♥ Videos to Warm Your Heart! ♥

Hi.... So I've got a couple of videos to share with you... this first one you have to click on the link as I had to upload it to youtube as it was a tad too big (by three seconds or so) for the blog. BUT its super cute. Its the first little video of Francis and it's when she's only one day old...not even actually. So click on the link below and get a nice little smile!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm4gfQOC7a4&list=HL1338527507&feature=mh_lolz

This next video is of Alistair in a little pool contraption that I bought online. Its made specifically for higher needs kids. I was skeptical regarding how well it would work for Alistair. As the main part I was really buying was this floatation ring that goes around the neck...yeppers the neck. Anyhow, I set it up and Alistair tried it for the first time today and he really enjoyed it! Lots of giggling and moving his extremities. What I'm hoping to get out of it is a better sleeping son! LOL I say this as he really doesn't have much he does that wears him out. So I figure his 930pm to 4am regular sleep schedule could maybe possibly lengthen with some extra physical activity..In this particular video he has his legs pretty straight. However, as he spent time in the pool he got more and more relaxed and then had his legs bent a lot. His first go he was in the pool for 20 minutes! I was so pleased! So he did sleep till 6am rather than 4am today so who knows if its because of the pool but I'm definitely going to try it out again and see if there is a pattern!

Well all is going well. Yesterday was day six and I'm feeling pretty darn good. Plus last night I got a great sleep which makes today going to be even better! On my fourth day post partum I had to take Francis in to the doctor for a regular check up and she had almost gained all out weight back. They like to see the babies weigh the same as their birth weight by one week as the little kidelts always drop initially. As for myself, I jumped on the scale hoping to be under 200lbs as I got up to a nice healthy 214! lol Anyhow, to my delight I was 191 lbs! So only 25 lbs to loose to get back to my preprego weight....breast feeding did wonders for that department when I was prego with Alistair so here's hoping the same goes for Francis :D

Francis Elisabeth MacMillan

Finally! Francis Elisabeth MacMillan arrived! I just could not post all these pictures. So if you've been patiently waiting to see some pictures here are pictures, pictures and more pictures of our beautiful 8lb 2oz gorgeous girl. So far she seems like a mellow, content little munchkin who loves to breast feed, poop and sleep. Several months ago I did predict that she would come ten days overdue and that is exactly what she did. 

 I went into the hospital at 8am on the 25th to start the induction process. I got cervidal placed behind my cervix to get the cervix motivated and then was monitored for a couple of hours to make sure things were going as planned and then headed home. Before I left I started to feel some moderate aches in my tummy but nothing too drastic. I figured I was in for some nasty cramping all weekend. Mom came and hung out with Alistair for the day so I didn't have to focus on anything but myself.

 But truthfully I figured that the process would take several days as when I was induced with Alistair it was definitely a process. Anyhow, it didn't take long before I was feeling pretty intense lower abdominal cramping. Basically, it felt like I had a big old nasty charlie horse in my tummy for the whole day and it wasn't giving me any reprieve. I kept busy by watering all my flowers, patio, and lawn over and over and over again.

 

 Plus for some reason my left leg was aching in a nasty way so the only way to get my head off it all was to keep moving and keep my brain focused on something other than what was really going on. It was all very tolerable but I can't say I was enjoying myself in the least. Labour from my perspective SUCKS! Anyhow, finally at 8pm I was to go back into the hospital to get checked and have the doctor decide the next step. So not to my surprise I was only 3cm dilated and if you're not aware you have to get to 10cm before its pushing time! So Dr. Textor gave me the option to have another cervidal or go straight to the IV drip.

 So we opted for another cervidal. With this drug they monitor you and the baby for an hour and keep you for a total of two. THANK GOONESS they did! I told Jason he may has well go home and have a shower and then come back as we live just 2 minutes away and he had been working all day. I took a shot of Morphine and Gravol just before he left. At about 10pm I started getting regular contractions and could remember thinking thank goodness I can finally get a break in between as the cramping was just constant all the time.

 However, things really started to test me by around 1030 pm. Suddenly I started think "how come I'm coping so poorly when I'm likely only 4cm dilated...I'm totally going to have to go for an epidural here sooner than later" Ya labour was starting to not just SUCK but REALLY REALLY SUCK!

Then Dr Textor and the nurse came in and eventually I was able to give them a chance to check me and to everyones surprise I was 9.5cm DILATED! I was so shocked yet relieved I was so far along. Needless to say they rushed me to a delivery room and got me to attempt to hold off as much as possible while they got things set up. It did get a bit intense for a few minutes as her heart rate was not rebounding between contractions but "the team" had things under control and Dr Textor was fabulous in giving me direction to give Francis the best experience we could.

