Category: Janet

Parents departure

My parents stayed with us for the first couple of weeks and then Kyle’s parents stayed with us for the next couple of weeks.  

It has been such a whirl wind, it’s hard to believe the babes are already 5 weeks old- and we’ve all been home together for 4 and a half weeks!  

Our parents not only helped with the babes, made dinners, walked dogs but also helped with our house chores and Kyle’s lengthy honey do list.  My dad built a work bench, made slats for our bed and stained our picnic table.  Kyle’s parents did a complete overhaul of our garden, trimming, weeding, planting, fertilizing and general care and maintenance.  Without them we wouldn’t have a food garden this year.  Kyle’s dad also refinished and stained Kyle’s childhood toy box his grandfather made.  All the while our moms kept us nourished with delicious homemade meals!! 

All the extra support allowed Kyle to get a bunch of house stuff done: garbage/dump run, cleaning eavestroughs, bottling wine, changing winter/summer tires, house laundry and cleaning and yard work.  Kyle also continued to work his paying job!!

We are so grateful for our parents support!!

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One Month


Today Ewan and Eileen are one month old.  They also just passed their 40 gestational age (May 17).  

The Public Health Nurse came by the house on May 17 to take Ewan’s blood for the metabolic screening test and to weigh both babes.  Eileen weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces (2870 grams) and Ewan is 5 pound 5 ounces (2420 grams).  The nurse was pleased with their weight gain (approximately a pound in 2 weeks).  


Today we went for a walk with the dogs.  This is the furthest I’ve walked since giving birth.  It felt good to be outside ?

Our First Family Outing, 3 weeks Old and Mother’s Day

Kyle, babies and I ran errands together yesterday, making it our first official family outing that didn’t involve a medical appointment ?


The babes also turned 3 weeks old yesterday.  This picture was taken a couple days ago, but I just love it!


Kyle prepared a wonderful Mother’s Day Brunch for his family and my family, 9 people in total, 3 mothers- 2 of which are grandmothers! He made smoked salmon cream cheese cake/spread for bagels, a beautiful multi layered fruit salad, blueberry muffins and homemade bread.  Diana brought Prosecco and juice and chocolate peanut butter banana cake.  It was quite the feast! 


My Birth Story





The birth went really well. I birthed both babes vaginally without an epidural. I told the nurses it was my preference to not have an epidural and they only asked me again one other time, when I was having a moment of weakness and kept saying “I don’t think I can do this.” My doula answered for me and said “I know she feels strongly about not taking pain meds.” Since I wasn’t on pain meds the OB wanted to deliver the babes in the OR in case anything went wrong they had immediate access to anesthetics. I was able to labour in the birthing room though.

It was really annoying being hooked up to all the monitors, I had to ask to go to the bathroom and I was confined to one corner of the birthing room because the monitors weren’t wireless/mobile. They were also struggling to detect baby b’s heart rate through the monitor, I am not exaggerating, the nurses were fiddling with my belly every 5-10 mins. At one point I turned to her and said “stop touching me!! What does it matter if you can’t find his heart rate for 30 seconds?” I later apologized for my outburst.

I was induced (oxytocin drip started and my water manually broken) at 2:45am and the babes were born at 9:23am and 9:32am. I started at 2cm dilated and 100% effaced. The contractions started almost right away at 3:15am and at around 6:30am I was 6 cm dilated. And then at 8:30am I was 10 cm dilated. Each time I asked the Doctors to check my dilation because I could tell I was progressing, and they were shocked at how quickly things were moving. When the Doctors checked my cervix at 6:30am they realized I was naturally progressing and pulled back the titration of the oxytocin. The oxytocin made the contractions super intense and close together, there was no break in between contractions.

At 8:30am, since I was 10 cm dilated, I was able to start pushing. The pushing stage also progressed quickly. In fact, our nurse went on break and when she came back the babies were already born. Because the pushing went so quickly there was no time for us to transfer to the OR. All of a sudden the room filled with 10-12 more people and Eileen was born at 9:23am.

