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Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, December 26, 2014

Birth Story (part 1)

I had been having crazy Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks and I had gone into false labour the weekend before, so my body was more than ready to give birth. My uterus was primed right up to have this baby from all of the practice it had gotten and I was also downing raspberry leaf tea like a feen. On December 23rd I knew I was going to have this babe soon. My mom wanted us to the stay the night so we could celebrate Christmas the next morning as they were planning on going skiing on Christmas day. But I just wanted to stick around the cabin that night... just in case. I ended up getting about an hour sleep because my contractions kept on waking me and I was feeling pretty anxious. The contractions would be five minutes apart and then jump to being ten, so very irregular and very frustrating. On the 24th Mom, Dad & Willow came over to the cabin and we opened presents.



I was still contracting irregularly. Dad & Jon were on contraction timing duty and I would let them know the second I was feeling one and then they started predicting on when I was going to get one. They were making a game out of my pain ;p. We watched tv, we played cards and we just relaxed. At around 6pm my contractions had been every five minutes, lasting a minute long for the past hour and a bit and feeling pretty intense. Dad and Jon got my pool ready, mom was entertaining Willow and I was working through my contractions. I kicked my parents and Willow out of the cabin because unfortunately when I go into labor I go into my own little world and can't have any distractions. Jon called the midwife to let her know where I was at and she came 10 minutes later.



When she arrived she told me I was much too chipper and she wanted to come back when I wasn't so cheerful. She did a check and I was only 3cm dilated but my cervix was completely thinned out. She left to go and get changed ( the poor girl showed up in her party dress as it was Christmas Eve) and have a nap. She told us she would call the cabin at nine and see how I was doing at that point. She had said to call her before if I felt that one contraction that was different from the rest. I had asked her if I should go for a walk, bounce on my ball, and/or squat to make things progress. And she said do what you want but I would suggest watching a funny movie, relax and make out with Jon. I watched a little bit of Seinfeld but than that annoyed me, I turned on some tunes but they annoyed me and making out with Jon at that point was out of the question. Cat called to see how things were and I told her everything was fine and we would call her if anything had changed. I had just asked Jon to open the window so I could listen to the ocean and than boom I had THAT contraction. I felt him move his head and engage and my water broke a minute later. This was only five minutes after we had talked to Cat on the phone when everything was manageable. Jon called her and told her we needed her and the attending midwife, Emma asap. I hopped into the birthing pool to relieve some of the tension. The only thing is it wasn't filled up enough. I tried to enjoy the warmth as much as possible but I felt like I needed to push so badly. Jon & I were pretty worried the midwives wouldn't make it in time and I was trying my darndest to hold that baby in. For relief I was squeezing Jons arm really really tight and making the most obnoxious sounds. With Willow I internalized everything because I didn't want to be loud in the hospital, in my own space I let loose.

At one point Jon said "there are car lights, thank god. Not to worry they are here". Nope, not them. I replied very hastily "why Jon, No! That's not fucking them". I decided they were never going to arrive and Jon hoist me in he car and head to the hospital. Jon insisted they would be here soon even though the look of sheer terror and panic was all over his face.  They finally arrived ten minutes later which clearly felt like an hour. The first thing I said to Cat was " I am not chipper ANYMORE!!!!!!!!" They came rushing in and immediately started setting everything up.  They bring a lot of stuff with them, they basically have everything a hospital room would have all jammed in a bunch of duffel bags.

