Blessed (and the Giveaway winner!)

As I sit here I still can't believe that we have 3 beautiful children. Yes, you heard me...3. Our newest little miracle, Erika Jeanelle, made her grand entrance into this world on Saturday, December 4th at 4:57am - 9 days before her due date - weighing in at 7lbs 9oz.

I know that a bunch of you out there have been asking me about the delivery details so I'll get right into that. :) For those of you who don't handle those things well, you can do a quick scroll down to the bottom to see some pictures of our babes. :)

A week ago today I went to see my OB for my 38 week appointment. After telling him that I REALLY didn't want to be induced this time he examined me and found that I was 3cm. Later that day I went for my first acupuncture treatment. A friend of mine had recommended doing this as she swore that was the reason that she went into labor. I was a little bit freaked out about the whole thing, but it turned out to be really simple and totally not painful at all. I booked another appointment for Friday and then I waited. Waited for some kind of sign that it had worked or for something to happen. Nothing.

On Friday morning I went for another round of acupuncture. After having nothing happen on Monday I was a bit skeptical that this treatment would do anything, but thought it was still worth a shot. Later that morning Josh was super cranky and with Leah at school I thought I would put him down for a nap early and have a bit of a nap myself. (Did I mention I had been out at my company Christmas party Thursday night until 2am? lol!) I woke up around 1:00 and thought my back was hurting a bit, but shoved it off as just being uncomfortable because of sleeping on the couch.

After having a bit of dinner at my parents' house and picking Leah up from a birthday party my Mom took her down to their place and Josh and I went back home. Scott had been unexpectedly working late and was supposed to be home just after 7:00pm.

At 7:00 my phone rang. Scott was calling to let me know that he was just off the train and would be home shortly. The conversation went a bit like this:
S: "I'm just getting off the train. It's going to get a bit loud here in a minute."
*train whistle*
T: "HOLY CRAP!"
S: "I told you it was going to be loud."
T: "No, that's not it!"
S: "What's wrong?!"
T: "My water just broke!"
S: "Seriously??"
T: "Yeah, seriously!!! This honestly isn't happening!"
S: "Are you sure?"
T: "Uh yeah I'm pretty sure....it keeps gushing!"
I honestly could not help but stop laughing about the whole ordeal. We hung up and I immediately called our neighbour, Jen. She came over right away and helped me a huge deal by dealing with Josh because well....I was pretty much useless. lol! I had no idea that when your water breaks it just continues to gush. Every giggle I made (because again, I thought the whole thing was pretty funny!) and every step I took it gushed a bit more. My favourite line from Jen was "um....are you going to change your pants?" hahaha! it looked like I had been in a flood up to my waist!

After I got my pants situation all sorted out I called our friend and Doula, Kerri. We agreed that we would pick her up at about 7:45 on the way to the hospital. Then I started to panic. I hadn't finished packing my hospital bag....on purpose! I figured that if I had finished packing it all the way I would go overdue again. As I scrambled to grab things, the phone was ringing off the hook, Jen was changing Josh's poopy diaper (sorry again, Jen!!) and Scott was coming in the door. Scott's parents were on their way to keep an eye on Josh at our place and Jen had offered to stay with him until they arrived. "Just tell me what you want me to do", she said. I immediately blurted out "come with me!" I think she was a bit confused/unsure what I was talking about but agreed to come to the hospital after she put her little ones to bed.

We arrived at the hospital where they put me in triage to check things out. Did I mention that I still hadn't had any contractions/pain/discomfort at this point? No contractions showing up on the monitor either so they were in no rush to admit me. They did discover however that my water had in fact broke so that was it, I was being moved to a delivery room. This was all very different for me so I wasn't sure what to expect. Turns out that they don't put you on the monitor again or examine you until you start having contractions. Little bit frustrating, but whatever. I walked the halls, sat on the birthing ball, did weird little stretches like I was going to be in the Olympics and then sat and waited. Nothing. Nadda. Zip. Super frustrating. We all sat around and enjoyed some Coke as we waited.

At midnight the nurse said they recommended that I try to get some rest because it could be a while still. If nothing happened by the morning they would put me on the drip (which I TOTALLY didn't want because that would mean an induction). Kerri and Jen went home and Scott and I tried to sleep. He slept and snored while I tossed and turned and prayed that I wouldn't need the drip in the morning. At about 1:30 my stomach started to feel kind of gross. Thinking I had to use the washroom, I sat on the toilet and well...tried to push. After a few minutes of no success I went back to bed and tried to sleep again.

2:00 rolled around and I thought 'oooo that feels like cramps!' I got out my amazing little iPhone and opened up the 'Contraction Timer' app and started to time these little cramps. Sure enough each one was about a minute long and they were 2-3 minutes apart and started to get worse. I woke Scott up and we timed together and then I told him to go get a nurse. At that point they hooked me up to the monitor. Called Kerri at 2:30 and told her things were getting regular and she should come back.

The nurse checked me and said I was about 3-4cm but things were definitely regular. I went back and forth as to when I should get the epidural and then decided to just go for it. After all, we weren't sure how long it would take for the guy to get there because it was the middle of the night. To my surprise he came pretty quickly and did the procedure. Oh happy day! :) I guess that was at about 3:00. Things were still pretty regular and more intense after that, but I definitely wasn't feeling it the same way that I had been. I was able to have a conversation with Scott and Kerri, laugh, etc.

At about 4:30 I told them both that I thought I was feeling pressure. Kerri asked if I thought it was enough that I should have them check me. I wasn't sure. After it happened a few more times I thought 'oh yeah, I'm sure now!' She went to get the nurse who examined me and told me that I was fully dialated. I was kind of in shock! Scott called Jen and told her things were REALLY happening...like right now and she needed to come right away.

4:45 and I was ready to push when Jen came in the door. The next few minutes were a bit of a blur but I know that it wasn't too long/that many pushes and there she was - our 2nd little girl, Erika Jeanelle, was born!

It was a great experience including no tearing! One that I'm still in awe over as I can't believe I didn't have to be induced and that she was smaller than the other 2 :)

Thanks to Kerri, our Doula, for all her support and encouragement. I'm sure I would have pushed that babes out on my own if she hadn't recommended that the nurse check me.

Thanks also to Jen for being there from the beginning to the very end, going back and forth to the hospital, being my photographer, supplier of M&Ms to my husband, etc. :)

And of course thank you to my husband for being my biggest supporter through this 3rd labor and delivery. I love you!

I'm so blessed to have all of these people in my life and also to have our sweet little one join our family. :) It's nearly bedtime in our house which means diapers, pajamas and a feed for the wee babe. Hope things go a bit better tonight! :)

Just before I get to the pictures, the winner of the $20 gift certificate towards Jady Baby's products (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarnia-ON/Jady-babys/118142738218405?v=wall&ref=ts) is..........oh ok...I can't pick just one. Way too complicated to figure all that out. So 1 person wins for being the closest with the weight guess and 1 person wins for being the closest with the date guess. :)

Jennifer Gilbert who guessed 7lbs 10oz

Jennifer Hodgins who guessed December 3rd

Congratulations to both of you!!! :)

Enjoy the pictures!