What she does that I love

I don't ever want to forget these special little things about her, her little traits and habits - so as of today, here is a list of my favourite "Maddy-isms":

- she's afraid of the dark
- she snores sometimes when she sleeps
- she has a cute little puppy whimper when she's in a deep sleep
- her ferocious way about her when she's hungry - she'll attack whatever she can put in her mouth - her mouth wide open, her head shaking from side to side!
- her Elvis lip; the "turtle" (the way she stretches her neck up and out while raising her furrowed brow and almost grinning, all at the same time!); the Superman stretch - one arm goes right up and the other one goes down when she's waking up from a nap. (Sometimes, though, they both go up, which is also deemed the "Superman"!)
- the way she rolls her eyes and gives dirty looks when you're trying to be all cutsie with her! (Maybe it's just with me?!!)
- the way she folds her hands together up under her chin when she's feeding. Her hands are always up by her face when she's getting comfy, just like how they were when she was in my belly!

I know there's more, but I have to take this opportunity to go to bed now! I'll add more another day, and I'm sure Donovan's got a few of his own, too!

3 weeks old!

I'm sure everyone's heard how every parent brags about how WONDERFUL their children are, how their children are the brightest and smartest and cutest in the history of babies ever, etc etc etc.

Well, they're just saying that because that's what parents are expected to say.

But when I say it, I'm saying it because it's true!

Our Madelyn Reese IS THE most wonderful baby EVER!

At 3 weeks old, she smiles (what, it can't ALWAYS be gas, can it?!), is uber alert, recognizes the voices of her mommy, daddy and auntie, holds her head up for amazingly long periods of time, AND does calculus!

Hope you enjoy these pics!

The day I held Heaven in my arms

It's been 2 weeks since my last post - 2 exciting, memorable weeks that have changed my life, weeks that are only a mere indication to how the rest of our lives will, can, and should be.

After 41 1/2 wks of pregnancy, 19hrs of labour, and an emergency c-section, we've been blessed with what the nurses at the hospital have called "the loudest baby in the nursery"!!! It's only fitting that Dono and I would have a firecracker for a bundle! We're completely over the moon with joy! Here's how it all unfolded:

We were expecting a call on Sunday, January 6th - THE call - from the hospital, telling us what time we were going to be induced the following day. Sunday came and went. Nothing.

Monday morning, 9am - the phone rings. It's St. Boniface Hospital, advising me I need to be there by 11am to begin induction! I phoned Donovan at work, and before I hung up the phone, he was coming through the door!

In a frenzy, we grabbed our bags and got ready (I did some last minute cleaning!), and we were out.

Donovan and I were crazy with excitement and happiness, cracking jokes with the staff and just having a great time... until "they" gave me "the gel" at noon. That got the ball rolling! We went home for 6hrs to let the gel work.

At 5pm, I started getting contractions. Donovan was right there with the watch, a pen and some paper, noting the length and time of each one.

"This isn't so bad," I thought.

Silly me, thinking these contractions were bearable!

At 6:30pm, we went back to the hospital. NOW we're talkin' contractions! They hooked me up to the morphine drip (my new best friend!), and told me I needed to dilate another cm or 2 in order to NOT be in the high-risk room post-partum (I was going to be high risk and would be shuttled into a recovery room with a roomie, where Donovan wouldn't be able to spend the night, because this was my first pregnancy and I was needing to be induced).

So my goal - DILATE.

We went for a walk, but the contractions were too strong, so I had to go back to the bed. I was checked again at 9pm....no dilation.

I got moved to the labour and delivery room to hang out, get another dose of yet another induction drug, and wait. Time flew by, contractions were worsening. I got an epidural that didn't take on the right side of my body, so I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to come back while suffering through what could very well have been the worst pain I've ever endured.

Poor Donovan, having to put up with me and feed me ice chips on demand!

I was dilating slowly, Dono was putting calls in to the family to keep them updated.

By 3am, I was dilated to 9cm, so Mom and Leanne decided that was a good time to make it down to the hospital. By the time they got there, I was fully dilated and ready to push!

For a couple of hrs I pushed, but was making no progress. The nurse said she was able to feel the top of the baby's head (and noted that baby had lots of hair!). But other than that, nothing else was happening. I couldn't push, I was exhausted and baby wasn't moving down the birth canal anymore.

