November Update

We have TEETH!! 2 to be exact, they just popped through on the bottom yesterday and she has been in a much better mood today. She can sit on her own now once you prop her up, but she still can't pull herself to a sitting position, but she is trying hard.

 We had a meeting with the infant development nurse and even though she isn't concerned with her not crawling or pulling herself up yet, she is going to continue to meet with us every 2 weeks. This is just to help develop these skills through play.

  We have been going to baby massage classes which she TOTALLY loves!! I mean who wouldn't love laying there and being massaged?!?
Yesterday we went and did all our Christmas shopping and we went a small little store called The British Isles Shoppe. They had this adorable little shit that said "Canadian made with Scottish roots" so OBVIOUSLY I had to get that for my little Scottish princess!! While we were there I noticed they had a section with TONS of soccer stuff, so Isabel bought mommy a Liverpool mug for Christmas (ok, so I bought it for myself ... but whatever ) 

 Today was the Santa Clause Parade in my hometown so we went and I think she had a blast (once she woke up lol)

Girl and her Dog

Sitting on her own

Waiting for the parade to start

She spotted some BIG doggies

With Mommy

Mommy and Daddy

MY PRINCESS!!

Our Last 2 Months

Little sisters wedding - Sept 3rd

  The last 3 months have been extremely hard on me. As some of you know I suffered from depression, anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia before I ever became pregnant. The minute I knew we were expecting I stopped all medications because I didn't want to take any risks when we had been trying for 9 years.
   I knew that I would be high risk for Post Partum Depression and that I would need to watch for the signs. The first 3 months everything was wonderful, I was getting out lots and enjoying my baby. Slowly towards the end of her 3 month mark things started changing. I was finding reason not to be left home alone with her, I didn't want my husband to leave me for any reason and if he did I would panic the second he walked out the door. This wasn't out of fear that I was going to do anything to harm my baby, nothing like that at all. It was more, i'm going to have a panic attack and then a heart attack while I am here by myself and no one is going to be here to watch Isabel. I recognized the problem fairly quickly, but I admit I did not go see my Dr right away. I kept telling myself you have gone almost 13 months with no medication, you just need to try harder. This wasn't the case, it didn't matter how hard I tried to just get over my feelings it wasn't working and I finally contacted my dr. I was put back on medication and it hasn't been a great road so far but we are working on it.
  Isabel is now close to 7 months old and boy oh boy does she keep us busy....she isn't crawling yet with honestly is a bit of a relief because we can hardly keep up with her rolling, she is never in the same place you left her.....she has an impish little grin that can turn the worst moment into the best part of my day.
  We had alot going on this summer...we had her dedications, lots of family bbq's, her Great Uncle was home from Australia, we spent MANY days at Nanny Debbie's Trailer sitting by the lake having campfires, she was a busy little baby.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last couple months

Dedication Photo (August - 4months old)

A girl and her Great Grandfather - Love

Mommys little Pumpkin

Happy About Aunt Britts Wedding

My Love

Testing out our new toque before Winter

That Grin!!

Wearing her Wellington Dukes Toque

We have started eating real food

 

 

So all in all things are going pretty good, I'm just going to keep plugging away trying to do my best at this parenting thing (btw its not at all easy!!) We are super excited about Christmas this year and I can't wait to see her ripping into presents and only caring about the boxes...lol

She IS my daughter!!!

She may only be 4 months old...but this little one has some attitude...lol

Let's Celebrate!

Happy Canada Day Everyone

11 weeks old

Isabel Ava Is Here

Isabel Ava

The last few weeks of pregnancy were really rough. I was diagnosed as being anemic, and spent every other day at the hospital hooked up to monitors for Fetal Non Stress Tests to keep an eye on her heartrate. They did a biophysical ultrasound and didn't see her doing any "practice" breathing, which was concerning. I had so much lower back and hip pain that I could barely walk anymore and was in agony every single day. Finally, just 3 days before I hit my 38week mark the Dr said she would
induce me. I had to be at the hospital the next evening to have a balloon inserted into my cervix and filled with water to help speed up dilation, well it worked...the damn thing had fallen out before I even made it back home, meaning I had gone from 0 centimeters to 3 in just a few hours.

I got a phone call at 7am the next morning to be at the hospital for induction at 10am. They started Oxytocin right away as well as my antibiotics, I was having contractions but they were so small that I didn't feel anything at that time. Around 2pm my Dr came in to do an examination at this time she broke my water. Within minutes contractions started getting stronger and closer together and pretty freaking painful..lol it didn't take long for me to say I wanted an epidural. Now the Epidural is a funny thing, it hurts like hell getting it but after its put in and the drugs are working its your best friend!! I went through my entire labour not feeling anything (including my legs). They examined me again and inserted a catheter as well as attaching a couple monitors directly onto my little ones head, so they could monitor her heartrate from inside.

