Happy Birthday to Grandma (Mom)

The plan was to take the girls for haircuts (a trim for Kate and something other than a rats' nest for Alice), but I didn't realize that you couldn't just walk-in to Melonheads on a Saturday.  Didn't I feel silly for not brushing the girls hair!  EEK!  No haircuts, but we had a ride on the horses.

When we got to Mom's, she took it upon herself to tidy up the ladies, and both Kate and Alice's hair looked very cute! 

We had Swiss Chalet for lunch, thank you Andrew.  And then mousse for dessert, thank you Ken! No one brought candles, oops, so Mom blew out Andrew's lighter.

The ladies ate store bought cupcakes.

Everyone enjoyed the mousse and ganache, so rich and so good.  (So glad I passed my glucose test!)

We took some cute pictures - Mom and Andrew.

Mom and her flowers from Suzanne.

Wendy, Andrew and Mom.

And Mom with her cute Canadian grandchildren.

Then Kate did some dancing for everyone!

Happy Birthday Grandma/Mom!  We hope you feel 67 times special!

Mt.Sinai Visit #3

First good thing, only having to miss a half day, my appointment was for 1pm.  I left school just after noon and made it in plenty of time (parking at Yorkdale again).  Second good thing, within five minutes of getting to the hospital I already had my blood taken, and then by 1:22 the ultrasound was finished too.  I was so excited thinking that I might actually be out of the hospital by 2, maybe 2:30...

Okay so I didn't get out of there until after 3, but whatever!  The doctors and nurses in the high-risk clinic are awesome.  Dr. Windrim was who I saw today and he was so great.  Both doctors that I've seen are really concerned that you as the patient know what's going on.  They take time to explain things clearly and they have both been very reassuring.

Today's appointment will mostly likely be my second last at the clinic, as long as my titer levels remain so low.  He suggested I come back at 36 weeks for the final stamp of approval.  Comforting things that I've learned along the way: a first affected pregnancy doesn't pose that great a risk to the baby,  the possibility of an intrauterine blood transfusion for the baby is very, very low, and the possibility of a blood transfusion for baby after birth is also very low. 

Dr. Windrim and I did talk for a bit about jaundice and the possible implications.  He said that having a plan before hand to make sure that we leave the hospital knowing that the bilirubin has peaked and is declining is essential.  I didn't realize that severe jaundice left untreated can lead to lifelong deafness.  EEK!  Babies born early are more likely to be jaundiced because their liver is too immature to deal with the breakdown of the bilirubin. 

Which reminds me that since the appointment I have felt prompted to pray that the baby won't be jaundiced.  I feel the spirit as I type this, even though I feel like it's too much.  We've been too blessed through all of this.  There have been scary what ifs but there are have been so many blessings and so much reassurance. 

So the next steps... I need to talk to the nurse at the clinic on Monday and get the results of my blood work.  If my titer levels are indeed still really low then I won't go back to the high risk clinic until I'm 36 weeks.  I will then continue to see my OB in Newmarket.  I will continue to have bi-weekly ultrasounds and blood work to keep tabs on things.  I'm to look into the possibility of my blood going to the lab at Mt. Sinai for testing.  And I think that's it!

Funny Stuff

Alice words

Alice is currently wearing a bathing suit over her clothing and asking to go to a hotel. (facebook status update - March 4)

amado - tomorrow
merday - mermaid

I can't remember when Kate started it, but often when she's putting on her own pants she'll put two legs in one pant leg and say I'm a mermaid.  Alice has picked up on this and calls herself a merday.

Kate conversations

We were all upstairs and I was sharing a funny thing I'd read on facebook with Ken and Kate got very sad. Ken asked her if perhaps she didn't think it was funny, to which she responded that no she didn't think it was funny. Then with a very sad face and a very sad little voice Kate said "Daddy, you love Mommy more than me!"

Kate: Daddy, look what Alice has done.
Ken: Can you tell me Kate, I can't look right now.
Kate: She made a mess with her yogourt.
Ken: Oh great.
Kate: That's not great.
Ken: I know Kate, I was being sarcastic.
Kate: Oh.

Kate: Daddy you're my husband.
Ken: No I'm not, I'm married to Mommy. I'm your Daddy, not your husband.
Kate: NO! You're my husband.
Ken: You can't marry me, who is a boy that's your own age that you want to marry?
Kate: I want to marry Ezra.
Ken: You can't marry Ezra, he's your cousin. Who's another boy that you know that you want to marry.
Kate: I want to marry Twilight Sparkle.
Ken: You can't marry Twilight Sparkle, she's a pony, and a toy.
Kate: I WANT TO MARRY TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
Ken: You can't marry me or Ezra or Twilight Sparkle, who do you want to marry?
Kate: I want to marry all of them.

(A few minutes later.)

Kate: Mommy, I'm your husband.

Can you say hopeless?!

Easter at Chappell Farm in Barrie

Another beautiful day and this time fun with cousins!  I can't honestly remember the last time we saw (Ken's sister) Jen and Eric and their kids.  We decided to meet up near where they were staying with Eric's parents in Barrie.  The website for Chappell Farms looked very lack-lustre and I wasn't expecting much from the farm itself, but I was very wrong!  It was great!

