Baby Update

Hello there!!

Another day another update. :D It`s been a few days and I don`t want to fall behind like I did last time!!

Things are going well and have settled down since I was discharged from the hospital last week. The heparin shots (ick!!!) are going well - Sheldon has been `sticking` me every night. I have had some nose bleeds, and called the doctor on Friday to chat about it. Things are improving and I do a follow up with my doctor on Thursday so we will chat more about it then.

I am now (did I mention - I can`t remember) getting weekly fetal monitoring because the baby seems to have developed a heart arrhythmia - a very distinct though not regular skipping heartbeat. It showed up when I was in the hospital and the doctor wants to keep an eye on it. There is tons of research and information about it on the internet which of course I have been reading up on like crazy!!.

My doctor did mention that the arrhythmia usually clears up on it`s own before the baby is born, or shortly after birth, so we are keeping a close eye on it. It is disturbing to hear the skippy heartbeat (especially when other mom`s who are in for monitoring - and their babies have nice strong, regular heartbeats), but this baby seems to be handling it well, and is growing well, so we will take it week by week and see if anything further develops or if it resolves itself. I will be chatting with the doctor during my regular visit this week - to find out if we are going to do another ultrasound to make sure baby is growing okay, and what, if anything, we will do if the baby doesn`t seem to be growing well.

To add to this lovely development the baby is up in a breech position right now - like seriously kiddo! There is still time for the baby to turn - which it likes to do on a semi-regular basis...but it will be nice for it to finally `flip` down and stay there so we know at least ONE thing will go right this pregnancy! har har

This baby loves to move around and loves to kick up a storm! har har....it particulary likes to stick it`s foot, or something!, into my hip bone...it just nestles it there all comfy like - such fun when I am trying to sit down! :P

All in all, feeling good - definitely growing the belly and I am curious to see how much I have gained since my last doctor`s visit (I haven`t been on a scale in 3 weeks!!!).

Getting anxious to meet this little one - especially since I have been in and out of the maternity ward so much in the last few weeks....all the little babies and the memories of Evan and Kira`s birth just flooding back to me. I can`t believe it`s really only 12 weeks away (God willing!).

On the non-baby front we went to the PNE on Friday night with the kids and Sheldon`s folks and had a great time. The kids LOVED going on all the rides and playing games. Evan is quite the dart thrower and managed to win a `large` bear. Kira went nuts and collected 6 little bears by playing the ducks and frog games. :P We didn`t get home until almost midnight and it took the kids pretty much all weekend to recover.

Sheldon and I are heading back on Wednesday night with our friends - a nice adult night out. Looking forward to it!!!

Ivett Gonda - TKD Champion in our eyes

After witnessing the travesty that was the TKD fight last night with Ivett Gonda - #3 TKD competitor in the world (who fights out of Port Moody), I HAD to write on the CBC board and leave her a message.

As you probably well know, our family are TKD junkies, with Sheldon and Evan competing in the sport. It's never been a gloomier day for the Landry household then after watching the fight last night that SHOULD have been won by Ivett. Unfortunately the judges didn't want her to face the next competitor and booted her out in the first round....sigh....

It was tough to explain to Evan, as he watched the fight, why "our girl" wasn't getting points....it's a sad day to explain to him that competitive TKD is very prejudiced. What is the motivation for him now?

My note to Ivett is below:

"We specifically came home from a night out so that we could watch your fight - and have had the pleasure to see you fight in person at events throughout the Lower Mainland.

To say that we were yelling at the television and the judges for the mockery that your match became is a complete understatement. I have never been so shocked at how a match is scored (and I've watched a lot of matches over the last few years).

You were plainly, and clearly, robbed of this fight. I have no idea why the judges and ref did not give you the points that you rightly deserved, other than to think that they know you a threat for medal contention and they didn't want you to go any farther than the first round. We all know that TKD judging is prejudiced to certain competitors, I am just sorry that the world had to see it for themselves in the Olympic venue, with you being the guinea pig.

It was sad to explain to my son, who has been doing TKD for 2 years out of Burnaby/Hastings, that a #3 competitor in the world didn't advance through the first round of fighting because the judges "didn't see" points being scored. It's a sad day for him to understand that no matter how well you fight, if the judges don't want you to win you won't.

You do not deserve this, and I am glad and happy that you and your Master, protested (though I also knew they wouldn't allow the appeal to go through).

