Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Friday, September 18, 2009
Our Birth Story
Anna laboured in the bath tub at the hospital for a few hours, her contractions were becoming more powerful, and we could tell she was making progress. The bath helped her back pain and we were able to help her move around and make her more comfortable. After a while with every contraction she wanted to push, we coached her through the urge, but decided to have the Dr. come and check her. At 2:30 am she was 4 cm dilated. Only 4cm for 12 hours of labour!!!! 12 hours is the average length for the entirty of most labours This was great progress. Anna was having little reprieve from her back pain, each contraction melted into the next with the pain from her back, She needed a break from this so with the Dr. she decided to have some morphine to give her a break from the ongoing pain.
Dr. Strydom arrived at 8am the next morning when she checked Anna there had been little progress from the last check. Anna had some options on where to go from here; the Dr. could artificially rupture her membranes (AROM) which would kick start labour but could intensify things a lot, or she could try moving around to try to kick start labour. Anna and Andrew decided to try moving around to help labour progress. We got Anna up on the birth ball, in the shower standing and rocking, walking up and down the hall, all this and her labour seemed to have stalled. With this result she decided that and AROM would be the best. So at 1pm Dr. Strydom came back and checked her and she hadn’t changed.
The Dr. ruptured her membranes and Anna tried laughing gas for the pain. This really helped; her contractions came in and seemed to be a good intensity and becoming more regular. The gas was the weirdest feeling, like I would disapear in the middle of each contraction, Andrew had to count for me to regulate me breathing All three of us worked with Anna to keep her comfortable and relaxed, but also keep her contractions coming. We got her up on the ball again and massaged her back to help with the back pain. She worked hard with her contractions and it really felt like her body was working hard and progressing. The nurse came in and said we should move over to the birthing room, we still had a ways to go but this was a good sign, the end was near!
During the C-section
Very first picture we have of our beautiful son
25 hours in Anna was still going, the contractions were coming and she took them in stride. Exhaustion was starting to set in, Anna was working hard and we were waiting for the Dr. to show up to see where we were at. At 5:30 Dr Strydom was back to check Anna, she was still 4cm, all that work and no progress. It was time to make some decisions. Anna was exhausted she had worked hard for hours with these contractions and her body was not responding. They talked about trying an epidural and giving it a couple more hours or there was talk of a c-section. The Dr. went to talk to another Dr about Anna’s situation and she came back to say that Anna had failure to progress, This could be for several reasons, the baby was not positioned right, the baby was too big for the pelvis, the contractions weren’t strong enough. With the amount of time that she had been in labour, reaching exhaustion, and no progress it was decided that it would be best for Anna to have a c-section. She was prepped and ready to go when the anaesthesiologist came in, and at 7:10pm Anna and Andrew were parents of a healthy beautiful baby boy.
They let me hold him as soon as he was ok
Below is our first (albeit we look awful) family photo
Daddy changing his little man (Andrew has corrected me, this is the nurse changing Lochlan...ooops)Monday, June 15, 2009
37 Weeks
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
8 Months Down, 2 to Go
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Baby 19 weeks 2 days
Well we are now at 5 months the half way mark, which we are really happy about. I don't feel rushed, things are progressing at a nice pace. I can feel the baby move quite regularly and Andrew thinks he has felt it move. it likes to sit to one side or the other, so you can sometimes feel where it is or isn't. The ultrasound was a really cool experience as we could see our baby open and close it's mouth, wave it's hands and see it's spine flexing as it moved around.
At this point I still have no feelings either was as to whether it is a boy or a girl, and Andrew says if he were to pick based on an inkling he thinks it is a boy (but has planned and practiced his reactions to both-which he says are equal, yet different responses).
We are horrabley unprepared with no nursery, although we have talked about it a bit, in fact we have yet to purchase a single baby item yet. Our plans have been focussed more on the things we anticpate being harder to buy once we have the baby here, such as a couch or Andrew's flat screen and Play Station- you know essential items.
Last week end we flew to Edmonton for my Gerrany's 90th birthday, which was a lot of fun. I was amazed by all the friends and family that came from all over to attend the party, England, Toronto, Vancouver etc. One of my brother's made a slideshow to music with pictures throughout her life time and my other brother Sang a song about 3 old ladies stuck in a lavatory or something- it was good times.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Next year i am looking forward to...
Instead of making resolutions, I found this way of listing things to do in the new year on a blog, so here we go:
Next year i am looking forward to...
Our second ultrasound on Feb 4th, which we will see together (Andrew and I)
My Gerrany's 90th Birthday party in February
Experiencing the last 5 months of pregnancy
Meeting our new baby in the end of June or early July
Taking another warm vacation to the West Coast of Mexico (short flight with no time change)
Taking time off from work to spend with my baby
Seeing more of my family because I am off work
Reading lots of books and watching the backlog of movies Andrew doesn't want to watch with me (i.e. Ballet Shoes and Marie Antoinette) while nursing
Spending time with Andrew in the morning while walking Farley
Drinking lot's of latte's with good friends, made with our new espresso machine
Running again in September with Alison- maybe next fall we can do our half marathon
Pilates with Carla in the fall