Where's my wedding mojo?

So we decided that this was going to be the year to get married. You know, 2 kids, 2 moves across the country and 10 years later...obviously moving lightning fast in our relationship.

Planning has been coming along, but I'm not sure if we just gave ourselves too much time or what, but I don't seem to have a lot of wedding planning mojo. It's going to be a small relaxed casual wedding and I have most things arranged, but I have this nagging feeling that I should be doing more. Date...check, venue...check, reception...check, dress...check. I know there is still a lot to do but I keep on thinking that we still have time. It's April, weddings not till August, I guess there still is some time.

Am I too slow or are things on track? I guess we will see on August 8th!

No seeing the dress until the wedding!

A little update

Yes I know it has been a while. Life has been busy for us since my last post. How you may ask, well let me count the ways:

• New baby girl (which I had already mentioned in my last post) She is now 9 months old!
• We have moved from Newfoundland to Alberta 
• Bought a new house (6 months after the move)

Recent pic of my scallywags

Well I guess three things isn't all that much, but they are three pretty big life changes. 

All in all it has been a good move for us. I have really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and making new friends along the way. This town has always been really good to us and it continues to provide for us. 

Now as my mat leave is getting close to the end, I am thinking of my next move. Should I stay at home and take on a few more kids? Sounds good enough, but then I think that maybe I'm not a kid person. I mean, I love my own kids, but taking on more kids and dealing with nothing but kids all day is enough to make a person batty. Then I was thinking about looking into work from home jobs. Still need to do some more research on that front (if anyone knows of legit jobs that I can look into, please let me know!). And if all else fails, I guess I will go back into the work force. This is something that will happen eventually, but if I can delay it for a bit while the kids are still small, then that is what I'll do.

Choices. Choices. 

But for now, I thought I would get back into my blog. I may change things up here a bit too. Love change.

Thanks for reading :)

Our baby girl!

So I know it's been a while, I know, but it's been busy around here. And here is why:

My baby girl, Ella Lauren, was born on July 24th.

And like all parents, we think she is beautiful and perfect! 

Here is her birth story:

Name: Ella Lauren

Date of birth: July 24 

Due date: July 25

Weeks pregnant: 39w 6 d

Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz

Length: 20.4 inches

Woke up on Wednesday July 24th morning at around 1:30 am with some pangs in my belly. They were not too strong but were definitely coming and going. So around 2:00 I got out my iPad and started to time them with my contraction app. They were coming every 5 minutes and lasting for 45-60 seconds. So I got up and went out to the living room where Jamie was sleeping on the couch. I told him what was going on and we just monitored the contractions for an hour. By 3:00 they were coming ever 3 minutes and still lasting about 50 seconds, they were also picking up in intensity. I made the call for Jamie  to call MIL to come up to our house so she could stay with Hunter. She arrived around 3:30 and we hit the road to the hospital at 3:50. It's about a 70 km drive into St. John's to the hospital. At this point, the contractions were really getting intense but I had it in my mind that it was still manageable and we still had lots of time. We made it to the hospital in record in time-30 minutes (speeding slightly ;)). Once we arrived -about 4:20, I kept saying how I needed to go pee. Jamie pulled up to the ER doors and went and grabbed a wheelchair. He wheels me in to the closest washroom and runs back to the truck to park it. In the bathroom, I'm moaning and screaming out in pain  and my water breaks and I have my bloody show and I can feel my body start to push already. I'm thinking (and yelling) no no no, not here in the bathroom! I guess I was a little loud cuz when I open the door, there are 2 paramedics and Jamie standing there waiting for me. They rush me up to the case room who said to go straight to a delivery room. They put me up on the delivery bed and check me- I'm ready to go! They grab my legs and with the next contraction I push. All the while I was screaming where's the drugs and I don't want to do it like this! Two pushes later her head was out and with the next one her body was out at 4:48! 

If we would have waited another 10 minutes to leave, or got caught up in traffic or caught just one red light- she would have been born in the truck or the lobby! We made it just in time! 

Preeclampsia, work, and summer rest

This is all happening so fast! I wasn't expecting to be taken off work so early and now it all just feels like a whirlwind of things to do.

