I Think I Can Do This!!!

Today was a great day!!  Quinn had a great night last night with feedings (no nipple shield!) and sleeping (in her bassinet!).  Steve and I have come up with a routine of sorts for the evenings - I usually take a nap after feeding Quinn around 9-10pm until her next feeding, which is usually around 12-1am.  When I'm napping, Steve will be holding her getting some snuggle/nap time in and when she wakes for her 12-1am feeding, he passes her off to me and heads up to bed.  I usually then feed Quinn while watching a movie or TV until she's dopey for sleep.  Then we head upstairs (where Steve has left the lamp on) and I get ready for bed after putting Quinn down.  Sometimes she'll go right to sleep, but sometimes she needs a little rock in the glider, or just to be walked around before she'll go to sleep.  Sometimes she needs a "top up" feeding before she'll get to sleep.  I like this routine because then I only really have 1 feeding in the night to really do on my own (around 3-4am) before it's the morning and Steve's getting ready for work for the 6-7am feeding and can help me with diapers, etc.  On the weekends, the routine also includes Steve cuddling Quinn after the 6-7am feeding so that I can get some more sleep.  During the week Quinn and I have some cuddle time after that feeding!

My sister came over today to hang out for a bit before she headed to work, which was nice to have company.  Plus someone else to change some diapers too!  Right after lunch time we headed out for some errands - UPS store to pick up part of Quinn's early Christmas present from Nanny and Pepere, Canada Post to pick-up Quinn's passport (Arizona here we come!), then to "Forbidden Place" to print off some pictures for Steve's office and for our photo album.  Quinn was great the whole time and we managed to squeeze it all in between feedings.  When we got back it was time for Quinn to eat and again we didn't have to use a nipple shield!!!

Here's hoping tonight is just as great!

Sleeping with her mouth wide open

She usually ends up on her side when sleeping on the bed...I think her cast weighs her down

Quinn's Gained Almost a Full Pound!

Today was our second to last visit with Grace...I'm going to be so sad when it's all over! :(  When she weighed Quinn today, she weighed 8 lbs 8.5 oz...so she's almost gained a full pound from her birth weight.  There obviously is a bit of a discrepancy due to her cast, but the plaster guys at CHEO said that it wouldn't be too much of a difference.

Today's going better as well for the "bait and switch" with nursing too.  She even latched well and fed when we were at the midwife office!

Here's hoping for more progress on the nursing front over the next few days!

Quinn's 4 Weeks Old Today!

It's so hard to believe that it was 4 weeks ago we welcomed Quinn Addison into the world!  So much has happened since then!

Today was actually the first day that I was on my own with Quinn after you take away Steve's time on leave and family visits.  It was a pretty uneventful day...minus Quinn not wanted to stop eating for 4 hours (off and on, mind you) this afternoon and me being so overtired, but what can ya do!  Quinn and I went to St. Laurent mall to return something to Babies R Us and strolled around there for a bit since it's still quite warm out.  This outing was followed by the marathon feeding.

Speaking of feedings, I'm trying to "bait and switch" Quinn from using the nipple shield to shelving the shield.  So far it's working about 20% of the time that she'll latch without the shield...which I actually enjoy more to be honest since she seems to feed more efficiently when she doesn't use the shield.  Plus she's less of a messy eater without the shield!  I have a goal in mind for us to no longer need to use the shield and that's for when we head to Arizona in November...so that gives us about a month and a half to try to ditch the shield!

Quinn's also moved out of newborn clothes (most of them anyway) and is into 0-3 month clothes.  It's actually a good thing that she has so many clothes since some of the 0-3 clothes are more on the small side then there are some on the larger size.  Part of the reason why we had to go to 0-3 month sleepers was due to her cast since this one is a little bit bigger due to the plaster cast underneath.  I'm slightly sad that she's out of newborn clothes even though she's still so tiny!  Some of her newborn dresses still fit though!  She's also moving out of the newborn diapers.

Steve's brother Jordan (aka Unkie Jord) was up to visit over the weekend.  It was so great to have him here to visit and to meet Quinn...or as he calls her, Quinner!  Quinn's definitely a much loved little girl!

Heading to Steve's work's Open House

Going shopping at Auntie Linds' store!