 Within minutes of pushing, out came our little girl totally fiesty at 1105pm. Her three apgar scores were all NINE. Which if you don't know is the best your babe can score and indicates the health of the newborn. When they took her over to the warmer she rolled over and had her bum right up in the air with her knees under her! So due to her fiesty nature and great scores there really isn't any concern with her having an anoxic event.

 I have to say I was pretty darn emotional when she came out. Dr. Textor said after a good checkup that she is "perfect". I'm such a worst case scenario person and have too many friends with kidlets that have cerebral palsy that I really wasn't going to beable to rest easy until this little one entered the world. So yes the emotions flew out with tons of happiness involved.

 So of course things couldn't just go completely normal. But they were all good with Francis and thats all I really cared about. So ya my darn old placenta decided to grow into my uterus again so it didn't just slip out as is should have. So after Dr. Kingston got consulted I was sent off to the OR for a little workup or clean up and a couple of hours later I was back with my little girl and husband.

 Francis was super eager to get on the boob and get her first fill. Another wonderful relief was she didn't need any coaching with that department. Its like she had the extra time and read the manuals in utero and was on like no tomorrow. I guess I lost about 1300 ml of blood and after checking my levels I had a hemoglobin of 109. So nothing too drastic. Due to a possible hemmoraging risk, because of my placenta issue, though they wanted to keep me a little longer than normal so I didn't get discharged home till the morning of May 27th.

 It was pretty bizzare for me to walk out of the hospital with my husband and daugher.Then to literally minutes later walk in my house to find Grandma Hedges and Alistair welcoming us with big smiles was wonderful. What a lovely feeling to experience "normal". It was pretty emotional for me to see my little guy after being in the hospital as he suddenly wasn't my little baby boy anymore. It was like he grew up over the weekend and became the toddler he was likely trying to tell us he has been for the last year. We enjoyed a big steak dinner with along with corn on the cob, garlic toast and a nice green salad which. It was a lovely change from having the tasteless rubbery hospital food. BLAH!

Anyhow, now I'm just recouperating and Grandma Hedges is here 12 hours a day for the next while to help us out while I get my energy level back and get in some sort of routine. So yes life is lovely. We're all loving our new dynamics of a family of four and thank you so much for all the kind words that have already been sent. I'm sure I'll be putting up a lot of posts up in the next while so enjoy!

☼ Cheers Julie ☼

I Feel Like a BIG Girl Now!

Well by the look of this picture I'm sure you've gathered that I'm STILL prego! Yeppers. As of tomorrow I will be TEN days overdue. I have to say I'm feeling pretty darn good considering and to be honest when we had a family bet I figured my due date would be May 25th! So perhaps that will be the case. Tomorrow morning I call the maternity ward at 7am to see if they can schedule me in for an induction. So potentially the process will get started tomorrow. However, it could also be delayed numerous days dependent on how many other mothers are naturally going into labour. So if they're swamped I will get put off.... So we will see. But even so if I get in tomorrow they will just start with Cervidil. Its basically a prostaglandin pouch they stick in your cervix to "ripen" the cervix.....geeze now I'm talking like I'm made up of a piece of fruit LOL... Anyhow, they will try this method three times with 12 hours between each and if I'm not progressing well enough then they go to the Oxytocin IV drip. So here's hoping the little pouches work!

So ya I've been keeping busy and getting more and more organized. I keep thinking today could be the day so then I add a couple things to my daily list. Everyone thinks I'm having the prebaby energy spurt but honestly if thats the case I've been having it for the last three weeks! Honestly, i just think...holy smokes if I have this kid tomorrow then I better get this and that done.  

 Anyhow, now my whole veggie garden is planted, my raised beds are all sorted, I've transplanted a bunch of rhubarb so now I have six separate plants to cut from!, plus I've transplanted a whole shwack load of creeping

thyme which I hope will come up nicely and trim around the patio blocks so that I will have this beautiful lush green trim in my patio area. So basically I'm making myself a little sanctuary for the summer as I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking close to home this season which is fine by me.

Well it turned out to be all worth while. After the daunting task of taking on grant applications, I am so very pleased to say that both grants were APPROVED. So as you know, the application to the Giving in Action Foundation was approved for $25,000 and yesterday I got a call from the Presidents Choice Children's Charity to inform us that we were approved for our $20,000! So now I just have to put in an application to the Variety Club and see if we can get that last smaller grant. The reason we are going after so many grants is the conversion itself will cost $30,000 no matter what route we take. So yes its all an incredible bonus.

