I’m not going to lie, this pregnancy has been rough. We told family and close friends early on because I was so sick. I finally found some reprieve by attending the IV clinic for hydration and medications every couple of days. Craig took over most of the household duties and caring for the girls while I was sleeping up to 20 hours a day.
At around the 14 week mark, I was finally able to drink enough to no longer require hydration therapy. My nausea began to dissipate and I could keep food down. Now we are hoping that there won’t be any more bumps in the road and baby remains happy and healthy.
This year, despite all the weird and wacky things going on in the world, Brynlee started kindergarten. When asked what she was most excited about she said making and playing with friends.
Height: 46 ½ in Weight: 52.3 lbs Shoe size: 12 Clothing size: Small
Favourites
Book: anything with animals – National Geographic books
Song: Tomorrow from the Annie soundtrack
Food: cheese pizza
Treat: caramel drumsticks (of course)
Animal: alicorns, unicorns, pegasus, and horses
Places to go: Elsa’s castle (The Ice Castles) and the zoo
Thing to wear: my pink unicorn dress from Lola
Colour: rainbow, gold, silver and pink
I want to be a dolphin trainer and horse rider when I grow up!
This year Floyd turns 7 which makes him 47 in dog years!! We celebrated with balloons, party hats and cupcakes. Our neighbours were SO CONFUSED. They know when all our birthdays are so we had to admit that all this was for Mr. Floyd. The girls were disappointed when they couldn’t give him a cupcake but each enjoyed one on his behalf.
This year was one for the books. For starters, we celebrated Jessie’s birthday during a pandemic. As I write this [on the 50th day of social isolation], a lot of things have changed. Jess’ birthday was a week after ‘social distancing’ came into practice and to say that I was sad for her is a complete understatement. Turning three is a pretty big deal in this house and I wanted it to be as special as she is.
So we did all the things:
Blew up balloons
Opened presents first thing in the morning
Had a mini puppy party
Made birthday pancakes with dream whip and candles
Played all day long
Swam in the bath
Ordered cheesy bowties from Eastside Marios for dinner
Sang Happy Birthday just the 4 of us and blew out candles on a homemade chocolate cake that the girls helped make & decorate
Although it wasn’t what I had envisioned, it filled my heart. My sister and her family even braved the terrible weather to come sing Happy Birthday from the sidewalk. They dressed up as princesses and held up a homemade banner. Needless to say, Jessie was thrilled and I think she had as weird and wacky of a day as she is in general. I can’t believe my baby is three.
one of the sweetest & strangest humans I know. Actually scratch that, she’s the strangest person I’ve ever come into contact with
super sassy and usually has her hands on her hips
extremely affectionate and requires one hand on your face when she’s talking to you
emotional AF. She can go zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds
‘so fashion’. She loves dressing herself and her outfits have just continued to get wilder as she develops her own…. style & personality
incredibly loved & adored by her entire family
She always asks if you’re cold before bringing her blankie to the chair for bedtime stories. Actually she’ll bring it anyways but just wants to seem thoughtful
When Face timing Lola she always needs to know where Papa is
She regularly falls asleep on the couch as I’m making dinner. Something I remember doing as a kid. She has also inherited the Ayotte tendency for nosebleeds.
Now requests Drag me Down by One Direction before bed but is still open to Story my Life. Has also unfortunately dropped her nap
She says the most hilarious/honest/ruthless/sophisticated things
Always has her hair in her face and is constantly wiping it out of her eyes. If she allows you to put it up, it MUST be in a ponytail and certainly NOT a bun
Has the most incredible cheese face and still has her adorable toddler chub
Sometimes she gets mad when you call her Jessica and will request that you call her Jessie
Has started to draw people… which honestly look more like ants
Has the sweetest dance moves. Also known as… jumping
I don’t even know where to begin with this sweet beautiful soul. She is thoughtful, kind, determined, creative, inquisitive, and brave. I cannot believe that she has already graced this earth FIVE whole years and continues to change our lives in the most positive and impactful ways.
She loves horses, dolphins and puppies, playing with friends, drawing, being outside, dressing up and using her imagination. She is excited to learn new things at school and make new friends, she is kind and compassionate with her sister, and loves us with her whole heart. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings!
It recently dawned on me that I have never shared either of the girls’ birth stories on here [even though I have them meticulously written down]. A couple weeks ago I went through Jess’ to ease the mind of an expecting mama preparing for a scheduled c-section and have since decided to publish it.
