Heureux, Heureux A En Mourir

Monday, December 5, 2011

Audrey's 3 month birthday!


Three months ago today I was taking a much needed shower and trying to figure out how to stand normally without the giant baby belly getting in the way. I can remember soaking in the hot shower while my Doula, Chvonne, passed me the things I needed and helped me to dry off and get dressed. It felt so weird to look down and see all the extra skin and no baby in it. I felt like I might fall over. Changing your center of gravity so suddenly is a strange feeling indeed. I also remember feeling such relief that I could go to bed and hold my new baby. At the same time I was terrified. I really needed to pee. All you ladies out there who have had babies know what I mean.

Now my little girl is no longer a newborn. She's got a brand new personality all her own. I must say, I'm enjoying having someone who enjoys my singing. Today we listened to Michael Bublé Christmas while driving around town. It was delightful. Audrey must have enjoyed it because she fell asleep. I think she's going to love Christmas. We decorated our tree on Saturday night and when we were done I laid her in her bassinet and she just looked up at the lights in awe. We do have a beautiful tree.

And, although we will be headed to Punta Cana for the week before Christmas, I'm still hoping to make it back to Dawson on Christmas day in time to have a white Christmas. Although I just about had a heart attack when I got in the Rav this evening and discovered it was a balmy ten degrees out! It was warmer than the island! It's December 5th and I went out without a jacket. I never thought that would happen up here. I do kind of miss the snow though. Although I hate it by January 2nd, it's enjoyable leading up to Christmas. Hopefully we get some more soon.


Here is our fabulous tree!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Guinness World Record

In June my leadership class and I attempted to beat a Guinness World Record. It was something we planned as an end of the year event and we spent a lot of time researching the best record to try and beat. We ended up choosing the "world's largest game of hide and seek". The record had previously been set in Japan, with 189 players.

On the big day we set up at the local Pioneer Village and started out with over 270 players. Due to a sudden downpour and bad weather we had a few people leave, but finished at the end of one hour with 253 players.

It was a lot of work to plan out and even more work collecting all of the evidence. I had local news reporters write articles and take photos, which I then sent in to Guinness, along with letters written by independent witnesses. Then I waited several months to hear back from them.

A few days ago, they wrote back! I received an email congratulating me on achieving the record for the World's Largest Game of Hide and Seek. I have to say, it's kind of a cool feeling being able to say that you are a Guinness World Record Holder. But I couldn't have done it without the 252 players who joined me in the pouring rain on June 17th. Nor could I have accomplished it without all the people who volunteered to be witnesses and to help out with the event. We also were able to make a donation to the Salvation Army food bank as we charged 1$ for each person who came to play. I hope that we might be able to make it a leadership class tradition and perhaps try to beat our own record again next year!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Audrey is 2 months old

Another month gone by! Wow, that was fast. I can't believe in just 4 months I will be back at work again. When Audrey was 4 weeks old I thought she was so big and grown-up and I wanted the little one week old back. Now that she is a full 9 weeks old I wish I could go back to 4 weeks. It makes me realize how important it is to enjoy every sleep-deprived, exhausting day. When she wakes up at 3am to eat, I am so tired but then I remind myself that this won't last long and soon I will be missing her cute little milk-drunk smile once she falls back to sleep.

A few weeks ago she learned how to smile and most recently has discovered her hand. She likes to hold it in front of her and coo and stare at it. My favourite thing is when she first wakes up. She gets super smiley as soon as I peek over the side of her bassinette.

Our most recent adventure was a trip to Grande Prairie to apply for her first Passport. We are heading to the Dominican for one week before Christmas for my sister's wedding. We will be staying at the Dreams Punta Cana and I'm super excited. I've got a big pile of summer dresses for Audrey and I can't wait to go swimming with her in the pool in her itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot bikini (thanks to Auntie Meg).







Here are a few recent photos of our little sweetheart.

Parisian Brunch Photos





Been meaning to add these photos for a while now. These are the lovely ladies who threw the party and the gorgeous decorations. Isn't the table centerpiece amazing? Anyone know how to rotate them so they aren't sideways?

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Parisian Brunch

This morning my friends had a lovely Parisian themed brunch for Audrey and I. It was complete with an eiffel tower centerpiece, cupcakes with french messages on them, an Audrey Hepburn painting and ribbon topiary. It was so pretty. The decorations were exactly what I had always wanted at a party for my new baby girl. I felt so blessed to have amazing friends who would do this for me, even though I had already had a big baby shower as well.

For brunch, we ate crepes with all the toppings you could imagine--the traditional lemon juice and sugar, nutella and banana, strawberries and cream...yum-o! We also had pastries, mini quiches and croissants.

Then, they spoiled us with frilly girly things. I got a basket full of body lotions and bath salts and Audrey got a basket of hair bows, headbands, socks and girly shoes.

It was awesome to get out of the house while Mike is working and Audrey was so good. She slept, woke up to eat, and went back to sleep. And she even got to wear her Paris onesie!

