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Specialising in babywear, kidswear and accessories.
Life with Charlotte... When we found out we were expecting baby number 2 Wade, Kobi and I couldn't be happier. My pregnancy went smoothly and labour and delivery was only 5.5hrs. Charlotte was welcomed in to the world and our family at 10.39pm on November 2, 2009. She was perfect and looked exactly like her brother did when he was born.
Life was great and Charlotte fit straight in to our family. On the 12th of November there was a knock at the door. It was late and we weren't expecting anyone, my mum was already here in Kalgoorlie visiting from QLD to help us out with Kobi (5). I opened the door and to my surprise my Dad was standing there. He had told me he wouldn't be able to make it - which is odd for Dad!
Dad had his first cuddles with Charlotte and the first thing he said was that breathing was fast. I had noticed but thought that was just her.The next night (Friday the 13th) as we got ready for a family BBQ, I was chatting to a family friend on Facebook who is a midwife in QLD . I asked her what the normal breathing rate was for a baby and she said 60. My Mum and I both counted and got 74. Ruth rang me straight away, told me it was too fast, pack a bag, go to the hospital and don't leave until I see a paediatrician. I immediately started to panic but did as she said. Off Mum and I went to emergency. We saw a doctor and he agreed it was a bit fast and got the Paed. It was all go from there.
Charlotte was admitted to hospital, they took blood, put drips in and hooked her up to monitors. It was awful seeing her like this. At first they thought she had Strep B as I had tested positive while pregnant. The test came back negative, then they thought she had Gastro. I fed her at 4am on the 14th and a few hours later her chest had started to recess. They ordered a chest X-ray and found her heart was too big. Our little baby girl at just 11 days old had a broken heart.
Wade and I and the rest of the family were in shock. I asked myself so many questions, why, how, what did I do wrong? The hospital contacted PMH in Perth and RFDS and by that afternoon we were on a plane out of there. On arrival at PMH, the cardio team met us and did an echo. Charlotte had coarctation of the aorta. She was hooked up to so many machines, and had lines going in everywhere. On Monday November 16, Charlotte had closed heart surgery to repair the coarctation. The surgery was successful and she was out by the end of the week.
Today Charlotte is a healthy, happy 10.5 month old and you wouldn't even know there was anything wrong. She has the neatest scar along her shoulder blade, but like my mum says - 'Scars are like tattoos but with better stories.'
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Three Little Trees
I wanted to share with you the amazing birth of my gorgeous little Girl Laila. Although she is 2 now I still think her entrance into the world is a good one.
On the 10th July 2008 2:54am I was woken by pains in my tummy, I whacked my husband after an hour of wondering if "the" time had come. "Honey, I think it's time" sleepy and confused his reply was "Oh crap ok I won't go to work today!" At 6am I rang my mum and my sister who were to be my birthing partners along with my husband and they came with breakfast.
We walked the streets stopping every so often for a contraction and this went on for hours. I suddenly got the urge to go shopping! We went to the supermarket to get some foods that I thought I wanted to eat and as I turned into the shelf to contain myself from a contraction I looked down to see a little girl staring at me in sheer horror! The poor thing had no idea what was going on.. By 6pm that evening I had well and truly had enough, the contractions were anywhere between 8-10 mins apart and I was exhausted. I finally managed to talk the mid wives into allowing me to come in for a check-up as they had declined previously and told me I would be like this for days (OH MY GOODNESS!!!)
The examination proved that the baby was well and truly there but I hadn't dilated at all. So we went home and I sent mum and sis home too, my husband and I shared the lounge and every 8 mins I rolled off and pushed.. At 4am I told him to go to bed and I would try and sleep too. come 5:30 the contractions were so strong I jumped in the shower for some relief, I stayed in there for a good hour and a half (thank goodness for a massive water tank) and by this time it was 7am, we called the mid wives again who had said I wasn't in labour and I was only experiencing "pre labour" (OH MY GOODNESS AGAIN!!!)
