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?