Phoenix Autumn Ross

On November 10th I went to the OBGYN for my 38 week check up. Once again my Blood pressure was extremely high and the Doc's were not happy. Dr. Steed decided on that Tuesday morning that it would be best to have a C - section as soon as possible to ensure that the baby was safe. He called the hospital and booked an OR for that Thursday at 2 pm. We were scheduled! I called my mom as I left the Doctor's office to tell her when the baby would be coming. She was going to fly out and spend some time with us once she arrived. (Funny how we say once the baby "arrived" as though it hadn't already been with us for the last 9 1/2 months, he he he). I told my mom that we were going to be having another c section on Thursday. She told me that Thursday was actually my Gramma's birthday! That was awesome! It also happened to be my friend Kyle's birthday as well. Early in the month I had been complaining to Kyle how I wanted the baby OUT! and that I was totally sick of being pregnant. He said I should just wait and have the baby "next Thursday" as though I had ANY control over it at all. Well, Happy Birthday Kyle!
I tend to be kinda spacey some times, so here I am drinking coffee and sharing oatmeal with Hunter first thing in the morning the day of my surgery. TOTALLY forgetting that I needed to have an empty stomach for at least 12 hours PRIOR to major surgery. When I told Nana that I had coffee and oatmeal she laughed and asked if I had forgotten that I was having the baby that day. I said no, that I had just forgotten I wasn't supposed to eat after midnight, as if I was a gremlin. It wasn't the end of the world though. The anesthesiologist just put the surgery back 2 hours so there was no chance that I would die during the operation.

4 pm they had Dave and I put on our scrubs and head down to the OR!

It was the same operating room that I had my C - Section for Hunty in. It was a very strange feeling to be back in that room but this time around I was more cognitive of the events going on around me. The last experience I had in that room was fairly traumatic and I really wasn't aware of what was going on. Major surgery is a scary, scary event! Iodine and BP monitors, drapes and nurses, anaesthesiologists and machines that go ping! "Your blood pressure will drop rapidly and you may feel like vomiting." David and his teary blueberry eyes! Not knowing if I was ever gonna make it up off the table. Three people PUSHING on my abdomen, heaving on my chest and stomach, "encouraging" the baby to come out. And Doctor Gibbons - "ohh, Did you know it was a girl?" Me - "IS IT A GIRL?!" Yes! Tears! The feeling of Joy, the feeling of Relief in my body to no long be pregnant! Numbness! Happiness! And David is there with me! And now I just want to hold her! and where is my Little boy?!

To make a long story short, so as not to bore you, Phoenix Autumn Ross was born at 4:57 pm November 12th, weighing 6 lbs 2 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches long!

If I have one word of advise to anyone who is pregnant, it is "READ THE CHAPETER ON C-SECTIONS! Even if you think you have no intentions of having a c-section, read that chapter! You NEVER know what could happen!"

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!

Well, I apologise profusely for my complete disregard for the blog. I have been rather busy. I have also had to disable anonymous commenting as I have been receiving some bizarre spam. I hope no one has accidentally ordered a Russian bride.
Now the reason for my resumed blogging is all thanks to Dave! Once again he has come to my rescue. We have cleaned out the kitchen and my computer was moved down to the little nook in the kitchen between the living room and the dining room. Now I can watch Hunter and not have to worry about him destroying things while I am on the computer. This will give me the opportunity to spend a few more hours a week online, updating my blog, posting pictures and doing some of the other online activities I used to enjoy! Farmville here I come!

So Welcome back Blog Buddies! I hope you are still reading.

October in Calgary

Ya Ya!

Laugh it up!

But it was plus 14 on the weekend and all the snow is gone now!

I Love Chinooks!

The Bean and the Big Boy Bed!

:'( What a big boy!
He's Gonna be going off to college soon!

He sleeps pretty good now in his new bed with very few problems.

Now when he wakes up, he just gets out of bed and destroys his room!

And I can lay in bed and listen to him play from down the hall, instead of listening to him shout

"Mommy I'm awake! Get me out of bed!"

Day 12 of 31 for 21!

