Word on the Street with Stephanie

As I was trying to think about how to start this post, my two-month old woke up crying. That was two hours ago. Now that she has been fed, changed and entertained for awhile, she is snoozing and I have a chance to try this again. What better way to write a post about the craziness of having two children under three years old than with a plethora of interruptions. I finally sat down with a glass of water and checked my email while I gathered my thoughts. After a quick trip to the bathroom I returned to find a small toy in my water which was now cloudy from the grubby fingers of my toddler who had been playing outside. I got up once more to put the glass in the sink and wash her hands only to have her tell me she had a poopy bum. (Potty training a stubborn little girl is another topic altogether so stay tuned for a post about that!) Fast-forward five stomach-turning minutes and here I am...again. Before my second was born, I knew my life would get significantly busier but I couldn'

My husband and I are thrilled that our beautiful baby girl is finally here. It was a long, exhausting pregnancy filled with worry about the unknown but we are looking forward to putting that experience behind us and enjoying our two beautiful girls. Throughout my pregnancy, supportive family and friends would tell me to have faith that everything would be all right with our little girl. At some point we decided that Faith was a very fitting name so that's what we went with. It also goes very nicely with her big sister's name so now we have Grace and Faith :) One of the things that I need to do in order to move forward is to write about all of the feelings that I had in the last week. Writing is very therapeutic for me and always helps me feel better. Our daughter was born via cesarean section but I was given the opportunity to watch her birth as the doctors and nurses lifted my head up right as she was coming out. With my pregnancy being so clinical, I appreciated the normal

Hi sweet girl, The day has finally come! We are going to meet you tomorrow and Daddy and I could not be more excited. We just want to hug and kiss you and tell you how much we love you. I want you to know that I loved you even before I knew we were going to have you. You have been our miracle baby from the very beginning. Your birth and first few weeks of life are going to be a little more complicated than they should be but we will get through it as a family. If there was any way I could stop you from feeling pain, I would take your place in a second. I wish I could be the one having this surgery and that your tiny body would not have to go through this. I'm sorry that I cannot do that for you but I promise to be by your side through the whole thing. If I don't get to hold you as much as we would like just know that even if you can't feel me I will still be there so you never have to wonder where I am. Let me tell you a little bit about your big sister. She is very fun

Hi Baby, There is so much I want to say to you about your sister's birth so I thought I would write you this letter. First of all, Daddy and I love you so very much. The day you were born was one of the happiest of our lives and you have made us better people every single day since then. In fact, it is because you are so special that we wanted to have another baby. Unfortunately, things did not go as we expected and we have had a difficult time since finding out you were going to have a sibling. Mommy had to go through a lot of tests and I cried...a lot. Most of the time I was able to hide it from you but not always. I'm so sorry you had to see me cry. I know it made you worried and sometimes you cried too which only made me feel worse. A mother's job is to protect her child and in that way, I feel like I failed you. Your job is to be a happy, healthy toddler and to play and be worry-free. I'm sorry if I made your job harder for you. I tried very hard to keep my sadne

Anyone who knows me knows I always have a lot to say. Being at a loss for words or unable to explain myself is not usually an issue for me. Until now. I have discovered that I tend to reassure other people when talking about my baby's health issues. I explain what she has and then say "but everything will be okay" or "we are very lucky that this was discovered during pregnancy" when what I sometimes want to say is THIS IS NOT FAIR. I have two major emotions when it comes to this pregnancy and I have finally decided to stop feeling guilty about one of them. I am sad. I feel as though we have been robbed. Robbed of the happiness that comes with expecting a child, robbed of the joys of feeling the baby move and kick (I still feel happy, but there is always a level of concern that I didn't have with my first), robbed of the excitement of doctor's appointments and planning my child's birth and robbed of that overwhelming love and wonderment that my husba

Our appointments are scheduled every two weeks since I'm in my third trimester and yesterday was a pretty significant appointment. I have to admit I'm not feeling as optimistic as I have been. I'm sad and I'm scared but first let me review what happened yesterday. When we arrived I went for an ultrasound like I do every time I have an obstetric appointment. Mt. Sinai's high risk pregnancy clinic is extremely busy but I like how efficient it is. I also like seeing my baby grow and getting regular reports of how she's doing. They told me she is just over three pounds and growing right on target which is great news. I was also given a c-section date of mid-March. I was not quite expecting this since at my last appointment I had discussed with the doctor the possibility of scheduling one close to my due date to give my body an opportunity to go into labour. If it didn't happen, then I would go ahead with the c-section but if it did then I would try to deliver h

Yesterday we had yet another fetal echocardiogram at The Hospital for Sick Children. It was our second of three of these tests and the results were promising. We have been slightly upgraded from Interrupted Aortic Arch to Coarctation of the Aorta. This means that instead of the aortic arch being completely blocked, it is simply narrow; severely narrowed according to the cardiologist but at least it is still open. While this doesn't change the type of surgery our little girl will need once she is born, they did tell us that they expect her to be more stable and spend less time in Critical Care. I am considering yesterday's appointment a win and am confident that we will all get through this. I still have several things to get through and work out in the next 12 weeks but both the hospital where I will deliver and the one where our baby girl will stay are walking me through each step. My appointments are now every two weeks and we have a plan in place for delivery. We are going

We ended 2015 and began 2016 running for the toilet as our household was hit with a stomach bug. I have always been a germophobe but vomit takes it to a whole other level for me. Instead of taking my daughter into the bathroom when I saw she was about to get sick, or grabbing a towel or bucket, I just ran around frantically. The last week has taught me that when it comes to having a sick child, I am utterly useless. Thankfully, my husband was able to take charge in that department while I stuck to laundry and disinfecting. I would have doused myself in Lysol if I could but I stuck to cleaning anything I could think of and washing my hands constantly. Lucky for me, we happen to be living with my parents while we wait for our house to be built and my mom helped us a great deal. I am almost afraid of moving out of here and having to deal with a stomach bug without her help. It's a good thing I am almost 7 months pregnant because, for now at least, I can blame some of my craziness on