The Natural Baby Company (people who make gro baby diapers) is giving away their new Tiny Bubbles Laundry Detergent. I haven't tried it yet, I actually just learned about it a few minutes ago. I am always looking for something different to try with our cloth diapers.... I have been pretty happy with the product we have been using, but hey, I may like the Tuny Bubbles better... you just never know. Click on the link bellow to find out more about it!

http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/tiny-bubbles-p-732.html

A quick (and much needed) Update!

I just wanted to update everyone really quick... I need to get back to Nicola's room. We are still in the hospital. She has been getting treatment for Pneumonia for a week now. There still seems to be crackles in her lungs and the chest x-ray from this morning still showed fluid in the lungs. She has a large amount of thick mucus build up. She will be going to Charlottetown on Tuesday to be tested for CF. If you guys could keep her in your prayers, I would really appreciate it. I will try and update again as I know more.

Gwyn

What's going on...

WOW! It has been a crazy week! Nicola was born on April 6th at 8:46PM. She was 6lb 10oz and 18 5/6 inches. She is a strong girl and eating well. She had trouble keeping food down at first, but has been doing very well the past few days. We were orriginally going to go home on Friday, April 10th, but when they checked her blood, her billie levels were really high, so she went under the lights. While under the lights, her oxygen levels went down, so she had the oxygen going into her nose. She is no longer under the lights, and the oxygen has not been running for the past 12 hours! We may get to go home by Thursday of this week, but I refuse to get my hopes up again. We are still at the hospital, and she is still in the NICU. Those who are reading this on facebook, I am unable to get on facebook right now. My laptop is not picking up the wifi anymore for some reason, so I am using the parents lounge computer (facebook is blocked). I am posting the birth story below. So those who have weak stomaches may not want to read any further ;)
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So, it all started around February 26th. I woke up with contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. Chris took the girls to my parents, and took me into the hospital. They got me on the monitors, and noticed the contractions, but also noticed that the baby's heart rate was shooting back and forth from the 120's to the 220's. The nurse got a bit freaked out, and called in the doctor. She did not seem as worried, but it was bugging me, as the nurse was a bit paniced. My OB called to the IWK in Halifax and spoke to my doctor there. Her respoce was "send her IMEDIATLLY via life flight!" Wow... They called to get life flight set up, come to find out that it was grounded, so I was transported via ambulance. That was the most uncomfortable 4 hours of my life! I had a threatened pre term labor and I had to go through it in an ambulance with 2 men I don't know! Chris had to stay home because he had to work. I was taken right into ultrasound upon arrival. Baby was calm, and my contractions had also calmed down. I guess the meds to stop labor worked! I got my first steroid shot that day and the second one the next day. I spent 7 LONG weeks on bedrest in the hospital. Talk about boring! I was on level 3 bedrest, so I was allowed to get up and walk in the halls, but I had to stay on the floor I was a resident of. After a couple weeks of being on bed rest, I was allowed to go out on passes during the day. Ceri would pick me up and take me out to eat, and stuff like that. It was not until I hit 34 weeks that I was "allowed" to go shopping. We spent a lot of time walking at the malls.... but baby stayed put.

My doctor and I talked about an induction date.... we agreed on April 6th. It put me at 38 weeks, 5 days by one of my due dates, and 39 weeks 1 day buy my other due date. On the morning of April 6th, my doctor and a resident walked in. My doctor said "Ready to have a baby?!?!?" OMG, I was so excited! A couple hours later, they had stripped my membranes and put the gel in there to get things moving. Contractions kicked in with a vengence! Ceri and I sat in my room watching Wall-E waiting for things to happen.... I really did not think that we would make it through the movie. Around 6:30pm, we were getting ready to go down stairs to the labor room. Once I was in the bed down there and hooked up to monitors, Ceri went back up to get all my junk that I had aquired over my 7 week stay in that room. The contractions were about 2 minutes apart... but my water still had not broken. At 8:25pm, the doctor broke my water, 21 minutes later, at 8:46pm, Nicola Kathryn was out. She did not do so well right away. She scored a 3 on her first APGAR at one minute old... and an 8 on her second APGAR at 5 minutes old. I was freaking out, because I was not hearing her cry..... and the doctor was trying to keep my attention on gettting the placenta out. This was the first time (being my 3rd vaginal birth) that I had to push the placenta out. Nicola was rushed to the NICU, to do her first assesment. They got her weight, and all that fun stuff after making sure that all was okay. I basically got up and out of that bed and into the shower as quick as I could. That had to be the best shower I ever had. Followed by a visit with the new little bug! So, that is the birth story.... as of today (April 13) Nicola is still in the NICU. She has been off the oxygen now for 12 hours and is no longer under the billie lights. YEAH! We may go home soon!

Birth weight 3000 grams (6lb 10oz)
Birth length 48 cm, about 18 5/6 in

I had a dream...

**disclaimer... this might not be something you want to read if you are of the male variety**

Well, I had a dream last night that my water broke, but it wasn't just the normal, my water broke, and it was done, no. The "water" just kept coming. It wouldn't stop. There was "water" everywhere! I ran to the bath room, and sat on the toilet, until it over flowed.... then I moved to the bath tub, it filled up faster than it could drain. It was not making any sense... but what really does in pregnancy, right. It never stopped, I woke up having to pee though.

Baby is still inside. She does not seem to want to get out today. Chris would love it if she would get out, so we would be closer to coming home. He is having a hard time being home without me, and not being able to see me. It has now been 2 1/2 weeks. I know this is very hard on him, and it is not fair that he is having to do so much on his own. We are grateful for all the help that friends and family have offered.

Another siggy

I learned how to make it rain in photoshop! Check it out!


the right side is cut off a bit in my screen. if you would like to see the full image, click HERE

I have a new hobby!

Okay, so I was getting pretty bored with the same ol same ol in this good ol hospital room. So, I thought, what better way to kill time, than by doing something productive. So I have been reading lots of tutorials online on how to make digital scrap booking kits! I just completed my first kit today. If you would like to check it out, you can go to My Digital Scrapbooking blog. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, considering it was my first go at it. Please let me know what you think!

Made it through February!

Well, we officially made it through February, and there is still a baby in my tummy. This is good news! The goal right now is to try and keep her in there growing, at least until March 15th. So 15 days... at that point, if she tries to get out, they wont stop her. Last night was a good one on the monitors, no spikes in her heart rate. I don't have a lot to add. Not much has changed.

If you guys could really pray for Chris, he is getting frustrated that he can't be here with me, not even for a visit, because it is a long drive and the money for gas and tolls adds up so fast. And there is also the part where if he does not keep working, we loose the house and all. We don't want that. My phone call with him last night was rough. He just wishes that we were not so far apart. He seems to be doing pretty well with the girls, considering this is all knew to him. Thank you to everyone who has been helping out with the girls, I really appreciate you!