Happy 35th Birthday Geofford!

Happy Birthday to Geofford!  He turns 35 today and he is still only has to care for two children.  Baby Seaborn #3 is still growing nicely and I haven't had any other abnormal pains, which is great!  We have made it to Week 27, which is still 10 weeks from full term, but as everyone keeps telling me, every day/week counts, so it's a good milestone.

The adjustment to bed rest has been quite difficult, but I have been lucky to have a very supportive family who have all helped out immensely.  The boys seem to understand that something is up and have adjusted to all of the extra attention from our extended family, so they don't miss not having as much of mom's attention.

Fortunately, I only had to do 4 full days of bed rest at home.  At my appointment with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Day Unit (aka High Risk unit) at the Civic Hospital on Tuesday, I was informed that the leak in the amniotic sac was probably high and was able to seal itself as I was no longer leaking fluid.  Also, during the ultrasound that same morning they were able to measure adequate amniotic fluid around baby, so that was all great news.  The only bad news that we did receive was, during the ultrasound, they found that the baby has an enlarged kidney, which he/she may grow out of if he/she continues to develop in utero.  As the baby's structures are so small, just a small blockage in the ureter could cause the build up of urine in the kidney.  There is nothing medical that they can do at this point except to monitor the kidney and hope that it can be resolved before the baby is born.

I was told that I was being discharged from High Risk and could continue following my own doctors for the rest of the pregnancy unless something else came up.  Since I was no longer with high risk I was told that I could do modified bed rest, which is essentially house arrest with the ability to visit the outside world on an as needed basis.  This was great news to my ears, but I do realize that I still have to be very careful as to not go into pre-term labour.  I'm going to bring it up with my OB, but I am hoping that this means that our original plan of having the baby at 37 weeks is still on the table, but I will find that out at my 30 week appointment on January 12th when they schedule the c-section.

Modified bed rest has been ok for the past two days.  It is nice to be able to sit at my desktop computer instead of having to work off of my laptop, but I do miss all of the ergonomic upgrades that I have at my desk at work.  I never really realized how much they do help.  If all goes well over the next few weeks, then I hope to be able to able to go into the office a few times a week after the school Christmas break, but I was told by a few people that I shouldn't rush things, so this is all pending my progress.

In non-baby news, my family was able to trim the tree (I just took pictures) with the kids.  We were lucky to have purchased our tree before I was admitted to the hospital, but we did have a naked tree (as coined by my niece) for a week.

More pictures of the kids with the tree can be found on our flickr photostream as well as other pictures of our adventures.

Thanks again to everyone for all of your love and support, I will try and respond to your messages, it just may take me a little while, but I will have some time in the next couple weeks :)

Escaping from the hospital!

I have been given the official word from the doctor that I will be going home today.  I am no longer leaking amniotic fluid (so potentially the leak healed, or it is just up high) and I do not seem to be going into labour, so that's great news.

I will be on bed rest for the next little while, but bed rest at home will be way better than bed rest here at the hospital.  My first goal will be completed tonight as I will return home, so I guess the next short term goal is to keep baby in the oven until at least 2012...which doesn't seem so bad, but it is 16 days away.

Thanks for all of the positive vibes and messages!

Hope...

My doctor came in this morning and ran a test.  If the test comes back negative and my ultrasound (that is booked for this afternoon at 3pm) goes well, then there is a good chance that I will be able to go home today!  There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

The attending physician at the High Risk Unit also came to see me and indicated that he felt that I would also probably be able to return home today, so that is double hope.  He also seemed to indicate that if things go well in the next week, I would only have to return to the High Risk Unit next week for a follow-up appointment and an ultrasound, and if all went well then I would be discharged from High Risk and could continue seeing my own doctors.

So does this mean that if all goes well in the next week, I will be off bed rest?  That was the question that I didn't think of until after he left.  Is that hoping for too much at this point?  We shall see.  I guess one step at a time is what I should be doing at this point.  My short term goal is to go home, so I will continue focusing on that.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers thus far.

A slight complication...