Jessie’s due date according to our dating ultrasound was April. 3ʳᵈ 2017 – basically two years after Brynlee’s. However, with the option of a repeat c section, I knew that she would come early and therefore had the privilege of scheduling her birthday for March 30th, 2017.
Late in my pregnancy with Brynlee, I experienced Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) and was waiting for that to pop up again. Thus at my routine 38 week prenatal check up with Jess, it started. I had +2 protein in my urine, a normal blood pressure and was sent to the lab for a protein creatinine ratio test.
The following day I experienced a headache and blurred vision from noon onward (pretty indicative signs of PIH). So once Craig got home from work we decided to head to the hospital while Brynlee was with Lola. At the hospital my urine was dipped and had +3 protein & my blood pressure was 123/72. For most, this is considered a normal blood pressure but for me it was high. They did a few other tests that I won’t bore you with – some came back higher than normal or previous and some came back just fine. However, the decision was made to move up my c section to March 24th and we were sent home to recoup.
A couple days later I got up with Craig before work and felt a little trickle. I wondered if my water had broken but expected it to gush like it had with Brynlee. Every time I changed position or moved it would trickle again but never gushed, even when I stood up. My sister had given me an amniotic fluid swab so I tested and it instantly turned blue. So we grabbed our bags, dropped Brynlee off at Lola’s and headed to the hospital to meet our new baby!
There are many perks of having an older sister who works on the l&d unit you’re delivering at. However, the best was that we were greeted by her good friend Erin as soon as we stepped onto the unit. She had my chart under her arm ready to go and I knew that we were in the best of hands. Erin went to work double checking that my water had indeed broken, hooked me up to the fetal monitor and gave Dr. Chua a call. At this point my contractions were really starting to come – I remember her looking at the monitor and asking if I could ‘feel that’. I looked up at her and said, ‘oh yea!’ Very briefly I considered a VBAC and then remembered the odds my doctor had stated when we discussed a ‘birth plan’ – 20%. NO thanks.
The original plan was to wait until the end of Dr. Chua’s clinic day but because my labour was coming on quite quickly, they changed their minds. Erin started my IV, got us ready for the OR and provided some quick education on what to expect during surgery. We walked over to recovery in preparation to go into the OR no more than 90 minutes from arriving on the unit. This was it!
In the OR my fantastic nurses were Natalie & Kristen and Sara & Ashley. I hopped up onto the operating table, and once the anesthesiologist came in, he tipped the table and administered the spinal into my lower back. I was instructed to hold a pillow but something I had remembered from my epidural with Brynlee was to ask a nurse to place her hands on my shoulders. My contractions were fairly strong and quite regular at this point so this felt extremely grounding to me. They continued to get everything prepped and finally brought Craig into the OR at 12:58pm.
Jessica Olive Hunt was born at 1:15pm on March 23rd, 2017 weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long. I was able to hear her first cry and remember crying myself. Craig cut the umbilical cord and the nurses washed & weighed her. In true Hunt fashion, she went through 3 diapers before the nurses were able to get a clean one on her. We were so overjoyed that we had another beautiful healthy baby GIRL!
Craig snuggled her and did skin to skin while they finished up surgery. When all was said and done, we hung out in recovery for a bit to keep an eye on my vitals and assess dermatomes. I also got a dose of Gravol since I was feeling nauseous from the anesthetic. Eventually I felt well enough to hold Jess and just like her sister, she latched easily and started to feed immediately.
We had a bunch of people eager and excited to meet Jessica. But most importantly, her big sister Brynlee wanted to figure out what all the fuss was about. Seeing the two of them together made Craig and I’s hearts burst with love. We could already tell that they were going to be best friends for life and that the love we had for our children had multiplied.
We luckily only spent 2 nights in hospital with Jessica. Unfortunately my hemoglobin had dropped significantly post-op and Dr. Chua mentioned a possible blood transfusion. I declined in hopes that my levels would rise on their own. I was determined to get out of there quickly and be able to celebrate Brynlee’s birthday with her at home. Thankfully that is what happened and we were discharged on March 25th, 2017.
These past couple of days have been hard. This little girlie (or ghost as we’ve come to call her) has been sick with a stomach bug. Therefore it seemed fitting to capture a quick photo of what we’ve been stuck doing as of late. There have been many baths, showers & cycles of laundry. Missed naps, early bedtimes & snoozies in the car. Bland dinners, countless cuddles on the couch and crossed fingers. But there isn’t anything I’d trade this life for. Even when it involves catching puke in my hands in the middle of the night.
Melissa Hunt 