Wearing her "bean" onesie

Sleeping like an angel next to Mama

Quinn's Last Cast

Today was the day for Quinn to get her last cast on.  She also had to have a tenotomy to snip her Achilles tendon so that she can move her ankle in full range.  Dr. Kontio explained all the cries that she'd have to us before he started.  We were actually allowed to stay in the room during the procedure - apparently most of the time the ortho doctors don't allow the parents to stay.  I definitely didn't want to leave little Quinn's side!  Her cries were so gut-wrenching though...made me cry and the resident rubbed my back. :P  But Quinn made it through everything with flying colours!  Dr. Kontio also said that she was one of the younger patients to have the tenotomy since usually the kids have to have more weeks of casting before the tenotomy.  She's only a little fussier than normal today (because normally she's not too fussy!), but things are going OK!

Sleeping like an angel on the way home from CHEO

Family's Back in Town!

Today actually was Steve's first day back at work since Quinn was born...but I didn't have to be home alone!  My Mom, Nana, and Grampy all came to visit (they got here last night), so there have been lots of hands to help around the house!  Which is amazing...since the days have been going by so quickly and I really don't get much accomplished despite my best intentions!  Just having the help with cooking and cleaning...and having someone to hold Quinn so that I can have a shower and spend time looking half decent...is great!

I actually was able to go have a massage today while leaving Quinn home with her Nanny and great-grandparents.  The massage was definitely needed and a nice getaway, although I missed Quinn the whole time.

Looking forward to our "Meet and Greet" with Quinn tomorrow!!!

Steve's Getting Ready to Go Back to Work...

So Steve's getting ready to go back to work tomorrow...I'm not exactly looking forward to that because I've loved having him home with me and Quinn!  I keep thinking about all the things that are easier with 2 people and 2 sets of hands and wondering how I'll be able to do it on my own!  I guess I'll have to just be more into putting Quinn into her swing!

Quinn has her 2nd cast on to correct her foot.  The doctor was very pleased with the progress that she made with the 1st cast, so she'll only need to have one more cast put on!  She also has to have her Achilles tendon released so that she can move her foot better - it's only a minor incision for this though.  After she's done with the casts, then she'll be put into a brace that she'll wear 23 hours a day for 2-3 months and then only for nighttime and naps until she's 2-3 years old.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Marathon Feeder on our Hands!

I don't know if Quinn is going through a growth spurt or what...but the last 24 hours have included marathon 3 hour nursing sessions!  She'll eat, then fall asleep, but as soon as I move her to cuddle or pass her to someone else to cuddle, she wakes up and starts rooting and then eats again!  It's crazy!  All of this nursing is making me even more hungry than usual and more thirsty than usual.  I honestly don't know where the little piggy is putting it all because she's still so tiny!  Steve has to keep bringing me food that I sit propped up on the nursing pillow (I'm good at balancing bowls of soup and cereal!) and eat across Quinn...I'm surprised she's not full of crumbs!!!

Needless to say, I'm hoping these crazy feeding sessions don't last too long...they're exhausting!

Baby Passport Photos Are Ridiculous

Quinn and I are going to be going to Arizona in November for a week and so the little miss needs to have a passport.  Fair enough, I get it...but how the hell are you supposed to have a 2 week old behave well enough for the photo requirements?  Why do they need to have a photo when they're this young anyway?  Ontario health cards for babies don't have to have photos on them.  The requirements for baby/child photos are for the "child to have a neutral expression (no smiling or frowning) with the eyes open and mouth closed...no hands are to be seen in the photo".  OK...so how is Quinn supposed to magically obtain head and neck control so that she can hold her head straight without our help?!?  We took her to Wal-Mart (aka the "Forbidden Place") to get her photo taken and every time her face looked perfect, you could see the edge of one of mine or Steve's fingers near her neck to hold her up.  Quinn finally had enough of trying to sit pretty and we had to give up.  We did get a picture out of it, but we're not expecting the office to accept it (her colouring looks a little washed out and her tongue is sticking out).  I'm going to blow a gasket at the office next week if they don't take it!

Other than this fiasco, it's been getting a little bit easier still!  We were able to have lunch at Boston Pizza and Quinn slept through the whole thing.  Tonight we're attempting a sponge bath for her (we can't submerse her in a bath because of her cast) after the next feeding, so we'll see how that goes.  We've been trying to get this bath done for a few days now but keep running out of time!  Fingers crossed she doesn't hate it too much...we really need to get the dried milk out of her hair...she's a messy eater!

Mama's turn for snuggles...best nap ever!