Ugh! No time to post about the fabulous dinner last night. We are off to Rocky Mountain House this morning to have Thanks Giving with Dave's family at his Sister's house. I love hanging out with Dave's sister and brother in law and Sam is super excited to see his cousins. I will post pics of both Turkey Dinner Festivities tomorrow when there is more time. For now we are out the door!

Day 11 of 31 for 21!

THE TURKEY IS IN THE OVEN!

The Yams are whipped and topped with Marshmellows, awaiting their return to the oven.

The squash is squashed and back into it's pretty shell.

The apple pies were made last night and are also waiting their turn in the oven!

The bird was stuffed to the nines with Dave's fabulous stuffing.

The Cheese veg are mixed and in line as well.

Now to get the house clean, the kitchen clean, the baby clean, my self clean and shiny.... SO MUCH TO DO! And I just wanna sit on the couch!

Thanks Giving is Awesome, But So much work!

Day 9 of 31 for 21!

So... On Thursday My GF Christine and I went to the toddler gym with the kids. We Met up with another friend of ours there as well. It's just some gym time for the little guys at the Cardel Place Rec centre. They set up a bouncy Obstacle course, a little rebounder for the kids to jump on, basketball, loads of balls, a slide and all kinds of stuff for the kids to do. It's nice to get them out of the house and playing with some new kids. Socializing, I suppose one would call it.

I put Hunter in the Bouncy Castle and then realized, after he got all the way to the back and couldn't get back out, that I EXCEED the weight limit and also am 8 months pregnant, which was breaking another bouncy castle rule. So I had to get my friend Alisha to crawl in after Hunter. All the way to the end. Over and under and around! Rescued! Phew! I laughed the whole time. So did Hunt.

Later, after the Chil'ens was all tuckered out, Christine and I walked over to the Superstore to look at snow suits for Hunt. He still FITS into the one from last year, but he can't exactly WALK in it as it is meant for babies that don't yet walk. The feet are all zippered up. He basically just does the Maggie Simpson star fish in it when ever I put it on him.

We found a really nice winter jacket/snow pant combo for him there that was only 39$. The snow pants have removable booty covers and the jacket has a removable hood and removable mitts. It's is really nice and warm and I am very happy with it.

We also found something else. I was hesitant to share this, seeing as it's not TIME yet, and I will be spoiling the surprise but !!!! I can't help it. He is so Gawsh Darned Cute (as Nana would say).


So Here it is!

IT WAS THE ONE AND ONLY TODDLE TURTLE COSTUME AT THE SUPERSTORE!!!

When Christine found it, I was so excited I nearly peed! Then we got to looking at the costume and realized that the head piece was missing. So we ransacked the hangers and shelves looking for either another turtle costumer WITH a hat or the missing hat that perchance had fallen off. We looked EVERYWHERE. It was no where to be found. I was ready to Weep! Then I saw a pile of boxes. Boxes that looked like a mishmash of costume parts. Random masks and head pieces, gloves and wigs. I ripped through those boxes so fast. And LOW AND BEHOLD!!!! THE TURTLE HEAD!!!! He he he. Then we found a fitting little Pj Jumper that was the right colour to go underneath and TADA! Best costume ever!

Day 8 of 31 for 21!

I can't seem to keep up to this blog!

Well, we had some left over crab and a few left over shrimp. Roughly 1 whole crab didn't get devoured the night before so I used some creative energy and made Crab and Shrimp stuffed mushroom caps.

Sooo...

1 1/2 bricks of cream cheese

1 whole crab

20 cooked deveined shrimp

Garlic Plus (from Costco)

Worcestershire

Lemon Juice

Parmesan Cheese

Mix to taste!

Mash into Mushrooms!

OM NOM NOM NOM!!

I'll let you know how they came out later.

Day 7 of 31 for 21!

