Our Time in Toronto

Wow, what a time it has been. I think Chris & I have experienced just about every emotion there is during our time in Toronto. This has most definitely been the happiest and most joyous time in my life and also the saddest and by far the most difficult. We prayed the roller coaster would end after delivery. Little did we know that it was just beginning.

As mentioned in my previous posts, the boys were born in the early afternoon on Tuesday April 7th. Thomas came out screaming and then came the longest 5 minutes of my life waiting for Evan. He came out (with help from their vaccuum) with a gurgle and a cry and then was immediately taken to the room next door. They came and had Chris go with them right away with no words to me so I was panic-stricken wondering what was going on. After a bit, one of the many people in the room let me know that Evan was ok - breathing on his own - and being evaluated. He scored very high on his apgars which gave me some relief.

Once my surgery was over they did allow me to go in the room to see him before I was whisked off to recovery and he to the NICU. My blood pressure decided to go sky high after that and I was put in a private room and given alot of drugs to get it down. The funny thing is I didn't notice at all. I was feeling ok and enjoying my time alone with Thomas. My two labour and delivery nurses, Sandra and Shayla were also with me. Actually Shayla stayed past her shift and stayed with me until I finally went to my room at around 8:30 pm that night.

The next few days were spent trying to rest, take care of Thomas and going to see Evan in the NICU (I was on the 10th floor - he was on the 7th). It was nearly impossible to sleep. I was in a ward room with extremely rude roommates who didn't care how many visitors they had (after hours) and were very inconsiderate. My nurses were great especially Gelina, Pat and Leyla. They pulled strings and spoke with their supervisors and were able to get me bumped to a private room the last few nights I was there which definitely helped.

Chris' brothers & mom came up the day the boys were born and my family took turns coming up on different days to see the babies and wish us well.

Evan had his shunt surgery on April 14th at SickKids Hospital. It went well and he was transferred back to Mt. Sinai on April 16th. I was released on the 15th and we spent our last 2 nights in Toronto at the Delta Chelsea as there was nowhere else for us to go. We came home on Friday the 18th and Evan was transferred (by helicopter - his first ride in the air!!) that night.

Here are some pictures of us during our time in Toronto. Some were taken by the nurses some by me and the really good ones were by Angie & Jim.