The story - Part II

So Elle was born! I just can't believe how, as soon as the baby comes out, you just feel better. It's not pleasant while the doctor stitches you up and such, but no more contractions!

They gave her to me right away and she was looking good. They didn't need to put her under the lights or anything. The very first thing she did when she was on my chest was pee all over me. Welcome to the world! haha

After the doctor was done working on me they let me try nursing, and baby Elle latched on almost right away! The nurse was pretty impressed because she said sometimes babies born before they are term (37 weeks) have a little more difficulty latching on, but she was a champ!

They eventually took her and weighed her - 6 pounds 5 ounces, 19.5 inches long. The first night went well, I don't think I slept a lot but Elle slept really well.

First bath - she has so much hair!

Now normally at the Abbotsford hospital you are discharged 24 hours after delivery, unless of course there are complications. BUT the doctor wanted us to stay two nights because I had only just had my strep B test done on Monday, and they had only had verbal confirmation that my results were negative. I don't know EXACTLY what strep B is, but I know that if the mother tests positive, it doesn't really affect her at all, but it can transfer to the baby during delivery, so the mother would be on antibiotics once her water broke or at least before she delivered. Since the doctor had verbal confirmation that my test was negative, he didn't give me any antibiotics during delivery (actually I think he almost did, but I think I delivered to shortly after that to actually get around to it!) So anyways, the doctor just wanted Elle in for one more night to make sure she didn't develop a fever or anything, and to make sure they had the actual test results in my file before I left the hospital.

Grannie and Papa holding their 7th great-grandchild.

Finn is still the only boy!

I was a little disappointed, but it was probably a good thing. Finn stayed at my mom's one more night, which they both enjoyed, and we had one more day to just spend recovering and such before going home.

Me after a nice shower and back in regular clothes.

That night there was a little issue though. The nurse was listening to Elle's heartbeat and thought she heard a heart murmur. Two other nurses also heard it, so they called in the pediatrician who ordered an ECG, Chest x-ray and blood pressure readings on all of Elle's limbs. It was a little scary, but she said that small murmurs are very common in new borns, and will heal themselves up from a couple days to a couple weeks, but just to be sure she wanted to have those tests done.

The whole drive home Finn was just watching her.

Luckily we got them all done that night. For the ECG and blood pressure readings they were able to do that in our room, and for the chest x-ray we just had to take a little walk to the second floor. All results came back great, she looked perfect. The pediatrician came by the next morning and said it all looked good, but that she wanted me to come with Elle for a follow up next week, so hopefully it will all be gone by then. She assured me she wasn't worried, that if she was she wouldn't let us take Elle home, but just let us know what to look out for.

After the pediatrician checked Elle out on Friday morning we were FINALLY able to go home!!

Getting all settled in at home.

We left just after noon, went to my sister-in-laws to get Finn, got home, and we all took a nap!

The story - Part 1

Don't worry, I won't go into ALL of the gory details!

On Wednesday morning Conor headed into Vancouver, he has been taking an intensive french course for the week. Conor's family all got up early-ish to pack up to head to Ottawa for the week to see Conor's sister Sonya for the week. Finn and I got up, and I was going to get us ready to head to my moms for the day - so that we wouldn't be at home all alone incase anything should happen (even though I was SURE that after all of this the baby would be overdue! haha)

Waiting for the labor to progress - reading Harry Potter in the background.

I WAS hoping to see the movie in theaters before the baby was born, but she has ruined it all! (just joking! she's better than Harry Potter)

I had a shower, and went to the bathroom, and I was 95% sure my water broke. I tried to pretend it hadn't and went on doing what I was doing... and about 15 minutes later I was 100% sure! Conor's family were all sitting to eat breakfast and I said "well, I hate to do this today of all days, but I'm pretty sure my water broke!"

It was about 830am and they were going to be leaving the house around 10am. So I had to figure out what to do with Finn. I called my mom and she said she would come get Finn and I, take me to the hospital, and take Finn to her place.

All done!!! I was soooo glad it was over, I didn't think I could handle ANY MORE!

So I actually thought that my doctor was on holidays, but it turns out he was going away the next day (Thursday), so he was at the hospital when I got there. He checked me and at first it said that my water had not broken, but then it turns out the babies head was just blocking, when he checked me then the water definitely broke, and the doctor said I was already 4 cms. I also starting having a contraction right then!