Today was my 33 week OBGYN appointment. It was fun actually. So far I really like both of the Doctors there. Both are woman and today I saw Dr. Grant, who was a large woman about my age. She was very comical and relaxed which was very attractive, especially when you have to talk to her about your uterus which is conveniently up in your throat. We were talking about the Duggars and Mrs. Duggar who is on her 19th pregnancy. I can't for the life of me conceive of having ANOTHER pregnancy let alone another 17!!! I carry babies well, and I think my body is good with being pregnant, but I AM NOT. I don't like having my body taken over or being so handicapped. I can hardly put on my own socks and shoes. It takes me nearly 3 minutes just to get out of the tub. Walking up a flight of stairs is exhausting and after all the running around I do and the misery I am in at the end of the day, I can't even have a glass of wine to make everything all better! GAW!!!

Anyway, at least I enjoyed my appointment. The Doc was saying that Mrs. Duggar was insane to keep having so many children because she is pretty much risking her own life at this point. One day her poor uterus is just NOT going to contract back to it's original state, not that it's even remotely CLOSE to being in it's original state now. I guess with her last baby, during labor the baby flipped in her uterus horizontally! "Now that's a baggy uterus!" Says Doc Grant! LOL

I'm done with the two. I'm happy with the two. If we want more kids, we can adopt.

So..... Rather than a glass of wine to relax my poor pregnant body, today I got my hair cut and bought 3 live dungeoness crab!

LOL!! We kinda played with the nasty one for a bit.. He seemed to be all riled up and have lots of energy and Sam was quite interested in him. He had a million questions about crabs, which I intend to call Jim and ask! Like.. Why do they turn red when you cook them, and do they have hearts, and why do they blow bubbles, and how long do they live, and how big do they get, and ........ ... . .. .. . He is 12. You can see how this went!

Needless to say, The crabs were YUM!

And Here is my hair! After a month of letting it grow out I finally broke down and got it cut. The Lady who cut it asked me, "Why so messy?" in the cutest little Vietnamese accent EVER! I told her my husband cut my dreads out with kitchen scissors, but I don't think she knew what I meant by dreads, but she sure knew the meaning of kitchen scissors!

Day 5 of 31 for 21

Well I created and STARTED this post on the 5th and didn't publish it.

I'm off the hook!


Today is my last day of work. I am completely Enthralled!

I have zero to no motivation to work, so it's rather fortunate that it's extremely slow tonight!

Now, I get to fill my hours and days with house keeping, toddler minding, baby prepping, vacuuming, dinner making, kitchen cleaning, and doctors appointments!

Soo... Am I really off the hook?

Day 4 of 31 for 21

Odds and Ends

Here are a few pics of the bassinette that Dave and I found at the
Kids Consignment store called Starbright for Kids.
It was only 75$ and I think it is lovely. It's very gender neutral and solid wood.

Here are Hunty's new Nick and Nora Jammies that we got at the Kids Garage Sale.
They are flannel and soooo soft and warm!
LOVES!

And Here is the Cute Christmas out fit I got for him.
I thought it was cute for Christmas dinner.

TADA!

Bean's Big Boy Bed

So here are the pics of the bed that I promised.
This was Sam's loft bed from Ikea but he really wasn't comfortable sleeping on it. At the time we all thought it was a good idea to give Sam some more room IN his room. This way he had space under his bed for a desk, but getting up and down proved to be a bit of a pain. So... Daddy got out his Saw!

And TADA!

A Toddler Bed!

Tonsilectomy FTL!!

Well, My sweet angel Bean had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Tuesday this past week. It was a very difficult event for EVERYONE. I really didn't know what to expect and Poor Hunty had no idea WHAT was coming.

:'(
Here he is a 6 am. All Snuggled in cozy in his stroller as we check in at admitting at the
Alberta Children's Hospital.

Definitely looking a little tired as we woke him up at 5:30 to get on the road.

These few pics make me so sad.
Here, we had just arrived at the Day Surgery ward.
We were the first people there and Hunty got changed into his snazzy cute little Hospital garb. I just loved the teeny tiny smock.

CUTEST BABY BUTT EVER!
Gotta check out the bed and all the cool stuff going on behind the scenes.