Getting the Hang of Things

We went to see Grace for Quinn's 2 week checkup this morning - she weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz...but we know that this is a little skewed because of her cast, but Grace was very happy with her weight!  She said that Quinn should be up to her birth weight by 3 weeks and she's already done this by 2 weeks!  Even though she's not technically 2 weeks until tomorrow.

After our appointment we took Quinn to my work to meet the rest of the staff.  Everyone was so happy to see us and it was so great to show her off!  We also picked up our gift from our friends out west...just need to put it together tonight!  It's called a Mamaroo and is a new type of baby chair. Can't wait to try it out!  Quinn really likes her swing, so the new chair/swing should work really well!  I had her in her swing this afternoon and made some brownies...felt like a regular stay-at-home mom! :)

Having a little snooze in her playpen

We're both starting to pick up on Quinn's little cues and things now too.  So we're definitely getting to know our little daughter!  These cues are especially useful surrounding nursing which is making that so much easier.  Here's hoping it continues!

Nursing Success!!!

Yesterday we decided that we would go to a breastfeeding drop-in to get some more insight into nursing.  Things had been going quite well throughout Friday until we went to get her cast put on.  The ortho guys said that we might have a bit of a harder night that night and boy did we ever!  Quinn didn't feed that well (we had to use a syringe) and that continued through to the morning.  So we went to the drop-in...and the lady who was there didn't really shed too much new light on the situation, but did reassure me that nursing can take a few weeks to really get going.  Then when we got home and it was time to feed Quinn again it was like a little light bulb had gone off in her head - she did it!  Now it's been 36 hours of nursing without having to use the syringe/feeding tube rig we had.  Such a difference!  I think that we finally figured out how to get Quinn in a comfy position that she likes and also she's starting to give more cues about when she's hungry.  Before we used to have to wake her up, strip her naked to wake her up, etc., in order to get her to eat every 3 hours.  Now we seem to be on a better schedule and she's waking herself up which is so much easier - especially because I can nurse her without having to strip her naked and re-dress her afterward.

I've come to discover that nursing is like crack...such a relaxing experience now! :)

Quinn Meets Alexandre!

Yesterday Darcy and Carole came over to visit and brought Quinn's "boyfriend" Alexandre to meet her!  Alex was born a week before Quinn, so we thought it would be kind of fun if we took pictures of the two of them together once a month to see their sizes relative to each other.  They were both good as gold for the picture and it was great to see some friends as well!

And to all of our other friends who want to come visit, we promise we'll be all set soon! :)

Lactation Consultants and Clubfoot

To refer to an e-mail from my friend Sue - you'd think that since women have been nursing for thousands of years that it would be more instinctual and easier!  I really did think that nursing was going to be easier.  Not that I thought that it would be a complete walk in the park, but I did think it would be slightly easier than it has been.  I guess that I had only ever seen people nursing their 4-5 month olds with no trouble and figuring that it was always like that.  How wrong I was!  I absolutely love nursing when it works...but it has been frustrating sometimes and I can see how some people can't handle the frustration.  Luckily I'm determined and have Steve for support and my family for support too.  We had a lactation consultant come to visit us yesterday to help us along this path.  She was fantastic!!!  It was great to have someone else's opinion, especially someone who specializes in breastfeeding.  She explained and showed proper latching and also showed me how you don't have to hold the baby in a perfect position - the baby will find their comfortable leg/body position.  So right now I'm not using my nursing pillow, but probably will down the road, especially for some elbow support since I'm still a little awkward.

I consider us very lucky to be living in a city since I've been having these issues surrounding nursing.  First, our midwife was able to help us when all my milk came in and we're lucky to have access to midwifery care here in Ottawa.  Second, we were able to rent a pump from Shoppers Home Health Care for a great price and it's hospital grade.  Third, we were able to have a lactation consultant come and do a home visit.  Fourth, there are breastfeeding drop-ins all around the city from Monday-Saturday that are free of charge, you just have to get there early.  We're thinking about going to one tomorrow morning because I feel like the more support and encouragement that we can get in this process, the better!

