baby into this world.  I'll have another ultrasound in 5 weeks' time, which will determine whether or not we'll schedule a C-section.  If I need said C-section, this the obstetrician would choose when would be the best time for this baby to come into the world.  I kind of asked if we could choose the date...we can't.  Dang.  That being said, we all just want to be healthy, so we better let the experience professionals do their thang.  One of our midwives says the baby could be delivered at 39-40 weeks, but I'm a little concerned about going that long simply because of the placenta previa issues.  Our other midwife says 37-38 weeks is a more realistic date for a C-section, which makes me feel much better.  The obstetrician (if required) will make the final decision. IF it ends up being 37 weeks though...that means baby could be here in as early as 8 weeks.  

HOLY CRAP.

xxk&j&baby

Ultrasound Updates

Baby Alleyn has now been growing for over 7 months and we've had 7 opportunities to see him/her! That's right folks, 7 ultrasounds so far in this pregnancy.  Might I add that I have also had 18 viles of blood taken from me as well? Mmhmm.  Mama ain't no stranger to the ultrasound and blood test, that's for sure.

This week we had a check-up ultrasound in order to get pictures of the baby's spine because baby wouldn't show us his/her spine at the 18 week ultrasound.  We also had to get that dang placenta checked-up on again.  While the placenta is baby's lifeline, it's kind of the bane of my existence right now.  It's been a hag from the start of this whole thing (remember the hemorrhage at 7 weeks? Yah - placenta). The placenta hasn't moved from its low lying position since the 18 week ultrasound, so I need to go back for my 8th ultrasound in 6 weeks to check up on it AGAIN.  Our midwives tell us there is a 60-70% chance the placenta will still move because the third trimester is when baby grows the most, which in many cases can help shuffle things along.  If the placenta hasn't moved in the next 6 weeks, our midwives will set us up with an obstetrician and we'll go about planning for a C-section, which would likely happen sometime between December 4-10th. 

This is all fine and dandy; however, our baby is measuring to be quite...large, so given the fact that a C-section kind of freaks me out, I'm not feeling so confident about a natural birth either! Our baby's head is in the 90th percentile, its legs are in the 50-90th, and its abdomen/tummy area rings in at a whopping greater than 90% percentile. On top of all these measurements our kid already weighs 3 pounds 9 ounces.  I'd like to point out that this is more than my cousin weighed when she was born. This is also over a pound more than what most babies weigh at this developmental stage.  *Note to smaller women, don't marry and procreate with giant men. The result will be giant babies.

In other news, I am now officially a size 10 at lululemon.  I have one pair of size 10 tights and one size 10 tank to get me through until December.  I also have a size 8 sweater waiting for me in Joel's t-shirt drawer (still packaged up) to use as extreme motivation once this baby is out!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get all snobby and worried about how much I weigh because of this baby, but in the last two weeks I've definitely felt...heavy, and hindered by how much I can and can't move around.  And someone told me my face was getting fat (hello, I already know that, but thanks for pointing it out again!?)  Thankfully I've found an incredible pre-natal yoga class with one of my most fav local yoga teachers.  Fiji (yoga teacher) had her first baby 3.5 months ago and she is just a champion.  Fiji worked us through a seriously challenging class yesterday and I felt SO good afterward.  Can't wait for next weekend's class!

To wrap this post up I should mention we did a 3D ultrasound yesterday with my auntie's best friend who owns a clinic in Nanaimo.  The 3D ultrasound was Sherri's gift to us and we were really excited to check out the whole experience.  Unfortunately, baby really likes his/her knees and the knees were in the face pretty much the entire time.   Baby was also in full splits the entire time (one foot on the head, the other leg stretched straight out!) so we only really focused on the face area because we don't want to know the gender of our baby and with baby in full splits, well...you know. I'll attach a few photos below.

Okay enough blabbering, here are some photos to end this post on.  Enjoy!

See the crib mattress against the wall? Our friends gave it to us for free! Thanks Cormies for saving us $200!

10 points for you if you can find the side profile with pointy knee up by his/her nose and eyes.

This one is my fav.  You're seeing a side (ish) profile with sunken in eyes, cute little nose and lips and giant, fat cheeks.

Here is a big leg and a big foot all smashed up by his/her face.

And a sweet little face with a foot right on top of its head!  No doubt this is my child...Look at those little toes!

We are hoping this kid chooses a sport that will pay its way through University; we all know it's going to have the height and the quads to make that happen ;)

xxk&j&massive baby

The Stuff

So I officially haven't worked in over three months (thank you, teacher strike).  The financial piece of this scenario isn't cool, but the tons and tons and tons of time piece of this situation has been so awesome.  A lot of people have asked me what I did this summer, which causes me to think deeply and reply, "Nothing". 