After we got him into his cute little scrubs, Hunt had some blood work taken and was prepped for his surgery. The blood work was sad because he was crying so hard and we had to hold him down. Then he got a little ankle bracelet in case he tried to run away, that way people would know where to return him.
At first the bed he was on was just a regular bed so they had a proper Baby Crib rolled in for him. Then he was rolled off down to the OR room where I waited to meet his Doctor. He didn't want to sit still in his crib so I held him until the Anesthesiologist came. She carried him off to the operation room and I went to find a coffee, wishing I could lace it with half a micky of Baily's Irish Cream to easy my nerves.
I grabbed a coffee, rolled my stroller (aka Luggage carrier) into the Day Surgery Waiting Room and proceeded to knit for what seemed like a year!

I sat down at 8:23 am.

Doctor Lange came out at 8:38 am.
She told me that Hunter's surgery went "swimmingly" and that he was doing just fine. His tonsils were of medium average size and he was just in Post - OP waiting to clear his head of the anesthesia. I was told I would have to wait till they buzzed me before I could go meet him in the Day Surgery recovery area. They give you these new fangled pagers now that they vibrate when they are ready for you, rather than paging you over the PA systems. It's really nice and more private.

So I waited. And I waited. And Waited, and Waited!
And at 8:50 I was paged!
I jumped out of my seat, shoved my knitting into the stroller, grabbed my pager, rushed BACK for my coffee and boogied off to the Day Surgery ward where I would find my boy.

I was told Hunty was in Room 24. As I started toward room 24 a nurse started walking with me. She said he was awake and that he was a little upset and had been clinging to the nurse who was watching him wake up from the surgery. He wouldn't let go of her and he was crying pretty hard. As we got closer I could hear my poor lil guy sobbing and gasping. There he was in his recovery room, sitting on the edge of his bed, hanging on to this poor nurse for dear life. The instant he saw me he reached for me. I grabbed up my boy and held him close. I felt so bad for the poor lil guy, having to wake up in pain, all groggy and in a strange place with nothing but strangers everywhere. Oh so sad.
I rocked him and comforted him for a while, waiting for him to calm down.
He wouldn't settle.
We tried to give him some water, apple juice, ice, and even a Popsicle.
He wouldn't take anything.
The more we offered him the more upset he would get.

The nurse brought him some codeine and we had to pretty much hold him down and plug his nose to get him to swallow it.
He spit out most of the Tylenol that he was given prior to the surgery so he was in some pretty extreme pain. Since we had woken him up at 5:30 am to get him to the hospital by 6:25 am, he was pretty exhausted by 9:00 am, but every time he would swallow he was in agony and he would start gasping and crying again. You could just see the pain in his eyes and he just wanted to pass out for a while and not think about all the chaos. I sat with him on my lap for nearly 2 hours, holding him and cuddling him, hoping that the codeine would help, but it seemed to only make him groggy and dopey but really wasn't doing much for the pain. At 11 we forced a dose of Tylenol into Hunty and I called Daddy who works within minutes of the children's hospital. I told him I needed some help and that Baby Bean needed his Daddy. Within 15 - 20 minutes Daddy arrive, dressed in his coveralls, still in his sweaty work boots. Bean took one look at his daddy, stopped crying, reached for him and lay down his head on Daddy's shoulder and went to sleep for nearly two hours. I can't tell you the relief that swept over me. That was the first time that morning that I broke down crying. Just seeing Daddy there, I knew everything was gonna be OK.
He is such a great Daddy.
David was supposed to go back to work at 12:30 but he couldn't bear to leave Baby Bean.
We took turns holding him, going for bathroom breaks and cafeteria runs.
For a while the two of them slept together in the Lazy boy recliner next to Hunter's crib.
I sat watching them, knitting.
I'm finding that knitting makes for a fabulous Worry Doll.

After a few hours, David managed to get Hunter to sleep a while in his crib.
He went home at 3 or so, needing to shower and check on Samuel who was home alone.
I am so happy that Sam is mature and trustworthy. It gives us one less thing to worry about when he is home alone. He makes his own lunches and keeps busy and would never let anyone in the house. I'm happy with how he is maturing lately.

