Half a lifetime's worth of catching up to do! Madelyn Reese is 12 weeks old!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted since she was 6 weeks old - SO much has happened, and she's kept us so busy, it's been hard to keep up with this blog!

First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to our humble abode on March 2nd for Maddy's party! It was wonderful to see everyone, so sorry we weren't able to spend much time with each and every one of you, but it meant the world to us that you took time out of your Sunday afternoon to come and meet our little girl!

Much has happened since my last post!

Her thrush didn't go away with the gentian violet, so the next plan of attack: diflucan. One mL a day for 2 weeks straight, GUARANTEED to kick the thrush out.

Well, not out of MY baby, apparently!

Dr. Martinez (her pediatrician) was baffled - told us we should start back at square one with the Nystatin (the yellow stuff), and just do it all over again. I decided NOT to - my baby had been on meds since January 23rd, and nothing was working, so I decided to go back to nursing her without any medical treatments, and BAM, like magic, her thrush disappeared!

Too bad we had to spend all that money on her meds before trying the "no-med" approach, but it was worth it to help us believe our little girl would get better!

She had her immunization shots on March 17th, where she weighed in at a whopping 12LBS, and 24" long!!! You'd never know she was a baby that just had needles in her thighs - she didn't fuss or cry or show any symptoms we were fully expecting, and prepared, for her to have! I was almost going to phone Dr. Martinez to ask him if he actually GAVE her the needles!

On to other news: the March 22nd, Saturday edition of the Winnipeg Free Press ran her birth announcement (click on the image to read the posting):



And what better way to follow up a birth announcement than to celebrate her FIRST Easter?!

We got her all dolled up in the outfit that Cyn and Abby bought for her (thanks girls!), we took her to church, and afterwards went to Baba and Didi's house to enjoy a fabulous Easter feast! Here are some pics of our little Maddy in her Easter dress, snuggling with (and trying to eat!) the little bunny that Baba and Didi bought for her:


















I've also found some time to upload some video of our little girl! Here, on March 24th, as Daddy was getting her bath ready, I was sitting on the stool in front of Maddy, sticking my tongue out at her and making silly noises, just to make her smile - well, it blew me away that SHE STARTED TO MIMIC ME! Dono grabbed the camera and we managed to capture just a touch of this exciting little development...enjoy!:





The recent Maddy'isms are as follows (so many, I hope I don't forget any!):

- she's able to pull herself up to a sitting position now! (with the help of Mommy or Daddy, of course!)
- she smiles A LOT. Especially first thing in the morning! Gone are the days of us waking up to her crying because she's hungry - now, we wake up to the sounds of her cooing and talking in her bassinet, and when we peek in at her, we just get the biggest smiles! (Donovan puts it best when he says it's like her whole body smiles at us, she's just so excited to see us!!!)
- drool, drool, drool! I've started calling her Droolia Roberts!
- she's starting to suck her thumb! Not all the time, just every now and then we can hear the fervent sounds of her sucking away on her digits!

I'm sure I'm missing some - I have to go nurse Maddy now, so I'll let Dono fill in any blanks! I promise to try to keep this more updated!

6 weeks old

Losing her cheeks? Filling out? ROBUST?

These are some of the things we've heard from friends, family, and the public health nurse, respectively!

She is certainly changing, growing up too quickly if you ask me.

Poor girl has had the unfortunate luck of having 2 sick parents, and inevitably catching a cold herself. We had to take her to the ER this past Sunday at 3 in the morning because she had a pretty bad head cold that caused her to gasp for air and choke on her own boogies. We've since been dropping saline solution into her nostrils and using a suction bulb to clear her nasal passageways. That's sort of helping, but she's still not yet 100%.

What a little trooper, though.

Anyhoo, here are some of my favourite Maddy'isms this week:

- the evolving of the Maddy inchworm! When I prop her up to burp her, she moves like a little inchworm from my shoulder across my collarbone, head-butting me in the neck and jaw with her bird-peck head bobs! This cracks me up, and I can't help but laugh every time she gets going!

- I had an A-HA moment where I finally was able to recognize what a certain cry means! I now know her "siren" cry means she's hungry!

- she's started to "talk" - not just cries anymore from her, oh no! Now she does a bit of light chatter and coo'ing!

- she has nightmares where, when she's deep in sleep, will whimper and bark curtly like a little puppy, and flail her arms about in front of her face as though she's being attacked by a swarm of bees! After a minute of snuggles, she's ok again!

Poor girl's thrush came back a bit - we received conflicting information from doctors, the pharmacist, the public health nurse - so we probably didn't end up being as aggressive with her meds as we probably should have been (we were told to ease up on them, not 4 times a day, not every day, etc, EVERYTHING we were initially told to do, we were now being told NOT to do).

So this time, I'm not taking chances, and I'm giving her all the recommended doses, whether she likes it or not! We're gonna kick this thrush in the arse! Anyhoo, here she is with her purple mouth from the genviolet (the thrush meds). What a mess, but it's supposed to work!

Party time!!!

In honour of our li'l girl, and in lieu of the conventional baby shower!, Donovan and I are hosting a MEET MADELYN REESE come-and-go-style party!

WHERE: the Yaciuk estate!
WHEN: March 2, 2008 (Sunday)

On March 2nd, from 1-4pm, all are welcome to swing on by (ladies AND gents!) to mingle with friends, have a bevy or 2, enjoy some light snacks and meet the newest addition to the Yaciuk clan!

If you're able to make it and would like directions to our place, pls email us and we'll help you out!

We would love to see you, and Maddy would love to meet you!

*A snuggle with Madelyn is all she needs, but if you would like to bring a gift, she is registered at babiesrus.ca!

Hope to see you there!

4 weeks old!

Ok seriously, WHERE has the time gone?!

I can't believe it was 4 WEEKS AGO that we first met our li'l angel! My, how she's grown!

The public health nurse stopped by today, and Maddy got weighed (just like her mom, HATES being on the scale!). Our girl is a whopping 8lbs 15oz! Look how much she's changed in 4 weeks!:

Here are some of her little Maddy'isms for this week:

- she's so much more alert now - won't necessarily cry and fuss when she's awake, she'll just look around, kick her legs, and she's content to discover her hands and toes!
- her favourite songs include Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" (sorry Mike!) and Joaquin Phoenix's version of "Get Rhythm"
- the way she reaches up for my face when I'm feeding her, and the way she grasps Donovan's arms when he holds her upright to burp her
- how much she loves her baths
- her 4 chins and 7 elbow creases! She's a little butterball! I love it!
- the way she "smiles" at me when I snuggle in close to her and tell her I love her!

I can't believe she's 4 weeks old already.

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.