Today we went to CHEO for an ortho consult about Quinn's left foot.  From 18 weeks along in the pregnancy we were told that the ultrasound showed a clubfoot appearance.  Actually, they originally thought that both feet were affected so we had a follow-up at 21 weeks and this ultrasound showed that it was only the left foot that was affected.  We actually had 7 ultrasounds total throughout the pregnancy - 4 extra ones after the 18 week ultrasound - to evaluate her foot...that's a whole other story!  Anyway, there is no way to determine severity on ultrasound - we just had to wait until she was born for this assessment.  So when she was born, she was assessed by our midwife and also by a pediatrician at the Montfort.  The pediatrician said that she believed that it was only mild and would refer us to CHEO (the children's hospital in Ottawa) for ortho.  Today was this appointment and the ortho doctor confirmed that it was only a mild case of clubfoot - her foot is actually quite flexible and can be maneuvered almost back to the proper position.  Because of this, the doctor recommended a soft fiberglass cast to start since it's easier to deal with than plaster.  The method of treatment is called the Ponsetti method - it's a series of serial casts to correct the foot.  We're going to be taking Quinn every week for up to 8 weeks to CHEO to get a new cast put on.  I'm hoping that they'll let us keep the casts so we can see the progression!  Quinn handled the cast a lot better than I did watching her get it put on!

Starting to Get Used to Things...

Yesterday marked Quinn's 1 week birthday and also her first doctor's appointment.  She just loves the car!  Out like a light in 2 seconds flat.  I was nervous about the doctor's appointment because Quinn's feeding schedule has been all over the map lately, but things went well!  She peed on the scale when getting weighed though...but to be fair, Steve and I did warn the nurse that she probably would!  We just have to take Quinn back in a month for her 1 month check-up.

Mom and Roger left this morning to get back home to NS - they were such a huge help when they were here with the cooking and cleaning.  I know that they'll miss Quinn and so do her Nana and Papa!  Good thing that someone came up with Skype!

Something that I've come to discover is that nursing can really be a 2 person job...at least in the first few days/weeks.  Quinn sleeps so well in between feedings that we always are having to wake her up to feed her...and even then she likes to fall asleep while being fed, which can make the feedings last for a very long time.  Or she'll decide to have a pee or poop in the middle of feeding, so then changing her adds to how long the feedings are.  I also had some issues starting on Sunday when my milk came in that we're still working on resolving.  Our midwife, Grace, was a huge help for this and we're also going to seek the advice of a lactation consultant to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to make her feedings go better.  The last 12 hours have been much better, but we still have a ways to go.  I keep telling myself that it's only been a week...but when you calculate the fact that 7 days = roughly 60 feedings, it seems like longer than a week!

Everything else is going great though - she's an excellent sleeper, so even though the feedings can take an hour to an hour and a half to get through, she sleeps well until the next feeding in her bassinet so Steve and I can actually get some rest.

Midwives are Amazing

Today was our last home visit with our midwife, Grace.  We still will be seeing her for the first 6 weeks of Quinn's little life but our other visits will be at her office.  Today's visit was great for Quinn as she's gaining weight and her vitals are all perfect!  Today's visit ended up being more of a day-long visit though so that Grace could help me with nursing.  Her help was absolutely invaluable! Plus she called to check on me tonight and is going to check in again in the morning as well.  She's been available by page for any nursing questions as well night or day.  Which when you're stressing about it is an amazing thing to have to be able to ask someone!

Midwives are worth their weight in gold! Not only for the visits leading up to the birth - you see them on the same schedule as you would see an OB and they do all the same tests as an OB, and not only for the birth - you have 2 midwives present for the birth, your primary takes care of you and delivers the baby and the second midwife is there for the baby to do the newborn assessment, but for the 6 weeks post-birth care which is inclusive of nursing.  Having Grace come to the house for the first few days is also great since it's been taking a while to really be able to get up and move around well.  Needless to say I'm going to be really sad when all of our visits are over, but I know that Steve and I will always use a midwife for any other children that we have!  The experience has been so personal.  I really like the fact that you know who will be there at the birth of your baby and that the person knows you really well.

I find it really unfortunate that midwivery care isn't widely accepted or that funding is cut.  It's truly a shame that not all mothers (and fathers) are able to experience the care of a midwife - at least to have the option between midwifery or OB care.

Ups and Downs

Today marks Quinn's 5th day!  Things are going pretty well all around.  Yesterday was  great day for feedings (every 3 hours like a champ!) and I actually got to get out of the house for an hour to get some things.  Although I missed Quinn like crazy when I was gone!

We had our friends Kent and Erin over for a visit yesterday.  Seems fitting that they were the first ones to come to visit us since Quinn tried to make an appearance at their house last Sunday (i.e. we were at their house when my water broke!).  I love showing her off - she's just too cute!

