Day 2 at the hospital

Well, it is 1030 and we have spoken with a genetic counsellor and a neurologist. We are not feeling very hopeful at this point. The neurologist strongly feels that she has a "very serious muscle disease" called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Of course, we have to do some genetic testing to find out if he is right. In the meantime, we're not supposed to look it up on the internet because we'll just get scared. What do you think is the first thing we did after they left? And how long do we have to wait until we get the results from genetics? Could be months.

We have been warned by friends, however, that they were given big scary diagnoses early on for their children that ended up not being the case, so we don't want to completely rely on this possible diagnosis until we know for sure. He decided that this is what he thinks it is after about 5 minutes of looking at her, so of course it is not a true diagnosis.

Basically, right now we're feeling pretty deflated and scared, but at the same time, we still have our beautiful little Dallyce, and we have the knowledge that God loves us and her. That's the most important thing. He is holding us, and will help us through every step of this, whatever thoe steps may be. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Looks like we may be going home tonight, so that's good. I like working here, but I don't like being on the other end.

Dallyce's hospital visit - Day one

Well, the day at the hospital was short-lived, thankfully! We were admitted around 12:30, the nurses did their admission assessments, and a JURSI (Sr. Medical Student) came and did a history and assessment. The JURSI then went away for a couple of hours, and we sat and waited. She came back around 4 to tell us that she had spoken with Dr. Krochak (the pediatrician), and told us the plan. Tomorrow we will see a neurologist and a geneticist, have an MRI, and a swallowing assessment. They will also be testing her hearing and I will be asking about physio as the JURSI didn't know. In the meantime, they gave us permission to bring DJ home for the night and be back there before 9 tomorrow morning, since they wouldn't be doing anything for her there tonight! So we get to have a quiet evening at home before a big day tomorrow. Caleb is still with Mom & Dad, so that's super helpful. Thanks to everyone who is behind us - please continue to pray! We will update as we can!

The DL on DJ

So, I still have a ton of pictures from April & May to sort through and get on here, but I figured I should write a little update to let everyone know what exactly has been happening with Dallyce. Some of you know everything, some know a little, and others don't know anything yet...hopefully this will get everyone onthe same page without me having to type it out and explain many times over!!

Dallyce is a super content baby, so we never really thought anything of how chilled out she was until my doctor pointed it out at her 6 week checkup. After that, we really noticed that she was quite hypotonic...essentially, she's a floppy baby. She has next to no reflexes, and all that she really moves is her left arm a little bit. The midwife went back to her notes from the delivery and said that she had great tone when she was born, so it's something that happened after birth sometime.

Today, after a 4 week wait, we saw a pediatrician who doesn't really have any answers. She said she doesn't really know what to think because Dallyce seems so healthy otherwise. So, she has ordered some bloodwork (CBC, TSH, CK, & chromosomes for those of you who know what those are), and has ordered an ultrasound of her head to see if there is any extra fluid on her brain. She also said that she will probably do an elective admission of Dallyce in the next week or two so that she can get a CT Scan or MRI done, as well as see a neurologist & maybe a geneticist. If we try to do these as an outpatient, it could be a long wait, but if she is an inpatient, she'll get this all done quickly. She is also setting up a referral to the Kinsmen Children's Center for physio.

So basically, we are hoping to get some answers in the next few weeks, and we would really appreciate your prayers as we wait and then as we deal with whatever comes our way. In the meantime, we get to keep enjoying our beautiful little girl and her wonderful smiles.

Dallyce's first days

OK, so I know my blogging updates have been few and far between, so I thought I should at least start to get some pictures up, even if I don't really have any stories to go with them!! I will hopefully be caught up soon, but there are sooooo many pictures!!!

2 days old

Caleb loving the snow and melting snow - a few minutes of playtime alone with Daddy after his little sister came around and started getting everyone's attention!

4 days old

5 days old

DJ's first full day

The next morning, Jadah and her girls came over with breakfast and coffee...it was awesome! How nice to not have to think about finding food for ourselves after a long sleepless night (Dallyce wanted to nurse all night!).

The proud big brother...pretty pumped to have all the grandparents over at one time! Everyone came for the day...I got to sleep lots because they were entertaining Caleb and holding Dallyce. Caleb had stayed with my parents while we were at the hospital and for the night, then they took him to Laird again on the weekend.

DJ's first bath...

What an awesome daddy and husband!

Announcing....even though it is a little late....

DALLYCE JOY GARTNER!!! Our beautiful baby girl was born at 2107 (that's 9:07 pm for those of you who don't like the 24 hr clock!!) on March 25! 8 lbs, 21.5 inches.

