Maryléne Kirouac

The marvelous Maryléne Kirouac with her daughter Clara (15 months). Maryléne is also mother to Justin (5) and Édouard (3). Maryléne's husband really wanted to have children and wanted to have them quickly, they ended up concieving on their honeymoon. She had a very healthy pregnancy until about 33 weeks when they became worried she may deliver prematurely. She was on modified bedrest but ended up carrying until 11 days post dates. Her delivery was quite traumatic due to a 4th degree tear and a long postpartum recovery. Maryléne struggled with whether or not to have more children an at about 18 months suddenly felt the urge to have another baby quite badly. They were able to conceive again without complication and her pregnancy went well. She had a bit of gender disappointment when they found out they were having another boy as she had very much wanted a girl but says that within a week she found herself in love with her new baby. She carried until 11 days post dates again and labor progressed well until her sons heart rate began to decelerate quite a bit. The doctors were concerned and told her she had 30 minutes to push him out or she'd need to deliver via cesarean. They turned the monitors away and she and her husband focused and she was able to push him out in 27 minutes. It was determined that Édouard had an infection and had to spend 10 days in NICU learning to breathe before he was able to come home. When he was about 8 old Maryléne unexpectedly conceived Clara. She had somewhat of an opposite gender disappointment with Clara in that she had grown used to the idea of having all boys that knowing she now had her girl was a shock. She was heavily monitored during her pregnancy due to enlarged ventricles in Clara's brain but she was born without complication and only required 1 stitch after a quick labor and delivery. She was also able to breastfeed Clara for the longest of her babies, when she weaned at 8 months. All of her children have asthma and it took a long year to figure out what was happening with them and in the course they were tested for cystic fibrosis and her daughter had to be hospitalized due to food related anaphalactic shock. Maryléne had a break down and had to be taken to the hospital where she was diagnosed with postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety and generalized anxiety. Maryléne is now in a much better place where she is feeling mentally healthy and so comfortable in her skin. She feels that there is too much pressure to look a certain way after having children and simply wants to be able love herself and present a healthy model for her children.

La merveilleuse Maryléne Kirouac et sa fille Clara (15 mois). Maryléne est aussi la mère de Justin (5ans) et Édouard (3 ans). Le mari de Maryléne voulait vraiment avoir des enfants et assez rapidement, et c'est finalement pendant leur lune de miel qu'il ont conçu leur premier enfant. La grossesse se déroula très bien jusqu'à la semaine 33 où ils se sont mis à craindre un accouchement prématuré. Elle a du être alitée et a finalement accouché 11 jours après la date prévue. Une déchirure au quatrième degré et une longue récupération post-partum ont rendu son accouchement éprouvant. Maryléne n'arrivait pas à décider si elle souhaitait ou non avoir d'autres enfants et 18 mois plus tard elle eu soudainement très envie d'un autre bébé. Ils ont pu facilement concevoir à nouveau et la grossesse se passa bien. Elle a ressenti une légère déception quand elle a appris qu'elle attendait un autre garçon car elle souhaitait vraiment avoir une fille mais en moins d'une semaine, elle était totalement éprise de son nouveau-né. Encore une fois, elle accoucha 11 jours après la date prévue et le travail progressa bien jusqu'à ce que la fréquence cardiaque de son fils ralentisse beaucoup. Les docteurs s'en inquiétèrent et lui ont dit qu'elle avait 30 minutes pour l'accoucher,  que sinon ils devraient procéder à une césarienne. Ils ont tourné les moniteurs pour ne pas les voir, le couple s'est concentré sur l'accouchement en cours et bébé est né 27 minutes plus tard. On leur appris qu'Édouard avait une infection, qu'il devrait passer 10 jours dans l'unité néonatal de soins intensifs et apprendre à respirer avant de pouvoir rentrer à la maison. Quand Édouard avait environ 8 mois, Maryléne conçu Clara sans l'avoir prévu. Elle vécu encore une fois une déception par rapport au sexe de l'enfant car elle s'était faite à l'idée qu'elle n'aurait que des garçons, elle eu un choc d'apprendre qu'elle aurait maintenant une fille. Sa grossesse a été surveillée de près car Clara avait des ventricules cérébraux élargis mais elle est née sans complications et maman n'a eu besoin que d'un point de suture après un travail et un accouchement rapide. Elle pu aussi allaiter Clara plus longtemps que les autres, elle s'est sevrée à 8 mois. Tout ses enfants sont asthmatiques et ça aura pris une longue année pour découvrir ce qui leur arrivait, année au cours de laquelle ils ont été testés pour la fibrose kystique et pendant laquelle sa fille a du être hospitalisée en raison d'un grave choc anaphylactique. Maryléne a craqué et a du être conduite à l'hôpital où on lui a diagnostiqué une dépression post-partum et de l'anxiété généralisée. Maryléne est maintenant beaucoup mieux, elle se sent mieux dans sa tête et bien dans son corps. Elle pense qu'il y a beaucoup trop de pression quant à l'apparence que toute mère devrait avoir et veut simplement être capable de s'aimer et être un modèle sain pour ses enfants.