But that's not true.  Here's photo evidence from my phone as to what I've been doing in the past three months:

The Bob.  Four years ago two of our friends were having their first babies.  We learned all about The Bob back then and have been blessed with a super top-notch second hand Bob from our friends, Paul & Jen.  We got a smokin' deal on this stroller and we can't wait to use it in the forest trails behind our house!

The car seat.  So...since The Bob is a 4.5 year old stroller (which in stroller years is like, retro-chic) we had an extremely limited choice of car seats.  After HOURS of online research I finally found a car seat that would work for our stroller; however, the next challenge was finding one that would ship within Canada.  We couldn't just go to the store and buy a car seat because remember, our stroller is retro-chic.  Anyhow, Sears pulled through and delivered the car seat right on time.  Now we just have to figure out how to connect it to the stroller?

I've been planning this baby room in my head since the moment we took possession of our house.  It's not nearly close to being done yet, so all you get is this little sneak peak :)

We had a baby shower here in Victoria and it was awesome! I think about 30 people attended and the whole event was just so, so lovely.  The theme was "travel" and people blessed us with so. many. gifts.  We also did yoga.

It's too early to say whether we will put our child in French Immersion school or not, but we do plan to raise this baby with a solid understanding of three languages (English/French/German) (German school on Saturdays - hello!) This bilingual version of Cat in the Hat is a perfect addition to our ever growing children's library!

Those who voted "boy" at the baby shower.

And those who voted "girl".

Baby socks serve as excellent toe warmers for Joel.  I'm constantly praying for a small baby you guys, but I just don't think it's gonna happen.

I was training for a half marathon when I found out I was pregnant.  A small hemorrhage at week 7 of this pregnancy caused a huge scare and I decided to stop all running training.  I've been missing running like CrAzY and have essentially turned into a blob again.  Recently I've finally found my way back into the forest behind our house and have been reunited with my RunKeeper app...but it's all walking now.  My good friend (who is due with her 2nd in early October) and I signed up for the 2015 lululemon Seawheeze half marathon, so I expect to get back at running around February-ish.

If this teacher strike continues for much longer, guaranteed baby stuff photo updates will be happening, I promise!

xxk&j&baby

Welcome to our Family Blog!

Hey everyone,

As many of you probably know, I write a public blog together with my teacher friend, Meaghan.  That blog (taleoftwoteachers.com) is strictly about all things education...most of the time.  Over the past year and a half I've grown to adore blogging because I think it's a really neat way to reach people far and wide, while sharing and connecting with the world.

We have chosen to keep our baby off of social media until he/she is born.  Yes, we will post some photos to Facebook/Instagram, but our intention is to have most of our photos and updates on this blog.  Many people have asked us WHY we chose to do this and we don't really have a concrete answer.  All we know is that all too often things can go wrong with public social media and while we don't undermine Facebook's awesomeness (most of the time), we'd rather have a private, secure place to share family photos and stories with the people who are genuinely interested in our family adventures and updates.  That being said, this is a private blog.  Readers (i.e. YOU!) must have an account to log in and see our posts/write comments, etc.  Readers also must be "approved" by us, the authors, so even if something from this blog were to be shared on public social media, no one else would be able to see it.  We like that this blogging adventure will be private and secure.

So, without further ado, welcome to our family blog! Check back often for updates and photos! We will try to post as often as we can.

Here is a crummy iPhone photo of me at 27 weeks (or "almost 7 months", since I find counting in weeks to be somewhat exhausting and way too mathematical).  

This 27th week (or end of the 6th month) has been the most "pregnant feeling" week for me so far.  A few months ago that lulu shirt I'm wearing in the above photo just made me look...fat.  But now, man, that baby sure fills it up!  I've gained about 23 pounds so far and last night I said out loud to Joel, "I am never allowed to gain this much weight in real life" (pregnancy = not real life, obviously, just a little hiatus from real life).  My hands are fat.  I had to shelve my real rings and dig out my fake engagement ring last week (it's about 3 sizes too big for me in real life).  My feet are fat.  One of the perks of this teacher strike is that I haven't had to wear close toed shoes since mid-June; therefore, flip flops have been my go to.  I will probably cry when I have to shove my feet into real shoes.  This week I've been hungry and thirsty constantly, which will probably continue and get more intense as this baby starts to pack on the pounds!  My favourite this to do these days is sit still and feel baby move around, until it kicks my belly button, which feels like it's being tarred and quartered - ugh.  Joel's fav thing to do these days is dig ditches and paint trim (ha! maybe not his fav...)

We have an ultrasound coming up this week to get the spine photos our midwives need (baby was too stubborn to roll over at the last ultrasound).  At the upcoming ultrasound the tech will also check out the placement of the placenta, since last time it was low lying.  Stay tuned for that update.

Much love,
k&j&baby