I'm not going to tell the whole story here, but the brief version is this.... times are approximates!

1430 - membranes stripped by midwife

1700 - drink verbena 'cocktail'

1845 - water breaks, contractions start hard and fast

1955 - leave house for hospital, trying not to push while in the van

2005 - getting admitted in the ER, still trying not to push as receptionist trying to make me hurry up to get out of her way

2015 - get to room and into bed...start pushing immediately

2107 - Dallyce is born with me on my knees facing backwards...I definitely recommend this position to all moms delivering!!!

2300 - Dallyce's first visitor - Auntie Melissa comes up to L&D when she is finished her shift

2355 - discharged

2400 - visit with my coworkers on 6200 and show off the new babe

0030 - hit up Shopper's Drug Mart for the things I forgot to pick up before

0050 - McD's drive-thru - I was hungry!!!

0130 - at home in our own bed!!

Tired much?

Just came downstairs to check on Caleb at the computer and this is what I found...

Singin with Spidey

I tried to catch Caleb singing with his toy Spiderman without him noticing, but clearly did not have success...I'm surprised he still went back and sang! For some reason when he sings he doesn't say the words clearly - I think he's trying so hard to keep up that he just mushes all the words together! I love it when he sings. The itsy bitsy spider is one of his favourites, as well as Jesus Loves the Little Children and Zaccheus (especially when he gets to say "kee-us, you come down!").

Baby's room

This is mostly for Bonnie, who really wants to see what colour we painted...it's called New Sea, and I think it's a little more green than the pictures show. But it is very blue-green. Since we don't know the gender, I wanted to do a colour that I could decorate either way. I think it may be easier to make girly, but I should be able to man it up a bit, too, if it's a boy! That's why there are no decorations or anything on the walls yet...that will have to wait until baby is here! I am doing another name painting like I did for Caleb, but, again, can't be done until after the arrival. I also realize that none of the furniture in the room matches, but we really don't care. We are reusing the crib and chair, and the change table was the one new purchase (from IKEA) that we made for this child. The extended part of the change table comes off later, so it becomes just a dresser. Anyways, I realize it is not nearly as nice as what your nursery will look like, Bon, but I like it. I can't wait to see yours...and your whole house in real life for that matter!!

Skidooing with Grandpa Guido

Since the video seems to have worked in the Feb post, I'm attempting this video again...it's old (from Christmas), but still cute!

Feb 2009...and Mar thus far

Feb started out with me getting to go see So You Think You Can Dance top 10 tour!! I love the show, even though I know absolutely nothing about dancing, and it was a really great show to see in person! We sat 5th row from the stage, so we could see everything really well...it was awesome!


Clay's winter break coincided with my week off, so we used the opportunity to head to Calgary for a few days. We stayed with good friends Dr. Dennis & Kristina (they moved to Calgary in the fall so Dennis could attend the College of Vet Med at U of C...if that's what the college is called). We spent time playing Settlers, playing Rock Band, going to IKEA, and we tried to meet our good friends Juan & Helene's new baby, but she was too stubborn and was born the day after we left!! We did get to have a quick coffee with them, though, and it's always nice to see them! We are looking forward to meeting little Ava when they come to SK in April. I also got to visit with a friend from my VTI team, JoDee, who's baby Capri was only a few weeks old at the time! It was nice to catch up with her too!!
Kristina and I - which one is further along?! I'm about 35 weeks here, due Mar 26, and Kristina is due end of May I think...she's got some catching up to do!

Here I am 37 weeks...notice the picture behind me that we picked up at IKEA...just need to get it hung in the right spot now!

Just a good one of the boys

Caleb loves to say "Arr Matey"...and it's dang funny when he does, so when Clay found this Pirate hat at Dollarama (or 'dollaGramma' as Caleb calls it!), we had to get it. He's a fan.

The day before we were supposed to get some family pics done, Caleb nailed his head and got a big scratch and bump on the middle of his forehead. He really didn't need the bandaid, but he wouldn't let us leave it off for a good week...so he looked stylin' with his big Mickey and Spiderman bandaids on his forehead for a few days!

A few more sleeping positions...standing, tiptoes, kitchen chair. If the video actually works, you'll see how he ended up on the kitchen chair - was falling asleep while eating, then eventually just gave up and curled up right there! It was awesome!

This winter has been so cold that there have been very few outside days...even so cold that getting out for a couple minutes of fresh air wasn't even feasible most days. So when we had a couple of nice days last week, Clay took Caleb out in the front yard for some play time...nice snowman.