Donna Cavanagh

The courageous Donna Cavanagh with her daughter Cecilia (8) and sons Waylon (6) and Wyatt (7 months).

Donna had very healthy, typical pregnancies and uncomplicated vaginal deliveries with her first two children. Her third pregnancy, however, was anything but. She was told early on via routine screening that her son has incompatible with life. At 12 weeks, they tested nuchal translucency and learned that his result was irregular but inconclusive. Around 20 weeks, she had an anatomy scan and learned he had enlarged ventricles in his brain and holoprosencephaly with severe midline deformities on his face and body including missing parts of his brain and his nose. The doctor said she should terminate her pregnancy because her son would have no quality of life if he lived at all. She left thinking that was their best option and she wanted to protect her older children. She scheduled her "interruption of pregnancy" but sought out further testing at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She says this was the best thing she ever did. The new scan showed the parts of the brain they were told he was missing as well as his nose and they learned he did not have holoprosencephaly but that he did have ventriculomegaly which would eventually lead to hydrocephalus. She and her husband fought over what was the right decision but ultimately chose to continue the pregnancy. Wyatt was born 6 weeks early via cesarean and he spent 8 weeks in the hospital. He has hydrocephalus, polymicrogyria, endocrine problems and is blind, but he's here. Wyatt has also just been diagnosed with infantile spasms, one of the worst forms of childhood epilepsy. Wyatt has had 9 brain surgeries and has a shunt, he's begun therapy to help his development but Donna says that due to the seizures and/or the medication, he's regressed. She's had to balance caring for her older children with caring for Wyatt, who has spent more of his life in hospital than out. Donna says that this has been the hardest year of her life but it's also the best, that during it her family has come together in ways they were previously struggling.

Donna has struggled with her body and the way she's looked for along time and has begun to notice her daughter does too sometimes. She says it's hard for her to instill in her daughter that she needs to love and accept herself the way she is, if she doesn't own it herself. Since Wyatt's arrival the last thing on her mind is getting to cross-fit or how she wants to be in her previous size and she she doesn't want to think about those things anymore. In order to teach them, she's realized she needs to teach herself and she's ready to feel good about her. Her children boost her up and make her feel better. She tells them all the time, if she didn't have them she would just be Donna, and just Donna wasn't much fun. "I feel like some empowerment is needed in my life. I feel deflated, physically and emotionally and I shouldn't, I should be proud of myself and what my body has created but I need a push and no one is going to push me, it's got to come from me."

Kaye Parker

The amazing Kaye Parker. Kaye is mom to identical twin boys William (pictured - 3) and Tyler, who passed away due to complications from Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). She was very sick throughout her pregnancy and by her second trimester, was measuring very large for dates with her boys and was painfully suffering from Polyhydraminos (excess amniotic fluid). Kaye searched for answers with her medical team, and they eventually referred her to a hospital in Auckland where she was diagnosed with TTTS at 19 weeks. She was referred for laser ablation surgery and drainage of fluid, both of which were successful. At 22 weeks she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and was told that she might have to deliver, and her boys would not be able to survive. The goal was to get them to at least 24 weeks and 500 grams before delivery. At 23 weeks they were both over 600 grams and if they had to deliver they'd attempt to save them. Shortly after, her suspected pre-eclampsia went away, leading doctors to believe it may have been a mirror syndrome related to her laser surgery. Everything was going well from then until 27 weeks. Kaye had a midwife appointment on the 5th of January, where there were two heartbeats, and everything was fine. Two days later she had a scan and learned that her son Tyler's heart had stopped. William had suffered from increased blood flow and enlarged ventricles in his brain due to Tyler's passing. They booked her for an MRI and the morning of, she went into labor at just under 30 weeks. The boys were born via emergency cesarean with William needing forceps assistance and weighing 1.6 kilos and Tyler weighing just 935 grams. William had to spend the next 10 weeks in the NICU and had a difficult journey learning to grow and breathe and eat on his own. He coded completely and had to brought back to life just as his brother Tyler was being buried. Kaye has a had an understandably difficult emotional recovery. Physically, she has struggled with thyroid and iron issues since the birth of her boys. She is hoping that her participation in the project will help mark the start of a new, positive and healthy beginning for herself and William.