Well I got a little emotional at that point - confirmation that it was actually all starting, and a contraction, and I started freaking out because I knew that it could be a really quick labor and I wanted to make sure Conor made it back! I yelled through the curtains for my mom to call Conor and tell him to head back.

They admitted me right away and Conor made it just over an hour later. Finn and mom had been there the whole time, but after Conor got there mom took Finn back to place.

Holding Elle afterwards, I got to hold her for a LONG time before they took her away from me.

So I was having contractions, and they were getting to be 2 minutes apart, but I wasn't feeling any pain, just pressure. Conor and I went for a few walks around the ward, but then everything slowed down. Because my water had broken they were on a timeline, so since everything had slowed down they decided to start me on Oxytocin, just really slowly, because we already knew that I responded well to it after Finn's birth.

I got to the hospital at 9am, had those contractions that weren't painful, started the Oxytocin, and I think I started having contractions that I started feeling just before 5. They weren't really painful, but the pressure was getting a lot stronger. The nurses wanted me to get up and walk around to get things moving even more, so they were starting to get my monitors and stuff ready for me to walk around with. I didn't really want to walk around, because I had this fear that I would be in the hall way and the contractions would get really strong.

Getting checked out - all good!

It was all just about ready for me to get up when it happened... it was the weirdest, worst feeling IN THE WORLD. It started feeling the same, strong pressure, and then it was the weirdest thing, it felt like three pops, or cracks and then PAIN PAIN PAIN!

This was probably about 530pm. I was having a HARD time breathing through them, but I was doing better than with Finn. I finally needed the gas mask because they were getting closer and I wasn't able to calm down enough between contractions. They checked me and I was about 7 cms.

Being weighed

I got to the point where I knew I had to push, they quickly got the doctor in, checked me again and I was 9 cms. I think the next contraction though she started coming out even though I wasn't pushing, so at 6:22 I started actually pushing, and at 6:24 Elle was born! That's right, 2 minutes of pushing! It was crazy, but I was SOOO glad that it was over.

Let the Induction Begin

Well we went in about 7:30 am on Sat morning and started the process. I don't think I started "the drip" (induction) until 20 to 9. It was rather boring there, doing nothing.

I didn't like having the IV put in, but I survived! hehe. I started getting Braxton Hicks contractions, but no painful ones. After a couple of hours we all thought that maybe I would turn out like my Grandma and Mother, and have "painless childbirthes".

That was until around 12:30 noon I felt my first contraction, and it was NOT fun. I just looked at Conor with this look of horror on my face and said "I didn't like that....I don't think I'm going to like this"

Then I started crying...and then laughing, nervous laughter, realizing that I really was going to have this baby that day.Well the contractions came on regular, hard, strong, fast...what else can I say to describe it...painful! We decided that I would try laughing gas....I knew epidural would be my last option, because I didn't really want it...and I wanted to stay away from the other pain killers as well, because they can affect the baby.

So she got my the laughing gas and I got to use it with each contraction...from then on in, I would NOT give up that mask! The contractions were still as strong, and I still felt them...but it seemed to make time go by soo much faster. I started worrying that the contractions had slowed down, because they only felt like 20 seconds long...so I asked the nurse and she said that they were at least 60 seconds. At one point Conor left to go to the bathroom and I had a contraction...I told him he was NOT allowed to leave again! I kept thinking we should call our parents and tell them it was happening, but the contractions were just too close together for that.

Anyways, she checked me at I'd say 1:30 although it was probably later, I was pretty out of it, and I guess I was quite dilated, but then she wanted to move it along a bit, so she got me to get on my knees and lean over the back of the bed....that was HORRIBLE! and a contraction came before they got the laughing gas to me...I thought I was going to die.

It actually must have been closer to 2 at that point, because I think I started pushing shortly afterwards. I did a couple contractions of pushing with the nurse, and then the doctor got there and it was in full swing!

As you know, at 2:32 pm Finnian was born...which means I only laboured for 2 hours! It was amazing though...I seriously thought I wasn't going to make it. And when the nurse got me to go on my knees I was wanting pain killers sooo badly, but all I could think of was "this is almost over, it's too late for an epidural". Haha, I was pretty upset that it was too late...but luckily the pushing didn't take very long.