There were cute animals.

Ezra and Kate going to tackle the sand/grass/mud hill.

Cousins on top of the hill.

Anders helping Alice down the hill.

 Ken, Eric and Jen talking.

Bouncy castle fun.

Wagon ride time.

A magic show.

Konrad waiting for the word.

A bunny driving the tractor and bunny helpers throwing LOTS of candy all over the field.

The hunt has begun.

I was worried about trampling, but it was great!

A very happy Anders with pockets filled with candy.

Kate saying thank you to the Easter Bunny.

Alice's death grip on her basket of candy.

After the farm we went to the Mandarin for lunch.  The food isn't great, but it's a great place for kids!  We had a lovely time with our Jakob cousins!  Thanks for a great day!

A Lovely Friday That Happened to be Good!

Spring seems to have finally sprung, thank goodness!  I don't suppose the snow is completely done, but it is mostly done I think and any snow that falls now will hopefully NOT stay.  Today started out with breakfast at the McDonald's in Bolton, there is the best play place there.  Next up was a trip to the walk-in clinic, but we didn't do it right and the wait was too long and Alice was tired, and heck so was I.  We all went home and Alice and I napped which was awesome. 

When we woke up we lunched and then the ladies and I left to go meet Mom and Dad at Fairy Lake in Newmarket.  And surprise, Mom and Dad brought Auntie Joanie with them.  It was such a nice surprise.  She really enjoyed interacting with the girls.

We played at the park.

Then the girls threw sticks in the water.

Then we played a little bit more at the park.

Next was goodbye and Easter treats from the Grandparents - huge Kinder Eggs.  The girls were very patient holding them in the car, waiting until we got home, and then until after dinner to enjoy them, and enjoy them they did!

Kate is a Bunny

This is how Kate came home from Pre-school today.  So cute!

Mt. Sinai Visit #2

Where to start... first the bothersome stuff.  Having an appointment at 10:30 and not leaving the hospital until almost 2:00 is poopy.  The baby being REALLY active when the MCA scan is being done making the numbers totally inconsistent is slightly irritating. 

Exciting stuff... I passed my glucose test - YAY!!!!  And the most exciting news of all, my titer level according to the lab at Mt. Sinai was 1:16.  The other labs that I had blood work done came back with levels of 1:128.  1 and 16 is when they start monitoring, but it is the absolute bottom of the scale of when they are concerned.  If it has gone down that much, will it continue to go down?  I don't know, but before I was given a blessing when all of this began I felt impressed to prayer for my anti-body levels to go back to normal.  I couldn't help but feel that this was the answer to that prayer.

I go back to Mt. Sinai next week on Thursday where they will again do scans and blood work.  Dr. Seaward, whom I saw today and Monday, said that if the titer levels are still that low they will just leave everything with my OB in Newmarket and I won't have to go back to Mt. Sinai again.

Today was a good day. 

Mt. Sinai - first visit

I was fine until this morning and this morning I was really only not fine because I was running late.  The plan was to drive all the way downtown to the hospital and then go see a friend afterward.  I was told to plan on being there for 3-4 hours so I booked off the whole day in anticipation. 

This morning because I ended up feeling a little fragile, I took the subway down and planned to go right home afterward, which ended up being a good thing because Alice (the barfer, who hasn't actually barfed in a while) barfed this morning.

I got there just a little after 8 a.m., which was my scheduled appointment time, got checked in and sat down to wait.  I brought a book but I didn't think I could focus to read anything so I didn't and I didn't have to wait long anyway. 

I saw a nurse first who also did an ultrasound, so I'm not sure what her official title was.  She took my history, there were so many questions, and thankfully I knew most of the answers!  Next she did a full anatomy ultrasound.  Awesome thing at Mt. Sinai a screen for me.  I could watch her do the whole thing and she didn't have to turn her screen and I didn't have to crane my neck.  It was neat.  And she was very respectful of my wishes, asking me if I knew the gender and told me when to close my eyes.  And of course I know that all of my family members will be very happy to know that I didn't peak!

After she was finished the scan she sent me for blood work.  When I came back the doctor met me quite quickly, he wanted to look at the baby's MCA levels again.  (MCA refers to middle cerebral artery and looking at the blood flow is a good predictor of fetal anemia. From an abstract, from a study:  This non-invasive investigation can be reliable in predicting anaemia in cases in which the need to sample fetal blood is not certain, therefore delaying invasive testing until treatment is likely to be required.)  When the first scan had been done this morning one of the numbers came back above the safe range, but the baby was quite active during the first scan which could then mean a false positive.  The baby was totally quiet for the second scan and the numbers were well within the normal range.

However, given the one high number I'm to report back to Mt. Sinai on Wednesday when my blood work will be complete.  Wednesday is when decisions will be made as to my continuing care.  The medical treatment I'm receiving is amazing, I feel so blessed.  Baby 3 is being very well looked after.  Oh and one last thing that I just remembered.  The doctor said that with a first pregnancy with elevated anti-body levels there aren't usually issues with the baby.  It's with subsequent pregnancies that there are issues.  So many things to give comfort!  That and the ongoing peace I feel from my Heavenly Father that everything is going to be okay!