I begged them to let me come in and they refused saying I hadn't even dilated but I knew deep down something was going on.. By this stage I was quite cranky and threw the phone at my husband and kept on pushing. My morning sickness had come back so I was sitting on the toilet leaning over the bath vomiting at the same time. they had told him to give me some panadol and sleep the pain away!! (Ha-ha anyone who has gone through labour would know it is impossible to sleep in THAT much pain) so I took the panadol and walked back to my room to hear a big "pop" something sounding like a water balloon breaking and the trickle of water down my legs, almost instantly I needed to go to the toilet so I tried walking back to the bathroom but couldn't close my legs, I said to my husband "I can't move, it's coming". He replied, "Get in the car." "But I can't move I can feel its hair". Again, "Get in the car don't be ridiculous" By this time I was sitting on the toilet pushing my baby girl out,
I begged him to call the ambulance which he did and they told him to get me off the toilet and put me on the bed with some sheets and towels, We did this and whilst on the phone to them they told him how to deliver a baby, He freaked out when he saw her little head popping out and said, "Bub you're doing a really good job, now just hang on a minute." He ran into the hallway and said to them, "Oh my god I can see its head." We had full length mirrors so I could see everything that was happening also!! So I kept pushing and with four big pushes this absolutely perfect, alert, healthy little girl entered our lives...
For five minutes it was just the three of us. He put her on my belly, she had a tiny cry, sneezed and then sucked her fingers and we looked at each other in total awe of the perfection we had created. Laila Joy born 9:35am 11th July 2008.. The ambulance turned up five minutes later; I managed to deliver the placenta in the ambulance on the side of the road in front of a work site which happened to be having their morning tea break. There is no stranger feeling than pushing out a placenta, legs in the air with three men leaning on their shovels smoking cigarettes! I turned to my husband who was smiling down on his baby girl and said, "You have done such a good job today, you can name her whatever you like." He replied, "Can I call her Laila??" Absolutely! She looks like a Laila and is the absolute apple of her daddy's eye. The bond that was made that day between the three of us is one that will never be replaced nor duplicated. We are all so happy and love each other with every little bit of our hearts. We will soon welcome another little person into our lives and Laila is super excited about being a sister.. I would give anything to experience that feeling again with this new little person but know it will have its own story to tell... I hope you enjoy my story, I love reliving the moment and sharing our joy with whoever will listen.
Monte and Tex Kaftan
Monte and Tex Tea Dress
Mum of the Month - Mel with Emilia Jane (below)
Mel's birth story of Emilia Jane born: 12 July, 9pd 6oz @ 5.26pm Approx 11 pm on 11 July 09 I started getting niggly pains as I was getting ready to go to bed, approx 15 mins later they were so much stronger and I was questioning if it was something starting to happen. Each time going to bathroom that day I kept leaking fluid so I knew bub was not far from wanting to make an entrance. At midnight I went to bathroom and had a light show of fresh blood, that got alarm bells going and hospital wanted me there ASAP.
We arrived at 1 am and had to sit in waiting cubicle for 2 hours as only one midwife was on duty. There were two other women were in labour at the time. I was placed on monitors which showed bub was asleep and the rate levels were not high enough which was causing concern. I ate three cups of ice and cold water and it didn't help. The doctor on duty was called at 4 am and arrived at 6 am he had to put the canula in so I could receive fluids. 7 am the specialist came in and asked why I hadn't received the fluid to begin contractions. 8.30am they began giving me the fluid for contractions. Pins kicked in at 12.30 pm and I was 3-4 cm dilated. By this stage I let a lot of nasty words fly out and wanted the baby out right there and then!
At 2.30 pm back pains kicked in and I was pulling at the toilet seat because I couldn't handle the pains in my spine. At 3.30 pm I requested to have pain relief as I was 7 cm. I received the pethidine in the leg. Within 30 minutes I was on the bed asleep. I had my husband touching my face trying to wake me up and my mum on other side with a wet washer. Nothing seemed to wake me up.
An internal was done which found bub spine rubbing on mine and her head was above the cervix and she wasn't coming down the birth canal. The specialist said action needed to be taken. So he organised pulling the bed apart and prepared the area, put my leg in stirrups and got the forceps ready. By this stage each contraction I was getting throughout the day was lasting only 5 seconds and my body didn't realise it was a contraction until it was gone.