Today is our 5 day visit with our midwife, which is our last home visit unless we need her to help us with something else.  Right now she's helping us with nursing as Quinn is just too good at it that she's not super hungry when she should be and I look like I'm growing a watermelon patch!  Quinn was also weighed today and is up to 7 lbs 6 oz!  So she's gained some weight from the day 3 visit - Grace said half an ounce a day is great.  She also reminded us that Quinn weighed probably a bit more than normal at birth due to the fact that I had been on IV fluids for 24 hours before she was born.

Hopefully the rest of today goes well with nursing! Keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Quinn's 3rd Day

Today was definitely a bit of a better day rest-wise.  Grace suggested that since we have so much family up visiting that after I feed Quinn that we should hand her off to the grandparents to snuggle and Steve and I get some sleep.  What a fantastic idea!!! I blame the sleep deprivation on us not thinking of that earlier.  Needless to say, both Steve and I got some amazing sleep in - when you have a newborn, 2 hours = amazing sleep!

Things are getting better in the nursing department as well.  The last 2 nights were really tough, but both Quinn and I seem to be getting the hang of it now.

Next task is getting the little miss to sleep in her bassinet a bit more!

Up to Today!

Quinn is just amazing.  I'm so in love with her every time I look at her and miss her when I'm sleeping.  The sleeping thing is a little rare at the moment, but that's the beauty of having family here to help!

We had to stay in the hospital until September 1st so that the hospital staff could monitor Quinn for any signs of infection since my water had broken 48 hours before she was born.  Her vitals were always perfect though, so no infection!  Also, they wanted to check to make sure that she wasn't going to become jaundiced and she passed that test with flying colours as well!  I was super anxious to get home from the hospital though, so when we finally got word that we could leave I pretty much jumped out of bed and flew around the room to get packed up to go!

Bringing her home was so great - I'm so much more comfortable being home and around my own things and in my own bed.  Steve has been absolutely amazing!  Whether it's changing diapers, helping settle her down, helping me feed her, getting me food/water, he's doing it all!  He was also amazing in the hospital that I definitely couldn't have gotten through any of it without him.  He's such an amazing dad!

Grace came by today for the day 3 visit and weighed Quinn - she weighed 7 lbs 4 oz today which is great!  She's a very efficient feeder and now I'm just waiting for my milk to come in.  Quinn's not so patient with this though!  So far Quinn's passed every newborn test she's been given and just HAS to be the best at it.

The Longest but Most Rewarding 24 Hours (Aug. 29-30)

Let's start back a few days ago to get everyone caught up to speed!

We left to go to the Montfort for me to be induced at 7:30pm on Monday, August 29th since I didn't naturally go into labour.  We met our midwife Grace at the hospital and got me all set to go - I was on the drip by 9:30pm.  I was handling things pretty well for the first few hours.  When you're under a midwives care, the nurse stays with you until you're in active labour (i.e. 4-5 cm dilated) and then calls your midwife to come in.  It's reassuring to have a nurse in your room the whole time too when you're having contractions.  As I said, I was dealing with things pretty well and we were watching DVDs on my computer (highly recommend!) and I was getting some sleep.  But then things took a turn for the terrible - I never dilated past 1 cm and started having contractions that were lasting 6-7 minutes because my uterus decided to rebel.  I was taken off of the drip in the morning to try to get some sleep.

After some sleep I felt like a million bucks and then we discussed with the OB and my midwife about what the next course of action was to be.  By this point I had started to contract on my own and was 2-3 cm.  The doctor and Grace decided that the only real course at this point was to get me an epidural and start the oxytocin again (I had other options too, but this was the best one to me).  Needless to say, the epidural was a godsend and not that painful to go in as you see on TV!!!

The drip was started again at 2:30pm and I got some more sleep (hallelujah).  Then we had family come to visit for a bit and at 6pm my nurse checked me and I was 4 cm!! Yay! That means I was in active labour so Grace could come back!  Grace made it in for 7:30pm and then checked me a little after that and I was fully dilated and the baby was coming!

I resisted the urges to push for about 45 min to conserve energy.  Then I only pushed for about 45 minutes before little miss Quinn Addison made her way into the world.  What an amazing birth in the end - and it was exactly 24 hours from the beginning of the induction to her birth at 9:33pm on August 30th.  Grace pointed out that I had had the longest early labour (from the time my water broke on Sunday until she came back on Tuesday night) and a super short active labour.