I had another one of my atypical migraines last week on Wednesday, not so scary now that I know what they are, but still a little unnerving. I had a doctors appointment anyways for Friday, but I thought I better move it up to Thursday just to get it checked out sooner than later. Good thing I did.

Doc says I got high blood pressure coupled with proteins in my urine (I know you love reading about my pee). These two things together are the recipe for preeclampsia  a condition that affects 6-8% of all pregnant women, which left untreated can lead to eclampsia-  life threatening seizures. Not good. I was at risk of developing it with my son, so it not a big surprise, but its still not something that you want to get. I am also part of a clinical trial that tests to see if extra folic acid in your diet has any effect on the development of preeclampsia (which reminds me, I have to take my pills this morning) so I was kinda hoping to avoid this whole situations, but alas, it found me. My sister also had HELLP with one of her pregnancies, which is a more severe complications with eclampsia so maybe it just runs in the family.

BTW: May is National Preeclampsia Awareness month. For more information go to the Preeclampsia Foundation website. And here are the signs if you think you might be at risk:

Source

Anywho, so my doctor told me I need to calm down and relax. I didn't think that I was too stressed out, but maybe I am. He said that I should probably go off work now as the only thing I can do to treat it is to relax both physically and mentally. 

So I went back to work with my doctors note in my hand and told work that I needed to be off and that Friday would be my last day in the office. I felt that it was too quick to be done and that I was just leaving too soon, so I asked to work from home for one week to get a few of my projects wrapped up. Plus, I thought it might help transition me from the working life to the home life. People at work are pretty good to me and agreed to let me work from home this week, as long as I have enough work to keep me busy. I might knock off a few days and call her quits by Thursday, depending on how everything goes.

I have some mixed feeling about being off so early. On one hand, was pacing myself at work and preparing for the next 2 months to go by like normal everyday life, just working away. Work was going to occupy me so I wasn't sitting at home waiting for baby to come.

But on the other hand, I am super excited to be home with my little man spending some real quality time with him before the baby comes. It will be the last time that it's just the three of us and this time before baby is going to be really special and I want him to know that he is very special too. I would also like to get him potty trained before the baby comes, one kid in diapers is enough! Plus there is always something to do around here. For example, actually get the baby's room started! Ya, that needs to happen soon. (Is that what my doctor meant by rest and relaxation??)

Anywho, I am looking forwards to the summer and now that I have the time off, I can really savor the summer. Bring it on!

Thanks for reading :)

Pregnant people not welcomed at St. Clare's

Here is my email correspondence between myself and the complaint department with Eastern Health regarding a recent visit that I had at St.Clare's Mercy Hospital. 

St. Clare's Mercy Hospital 

Proximity 

My Initial Letter

Good morning

I am writing to you as my official complaint about my experience at the St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital on Wednesday April 17^th.

I am currently 26 weeks pregnant and on Wednesday afternoon, I began to see spots in my eyes and have troubles understanding what I was reading and my speech was jumbled and confused. This set of alarm for me so my first reaction was to go to the nearest hospital to get myself and my baby checked out.  I had a friend/co-worker take me to the ER department at St. Clare’s around 1:30.

Once there, I was admitted by a very nice receptionist and the triage nurses were very kind to me and listen to what I had to say; kudos to those women for their professionalism. Then I waited to see the Emergency Room Physician. During my wait, I was starting to feel better and was coming around again.

Dr. Chis Goodall was the Dr that attended to me and I was not pleased with his treatment of me and my situation. Dr. Goodall did not seem interested in me or my baby. He asked a few questions while doodling on the bed-paper and cut me off several time while I was trying to explain to him why I was there. He asked me to do a few motor skills tests before diagnosing me with migraines and prescribing some Tylenol.

Not once did he infer about the baby, nor check to see if the baby was in any kind of distress.  I would assume that this would be standard practice for a pregnant women coming into the emergency room.  I understand that he obviously did not suspect any danger to my baby through his assessment, but I did not feel assured at the time. The baby was/is fine and I am not a doctor so I won’t criticize his methods too much for what I felt was an oversight at the time, but it did not make me feel at peace.