When everything was prepped I got the numbing needles which really hurt then the specialist had to use the forceps. The forceps went in it hit a nerve which made my leg go into a spasm mode it was shaking and I was crying from that pain. All I had to do was push even with no contraction as I was bleeding so fast they just wanted Emilia out. By this stage I was wide awake but bub was asleep in there which wasn't helping. As I pushed he grabbed her. Emilia luckily landed in his arms. The specialist had to drop the forceps to catch her so she didn't fall on ground. He then looked at her and said, "Yep she's crying" and placed her on my chest, quickly cut the cord and said get that baby a blanket. The specialist said to me I have put another needle in so I can sew you up, as he said that I had a gush of blood which pretty much made me really drowsy again and many of frantic nurses and the specialist trying to work on getting the bleeding to stop. Many stitches later, and hearing the specialist talking about sending me to surgery to stop the bleeding and that really hit me emotionally. After nearly 2 hours of me laying there and now all stitched which specialist said approx 40 stitches (possibly even closer to the 80 mark) then a catheter was inserted. I was then told I was not allowed to go to maternity ward because I was not stable. I was cleaned up and spent the night there in the delivery suite. I then ended up having 2 blood transfusions because I was very pale and was taking way too long to come back to normal. The first lot of blood went through really quickly so the midwife organised for second round to arrive in the ward for me to have which ended up being the wrong blood but luckily this was noticed before given to me as I would of not survived the transfusion. My husband stayed with me until 5 am. Later that morning I was allowed to go up to maternity ward and I was tired and hungry. My specialist came and saw us he said we really gave him a fright. He actually did hit the nerve in my leg when inserting the forceps but wouldn't tell me that while in labour and also said I should have had a C-section but they did not realise until 10 cm dilated which made it too late.
I had to lie in one position until a nurse was free or when I had the energy or got Anthony to help me roll over. I was not able to do anything for Emilia until Tuesday lunch time. It made me upset not being able to even change her. It was very complicated to even wrap her.
Tuesday night I finally got the go ahead to get out of bed and try walk around and shower, which after an hour sitting on side of my bed trying to stop having dizzy spells, I walked very slowly to the shower. Anthony and a nurse held me up or I would have collapsed as my feet were wobbly and they felt like big platforms.
Wednesday morning a paediatrician walked in and saw Emilia had jaundice so they organised for her to go to the nursery. That sent me really insane; everything started kicking in; tired, stress and hunger. My milk wasn't coming and they said I had to feed her every 3 hrs on the dot. I had to allow them to feed her on the bottle twice to help let me body settle and relax, again Anthony didn't go home til 2.30 am on Thursday morning. He got a sleep and came back about 10 am Thursday morning.
At 10 am I was feeding Emilia and we were in nursery. They did many blood tests to see if Emilia could go back to my room for that night. At 12.30 pm results came back saying she had good 214 levels of jaundice instead of the 340 she had. We went back to the room but because she was classed as a nursery baby every 3 1/2 hrs we had to go back to the nursery for nappy change and feed.
The pathology had to do another blood test on Emilia and myself but I ended up with chest pains which they had to give me medication for and Emilia had to stay in and do another blood test on Friday morning to double check the jaundice levels again. Friday we both had to get blood tests again and Emilia came back fine but mine was on border line. They classed me as anaemic because levels were so low. They allowed us to go home but got me medications and told me not to drive or be on my own for at least the next month.
My pregnancy with my first and only child went fairly easy, there were some concerns as the pregnancy progressed as our baby was having some urinary reflux problems and had to travel to OK City several times for a 4D scan. Doctors told us that this could still fix itself and fortunately it did after he was born. The labor was another story though! At 5 weeks early I woke up on Sunday morning June 14 2009, as my waters broke. I was not in any pain at that time, hallelujah! I rinsed off in the shower as my husband called the hospital. We went in, they checked everything and quickly decided I was not going anywhere as my waters had broken and the risk for infection was too big.