Here is a quick update on Baby Seaborn #3.  It has been an eventful last few days to say the least.

I was admitted to the Civic Hospital on Monday evening because apparently my water broke which is an indication of labour.  Seeing as I am only at 25 weeks gestation (which is about 6.5 months, full term being 37 weeks or about 9 months), this is too early for this to be happening.  As far as the doctors can tell, I have not gone into labour yet, which is good but I have been placed on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy (which will hopefully last at least 2 more months if we are lucky).  I am in the hospital as they are administering antibiotics via IV to try and close the hole in the amniotic sac or at least to prevent infection for me and the baby.  Also, I have been given steroids to help the baby's lungs and brain develop in case I deliver in the next few days (eek).  I was informed though, that the chances of the baby surviving at this point is about 80% if I deliver today and if the baby survives there is a further 70-75% chance that the baby will not have any major complications.  All that being said, the odds of having a healthy baby increases every day that I can keep him/her in utero. 

My current plan is to leave the hospital tomorrow (since I will have completed the IV antibiotics) and then ideally deliver the baby via c-section (due to history and another fun complication with the umbilical cord) at 34 weeks (where the risk of infection outweighs the risk of having a pre-term baby) which puts the delivery date around February 9th, which is a little earlier than I originally hoped which was 37 weeks.  But on the bright side, I don't have to worry about the baby being born on February 29th (seeing as this year is a leap year).  Again, this is my plan, but as history has shown, my babies do not like to follow the laid out plan (Connor being born during 2007 Nationals and Wyatt being born a week and a day before the scheduled c-section).  Let's hope that this baby listens better to the previous two, but I can only hope.  Again this is my plan, but I still have to wait and see what the doctor's say.  I am hoping that they agree with my plan, and all things look good so far).

When I stated that I wanted to update the blog more often, I was hoping for bi-weekly updates, but it looks like I have a little more time on my hands, so I hope to able to provide more updates on Baby #3 as well as the rest of the family.

Latest ultrasound taken the morning after I was admitted...baby looks ok.

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A gift from niece Norah.  On each day of advent, their advent calendar has a family member's name.  Tuesday's name was Baby Seaborn #3.  She drew us a picture of all of the people praying for a safe outcome.

Her other gift to me was a drawing of herself.  Since she couldn't come to the hospital, she drew me a picture of herself so she could keep me company at the hospital :)

Time flies...

It's hard to believe that it is almost the end of 2011, where does the time go?  I can't believe that I have already been married for just over 5 years, I have school age child, another who is almost out of diapers and a third on the way!  Yikes!

November flew by, mostly because I was in Guadalajara, Mexico for the 2011 Parapan American Games for work for just over two weeks.  It was an amazing experience as it was my first major multi-sport games and I was part of the Team Canada Mission Staff.  It was great getting to know the athletes, their coaches and the support staff.  I worked on the operations team which meant that I lived right in the Athlete's Village and helped Team Canada with anything they needed.  Although the days were long, I was very lucky to be able to be able to watch some of the competition.  I didn't get to all of the events that I would have liked, but I did manage to watch Wheelchair Basketball, Sitting Volleyball and Goalball.  Here are my pictures from Guadalajara.  I decided to just post them on facebook as the seaborn flickr stream is more about family stuff and my personal flickr isn't a pro account, so I'm not sure if I could get all of the pictures on it...:p

Connor has been really enjoying school.  He has been introduced to a Math Program online that we play a few times a week (when we have time) that he really enjoys.  His teacher has also started a blog to help keep the parents informed on the activities that they do all day.

Wyatt had an exciting end of the month.  He ended up in CHEO for a three day (two night visit).  He was diagnosed with Asthma Exacerbation, which means that that he had an asthma attack, but he is too young to diagnose asthma, so it could have been a result of a virus or his environment.  Since his environment hasn't really changed, we think that it is a result of a virus, but after talking to some other parents with children with asthma, this is how it begins.  He has been ok since the episode, but we have been given some Ventolin to use as needed and we will definitely monitor his breathing.