We are very proud of you and all the hard work you have put in to your training and teaching. I only hope that this experience hasn't completley tainted your love of the sport and that you keep fighting - though I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that you have hung your competitive belt.

It's a very sad day for TKD in Canada...a sad day indeed."

Oh..continuation...

I totally forgot! While I was on the ward last night there were a couple of new moms and babes (and a very uncomfortable labouring mom!!!).

I woke up a few times in the night to hear a newborn cry....SUCH a beautiful sound. The visit really made me want to see our baby! What an amazing miracle babies are - and I can't wait to meet this one (though if it could hold out for another 14 weeks until it's due date I would be super happy about that!).

Babies!!!!

Cramping, Monitoring, Deltaparin Oh My!

Hi there,

You guys are all probably wondering WHAT that title means. I'll try to be concise and quick. :D

I had a regular doctor appointment yesterday afternoon with my family doctor. At about 10 a.m. yesterday morning I started having a lot of Braxton-Hick type contractions and pressure/cramping. I decided to wait it out till I got to the doctor's office and mention it to him.

We chatted about the cramping (this is the third time its happened, and keeps up for more than an few minutes) and he sent me to St. Paul's to go and get checked out and put onto the monitors to make sure baby was happy and I wasn't contracting.

I got to the hospital, and got all hooked up and checked out (ick!). Baby was happy and active - yeah!, but I was still uncomfortable. We did blood work, and chatted about the Factor V Lieden, heparin, etc. and then I had to wait for test results to come back. The tests were coming back normal and/or negative (including one that checks to see if you are going to go into labour in the next week or so) but we were waiting for a blood test which shows whether there are any blood clots forming anywhere.

At about 9 o'clock last night I thought for sure that I would be coming home - was practically getting my pants on when the OB on call told me that she wanted to keep me for the night for monitoring and to check everything out again in the morning - doh! Quite unexpected to say the least!

Sometime through the night (and 18 zillion glasses of water later!) the cramping settled down - and I only woke up 3 times - woohoo!

We did another run through of the tests again this morning and I received a heparin shot (which I am now "officially" on until 6 weeks post partum). Sheldon came down to pick me up but the nurse wanted to do one more fetal check. Turns out the breakfast I had woke the baby up and boy oh boy is this one a kicker! har har...it reallllllyyyyy doesn't like the monitor and was kicking the paddle, and running away from it, so we kept losing the heartbeat (which just makes the test last that much longer - sigh). It was nice to hear it again though - and Sheldon got to hear how much the baby was moving around!!!

The heartbeat was sort of all over the place (b/w 130 and 155 bpm) and the nurse noticed a little skip that happens when the heartrate goes up. I have noticed it in the past, and it's not a consistent skip....a sort of flup every 10 beats, or 5 beats. We monitored it for a bit more and then the nurse went and asked the OB on call whether I should get some extra monitoring.

So...here's where it stands right now.

I am now on the heparin shots - one a day - to keep the blood nice and thin until 6 weeks after baby. Blah!

I am scheduled for an ultrasound for Monday morning at St. Paul's to check the baby's growth (yay! more pictures!) and to make sure my cervix isn't doing something funky (I know, too much information!).

After the ultrasound I am back to the Maternity ward for fetal monitoring - check how the heartbeat is doing, etc., and I guess to keep track of the little skip. I think that I will be receiving monitoring about once a week from here on out.

All in all, feeling really good and happy to be under watchful eyes at the hospital. The Assessment nurse remembered me from five years ago when I was there for Kira! har har...she looked at me and was like "you've been here before haven't you?". hee hee. Everyone at the hospital, the nurses and doctors, are all fabulous and make you feel really comfortable and confident that you are doing the right thing. I have no hesitation recommending the maternity ward at St. Paul's.

So all said and done, I am back at work tomorrow - and adjusting plans for the weekend so I can take it easy. I want to be able to make sure to get to the PNE this year with the kids, and get their back to school shopping done! :D

Hope everyone is having a great day and I promise to keep you posted about how things go on Monday and hopefully I will have new pictures to post (and no, we aren't going to find out the sex!). :P

Love and Hugs

Uh oh...boys names revisited...

As if the three choices we have aren't enough, we came across another boy's name this morning - sigh!