Cat didn't like the position I was in the pool. My vagina had to be completely immersed in the water or totally out for the baby to be able to breathe properly when born. She just told me to completely submerge myself when pushing or to lift my butt up. I decided I didn't want to have the worry and hopped out of the pool. Well not really hopped, more like breached (think whale) myself out. I thought at that moment it would be a good time to go to the bathroom. When you are fully dilated and ready to give birth, I highly advise against walking anywhere of you don't have to. It's pretty hard work. They tried telling me it was just my baby wanting to be born which was giving me the sensation to poop but me being stubborn me insisted on going to the toilet. When I got on the toilet I had the immediate sensation of relief and I started to push right away. Finally, so much of my pain diminished. To be honest pushing is my fave part, I feel like every sense is heightened and I am on some euphoric drug. Perhaps I am an adrenaline junkie and don't even know it :p. The midwives were telling me I didn't want to have this baby on the toilet and I could go anywhere else in the cabin but I really really didn't want to leave my throne. Cat insisted it wasn't safe for her to try and catch my baby in the toilet so I got up and crouched on Jon. And after gently pushing a couple of times, grunting and deep breaths out came Sawyer on the bathroom floor... at 10:20pm weighing a whopping 9lbs14ozs and 21inches long. Cat said when he came out he had his hand on his face, I was wondering why after the head came out he didn't come flying out of there. With willow I remember after the head the dr. popped her right out there. This little fella felt kind of stuck. It's because the crazy guy had his elbow sticking right out, hand on face. She tried to maneuver his arm as fast as possible and he grabbed her hand to help guide him out. Her first reaction was holy, he's huge, it's Frank the Tank! The little man gave her a cheezy little smile in his first second out of the birth canal. So while I had to push the placenta out we were making Old School references. After the placenta came out I hemorrhaged a bit. They got me onto the bed and gave me a shot of pitocin to make my uterus contract. I guess since Sawyer was so big my placenta was huge to feed such a big guy. So naturally the wound site of the placenta was quite large. 

I will continue part 2 tomorrow :) 


Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas Day 2012

As a young girl I would get so excited for Christmas I would puke all night long on Christmas Eve. It was both a combination of eating way to many Christmas treats and the anticipation to see what Santa brought me. This year I didn't get sick but I was just as excited as my younger self to share Willow's first Christmas with our family. J & I are pretty lucky that both sides of our family get along so well and they all wanted to be part of the fun together. No splitting up our day between both sides of the family, just one big combined happy family. All 20 of us squished into our tiny, cozy home and watched Willow get spoiled. Holy smokes did that girl get a bunch of beautiful things. She is one lucky gal, and she doesn't even know it yet.





After Willow opened up all of her gifts the family headed on over to the resort they were all staying in. We had a reservation for dinner at the restaurant there. It was perfect, no preparation, cooking or cleaning. Just eating, drinking, and chatting. I am very good at all three of those :)

Here is the crew...

Cousin Miya

My momma and I

Auntie Sarah/ J's sis and Willow

J & Willow
J's parents/Willows Grandparents

Auntie/Cousin Rhianna (Bert's gf/ my cousin, we like to keep it in the family, Uncle Bert (J's bro) & Auntie Christana  (J's sis)

Auntie Houde & Uncle Gorgeous ( my Auntie & Uncle)

Grandpa, Grandma & Auntie Sarah

My parents/ Willows Grandparents
Great Grandparents/ my Grandparents

Uncle Tay/my bro & Auntie Ash

J & Tay





THE WHOLE FAM-DAMILY


Uncle Matt/ J's Bro & Auntie Marian

We were definitely that obnoxious group taking waaaay too many photos.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Tis' The Season

Willow went to go and get her photos taken with Santa which took a couple of hours (as to be expected).


 We waited and waited and waited for Santa and we were finally at the top of the list. Then Santa(s) shift was over had to get freshened up so we had to wait another half hour. Willow at this time was getting pretty impatient. So by the time she got to meet the "Jolly old St.Nick" she was pretty unimpressed. I think Santa had other things on his mind too because he did not want to be there. lol so this is the photo we got.

Willow and Santa the convict
After being at the mall for way too long we were happy to get home and visit with Willows Great Grandparents, Grandparents and her "Aunties & Uncle". Willow got very very spoiled by all of them. Seriously the amount of presents she received was insane. Soooo blessed to have so many people love and spoil my little babe.


