Moving on...

Time to move on.

I have moved to a new address.

If you're nice with me, I might even give it to you...

It is in French. Yes, in French.

Why ? Because I can...

xx

Health

I am learning not to panick at new medical terms. I'm also learning not to Google every single one of those new terms. It is a slow process...

Meghan had, or so we thought, a residue infection from a cracked lip from birth that led us to the ER, which led us to an emergency consult with a specialist the following day, which led us to an invasive treatment 4 days later.

(Before anyone comment: we aren't bad parents who didn't noticed something was wrong. We followed every steps from consulting the government issued book (Tiny Tots to toddler), calling the Info-Santé service, asking advices from the pharmacist who recommended we see an ER ped, which would speed up the road to treatment, if needed...)

The verdict:

Meghan has a very fast growing ulcerated hemangioma on her bottom lip. No, it is not life treatening. But it is hurting her, a lot. It also makes feeding quite difficult and painful. And it makes my heart bleed to see her in so much pain.

We are fortunate enought to live 30 minutes away from one of the best children hospital in North America; also the only one that can treat that kind on hemangioma in Eastern Canada.

Laser treatment was started last week as well as injections. We can already see an improvement. We are also applying Lidocaine on her lip before feeding, which helps her.

We'll meet with the specialist again on February 9th, to decide on the next steps...

A little update...

Things are going wonderfully over here. Kiddo is now on a routine and we've mastered to understand most cries:

• I'm bored, do something about it!
• Hey you, can't you see that diaper is dirty?
• Feed me.
• Leave me alone. But don't go too far.

And the popular:

• I know there's something I want but I just can't figure out what yet, so let's hang out until I do...

We now have 3 new best friends: the swing 'O matic, the Bumbo chair and baby cereal (more on that later...).

What else? We're theeting over here! Top and bottom. No cries involve, fortunately, but lots of drool and some crankiness...

Facts...

Facts about Little Miss M:

- She's grown 9 cm over the last month

- She's gained 4.5 pounds

- Breastfeeding is a no-go for us: She ended up with a badly cracked lip, and I, with very blody nipples. Giving her her first bottle was very, very emotional for me: She was a champion at latching from the get-go! But I didn't have enough colostrum and the milk never came.

- Little Miss M doesn't like a dirty diaper and boy, will she let the world know as soon as something hits that diaper!

- Belly time has been a challenge since day 11: she'll flip on her back in less than 5 seconds! Finding ways to streighten her neck mucles hasn't been easy.

- She is a huge farter. HUGE! It still amazes me how much air can come out of such a tiny body. Daddy is very proud.

The labor story...

This could be a long post...

I had an appointment with my OB on my due date, Friday, November 20th. All of our plans of having an induction on that day or over the weekend were rapidly bashed: my cervix was still rigid as a plywood plank and an induction would mean at least 72 hours of labor. We just had to be patient and wait a bit more. The next plan was an induction the following Friday night...

Fast forward to Tuesday. I got a hunch something was coming when Moka the dog spent the entire day by my side, whining and looking strangely at me. I finally went to bed at midnight but never managed to fall asleep: I kept tossing and tossing. And then at 1:05am, I heard a strange pop and felt a gush of the weirdest liquid ever. I woke Bob up, we both took a quick shower, called the hospital and on our way we were!

Although there was no denial that my water broke, the nurses and on-call OB were dumbfounded by it: my cervix was still very, very hard... I was admitted and put on Pitocin at 2:45am. Within 15 minutes, I had stage 3 contractions every 2 minutes. Fast-forward to 1pm. I tried the bathtub: definitely not for me! After the longest 30 minutes ever, I had to get out. Just had to. When we got back to our room (I say our because Bob was co-sleeping with me and well, that particular new hospital only has private rooms... ) my amazing nurse had everything ready for an epidural. I didn't have to ask. She just knew it was time: I had been in full on labor for 12 hours and was still barely at 1cm.

The rest of the day and evening are kind of blurry. I know it involves a lot of pain and the epidural running off a couple of times.

I finally managed to get to 10cm after 26 hours of labor. I was still a -3, but the OB decided I should still try and push. After 3 hours of pushing, he realized the baby was rear-facing and that a skull fracture was eminent. I needed an emergency C-section. Of course, by that time I was totally out of it, just wanted the baby out and wanted nothing to do with a C-section...

It took a lot of focus on Bob's part to make me realize the urgency of it all and to make me realize that having a C-section didn't mean failure. It only meant, for us, having a healthy baby girl***

15 minutes later, little Miss M was born...



***Have I ever mentionned I love that men? He was a troupper during the entire labor adventure. That men running for ice chips, warm blankets, more gatorade? That was him. Also the greatest back rubber, focus coach and overall best partner I could have chosen...

Bragging...

I am that bitch that could fit loosely in her pre-pregnancy clothes 9 days after giving birth...

I actually weight 5 pounds less than before becoming pregnant.

Sorry. I just had to brag.

Introducing...

Please meet Meghan !

Labor was hard. Long. And not at all like it was supposed to be.

After 26 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing, an emergency C section was performed.

But it was all so worth it...