The one thing that really got to me, the one thing that I would like to underline as my top compliant to the St. Clare’s Hospital is his remarks as he was leaving the room.  He said: “And next time, don’t come here [St. Clare’s]. We aren’t a baby hospital and we don’t have head doctors”.

I was, and still am, appalled by this remark. St. Clare’s is a hospital. I was in need of medical attention. To say that I was not welcomed there to have my need addresses is a gross misconduct of health care system. I work at 100 LeMarchant Road, and St. Clare’s hospital is literally 1 block from my office and I thought it prudent to go to the closest hospital to seek the quickest attention.

So I am asking you:

What services do you provide if not to take in people in distress?  What if something would have been seriously wrong and time was of the essence? Would I not be treated at St. Clare’s? Would it not make sense to go to the closest hospital to at least catch an ambulance to the Health Science while receiving medical attention?

I realize that this complaint will not accomplish any big changes in the Eastern Health system.  I am only writing to you to bring this issue to your attention in hopes that these kinds of remarks will not be made in the future. I do, however, expect a response to this letter that lets me know my complaint has been heard.

Thank you

The Response:

Thank you for contacting Client Relations. I wanted to acknowledge the receipt of your email and to assure you that Eastern Health takes all complaints/concerns seriously.  I am sorry to hear about the experience that you had with the Emergency room Physician on your visits of April 17, 2013.  Your concerns will be forwarded to the Clinical Chief and the Program Director of the Emergency Program.  The Clinical Chief will review your chart and speak with the physician that attended to you.   You can be assured that your complaint will be discussed with him. 

I want to thank you for providing us with this information so that we can follow-up on your behalf.  If you require any further information please contact me again

My Response to the Response:

Thank you,

I am normally not one to complain, especially about the hard work that health care providers do. I just feel that this remark was uncalled for and appalling.

Thank you for taking this seriously.

Her Response Back:

I have received information from the ER Clinical Chief: He has discussed this complaint  with the physician. The physician felt that he was professional.  He indicated that he did not mean to make you  feel you were unwelcomed at the SCMH site, just that obstetric al care is best served at the HSC.  He expresses apology for any unintentional upset.

Again, thank you for contacting us and if you have any experiences in the future that are not as you expected please contact us again. 

My Final response:

Thank you for your response.

I don't deny that he probably is a very good doctor. He was able to diagnose my condition with accuracy. His bedside manners do leave something to be desired, but I'm looking for a doctor, not a friend, in an emergency situation.  

I was just off-put by his remarks "not to come back". I understand that the Health Science is a better facility for my condition, but admits an emergency situation my thoughts were to get to the closest hospital to seek medical attention. Perhaps his wording could have been a little different, perhaps I mistook his intentions, but in any case it was deeply upsetting to me to think that a doctor at St. Clare's did not want to take on my issues-that may or may not have been pregnancy related. 

Thank you very much for acting on this regard. I do feel as though my concerns were heard and the appropriate action was taken.

I will not be taking any more of my prenatal concerns to St. Clare's in the future.

Thanks again

Thoughts?

Naming Problems and Solutions

Naming your child is hard work. I mean, you are picking something that will stick with that person for the rest of their lives. Granted, girls will probably change their last names when/if they get married, but their first name will always be with them. This is why picking the “perfect” name is so hard and stressful on parents.

Since finding out we are having a baby girl this summer, the hunt for the perfect name has started. We already have a son so at first I thought it was going to be easy. I have so many names that I like and was excited that I can finally pull some good ones from my big bag of reserved names and poof…there’s the name! Wrong!

The first problem is that me and Jamie are kinda on different pages when it comes to name, it could even be said that we are reading from completely different books! I am more “old lady”  and he is more “80s”. And while the debate still continues at home, I got to thinking about naming delemas and potential solutions.

So here is my list of Baby Naming faux pas and how to deal with them:

Problem: You and Partner are on different naming planets.