J along with our best friends and I headed over to a pals house to enjoy a couple of cocktails.


After a couple of drinks we all moved on to our local watering hole. We continued to drink way too many beverages.

We all have the creepiest eyes

  After we danced to a couple of songs, laughed a whole bunch and told enough stories we went to another after party. For people without kiddos this would happen quite often. Well we don't go out to party to much so I was feeling way extra silly. We had so much fun and I felt like I did pre-Willow. Spending every single waking moment with Willow is the greatest thing on this earth but I enjoyed having a free night to let loose. Thanks to all who I blabbed to and a huge thank you to my momma for babysitting.

Christmas Eve 2012







Christmas was extra special this year as we had a special addition to our family. The holidays seem to have that special spark when there are kiddo's around to spoil and love. As Willow grows and becomes more aware of how spoiled she is it will be that much more fun! Maybe she will even have a new brother/sister or cousin(s) to share the goods with (I'm not pregnant).






For Christmas Eve we drove out to my parents to spend the afternoon with my dads side of the family. Willow hadn't met anyone except for my Grandma and J hadn't met any of my cousins yet.

Willow chilling with her cousins

Grandma, Jon, Mom & Edith


We had a night full of Wii playing and baby adoring. Oh and mom made a huge delicious feast which was devoured in minutes. Grandma brought so many presents as prizes for all of the winning Wii players. I am terrible at things like this so J did all the winning for Willow and I. I should have taken more pictures, whoops.

After the fam left we decided to open up our prezzies because we had to get moving early in the morn on Christmas day.

Daddy looooovin' his new shirt

Every family has the present hoarder. She collects all of her presents and waits until the very end to open them all. My mom has that title in our fam :p

My broski

Cute lil momma


J loving his new read
I come by my weirdness honestly

Sunday, December 23, 2012

We Took A Little Road Trip To Saskatoon

Last weekend J, Willow and my sister in law Sarah went to Saskatoon to go and introduce Willow to her Great Grandma & Grandpa, Great Auntie & Uncle and cousins. I had a feeling my heart would melt when Willow first met her Great Grandpa Henry...

Willow & Great Grandpa Henry

And it did. He is so proud of his very first Great Grandchild. We went for dinner in his retirement home and he beamed with pride while holding her out for all to see. I think everyone in the room turned their heads to watch the glowing gramps with his sweet Great Grandbabe. We heard lots of ooohs and ahhhs and Willow got very many compliments about how cute and well behaved she is. So adorable.

After dinner we headed over to Willows Great Aunt & Uncles house. Willows little cousin Anna had been waiting for weeks to get to play with a real live baby!!

Willow and cousin Anna
Between Willows adoring cousins Jesse & Anna and her Great Grandpa Henry I don't think she was left alone for a second. She loved every second of it!

Willow, Cousin Anna, & Cousin Jesse

The next day we went for lunch at Great Grandpa's place and then made our way on over to Great Grandma's home. Great Grandma loved meeting her Great Grandchild too.

Great Grandma Cora, Daddy and Willow

Auntie Sarah and Willow

Great Grandpa Henry, Ginger, Auntie Sarah, Great Grandma Cora, Daddy & Willow



I turned to mush the moment Henry took Cora's hand and walked down the hallway with her. It is so nice to see such long lasting true love, it's pretty rare these days.

After a nice day with Great Grandma & Grandpa we went to Auntie Julie and Uncle D's house for some din. We then relaxed and filled our bellies with slurpees and pounds of candy. We digested while adoring Willow.



I love these moments (which happens often) when I look around and everyone is doting oh baby Willow. She is loved by so many



The Sunday we went back for lunch with Great Grandpa and then headed over to Great Grandmas to get as much visiting in as possible. Great Grandma was in such a great mood and played Willow her harmonica. 

 

We had such a fabulous weekend with the family and are very much looking forward to our next visit. I love that we have such a great family to make such warm memories with.