Through The Waters

     Tonight's update will not be a long or deep or involved post... bit too drained from today and frankly the weekend to allow for lots of literary and free thought.  But since I know there have been so many of you praying and thinking of us this weekend, it's time for a little update.       Sunday morning, we woke to beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures and a feeling of great happiness in our hearts, preparing to bring our second daughter, Ava Grace, to church for to receive the sign and seal of God's faithfulness to her through the sacrament of baptism.  This baptism felt for us such a milestone - here we were with the child that was covered in prayer and held in her Heavenly Father's hand so carefully for the last five months, ever since my diagnosis.  A special day in which to bring praise to God for His love and care, His provision and His blessing of a healthy baby girl after such sorrow and agony.  And so we gathered with many...

     Morning has broken on this early Saturday morning... once again a hungry stomach has hauled me out of the comfort of cozy warm blankets and soft pillows to be filled with all the delicious snacks that are on our counter from the last few days of people spoiling us.  Now that that appetite has been sated, it's time for a little update.  Time does slip by, quickly, like water through fingers, and yet sometimes passes oh so slowly.  I've been glad for moments this week when I can simply sit and soak up the joy and the wonder of our baby, our soft, sweet baby girl who has brought such joy into our lives and indeed has been a witness in the flesh of God's faithfulness to us.  He brought her here to us at a time when we think everything is just not suited to have a baby in the midst of all this chaos and yet, her soft skin, her gassy smiles, her sweet nature, her big dark eyes, her hands tucked up by her face when she sleeps have all be little gifts, li...

    It feels like a long long time ago since I managed to sit down and update the blog.... but I will admit the last week has flown by... and yet has been one of the longest weeks of our life.  I last wrote on Thanksgiving morning when we were anticipating going into hospital the next morning for the expected birth of our second daughter, our miracle baby, Ava Grace.  And little did we know anything about how the following week would progress.  It's probably a good thing we didn't know all the ups and downs of the journey to this little one's arrival but God has been gracious and carried us through and as I write, Ava is happily swinging away with a full tummy and her sweet sweet face all scrunched up in sleep.  I'll probably fill the post with pictures of our little one since I've finally sat down to upload all the pictures we've snapped over the week.      Ava Grace joined us in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, October 12 ...

Just got off the phone with Danielle this evening with an update on how things are going.  They were hoping to be home already, but some complications have kept them in the hospital for a few extra days.  Ava is doing very well.  She was a little jaundiced for a bit and had a hard time keeping her sugar levels up, but the jaundice has improved and she is eating like a champ so there is no longer a concern about her glucose.  Her weight has dropped a bit, as is normal for newborns, and with the way she is eating, she'll be packing on the ounces in no time.  She is a very sweet baby, calm and pretty quiet except for diaper changes.  She is also exceptionally cute and I'm sure that's not just an Auntie's bias.  The nurses have been watching her overnight in the nursery to let Danielle get some much needed healing rest. Danielle has not been feeling very well the last few days.  Friday morning's bloodwork revealed that her hemoglobin was down to 7...

Someone's finally made her appearance, early this morning at 3:03, weighing 5 lbs, 6 oz, with a little bit of dark hair and beautiful dark eyes...our Ava Grace, our gift from God, our blessing and joy. She gave us a run for our money but in the end, she's here in our arms, well, currently snuggled on my chest and our hearts are full. We are well aware that this is a very anticipated child and we thank all who have been keeping us in their prayers around the world! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!!

Yet another long day of waiting at the hospital today - ups and downs, but no baby yet.  Danielle and Timothy were able to get a bit of sleep last night.  An ultrasound at 8 this morning showed that Ava had readjusted herself and turned sideways again.  She's still pretty little and has a bit too much room to swim around.  They were given three options:  another ECV, going home to wait it out, or a c-section.  This was extremely disappointing news after everything that has happened already!  Danielle wasn't prepared to go through another ECV and going home was not going to happen, so they resigned themselves to the c-section, to happen between 10 and 12 this morning.  Danielle requested a last chance ultrasound scan around 10, which showed that Ava had smartened up and turned head-down again, giving another chance at natural delivery.  They put the binder back on and started up the oxytocin again to hopefully keep her in place with contractio...

An update on how things are going - it's been a long day at the hospital, and there's going to be a bit more of a wait before Danielle and Timothy get to meet little Ava face to face.  Danielle started on the oxytocin drip this morning around 8:30.  Mid-morning an ultrasound was done to see how Ava was doing, and it was discovered that she had flipped upside-down again and was now in a fully breech position.  This was pretty disappointing news!  The drip was stopped and after discussing options, they decided to try an External Cephalic Version (ECV) this afternoon to try avoiding a c-section.  An ECV is a procedure used to manually turn a breech baby into a head-down position before labour begins.  It took two doctors about 45 minutes to manoeuvre Ava around, monitoring her closely throughout the procedure, and she is now successfully in the correct position for delivery.  It was a painful procedure - imagine your stomach being roughly kneaded like dou...

    It's early... yep, 7:09 am to be precise... I've been awake and tossing and turning since about 6:40 and then my stomach decided that "yes, I am super hungry and I need pie" and that was it.. out of bed, to the fridge, grab some early morning pie and sit here and chat for a bit... in the stillness, in the dark, with the rain pouring steadily down and creating a soothing lullaby.  Rain on Thanksgiving seems a strange thing but maybe this year has been a study in contrasts.  We had a cooler summer (for which this pregnant lady was thankful) but the last few weeks has showed us what a lack of rain will do - my poor garden is looking awfully tired and burnt out and our lawn, which we had nurtured back to a half-decent state over the summer, is now brown and crispy like August grass.  So when I hear the rain steadily falling, I'm thankful.  Number one thing to be thankful for.  I'm also thankful for the pie that settled my stomach down - thankful for...

      A quick little update from today...And a little trip down memory lane - the picture above is not our Ava Grace but rather the first picture with my dear Mom and I after I was born 40 years ago!  Hard to believe that both of us, Timothy and I, will be 40 by tomorrow - it's his 40th tomorrow - one last fling at going out for dinner tomorrow evening sans baby in tow.  How time flies and how slow it can go as well.  It's hard to comprehend sometimes as humans the concepts of time and years passing.  And yet, somehow, after months of worrying and waiting and hoping and praying, we are down to 8 more sleeps before meeting D.V., our second daughter, our miracle baby girl.  We are set for an induction on October 10, doesn't mean of course that she will come that day since things might not quite be ready but that's where we'll start anyways.      We had one last ultrasound this morning at MacMaster, one last scan to check size and ...