OK Peps....maybe this will be the last blog posting prior to kidlet #2 arriving! We will see....until then...have a beautiful day :D

40 Weeks & 3 Days and STILL PREGO

Well yes its true and I was right, I'm an overdue mama and a BIG way! If I don't go into labour by the 22nd they will schedule me for induction on the 25th. ACK. Honestly, I've done everything on the old wives tale list to get this bambino coming in the last couple of day.....jumping on a trampoline, cutting three city lots of lawn, eatting spicy food, squats, lots of lovin, and being active! Noppers this kidlet just figures its way to cozy in then out! I even got some raspberry bushes, engelman ivy, and about 10 planters planted. The lawn is fertilized, and so on and so forth. O well I may as well not fret as this little one is just going to enter this world when it jolly well pleases. Oooo and I got this beautiful bouquet for Mother's Day from my men. Love it! The lilly's are making the house smell gorgeous.

 Here is little man stylin! LOL I've been trying and trying to get him to wear these sunglasses (for years) and he refuses. The fact that he is photosensitive makes being out doors a tad trying for him so i was delighted when he finally kept them on while we hung out on the patio. We will see what happens next time. I also bought him that chew toy through the States. I read somewhere that it is common for kids with low muscle tone to have drooling issues as it affects their muscles in the face. In addition, the low muscle tone affects their speech as well. One way I've read to help with this is to give them chew toys to strengthen their facial muscles. So Alistair is happily chewing away now. I got it through therapro.com if anyone is interested.

This was so super cute I had to take a picture. We had all just finished hanging out by the camp fire and as soon as we came in Alistair crashed in his Dads arms. Its a rarity to have him fall asleep on us so when it happens out comes the camera. I'm really happy to report that Alistair has normalized again. We increased his meds a tad and it seems to have done the trick. He's back to his interactive, giggly self. Plus all the extra eye and body movement has disappeared. Its odd really in hind site we know he goes through these not so positive episodes every so often. It always seems to be right when he's really progressing forward. So not sure if just a coincidence or he progresses during a growth spurt which in turn effects his meds or what but it does happen every so often and I never get use to it.

I guess one always worries that he won't come around this time or that something else has surfaced that will cause issues. Especially, due to the fact he is undiagnosed anything is possible whether its in the negative or positive direction. Anyhow, I just love this video that I caught yesterday of Jason and Alistair. He just loves his Dad so much and well ...his Dad..... he just can't get enough of his son either...warms my heart!

 ☼ Have a Beautiful Day ☼

39 Weeks & Busy

Yeppers this is me just a couple days prior to 39 weeks. I figured I had better take a couple of photos with the belly prior to going into labour. Which is still pending! I'm feeling pretty darn good. Yesterday I got our last scheduled major appointments out of the way. Plus I've been trying to get various other things off my list so I have to do as little as possible in the month following the arrival of our new little one. I really have no idea whether its going to be a boy or girl. No incling at all. Just feel like it'll be over the due date. The majority seem to think it'll be a girl but who knows! I had my membranes stripped the other day with little results and the doc figured I'm  going to be another good week. This last while isn't as bad as I had heard. Ya I'm large, move awkwardly, etc. but really its not super bad. I'm just looking forward to not having the achey hips and shoulders. I think too when I compare it to Alistair's last few weeks in utero I really have nothing to complain about with this one.

Unfortunately, Alistair has had a rough last week or so. Its been coming on slowly where he just seems over active, shouting more, and just disorganized in his body and eye movements. However, in the last two days its been quite bad where he goes from almost hysterical laughter to crying to whining and back again. Plus he has all these really random, jerky body movements which even happen in his sleep when we can finally get him to settle. Its bizzare and obviously upsetting for us as he was coming along so nicely. He was starting to talk back and forth, take some assisted steps, and just be progressing all in a nice direction. I guess I shouldn't be surprised but its just heart aching when you have so much hope for your little man and wham it comes to an abrupt halt or actually more like several steps backwards. The worst part is that he just isnt' enjoying himself these days and is struggling. So I have increased his antiseizure med slightly as of last night. I just feel it has something to do with a disorganized over active brain and fingers crossed this will help resolve things in the next week or so. Poor little fella. Anyhow, obviously we just hope we can get him back on track sooner than later too as it will make life a tad easier when this other kidlet decides its better to be out than in.

Thats right... I ♥ Facebook!