After I got admitted and was hooked up to all the machines. The doctor came and talked to us, saying how they wanted to hold off on delivering our baby since it was really early. Another day another hour for him to be inside my body would be best for him. I rested and tried to relax...it was hard to think I could not even call my family or friends... My biggest heartache has been, being far away from home. Belgium is where I'm from I have been in the US now for 3 years, my hubby is from here. But boy did I dread being pregnant without being able to show off my belly. No words of comfort or a hug from a loved one. No, "you don't look fat...you're pregnant silly!". I was so sad not being able to share any of it. Good thing hubby and I love each other so much. Husbands are great but they are also men and they have their own way with words and feelings lol... you may know what I mean. Doctors lingo is hard enough in your own language! Mine being Flemish (Dutch) is nothing like English.
But I divert! Here I was in this scary situation... but I was calm. Like I had any clue of what was going on... ye right! Corey stayed by my side. We stared at monitors all day thinking, "this is it....THIS IS IT! we're gonna meet our boy". Late in the evening it was decided they were gonna start petocin in the morning and get this party train started. I slept a little... 6 am came, got hooked up. Then the pain started yay! I dealt with it as best I could. A whole day went by and nothing happened. I wasn't dilated at all so they decided to stop and try again the next morning. The next morning, ready to roll the petocin was doing it's job and I was breathing through pain for about 7 hours and guess what I was still not dilated, nothing, nada, zilch! In the afternoon my OB came to tell me it would be best to have a C-section, for both of us. 5pm was gonna be it!
At that point I was just relieved that it was going to happen for sure. 5pm, got rolled into the OR. Had my bits shaved by a masked dude who was chit chatting with me. Surprisingly it wasn't as horrifying as it sounds. But you can't help but think, I'm such a mess down there these days, can't see my toes so waving a blade around your privates has it's risks LOL The epidural wasn't too bad either...gosh you really do forget these things don't you? I remember all the faces and conversations but the pain is just a blurry memory. Dr. Weaver came in and did his magic, my husband was there by my side. We had a lovely nurse take amazing pictures of our son Aedan Seppe's birth. June 16 2009, 5.29pm, When they stuck him over the sheet and I saw him for the first time...I said "His eyes are so blue". He was/is the most beautiful baby ever. He was doing good, breathing on his own, cried. Had all fingers and toes. But he was a preemie so got whisked away. Both baby and hubby disappeared while they put me back together. Went from recovery to my room and was not allowed to go see my son for 6hrs. The longest 6hrs... Finally I got to visit him and hold him and my god was he gorgeous. We made him. We make gorgeous babies. Words cannot describe how smitten I instantly was. So tiny, so perfect. We were very fortunate that he did amazing, breathing well. He was a little fighter and he pulled through amazingly well. We stayed in the hospital for 1 week, 6 days for me and 1 more for Aedan, I had a complementary room that day, so grateful for that!
The ride home is terrifying as you try to whisk your baby through the dangers on the road to get to your house. Like his head or and arm would fall off when you stop or make a turn. ^_^ Being home is it! You're doing it and you better learn quickly. Being a preemie he needed to eat every 2 to 3 hrs, NO MATTER WHAT. Until he was full term. I never thought I'd make it, sleeping became a distant memory, feedings went slow and not without problems, making some feedings last an hour, after that I still had to pump every time. By the time one feeding ended the other one came. Recovering from a C-section is no joke either I quickly found out. Feels like they basically cut you in half. Getting out of bed was "excruciating" is the only word that fits. Somehow you make it through, if you have family or friends around AWESOME! If you don't like in my situation, just duck your head down and plow through. It will get better. 9 months later now, we get some sleep. Peace and quiet is a very distant vague memory.. never to return I'm starting to think. I love my son more than anything, and as I am planning his soon 1 first birthday party I find the pain of no family and friends here sticking it's head up again. But like after he was born, I'm going to duck my head down and plow through. Because my son is worth anything and everything. His 1 birthday will be the most amazing celebration of his life as well as, we've been parents for a whole year...and we all survived. We did it...I did it.
Evi
Mum of the Month - Toni (right with Matilda)
Photo (left): Toni with second bub, Hailey.