The Doctor and I worked together, combination of pushing and pulling, for the breech vaginal extraction, and Ewan was born at 9:32am.
I lost a lot of blood when the placentas dislodged from the uterine wall, I fainted 3 times within 2 hours after birth, and my blood pressure was really low (go figure). I was really dazed on Saturday between low blood pressure, lack of sleep, food and water.

Baby girl, Eileen Paige Maclean, was born 9:23am at 5 pounds 4 ounces, 47 cm long.
Baby boy, Ewan James Maclean, was born 9:32am at 4 pounds 3 ounces, 44 cm long.

Ewan spent 5 days in the NICU due to his low birth weight. It was tough having him in the NICU while Eileen and I were in the postpartum unit. To make things tougher Kyle started feeling sick on Sunday April 23 and wasn’t allowed to enter the NICU.

We are all home now and everything is going really well. My parents are currently here helping and then Kyle’s parents are coming to help.

Both Eileen and Ewan regained their birth weight within two weeks of being born on a strictly breast fed diet.

July 2020- I went back to read my birthing story and realized I eliminated the endearing moments.

  1. no one believed me when I told them I had to poop.  I had already been to the bathroom a couple of times and the nurses were annoyed (they had to unhook all the monitors).  When I said I need to poop, the nurses told me it was just the pressure.  In the end I pooped on the bathroom floor because I didn’t make it in time.  I tried telling them.
  2. Kyle was so tired (we left for the hospital at 10:00pm, and I assure you he was consuming whiskey that evening!).  He spent hours in the corner on his phone, I remember looking up and being annoyed he wasn’t by my side! Later, Kyle told me he was communicating with family etc…. but at the time I was annoyed.  Everything was better when Crystal, our Doula, arrived.  She saved the day and took charge!
  3. The resident doctor sat down in front of me to help pull breech Ewan out, while I pushed.  I asked “can I see your hands?” she held them up and I replied “oh they are tiny!” then I looked her in the eye and said “you and me, we’ve got this”
  4. when Kyle and the nurses took Ewan away to the NICU I yelled after Kyle, don’t let them bath him!

Preeclampsia


So I have developed preeclampsia over the last week. I knew something wasn’t right when my legs and ankles were swollen and the compression socks weren’t helping. This started on Sunday and then got better on Monday, Tuesday was ok, but Wednesday it started to get worse. Also, my BP was high again. I didn’t sleep very well last night, I was worried about my OB appointment this morning.  

My BP this morning at the OB’s office was 166/95 and I weighed 209 pounds. So in just a short week I gained 16 pounds- That’s how swollen my legs are!   

The first thing the Doctor said to me was “it’s time for your babies to come out”. The results of the weekly blood and urine tests I’ve been doing have been normal until this week. My liver and blood are good, but there has been a shift in my kidneys and there was protein in my urine. These two marker qualify me for preeclampsia. My kidneys have creatinine of 91, the Doctor said 100 is considered super risky. The risk of keeping the babies inside are stroke, seizure and renal failure. So, we agreed to an induction. The Doctor submitted the paperwork to the FMC and they are going to call us either tomorrow or Saturday (whenever they can accommodate us) with a 2 hour window to show up to start the induction. If I don’t hear from the hospital by tomorrow at 3:00pm I am supposed to call them and check in.  

The Doctor checked my cervix this morning as well. I am 2 cm dilated, my cervix is soft and I am 50% effaced. So, my cervix is actually ready for labour. She did a sweep on my membranes to help my cervix along.  
At the hospital they will break my water and put me on a low dose oxytocin (synthetic hormone to induce labour, titrating up every 30 – 60 mins)

I am ok with this medical intervention. There are some significant risks to my health if i continue to be pregnant, I can get behind that logic, as opposed to the reason for an epidural that was just a flat out “we won’t do a breech extraction without an epidural”. The induction makes sense to me. The demand for an epidural is too subjective. I am not thrilled about being induced but it needs to happen for my health and well being, that’s easy thing to get on board with. 

