Macleod Momentum

I've discovered it is true.  Life does get busier after baby number 2.  I thought I was going to bypass this because of my organization and such, but alas I was wrong. I love to blog and find it very therapeutic.  In fact, I kept a regular journal from the time I was about 11 right up until about 17; I would write in it almost daily. Life has been a whirlwind of awesomeness since little Heidi came home.  I feel like I'm only now finding some kind of normal. Nola is being ridiculously cute daily and her little independent attitude is hilarious.  She's a lot of fun and hasn't found the tantrum dendrite yet, thankfully.  I know it will come but for now I will enjoy the way she says, "I o u Mummy" which directly translates into "I love you Mommy" or the unprompted peas and tank u.  It's especially heart warming when Heidi cries from her crib and Nola runs full out yelling, "I come Heidi!"  Awesome. Over this last weekend we had a b...

The pictures are in and if I do say so myself, my girlies are quite photogenic...not to mention their Mom and Pop! These are just some tasters of the wonderful job two of my friends did. My friend Jess Schurman was kind enough to take some fabulous maternity shots! And another friend of mine, Amber Bourret, took some snaps after we were home.  Check out her website at  www.ambphotos.ca And I loved this one of my Mighty Girl showing off her tiger stripe. All it takes is a little Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust ;) And now my life will fly past me in its perpetual momentum... I once read, "Moments Stand Still. Days Crawl By. Time Flies." At 2 o'clock in the morning it does stand still. Fighting with a toddler crawls by. And Heidi will be a month old tomorrow. Sigh. Birth announcements will be mailed out soon! All the best :D

Even though Heidi has her pacemaker and is eating well and gaining weight, our journey certainly doesn't end.  I'm sure we have a lot to learn about the life of a "paced" child and the post utero part of the experience carried on today. Our little family of four traveled to Calgary Children's Hospital today for a Pediatric Cardiologist appointment for Heidi.  They wanted to check her heart function to make sure everything is ticking properly. Over the seat shot of Heidi. Daddy and Nola. Moi. The first thing for Heidi was an Echo Cardiogram.  Lucky for everyone, she was asleep for most of it while the wonderful lady used a tiny little probe to take ultrasound pictures of her insides.  That lasted for about 20 minutes. The Echo Cardiogram. After that was done, she needed to have an ECG done.  It was a 15 point lead, so she had to have 15 little stickies placed all over her body and hooked up to the machine.  It sounds kind of simple, b...

There was no possible way I was not going to blog about THIS. I thought most/all of my parent friends would find this quite interesting... We have a rear facing carseat.  This particular carseat is the biggest one you could buy at the time, rated for 5-35 lbs.  We used it for Nola and are using it for Heidi.  It's a great carseat, pretty typical.  It is green and brown, wipes clean easily, standard 5 point harness. Before leaving the Stollery, it was necessary for Heidi to pass the Carseat Study.  This meant she had to be in the carseat for 90 minutes with all of her vitals in tact.  So, her heart rate couldn't drop, her oxygen had to remain good, and her breathing be steady.  She passed without a problem.  Then the nurses started talking among themselves and our nurse came to us asking what our car seat was rated for... Well Heidi was definitely not 5 lbs yet. So the option was to rent a car bed.  That was what was going to ge...

The NICU runs like a well oiled machine.  The nurses are amazing and take incredible care of those babies. Kevin and I sat with Heidi every day she was in NICU, although in the first three days it was mostly Kevin as I was stuck at the Royal Alex for one thing or another, until at least noon.  And then by about 6 o'clock I was exhausted and wanted to go get some rest. We cuddled Heidi as best we could with all the silly wires and she always slept better in our arms. The last two days spent in the NICU have been there only because there was no room in the ward upstairs.  Today we finally got moved to a room where we can, more or less, freely pick her up and cuddle her and feed her.  She is still having her heart rate, oxygen and breaths monitored. They are also currently weighing her diapers to make sure she is voiding an appropriate amount and tracking her volume of intake.  We need her to feed well and gain weight.  She has a cardiologist meeting a...

Heidi Faith Macleod was born at 1:10 pm on March 13th 2012 weighing 4 lbs 13 ounces.  They claimed her length to be 19 1/2 inches long...but I think that might be inaccurate. After Heidi was taken away to the U of A to await surgery, I hung out in the recovery room before they took me to my room.  Kevin decided it would be nicer for me to have a private room, and after he made sure I was all set up he left to go be with Heidi. Luckily, everything lined up perfectly for Heidi to get her pacemaker.  5 short hours after her birth, the operating room was empty and the surgeon was ready to go.  I was told this doesn't often happen and it was a great stroke of luck for her. The surgery took about two hours and her chest took an incision about 2 inches long.  The pacemaker itself can be felt just underneath her rib cage on the right side.  It is about the size and weight of three stacked quarters.  After the pacemaker was installed she was perfectly fin...

Finally I get an opportunity to sit down and satisfy my need to blog! I thought it would be best if I broke the "story" in to parts to keep my brain focused, and possibly make it easier for everyone to follow along :) Monday March 12 was the big day I was relocating to Edmonton in preparation for the delivery of our second daughter.  Most everything was packed the night before, so in the morning Nola and I puttered away at loading the car with all sorts of bags, toys and supplies.  By 1 o'clock we were on the road to Entwistle, where Nola was supposed to be until Thursday when my appointments were done and I could keep her with me until the actual cesarean. I dropped Nola off and let her settle in at Mom and Dad's and then headed for the city to find the Ronald McDonald House.  Like a true out-of-towner, I had my map in my hand and distractedly maneuvered my way through rush house Edmonton traffic to find my parking spot in front of the House. I got my little...