After a good long nap, my little man woke up feeling quite a bit better.
The concern the nurses were having earlier in the day was that if he wasn't drinking or taking any fluids in his mouth, then his throat would be very dry and it would make things worse. As I said, every time we tried to get him to drink something he would get upset and start crying, even after the Tylenol had kicked in. He would sleep for half and hour on Daddy's lap or my lap and the nurses would ask us to wake him up and see if he would drink something. This only caused my poor boy trauma as he would just get so worked up. Finally I said that I didn't want to wake him up anymore. He was too tired and he needed to get a decent sleep, otherwise we were just tormenting him and making it worse. The less sleep my boy got the more miserable he was going to be. Thankfully, the respected this and allowed him to sleep for a few hours.
AND YES!
Daddy returned to the hospital around 6 or so and by then my lovely, sweet handsome son was ready to wake up.
We got him out of his crib and changed his diapy and smock so he could feel a little better.
He sat on Daddy's lap and I tried to give him some juice. He REALLY wanted to drink. He would reach for the bottle with enthusiasm but get dismayed when it hurt to suck.
I went to the fridge in the hall and scoured for something I thought might make him feel better.

SORBET!

He ate an entire Dixie cup of Orange Sorbet!
Then a popsicle, a chocolate pudding, then another half of a strawberry sorbet!

Here is a blurry picture of my boy sitting in his crib, covered in chocolate pudding, eye's crossed from all the codeine, toe all aglow from the oxygen/heart rate monitor.

That night he did quite a bit better, though getting him to take his medicine was still a trauma. We still had to hold him down and plug his nose to get him to swallow it, but I'm told the codeine tastes awful.
He would sleep for short bouts of roughly 2 hours MAX.
I slept next to his crib in the recliner.
My sleep was awful. There were machines constantly ringing, babies coughing and crying, lights going off and on, more machines beeping. Not only was it noisy but for the most part Hunter slept on my lap, or lay with my in the recliner. Being 8 1.2 months pregnant with a 25 lbs 18 month old boy squirming on your belly for hours.... It was a rough night to say the least.
I was up at midnight, 1:30 - 3:00 or so then again at 5:50.

When I awoke at ten to six, I woke up because the on shift nurse was in our little room (it wasn't a room at all, but a 3rd of a room) giving Hunter his codeine and Tylenol. She was also changing his diaper and checking his Stats.
I asked if she needed help to give him his meds and she said no he already took them.
Wow!
He was taking his meds without having a trauma.
The other fabulous thing about that morning was waking up to see a Tim Horton's coffee, breakfast sandwich and a bag of Timbits waiting for me on the side table!

Oh Daddy! How we love and thank you!

He still wouldn't drink anything significant tho.
I was hoping he would at least be interested in some juice but he really wasn't.
It wasn't an hour later that he was back to sleep.
We both slept till about 9!


Later that morning the nurse on shift (we had seen 5 different nurses by this time) mentioned that if he wasn't eating or drinking by the afternoon then he wouldn't be able to go home. If he was willing to swallow, eat or drink, it would show that he was doing well enough to be discharged. Well you don't have to tell Hunter twice!

I think he was feeling quite a bit better by that time anyway and he was going to make up for lost time as it was.

He ate a Dixie cup of ice cream to start.
I wanted to see how well he could manage soft and cold.
Then he polished a whole mini box of rice crispies, well soaked of course.
Then I thought I would see if he was interested in any of the sausage they brought him for breakfast. He polished off a whole one.
He then had an apple juice, half a piece of toast with peanut butter and jam and last but not least, a Timbit!

My boy chowing down!

We went home early that afternoon, miserable, tired, happy to be home, both desperately in need of a bath. We slept that afternoon away, patiently waiting Daddy's return.

Since then, Hunt has had a few mornings where he has been a bit more sore.
And Oh The bad breath he has. Blech!
He has also been quite a bit more clingy and sucky.
He has become the world's biggest Daddy's boy as well.
He just can't get enough Daddy.

And lastly, We are all coming down with a cold.
Hunt has had quite the runny nose and Dave and I are both getting sore throats.

If it's not one thing, it's another.