But, the best part was the company of my fabulous girlfriends. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends up here. That's the one reason why I would consider staying here longer than the RCMP would have us stay. I will really miss these ladies when I leave!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Birth

Well, bit of a long break between my first and second post! But, in the time between I had a baby! Her name is Audrey Claire L'Heureux. And then a whole month flew by in a blur of feeding and diapers and broken sleep. But, being a mother is nevertheless wonderful. I can't even begin to describe the first few days of being a mother. It's an incredible feeling, and an emotional one. I had thought for sure that I would cry when Audrey was born, but as I said to Mike in the few moments after she was born and I was holding her in my arms, "I'm too happy to cry!" I feel like I finally know the meaning of the quote I have on my blog, from the Edith Piaf song "Heureux, heureux a en mourir". I listened to my labour songs on my own at the hospital the day after Audrey was born and bawled my eyes out. Then I called Mike, who had gone to get us lunch and made him cry his eyes out too.

Unfortunately, a few days later, I came down with a bad kidney infection, which didn't help matters. But, by the time Audrey was a week old the fever had gone down, I was feeling much better, and she'd finally figured out how to breastfeed. Since then things have been going great. I'm still exhausted from waking up every few hours, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

For those of you who are interested in hearing birth stories, here is mine. If that kind of thing grosses you out then skip over it to the pictures!

On Sunday, September 4th, I was really tired of being pregnant. So, Mike decided to take me out for dinner, so we could have one last date night before we became parents. We went out for dinner and headed home to bed. Then, at about 3:09am I woke up with my first contraction! Mike got up with me and we settled down on the couch to watch a Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The contractions were irregular and I was managing just fine, so we were going to wait until 6am to call our doula, Chvonne. But at about 5:30 my water broke, which means we needed to go to the hospital within an hour. Chvonne drove over to our house to meet us, and we left for the hospital. I was hoping to get checked out and then head home, but by the time they finished doing the check on the baby, the contractions were much closer together and harder. So we decided to stay. Unfortunately the good room with the bathroom was taken, so I wasn't able to get my labour tub set up. Chvonne and Mike were amazing support though. We used the exercise ball and the shower down the hall and that got me through the first 9 hours of labour. At about noon though, I was finding it difficult to go on without drugs. I was only at 5 centimeters dialated, and I'd been at 2cm before labour even started. Because my water had broken so early, the contractions were really difficult and close together the entire time. I really didn't want an epidural though, so I decided to try morphine. My nurse was really amazing and she gave me a shot to my hip.

The morphine didn't take away the intense pain, but it took the edge off enough that I could focus in between contractions and get ready for the next one. And then the best thing ever happened--the woman who had been in labour in the prime room with the private bathroom and giant shower had her baby and the room was cleaned out! My nurse moved me across the hall and my doula got the labour tub set up right away. The combination of sinking into the hot water and the morphine was such a relief. It really helped me to continue my labour and cope with the pain. That is until I got to transition.

By then the morphine had worn off and the contractions were one right after the other. I tried laughing gas, but that didn't really help. Mike thought it was pretty funny to see me trying to huff the gas like I was though....I imagine I looked pretty desperate.

Thankfully though it was soon time to push, and I have to say that was the best part. It felt good to actually do something, and know that the baby was coming soon. Both our doula and our nurse and doctor said they couldn't believe how in control I was during the pushing. But Audrey was literally right there before I even started and Mike said he could see her hair after the first or second push. Twenty minutes later she was there! She was a little purple but her eyes were wide open and she had a full head of dark brown hair. I couldn't believe that I had actually done it and I was so relieved it was over and I could hold her in my arms.

She weighed in at 8 pounds 7 oz and had a 35cm head! She was 21 inches long and born at 5:34 pm.

Mike and I really enjoyed staying in the hospital together and figuring out how to take care of a baby. I had a private room, so they rolled in a bed for him to sleep in. He took care of Audrey the first night as I was so tired from 15 hours of labour. The sleep train hit me at about 10:30pm and I pretty much crashed until the next morning. Mike changed her first diapers and leaped out of bed at every noise she made. Two nights later we went home and the real fun began!

The pictures below are from the hospital and when we were on our way there. The last two are from a pre-baby party I had with some friends, called a mother blessing. I made a big special meal and my girlfriends here in town came for the afternoon. They all brought me a bead that I strung on a bracelet and wore during labour. I also got them to write a little blessing for Audrey, which I put on the window sill in her nursery.

The pictures are formatted a little funny because I can't figure out how to move them around the way I want. Anyone have any tips?


Thursday, September 1, 2011

40 weeks






Today I am 40 weeks pregnant. Yep, 280 days of pregnancy. But it's not over yet! Nope, still waiting for this baby to arrive. I had planned to write throughout my pregnancy, but that didn't happen. So, here are a few snapshots of the past 9 months, starting with my first "belly" shot at 15 weeks. I can't believe I thought that was a pregnant belly. I feel so huge now, although some friends have told me I am the cutest pregnant lady they know. Awe, thanks guys. I also thought I was going to escape stretch marks, but they have finally caught up to me. At nearly 38 weeks I had not a single stretch mark. Then the baby dropped and they appeared overnight! Thankfully, they aren't too bad and mostly on the underside of the belly, so more easily covered up in a bathing suit. But, that's okay. This baby is worth it. And I think I might even miss the belly once it's gone. Back to sucking in after I eat.





In Victoria at 18 weeks: