first brunch

went out for brunch today with the family. first time in a restaurant. managed to fit the car seat right in the high chair, and she slept through the entire meal. every waitress had to come and comment on how cute she was. (we know that already!) she looks so incredibly cute in her little fleecey suit. i think anything with ears is so adorable on children.
mom is starting to feel better. thank goodness. hopefully these antibiotics do the trick and everything on my milk front stays flowing. fingers crossed.

Another day, another doctor appointment

Saw our family doctor today. Another weigh in and check in. Audra and all her eating have warrented a weight of 6lbs 8oz. So 6 and 1/2 pounds. Good job baby girl. All that eating has paid off. She is roughly 19 1/4 inches long and her head circumference is 14 inches. She is still small, but gaining well. She is small against herself but trending well vs others. She is pretty average in growth compared to other babies.
2 weeks till we see her again, then 4 weeks for her first shots. :( wonder who will be more upset about it?

hanging out

a few new pictures. just hanging out. being a baby. she's so cute. by the time she's one, there will be so many pictures of her. i think i am a little obsessive, but it's the first time mom syndrome i think. lol. and i also need to send out pictures to so many people, so i need to take them! lol.

Ins and outs of MCAD

She was diagnosed last week with MCAD, medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. Basically she will have problems breaking down fat into energy. She has an enzyme that doesn't work properly.

When that enzyme is missing, or not working properly, the body cannot use certain types of fat for energy and must rely solely on glucose. There is a limited amount available, and once it has been used up, the body tries to use fat without success. This will then lead to low blood sugar, and this is what we have to avoid. Low blood sugar could lead to metabolic crisis.
She can't go for long periods without eating as that could lead to crisis. Getting sick or having an infection and not eating is when this really is a problem.

She will need to be on a lower fat diet and will need to watch her fat intake.
Having MCAD, and her case is neither the worst or the least amount, they figure her levels are mid range, and will only be a problem when she's not eaten and because she's small. It is lifelong, but as she gets older, and can tell us when she's hungry (although she's doing a good job of grunting and telling mom now), it will be fine.

Both Jamie and I carry the recessive gene, and Audra got one bad gene from each of us. The best part of that is, there is a one in 15,000 chance that people will develp MCAD. Jamie is calling us the perfect genetic storm! ha ha. If we have more children, there will only be a 25% chance that they could have MCAD. Weird eh?

what a long strange trip....

It's been a long week. Audra has been sleeping less during the night, I think she has a bit of the days and nights confusion going on. She is so peaceful during the day. She is eating lots. In a week she went from 5lbs10oz, to 6lbs1oz! Yay baby girl.
We met with the genetics team on Tuesday to discuss the ins and outs of MCAD. Its not the worst genetic disorder to have, and really who isn't excited with the news that she will need to be fed every 3 hours for the first year of her life?! lol. It will be fine. We got all our questions answered so we can pass the information on to everyone else. The genetics team was very helpful and we will be seeing them on a more often basis.

The days and nights just meld together at this point. Immersed in Lost. There are some perks to not working. Try to sleep while she's sleeping, but doesn't always work. She has been fussy today, so sleeping has been hard. I will sleep later on I suppose.

Been So Long....

I guess I am not an offical die hard blogger as my last post was eons ago. Or feels like it was eons ago. So much has happened in such a short amount of time.
I have gone from being in a relationship, to having a full flege family. Jamie and I couldn't be happier. It's been absolutely fantastic.

Our daughter, Audra Elizabeth Danuta, was born Wednesday December 23rd, 2009, at 10:13am, at St Joe's in Hamilton.
She was early, but determined to come out. She wasn't listening to mom and waiting for the new year. Or even til after christmas. But that's fine. She was the best christmas present I think I have ever gotten.

It's been crazy, there have definitely been ups and downs. Lots of hospital stuff, still waiting on hospital and genetic stuff, but this is our life and we will deal with it as it comes.