I got a top-up on my epidural and was allowed to rest for a few hours. By the morning, a new dr came on board (an angry, bitter dr who yelled!) and told me the baby was turned sideways, and essentially stuck, but tried to convince me that I could push regardless.

A couple more hrs of pushing went by, no progress. At around 11am, the dr told the nurses to make sure the OR was prepped, as I was going to be wheeled in! Next thing I knew, I was being whipped down hallways in the gurney into the operating room (Dono was left to collect our things and notify the family). After I told them NO to both the vacuum and foreceps options, they attemtped to vacuum my baby out anyways, which resulted in baby's heartrate dropping.

"We have to section her," I heard the nurse say.

Cue the emergency c-section. (note: NOT as easy as it seems on TLC's A Baby Story! I felt EVERYTHING!)

At high noon on January 8th, 2008, our little Madelyn Reese was pulled from my womb!

Madelyn Reese Anne Yaciuk, 8lbs 7oz, 21" long.

And absolutely stunning!

She has her daddy's eyebrows, his eyes, his nose and facial structure. She has mommy's ears (and natural hair colour, I think!).

She's absolutely PERFECT. Such an angel, we're totally blessed. She'll be 2 weeks old tomorrow, and these have been the best 2 weeks of my life! Sounds so cliched, but with the lack of sleep, the cracked and bleeding nipples, the sore back and living in constant fear that I might break her if I hold her too tightly, there's absolutely NOTHING I would change.

Two weeks ago, I first held Heaven in my arms, and 2 weeks later, I'm more in love with this little person, and Donovan, than I ever thought I could be. To quote the great philosopher, Belinda Carlisle, "Heaven IS a place on earth." And her name is Madelyn.

Results from Friday's fetal assessment

First off, for those of you religiously following this blog, sorry for not updating this on Friday (you were probably waiting for the call from Donovan that we'd had the baby already, weren't you?!).

Nope!

Just been busy sleeping and walking and nesting! :)

Friday's fetal assessment was just to ensure the amniotic fluid levels are alright, that baby's doing ok - and sure enough, everything looks GREAT!

The F/A was perhaps one of the most amazing things we had experienced! The u/s tech was SUPER nice, and explained to us what we were looking at (unlike the tech we had at our first u/s back in August). We could actually SEE things - the heart beating, legs kicking - and the FACE! I was able to make out the features on our baby's face!!!!! Absolutely breathtaking! Looks like baby's going to have Daddy's nose! And Mommy's long feet! The u/s tech took this picture of baby's feet to give to us!:

















And in case you can't see it (don't worry, Donovan couldn't either until I pointed it out to him), it's a side view of the foot...see?:


ISN'T THAT AMAZING??!! Or is that only a foot a mother could love?! ;) The u/s tech told us the baby's probably about 8 1/2 lbs (thank god, b/c I thought I was having a 60lb kidlet! Well, with all the weight I've put on, I was HOPING it would be a 60lb'er!).

Anyhoo, since the F/A showed that baby's doing just fine hangin' out in that ol' uterus of mine, there's no rush to get me in to be induced, SOOO, we're scheduled for induction Monday!!!

As in, THIS Monday!

However, because I'm GBS positive, I understand that if I have to be induced, I'll be in the high risk area, which sucks because after delivery, I'll be stuck in a room with 5 other women, no TV, and worst of all, Donovan wouldn't be able to spend the nights with us!

SO, with that in mind, we've been doing LOTS of walking and spicy-food eating to try to get this baby to come out on it's own!

Guess my uterus is just THAT comfy! Well that's good to know - once baby vacates the premises, perhaps we can look into renting out my belly for top dollar!

Either way, in a few short days, Donovan and I will be parents.

PARENTS.

Whoa. !!!!

Ok, come on already!!!

Had another dr's appointment yesterday, got another one of those fun* internal exams (*disclaimer: ain't NOTHING fun about those things!), and the dr told me that we haven't really dialated at all! Now I'm JUUUUST over 1cm!

COME ON!!!

So we're going for a fetal assessment tomorrow to make sure the amniotic fluid levels are still ok, that baby's still having a ball in that ol' uterus of mine, and then I'll be scheduled for induction within the next few days - that is, if I don't pop on my own first.

(As Didi so eloquently put it, "If I don't produce, they must induce!") HAHA!

So essentially, by this time next week, if all goes well, Donovan and I will be home with Baby Yaciuk!!!! :)

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111