Solution: Keep talking and listen to what they are saying. Try and not get too frustrated when your partner throws out Heather as a potential name when you are thinking more along the lines of Ruby. It can be easy to throw up your hands in defeat as another one of your 100^th suggestions gets shot down and proclaim: “Fine! You name her whatever you want then!”. Stay calm, there is still time to find a name. Ask your partner to list 10 or 20 names that the like and see if you can pick up on their theme or naming taste. For example, if he really likes boyish names for girls, perhaps you can think of girl names that can be shortened to a boyish nickname, for example, Veronica into Ronnie.

Problem: First childs name is a strong family name, but there are no more family names that you want to use anymore.

Solution: Break the tradition! It’s ok that your second or third child does not follow the same naming formula as your first. Treat each child as a separate naming experience. Perhaps this one won’t get a family name or the 2 middle names like the first one did…and that’s ok! This also applies to the repeating letter syndrome brought into the light by the Duggar family with their 19 J named kids. I’m sure by the time they had to come up with the 10^th J name, they were starting to run out of suggestions, but by then, it was too late, the trend had started.

Problem: Your mother in law hates the name you have picked out.

Solution: Too bad for her. While it can be fun to talk about names with your family and get suggestions, it can also be stressful when you have a name picked out and someone in your family decides to scrunch up their face into a sour pout when you tell them that name. I say, to each their own. I really did not like my sister’s kids name…at first, but now I love love love it! Sometimes it just takes a little getting used to and hearing it a few times before you can put your prejudices away and accept the name. Your mother in law already had her chance to name a child now this is your time to choose a name, and if someone else wants you to use the name Danica they can get pregnant and name their child that.

Problem: Someone used the name you were going to use! Whaaaa!

Solution: Get over it and use the name if you really like it. This is one of my biggest pet peeves! NO ONE OWNS A NAME!! You can’t call dibs on a name and hold it in some vault for no one else to use. PA-lease! Sure, out of respect you can cross a name off your list because it is too similar to someone elses' name, but I say if you really really like a name, go for it. For example, we recently had an Olivia join our family, I really liked Oliver for a boy…I would have used that name if we were having a boy with no second thoughts. I know it’s not exactly the same name, but its close enough that some people would have nixed it. Bottom line, use the name you like regardless if it’s also your neighbour’s kids name. 

Do you have any naming problems you would like to add?

The Witching Hour

There is a well documented phenomenon in the paranormal research that says spirits and ghosts are most active at 3:00 am. Believe it, don’t believe it, whatever. All I can say is that something strange happened last night at 3:00 on the dot which got me thinking about this phenomenon.

The house was quiet, everyone was sleeping in their usual spots, which these days is Jamie on the couch (cuz he tosses and turns most nights), Hunter in his bed, and me in our bed. All of a sudden, a loud crash boom bang from Hunter’s room! I wake from my slumber and glance at the clock…3:00. In my daze, I jump out of bed and go into his room to check out what has happened. Now, bumps in the night are not strange coming from his room at any hour in the night, so I was expecting to see him up and about and perhaps he had just pulled something from his shelf.

In the darkness I peered into his room, about ready to coax my son back into bed, but he was in bed. I flipped on the light and looked around the room. A shelf that was otherwise secured to the wall was now half hanging off the wall with its contents scattered on the floor. The contents, a few figurines and pictures, had knocked over his lamp and a picture off his dresser.  The things on that shelf were by no means super heavy, enough to overload the shelf.

I looked at my son sleeping in his bed and thought, that’s strange. I picked up a few things off the floor and tried to re-secure the shelf on the wall. It took some effort to do, and I tried to pull it off the wall to see how “secure” this shelf really was. I couldn’t get it to budge. So I turned off the light and went back to bed.

All of this took place in a span of about 3 minutes. While laying in bed, I started to think about it. How did that happen? What could cause a perfectly secure shelf to suddenly unsecure itself from the wall? Then I thought about the time…3:00 am. Isn’t there some myth about that being the witching hour? I started to get a little worried about that last thought. I almost went back into Hunter’s room to pick him up and bring him back to my bed where I knew he would be safe. But then again, him sleeping in his own bed all night is such a rare thing that I thought I better not.

I said a quick prayer asking my Uncle George and grandparents to watch over him and fell back to sleep.

Any thoughts on this? Do you believe in the witching hour? Share your stories with me.

Thanks for reading