Geofford has briefly un-retired from ultimate and is playing on Sunday nights in the 4 on 4 league.  It isn't his favorite type of ultimate, but he is out with friends playing with a disc, so it's better than nothing :)

We are gearing up to be parents of three.  The boys are sleeping in the same room and the nursery (aka Wyatt's old room) is now full of boxes of kids' clothes.  I hope to have some time between now and the end of the calendar year to sort through all of the clothes.  It was originally on my list of things to complete before summer started, but things always come up.  I am definitely looking forward to my full year off with the new baby.  It will be my first full year off with any of the kids, so I can't wait!  My list of things to do is lengthening, but my priority will be to enjoy the time off with the kids because they are only young once, and there is always tomorrow :)

Here is a link to our family picture from Damian and Michelle's wedding: http://www.francescomaragoni.ca/Albums/Kwok_01_10_2011/03.html#65   (The photographers for their wedding was pretty amazing to be able to get all of us looking at the camera at once).  Please feel free to look at the other pictures from the wedding as well...they are stunning.

Here are the Santa Claus Pictures from this year (I love the set at Place D'Orleans and also the new format where you get digital rights of the pictures so you can print them anywhere):

The boys with Santa

The family with Santa

The cousins with their wranglers (as Jaclyn said it best)

October Art

Here is some of the Fall inspired art from the kids :)

My turkey, Wyatt

Connor's Turkey Hat

The Kissing Hand Poem

Which accompanies Connor's kissing hands

And a thanksgiving wreath to show what Connor is thankful for.

What to do with Art from School?

So as usual, I have been a slacker on the blog.  So much has happened since last Christmas (the last time that I updated this blog).  As usual, I am going to try and be better and keeping this up to date (especially since I keep giving people the link to this blog on our Christmas card).

So here is a quick update of the past 10 months...

Wyatt turned 2 - he is no longer our quiet Wyatt and loves to ask "What are you doing?"  He is also a super picky eater and we have managed to introduce rice krispies to his diet which is now one of his preferred food.  Unfortunately he is quite the messy eater, so we now have a fairly clean floor (or it is covered in rice krispies).  He is now one of the big men at daycare since...

Connor turned 4 and he started JK in September.  This is actually the inspiration of the post.  Since Connor started school, he has come home with tons of art work.  Now that we have a new scanner, I have been inspired to scan the ones that we can and I'll take pictures of the ones that I can't scan.  Here is the first of many pieces of art that have been digitally archived...Now I just have to figure out how to display them around the house.  Any suggestions?

Geofford has officially retired from ultimate (for the first time...there is already talk of him potentially playing next summer).  We couldn't disclose the reason for about a month why he has to take a little time off, but it is because we were expecting Baby #3 and well I'm not sure if I can be an ultimate widow with three kids.  We'll see though, so for now he is retired and we can confirm/deny him coming out of retirement when the time comes.

I am as usual quite busy with work.  I have had a pretty eventful year thus far with work being a lot of fun and then getting pregnant.  I will be experiencing my first major games this November when I head to Guadalajara for the Parapan American Games.  I will be part of the Canadian Paralympic Committee's mission team which should be quite the experience.  I am very excited and hope that the second trimester energy will kick in by that time.

As for the house, we managed to replace the floor in the kitchen.  It looks quite fabulous and thanks to my dad and Damian for helping Geofford out.  Connor helped a little as well lay the chalk lines down, so it may be helpful to delay some of the projects for the house so that both boys can help.  We are waiting to find out the sex of Baby #3 until he/she is born but hopefully he/she will be as helpful as his/her brothers.

With respect to the family, Francis and Jaclyn had their third child, our niece Elena who is super cute.  Damian and Michelle also got married on October 1st which was quite the celebration.  Here are our pictures from the day.  Our family (and extended one) is slowly expanding and soon we will definitely have to have a kids table at family gatherings as they are soon going to out number the adults.

We are a little bit better at keeping our flickr site up to date, so you can follow some of our adventures there.  I will try and post up some more art as I get around to scanning/photographing it.