Dylan, or Dillon. Which means "faithful, loyal" in it's Irish Heritage and also has a nod to Wales (where part of my family comes from).

Liam, which is by far the front runner for us, means "strong protector".

So...Dylan Harold Landry....or Liam Harold Landry.

Maybe we are going to have to wait until we see the little one?

Ugh!!

What's in a Name?

Well, as anyone who has had a name (which is all of us!) and for those of us parents who have had to think long and hard about choosing the best name for our little peanut...this has to be one of the hardest things to decide on before the baby comes along.

You want to consider your heritage, pay respect to any family members that have come before. You need a name that you can yell in the playground and not have it sound like your sneezing or throwing up or gabbering to yourself..and you definitely need to find a name that won't turn into a curse when your child is on the school playground. Kids have amazing knacks for finding tease words to rhyme with a child's name (I know, I've been there!).

With Evan and Kira we had very little difficulty in finding their perfect name, and of course as soon as we were formally introduced to eachother (after countless hours of labour!!) the names suit them to a T.

So why, oh why, are we having difficult with choosing this LO's name?

We have finally decided on middle names (or have we really?!). For a boy it will be Harold - which is a nod to both of our families history. For a girl - Irene, which is a nod to the great grandmothers of the families (Irene is also one of my middle names).

Anyways...so we have the middle names....but the first names?

Since we are Team Green and won't know until the babe's birthday exactly WHAT it is going to be (and no I have NO inkling whatsoever one way or the other), we have to pick TWO names. *sigh*

So I have polled the names we have thought up and that we like (the polls are at the right side of the page). We're pretty set on Paige for a girl, but I do love the name Jane too....

Your thoughts and any other Irish/English suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

On a totally different note, things are going well - HORRIBLE heartburn but what can you do? :P I have a doctor's appointment this Wednesday..a Glucose test coming up (it checks for gestational diabetes) and another ultrasound next Monday. Crossing my fingers we get some more pictures that I can post!

Baby is moving around and grooving and generally appears to be having a grand time cooking away in my tummy. Can't wait to meet it!!

Alright, alright....options posted

I know, I know, strollers are EXPENSIVE!

This is why we only want to buy ONE!!! har har

I have posted websites for all the different strollers we are looking at for your viewing pleasure. Please chime in and let us know your thoughts on any of them - or if you find a terrific deal for a stroller somewhere let us know!

We aren't too keen on rejoining the Graco crowd (been there, done that)...and don't want an entire travel system (thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Dyer we have an infant seat already)...so we really just need the stroller.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Musings??????

Strollers, Strollers, everywhere!!

You would think that picking a stroller for a new baby wouldn't be so complicated - but for this little one (LO) that is coming, it's been quite a task.

First, we want a stroller that we can use until the kiddie outgrows one all together. We SO do not want to get a nice big fancy stroller and then buy some dinky Walmart $19 dollar special in six months (think we've gone down THAT road before?). :P

So Sheldon and I have been looking high and low, scouring the internet, visiting Babies R Us....alright...let's be honest. I'VE been surfing high and low on the internet - but this is "our" baby so I am giving Sheldon equal status here. har har

Anyhoo - I've fallen in love with the Peg Perego Pliko 3 - and really, if your at all interested in all things baby how can you not fall in love with this stroller? We checked it out at Babies R Us with Sheldon's folks and I LOVED it!!! I didn't like the pricetag so much though. *sigh*

We had our hearts set on a Chicco stroller - however, they don't sell them in Canada (yes, you heard me right!) and I am a little wary of spending $$ on something I might not like. Mah!

Then we ventured in to Baby's World in Coquitlam this morning and found the Valco Latitude stroller. It's a three wheeler - which I am generally not fond of, but this...this stroller is very different! It's smaller than your standard Bob Revolution stroller, is light, AND fits a car seat. It's big enough to feel that you aren't putting a newborn in an umbrella stroller, but it's small enough that when it's time, it won't feel that you are putting a toddler in a huge baby stroller (wow...did that make sense?).

Super like it and hoping that we will be able to afford it when the time comes. It is a bit pricey too - but...we shall see.

We have a "back up stroller" which is the Chicco from the US.

I guess we have time - but I am so wanting to get this last big ticket item out of the way. Mah!

Could I be nesting already? I did spend a hour organizing baby diapers and having a slight panic attack the other day. har har