Chicken Pox & Some NST Concerns

Chicken Pox

Last Wednesday, Andrea woke up with Chicken Pox! It was unmistakable. I had noticed what I thought were a couple of bug bites on her leg the night before. When she woke up the next morning, they were everywhere: face, neck, scalp, arms, legs, torso, and even between her legs (ouch!). Andrea thought it was very exciting; she wanted to show everyone her "Chicken Pops"!
Of course, she couldn't; she had to stay home from school. Thankfully, Gram and Papa had just returned from a vacation in Cuba the night before, so they were able to watch her for the rest of the week. She did pretty well; she only spiked a fever once or twice, and was really good about not scratching too much. She went back to school yesterday, and what she said made me laugh: "At school, I felt free; when I was at home, I was trapped."

I have no idea where she got them from. No one else we know has had them recently; even school and daycare said they haven't had any cases in her or Kevin's classrooms. I have since heard that a friend's brother's daughter, who also goes to Lassaline, has contracted them (not from us), but she even had the vaccination! My kids haven't gotten the vaccination (long story), and I really regret it now, for a bunch of reasons.

I called my doctor to see if I could get Kevin in to get him vaccinated ASAP, because I read that even after exposure the vaccine can still lessen or even stop the onset of Chicken Pox. However, the soonest she can get him in is NEXT Tuesday.

I also keep reading about how dangerous Chicken Pox is for newborns, and if Kevin takes another week or two to get it, he'll be infectious just in time for Ryan's arrival. The timing couldn't be worse!

NST Concerns

NST stands for Nonstress Test. This test is commonly done for babies with diabetic mothers. I had them weekly in my 3rd trimester for both Andrea and Kevin. For Ryan, things have been going so well that I only had one at 30 weeks, and now one at 34 weeks. Basically, what should happen is that when the baby moves, his heart rate should increase by about 15 beats per minute, for about 15 seconds, then return back to normal. This should happen at least twice in a 20 minute period.

Ryan, however, has started to worry everyone by doing his own thing. Ryan sleeps/doesn't move for about 20 minutes, and has a nice, steady heart rate. Then, he wakes up and moves like crazy for about 10 minutes. During those ten minutes, his heart rate is all over the place. It jumps as high as the 180s and dips as low as the 100s. Then, he goes back to sleep.

The doctors and nurses don't like how he's not conforming to the typical pattern. I had an ultrasound on Thursday (which was normal) and the NST, which was abnormal. After I saw my OB on Friday, she sent me to the hospital for another NST. Ryan was sleepy, but his heart rate was steady. So, they booked me to go back yesterday (Monday) for another NST. This time, he followed the crazy pattern like on Thursday's--but even more so. They decided to send me down for an ultrasound/biophysical profile to check on him. He scored a perfect 8/8, so they sent me home. He looked fine. Basically, they have just told me to go to the hospital "if anything changes." Nice and vague, eh?

Here's a picture from the 34-week ultrasound of my little troublemaker. It's a typical side profile, but you can see he's going to have chubby cheeks, like Kevin had. By the way, he is already measuring at about 6.5 pounds!

Christmas Holidays 2009

December 21--"Jungaroo"

The kids were restless while away from school for the holidays, so we arranged a playdate with Aunt Steph, Uncle Tony and the kids at a new playspace called "Jungaroo." We hadn't been there before, but the kids loved it! There are lots of slides, climbing activities, etc., all in a jungle theme. Daddy got a picture of Andrea coming out of the snake slide with his phone.


Then, he snapped one of her up in the jungle treehouse. She climbed up all by herself!

After, we all went for brunch at Jerry and Jenny's. It's nice to have the kids so close in age, so we can enjoy days like this together.

December 23--Christmas Baking

Mommy had some desserts to make for Christmas Eve, and each of the kids helped in their own way. Kevin kept an eye on the cookies for me. He was also an expert taste-tester.


Andrea's job was helping me decorate the cupcakes. Since cupcakes are her favourite dessert, she made sure each one had some of EVERY kind of sprinkles on it. She was also a cookie/cupcake taste-tester, of course!


Christmas Eve

(Now, this is the part where Mommy gets a seriously nasty virus, and is in bed from Christmas Eve until New Years' Day. From here on in, most pictures/stories are borrowed from other people, as Mommy could not participate. Daddy was in charge, and took the kids to all the major holiday events--he's the best!)

Our Christmas Eve get-together was a bit different this year. The Market Family has grown exponentially, and Great-Gram's little house has been bursting at the seams these past few years! So this year, she rented a hall, and had dinner catered in for everyone.