By 10pm I was 8cm dilated and by 11 I was a full 10 and it was time to push!! By this time they had turned the epidural off, so I could feel contractions and know when I needed to push. I pushed for about 1/2 an hour and then had a full on panic attack...I was trying to get off the table, I was crying, and begging for a csection, I thought for sure I was going to die and there was no way that I would be able to get the baby out...but then something happened....I was going to try and take a little breather and just wait out a few contractions to gain some strength back, but when I went to lower my leg I could feel my baby's head...there was no stopping then. I'm not sure where the energy came from but I began pushing again. Little girls heartrate dropped and my Dr said that we need to have this baby NOW. She attached a vacuum to her head and everytime I pushed she was pulling, my mother later informed me that it looked similar to a farmer delivering a calf..lol Thanks mom!. After about 3 of these pushes she told me that I needed to stop. The cord was wrapped twice around little ones neck, so tightly that it needed to be cut right away and couldn't just be slipped over her head.

Welcome to the world baby girl

We finally got baby out and the nurses took her away to do their job.....I couldn't see anything but my mom and Darren could....they said she wasn't moving or crying and they could see the nurses pressing on her belly. After what seemed like hours we finally heard what sounded like a little newborn kitten mewing...it was my baby...the baby I had waited 9 long years for, she was finally here. They brought her right over to me and it was love at first sight...honestly I had no idea it was possible to love someone so deeply. Isabel Ava came into this world April 11th, 2015 at 12:03am weighing 6lbs 14oz and 19inches long

I am proud to say that I didn't yell or scream during birth...I didn't swear at anyone.....I think I made the most noise when it was all over and I was getting my 3 stitches lol

Its been a week now and we are back home and doing fantastic, who needs sleep right??All in all the labour wasn't that bad and I think its all the pains and everything you go through AFTER giving birth that is WAY more painful.

One Week Old

We are in the Homestretch now

We now have just a short 9 weeks and 1 day to go!! Its just amazing, I never thought I would be pregnant and here I am thinking about labour and delivery....which by the way is pretty scary and I wouldn't recommend watching youtube videos, nothing good can come from it LOL. My OBGYN thinks that a vaginal birth would be best for me....BUT, I may not be able to have an epidural because of my size....so we may have to have a little talk...lol

So, what has been happening......hmmm... Back at the beginning of January at 24 weeks pregnant I went to Kingston General Hospital to have my Fetal Anatomy Scan done. Takes about an hour but they measure EVERYTHING Baby is measured from crown to rump, around her middle, around her head — and that's just for starters. The four chambers of the heart are viewed, as well as the kidneys, bladder, stomach, brain, spine and sex organs. Organs, including the umbilical cord, ensures that they are developing normally. They also be look at your amniotic fluid levels, the location of the placenta, and the fetal heart rate. So its a pretty important scan I wasn't going to do it at first, but when I saw just how much they needed to look at I changed my mind. This way if they did find a problem with little baby girl they would be prepared when birth time comes. As usual she was a wiggly little bugger in there and it was hard to get a good picture of her...I think she is waiting until she is here to make her big reveal...we did however get one semi decent picture....and let me tell you, there is no denying that she has MY nose.....I do hope she grows into the "fish lips" though

I was really nervous to find out the results of my scan, I went to see the OBGYN 2 weeks later and it felt like a year....but I had nothing to be worried about, everything was fine. She was about 1 lb more than she should be at that stage, but they said that could even out later on, so not to be concerned.

We have been working like crazy to get the nursery all set up and I think we are just about done, aside from hanging a set of blinds, but of course we have a lot of time because for the first month or 2 she will be sleeping in the bedroom with us in a cradle. Makes for easier night time feedings. We have decided on an owl theme for her room with nice soft pink walls and white furniture. BTW, Nursery furniture costs a FORTUNE. We opted for a 4-1 crib...so it converts from Crib, to toddler bed, to day bed, to a full sized double I believe. Its buying all the conversion kits that really screws with the price, but I was worried that by the time we needed them we wouldn't be able to get them anymore.

 

We've also purchased a baby swing, bouncy chair that vibrates and plays music, a playpen with bassinet. The purchase that I am most excited about is my super duper jogging stroller, comes with an infant car seat that will eventually need to be replaced once she reaches 25lbs but man this is once nice stroller!! It will be prefect for Jogging when we are ready to get back out there as well as going on the trails because the wheels are basically bicycle tires. So as far as big items I think we are pretty much set....just need to stock up on diapers, baby wipes, bottles etc. I will wait until after my baby shower to see what I still need to buy

These last 3 weeks have been absolute hell for me, I have never been this sick in my life. Started as a cold and being pregnant there is nothing I can take for it so it just got worse and worse. I have been to the hospital emergency twice in the last 2 weeks. The first time was because I was having a hard time breathing so they put me on 2 different puffers. Second time was because every time I coughed it felt like someone was stabbing me in the side, turns out I have developed Pleurisy and again nothing they can give me other than over the counter Tylenol. I just have to take it easy..I was worried because the baby wasn't moving as much as she normally does, but they did an ultrasound and she was in there wiggling around and her heart rate was just fine. Dr explained that because my body is so rundown and tired that I am just not noticing her movements.

Now because I am getting close to the end my appointments have gone from once a month to every other week. I will be going next week to see her and then I think she said she would be ordering another ultrasound for around 34 weeks..

I can't wait to meet my little Angel