Yes Yes I know a lot of people have a love hate or a total hate on for facebook. Yes it can be full of a bunch of totally worthless information, pictures, comments, and ideas. However, since having Alistair...actually NO prior to having Alistair and he was still content in utero it became a bit of a mental life saver for me. I was only suppose to be up on my feet for 20 minutes at a time, I had to move down to Vancouver on my own at 30 weeks gestation, and prepare for all the unknown. So what did I do...played mindless facebook games ie farmville was a great one, and kept in touch with friends and family. Now with Alistair out in the world and obviously a "higher needs child" I find a lot of times I'm quite housebound as I'm always working with him on something, he can entertain himself but he's basically laying on his back unless I work with him otherwise and I feel incredibly guilty leaving him lying there with the same old stimulation over and over and over. So to promote exploration, change, and interest I have to be his motivator. So ya...it can be tough to get out and about. So facebook has been a saviour in a lot of respects. It keeps me in touch with friends and family and provides me a social atmosphere from my home. But one thing I've found lately is groups within facebook that have been very helpful for me. Especially a group called  "SWAN UK" which stands for "syndromes without a name" which is obviously based out of the UK. I've been on the group for a good couple of months and find it incredibly supportive. As parents we can relate, support each other when times feel overwhelming, give each other ideas, brag about our little ones accomplishments, and just be there for each other. I also started a SWAN Canada facebook page as it would be nice to share more medical and supportive information that relates to being Canadian. So if you read this and would like to try and make a community click on the link and join! The other beauty of facebook is you can "sign out" when you've had enough. No ones forcing you to read, interact, or joing anything... it truly is up to you. Another group I've joined is "Hypotonia (awareness)" Again another great group. All the parents children have hypotonia for different reasons but again it provides a huge support network as there are over 800 members on this site. Again it allows one to share where there child is at whether its for grieving purposes, bragging purposes, or just plain day to day support. I also find these sites provide me a lot of hope for Alistairs future as you see gets accomplish amazing things, parents cope with amazing challeges, and in the end finding a way to normalize your life. On the hypotonia site one mom posted this link on "9 Ways You Can Help A Special Needs Parent." For the most part this article really hit home for me. NUMBER 8 SOOOO SOOO SOO true. It aches me when people go to interact with my kid and he doesn't react "normally" so they just pull away and pretend he's not there. Also if you have kids let... them touch, drop "small" toys on or around my kid, interact or convince them to. As my little guy gets NO interaction with kids otherwise. The only one I really don't relate to is Number 1. I want friends and family to brag of their kids accomplishments. It hurts sometimes..makes me jealous or sad but it helps me deal with the reality of Alistair's situation. But all that being said..be aware of Number 5...don't complain about your kids "bad accomplishments" as I would pay the world to have my kid throw a can of soup down a grocery isle!

Strollers Galore

It seems that we went from having just one stroller to three new ones in a matter of weeks. I'm sure you're thinking WHAT or WHY!!?

Well depending on what you are use to you may not call this a stroller but it is! We have been waiting for funding and the order to go through for this for a few months now. I'm just delighted to have this in our home now. It makes life so much easier and better visually for Alistair. I say this as the chair is on a hydraulic system which allows me to have him low enough I can sit on the couch and feed him, bring him over to the kitchen and have him at my eye level, or pull him right up to the dining table and be part of the family. There are also a lot of out door benefits I'm sure but we just haven't gotten there yet! If you want to look into this stoller more its called a Hi-Lo Stroller from adaptivemall.com

Then the other day our friends Jack & Becca came over with a double chariot stroller for us as a dual present. Jason did a bunch of work for them on their house this past winter and with the baby en route they wanted to give us something special. Special it is too! I would never have gone out and bought one but the beauty of it is that you can buy all sorts of attachments for it. For instance, I'm really excited for this winter as I can get a ski attachment and pull it behind me. Anyhow it'll be fun to figure it out.

Then with having bambino number two coming and needing a double stroller mom came over one day with this one that I've been eyeing up. I love it as it sits Alstair up right so he's looking out rather than up at the sky which is the way most strollers seem to be riged. The other thing about this is the bottom seat can be turned so the kids are facing each other which I feel would be nice stimulation for the both of them. This stroller is a City Select Double

Mom just Emailed me this photo of Grandma Hedges & George in his stroller that Mom uses. Now haven't they come a long way to convincing us that we need more...bigger, better, off terraine strollers. Really, the whole stroller thing can be a tad on the ridiculous side. HOWEVER, I'll tell you what when your child has such a decrease in their over mobility it truly is wonderful as our little people become very dependent on them on how they perceive the world and how, what and where mom can take them!