Here's the kids receiving their Christmas gifts from Great-Gram. Kevin, as usual, turns to Papa when he gets overwhelmed!


Then, Santa made a special stop by the hall (even on this very busy night!) to visit the kids and bring them each a gift. Apparently, Kevin surprised everyone by running up quite willingly when his name was called, and sat with Santa to receive his gift, even though he doesn't look all that impressed.




Here's Great-Gram with MOST of her great-grandchildren (one newborn, Mikenna, is not in the picture; plus, Reed was born on Christmas Day, and Nathan was born since this post): Izzy, Andrea, Kevin, Hannah, Addison, Jordan, Jocelyn, and Morgan.



Christmas Morning/Day

Santa came!

Santa brought Kevin an Imaginarium train table set, and Andrea got an HP mini netbook, plus some little items in their stockings.

Finally, Mommy no longer has to fight to get onto her own laptop! Andrea is hooked on the Nick Jr. website's games. She knows how to get on there, and play most of the games, by herself. Santa knew this would be a great gift for her (and Mommy, who gets her laptop back to herself now!).

Kevin was a little overwhelmed by his train table at first. It makes all kinds of train noises as the trains run over the tracks, across the bridge, through the mountain, etc. Andrea loved it right away, and he soon followed her lead. Within minutes, they were both running full speed around the table, with trains flying down the tracks!


Daddy's gift from Mommy: a Blackberry. Well, sort of. He STILL hasn't decided which model or carrier to go with, so he had nothing to open from me at Christmas. So, I wrapped up one of Kevin's toy phones and taped a Blackberry picture to it. I do what I can.


Andrea still loves anything princess and dress-up, and one of her gifts from Grama Marty and Grandpa Rick was just what she needed--a new princess dress! (She's outgrown most of her other dress-up stuff). It's a bit big, which is great, so she can have it for a while. She was thrilled!


Kevin, as usual, takes time to warm up to anything new/unusual. It's not surprising that his gift from Grama Marty and Grampa Rick, a remote-controlled rescue vehicle that spins around and has flashing lights, scared the heck out of him at first. (On the other hand, Daddy loved it. He even took it to Aunt Rosie's house later, and continued to play with it throughout the holidays!)


Kevin liked it after he watched it for a while. He's checking it out while he takes a rest on the floor among the pile o' gifts.


Boxing Day

On Boxing day, Daddy and the kids went for the traditional Gagnon Family gathering at Aunt Petesy's house. I dressed Andrea in her new outfit from Grama Marty, and she wanted to model.



Santa made an appearance for the kids at Aunt Petesy's, too. The kids also enjoyed the kiddie gym equipment in Aunt Petesy's basement. Actually, her kids had outgrown some of it, and we received the kiddie treadmill a few days later! (Andrea's on the glider in this picture.)

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, Rod and the kids went to a party at our friends Ed and Lisa's house. Andrea has only met some of the kids who were there once or twice before, but she soon settled in to having fun with her new friends. Here's some pictures they took of her enjoying some snacks (the first picture with Ed and Lisa's oldest boy, Matt).


Kevin, as usual, was mostly content quietly following the others around, or amusing himself.

Kevin was ready to come home around his usual bedtime, but Andrea stayed at the party a bit longer. In this picture, she's sitting with Daddy while he plays cards (their back is to us). Dave (sitting across) has his two girls (Synthia and Gabrielle) with him, who Andrea had a lot of fun with that night. Andrea lasted until about 9:00 PM, and then she was ready to come home.
Even Daddy and Mommy couldn't quite stay up to see the New year in. I think we went to bed about 10 minutes before midnight!

New Year's Day--Hannah's 1st Birthday!

On New Year's Day, we went (even Mommy finally managed to get out of bed!) to Aunt Steph and Uncle Tony's for brunch, to celebrate Hannah's first birthday. Yes, she's the family's New Year's baby! Her Hage family was there to celebrate, too. I think Hannah was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.

These kids always have fun when they get together: Izzy, (Hannah), Dana, Adam, Andrea, and Kevin!

Kids always love the mirrored doors on Aunt Stephanie's coat closet. Gram Gagnon caught Kevin admiring his adorable self: "There's Kevin!"

Children of the Modern Age . . .

Whatever Andrea does, Kevin wants to do. So, seeing Andrea on her new netbook, playing games, makes Kevin want to go online and play games, too. The problems are 1) that he's not quite ready/skilled enough to play Andrea's level of games, and 2) Hey, didn't Santa just bring a netbook so Mommy could have her computer back? That plan isn't working so well, when Kevin wants to play online games now, too!

How can I resist this face? :))