Baby News.

Baby Kristin arrived 11 days early. 04/05/04 5:54am. Check out Kristin’s area on Kotyk.com.

Finding Out

This baby is a miracle. Julie had doubts on her ability to conceive. So many doubts that we decided not to “prevent” conception even though we weren’t “planning” on having a baby for a year or so. We wanted to get financially stable etc.

Well we were married in May and August 9, Julie was already feeling nauseous. We were in Winnipeg staying at her parents for a week and Julie was puking on their driveway. When her mom heard about this issue she immediately said “You’re pregnant”. We said there was no way. I believed Julie when she said it would take years of trying before we would get pregnant. Whoops. So we went to the drugstore the next day and got a pregnancy test.

POSITIVE. As the tests are only 99% accurate, Julie was adamant that we were within the 1% inaccuracy level and we went to get another test.

POSITIVE. There was still a 0.5% chance that the tests were wrong so the next day we went to the doctor. Pee on stick.

POSITIVE. At this point Julie admits that we are probably pregnant and the questions begin. We’ll have to move. Where? How can we afford this? etc.. etc.. When do we tell everyone? After the first trimester. The first trimester is supposedly the ‘riskiest’ part of the pregnancy. We made the decision that we would tell everyone at the beginning of November.

Well, it was our last day in Manitoba and we were at a family dinner with all of J’s family. We got through supper but as we sat in the living room and talked, every time I would look at J, she would be depressed. She eventually asked me if she could tell them. Knowing that she would be bawling at any second, I said ok. So within 5 minutes, our families knew.

Where is Baby?

When we got back to BC, Julie went to her doctor. She came back an hour later bawling. There was tenderness in her side and because of her history, she was at risk for an ectopic pregnancy. An ectoptic pregnancy is when the fertilized egg bonds with the walls of the fallopian tubes. This is a very dangerous thing as the fallopian can rupture and can be fatal to the mother. We were scheduled for an emergency ultrasound two days later.

Baby at 5 weeks. Note: baby is the little ricelike spot between the + marks.

Julie was very depressed, already having given up and believing that God was punishing her. On the way to the clinic, we prayed that the baby would move down into the uterus. As you can see from the picture to the left, the placenta and baby were in the uterus! I consider this miracle #2. The heart was beating at 116 bpm. The baby was 6 mm long and looked like a grain of rice. This was the point where Julie realized the power of prayer.

Morning All Day Sickness

Julie was taking dyclectin, a drug meant to combat the nausea of morning sickness. Unfortunately, she was still puking twice a day and very nauseous. She felt that the dyclectin was a waste of money and stopped taking it. She also was working nights and her sleep and eating habits were all screwed up. Her night shift ended on Sunday morning and between then and Tuesday morning, she couldn’t hold anything down. She was getting dehydrated and was at the point where she was throwing up bile.

September 9 we ended up in Emergency at Langley Memorial. We got there at 12:30 and waited until 3 for a bed. They stuck an IV in her arm with 75 mg of Gravol and as she continuted to puke up bile and stomach lining, I sat beside her and watched ER Live. ER in Langley sure isn’t the same as ER on NBC. The most exciting part of the night was when the cops came in and stood guard over a guy who was beat up. I went home to pick up some stuff for the night and when I got back, Julie had grown a beard!

Actually, it was some other guy, Julie had been moved!

On the Maternity Ward

Baby at 18 weeks.

After asking the nurse where they stuck my wife, I was informed that she was put in acute care. They in turn, said she had been sent to the maternity ward. I made my way up to the maternity floor and found Julie in a penthouse suite. The room was bigger than our one bedroom suite. It had a hide-a-bed, a tv, an en suite bathroom and room service! I slept there that night and by 4:30 in the afternoon, Julie was able to hold down some soup, some crackers and a couple of smarties I smuggled in. She was discharged at 1:30 the next night as they needed the bed and she was doing good.

Ultrasound #2

Baby at 18 weeks doing a somersault.

Julie still had the abdominal pains when pressure was exerted and the doctor thought it might be gallbladder issues so he sent J for another ultrasound. This time it wasn’t supposed to be a baby one but while J was being scanned, she asked how the baby was doing. The tech showed the baby and the baby waved his arm. I said “his” arm because the wave was overhand like a ball being thrown. As for me seeing it… nope… i was sitting in the waiting room while J was waving to the kid.

Thanksgiving?

Julie was fine until October 9th (yes, the ninth again.) With her parents and brother’s family in town for thanksgiving, Julie was trying to wean off the dyclectin and it turns out, she needs to stay on it. Amazingly, just two days after she went from three to two pills a day, she went into a tailspin and had to go back to Emergency. We spent the afternoon in the ER, Julie eating through her arm and we were discharged with the following prescription from the doctor. “Freezies.” Did you know freezies are basically IV fluid with flavour?

Ultrasound #3

Baby at 18 weeks kicking mommy.

November 13 was U day #3. Baby must have felt the pressure cuz it was active. The baby was kicking and waving. The tech had issues trying to get a still picture. Legs and arms were flying around, the heart was beating and the mouth was opening and closing. We don’t know the gender… didn’t want to… and the tech didn’t even look.

The Feet

It’s amazing how exciting the number ten is. Ten toes were located on the ultrasound. We didn’t get a chance to see the hands still enough to get the picture and count but we are trusting that there will be a full grip.

Future

Baby feets.

The baby is due April 16, 2004. We are very excited that God has given us the opportunity to bring a new life into the world and raise it.

Update

Kristin Amy Kotyk arrived outside of mommy on April 5th, 2004 at 5:54 am. She was 19.5 inches and 6 lbs, 1 ounce. Her eyes were wide open almost the whole day and mom is doing good too.