The Doctor also looked at the babies on the ultrasound, baby girl is still head down in a great position, but baby boy is transverse at the very top of my uterus along my ribs. She said this is actually a favourable position for him to drop head down after baby girl is born. So, let’s hope he stays that way, and the choice to take an epidural won’t be forced on me!   

Crystal Song Bowls


My friend Tenille came over and performed her crystal song bowls for Sara and I (and the babes). She performed the root chakra bowl for Ganesha while singing a mantra to remove/over come obstacles during labour and birth.  

Next she performed the heart chakra and crown chakra bowls while singing the jai ma mantra to celebrate the mother.  

It was a beautiful ceremony, and I could feel the babes kicking and moving inside me. 

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April 13 OB and ultrasound appointment – 35 weeks!



OB appointment was, again, routine.  I weigh 193 pounds and my BP was 138/84. My BP spiked a bit over the last week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), but it is back to normal today. She talked about induction at 37 weeks (not my preference- I would rather the babes chose their birth date). She said more likely than not labour will progress on it’s own.  

The ultrasound appointment was fun. The technician spent time showing me where each baby, limbs, head etc are located. Baby boy’s feet and head are together in a position they call Frank Breech. He is really squished and curled in, and she is completely sprawled out. Her arms and legs were stretched out and her feet are all way up at my rib. Apparently my uterus is huge!! It is 9 inches above my belly button, all the way down to my hips and up to my ribs. Baby boy was practice breathing, and you could see baby girl has hair, it was flowing in the amniotic fluid!!!Baby Girl’s HR was 143 and she weighs 5 pounds and 3 ounces. Baby Boy’s heart rate was 125 and he weighs 4 pounds 12 ounces. Below is a chart of their development. Baby B’s biparietal diameter is below the average on this chart, but the Doctor at the ultrasound clinic said it is most likely due to his head being squished and the technician not being able to get a proper measurement.

Babies need to be over 5 pounds and over 36 week gestational age to not spend time in the NICU (assuming everything is fine when they are born). I am fully confident we will reach these benchmarks. 
The two photos from the ultrasound are of their faces (blob 1 and blob 2). I asked for photos of body parts (spine, hands, feet, legs) but I guess they thought blurry pictures of faces are better, they are attached for your viewing pleasure. 

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April 6 OB appointment – 34 weeks


34 weeks and counting!!!  The OB appointment was pretty routine.  I weighed 189 pounds, my BP was 127/89.  My BP measurements at home have levelled out, which is great.  We continued to talk about labouring/birth choices with the Doctor so we have a better understanding of what to expect on the big day and so we are more informed.  

My belly measures 42 inches around. ?

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March 30 OB and Ultrasound appointment- 33 weeks


My blood pressure is steady at around 140/86 over the last week. No medication at this time. I actually lost weight over the last week, weighing in at 186 pounds, but again, the Doc doesn’t seem concerned. 
She checked my cervix which, in her opinion hasn’t changed in length, but is a bit more dilated at the top. She said she could feel baby girls head! Ahhh how weird is that?! 
She informed us they will not deliver a breech twin naturally. Baby B is breech. So they will either recommend a vaginal extraction (to which they require the labouring women to have an epidural) or a c-section. So epidural it is. C-section is low on our list of birth preferences. It is an invasive procedure with a large recovery time that is not to be entered into lightly. I am hoping they will let me deliver baby A naturally first before they administer the epidural. We will continue to discuss our options with our Doc. In the meantime I am going to try and spin baby B to be head down- there are at home methods for spinning a baby, but they are less effective at this gestational age.

The ultrasound appointment was uneventful (compared to last appointment).
Baby girl’s heart rate is 147 and she weighs 4 pounds and 4 ounces.   

Baby boy’s heart rate is 136 and he weighs 3 pounds 14 ounces.   

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