Grayson's birth story - part two

I went to bed Tuesday night with the thought that by morning I could be in labor and heading to the hospital. I woke up early Wednesday morning with horrible pain in both of my sides. I realized I had been rolling back and forth for a while and could not take the discomfort any longer. So, I headed down to the couch. It was when I got to the couch that the first real contraction hit. I looked at the time and waited for another one. After a few more came I went back upstairs and told Charlie he probably needed to get up. I took a shower, got dressed, packed up the last of my toiletries, and went back to the couch. Charlie came down with Claire and fed her breakfast. I decided it was best not to eat anything. I timed a few more contractions and called my friend to see if she could come get Claire. She said she would be over in 45 minutes. Charlie brought all of our stuff downstairs and helped pack Claire a bag.
When my friend showed up we said goodbye to Claire and got in the car. I remember at one point that Charlie was mad that we kept hitting red lights and I told him to calm down and take his time, he was making me crazy! Ha!
We made it to the hospital and parked the car. I could barely walk through the parking lot...now that I think about it, I should have made Charlie drop me off at the front entrance. We walked in and went to the "admitting" desk. The receptionist took all of my information (in between contractions!) and then a lady came around the corner with a wheelchair. Thank the Lord! I was so ready to sit down by then!
I was wheeled up to the assessment room...which is basically a big room with lots of curtain dividers. They check you there to decide whether you are in active labor or not. I met my nurse when we got to the room and she gave me a gown to put on. Then, she told me to lay down on the bed and she checked me. I was a 4-5, which was great since the day before I was a 3 at my doctor appointment. She said I was staying in the hospital and I said, "ok, then can I have the epidural?" I am no hero. I was ready for the pain to go away!
Also, Charlie and I can laugh about this now, but the whole time I was in that room the girl beside us was throwing up. Charlie kept checking the floor to make sure he wasn't stepping in anything!
I was wheeled to a labor room and put in the bed. It was a nice big room. The nurse went to see about the anesthesiologist. I was ready to rest for a minute! It didn't take long for her to come. She sat me up and gave me the list of side effects and Charlie got to stay in the room. I was proud of him, he let me hold onto him without even flinching.
Ahhh the epidural! It was such a relief, but as soon as I laid down in the bed I started to feel dizzy and nauseous. Immediately an alarm went off and the nurse rushed over to me and rolled me onto my side. I told her I didn't feel well and she said my blood pressure had dropped. They brought the anesthesiologist back into the room and she gave me some medicine to up my heart rate. This helped a lot. I stayed on my side for a long time and then I started feeling bad again. I set off the alarm and got more medicine. All this time the blood pressure cuff was checking me every 15 minutes! It continued to check me that often for several more hours!
Luckily I didn't feel that bad again, but I did continue to periodically set off the alarm. I got to where I could tell if the alarm was going to go off or not. My poor nurse. I think I stressed her out! She was on her first day back from maternity leave. I don't think she will forget me for awhile!
I think it was finally figured that the epidural was the source of my problems. At one point it was even turned off until I was stabilized. Fortunately, none of my problems seemed to bother Grayson. I was really thankful for that.
My nurse wanted to get my water broken to speed up my labor, but I seemed to be doing better and four other babies were being born, so it didn't happen until 3:30pm. I was 7 centimeters then and when I was checked at 4:30pm, I was 9! My nurse said to let her know if I felt any pressure. I rested for a while. I kept waiting and waiting to feel a lot of pressure. At 5:30pm, I was 9 1/2 and my nurse kept asking me if I felt pressure. I kept saying that I did only during a contraction.
Finally, Charlie asked me if I was afraid to push. I admitted that I was. I could feel a lot more than with Claire and I was worried that it was going to hurt a lot to push. I asked the nurse if I could get my epidural topped off before I started pushing. She went to get the anesthesiologist and he gave me more medicine. I had the epidural turned down so low that I was really uncomfortable. The extra dose helped just a little.
At 6:00pm I was ready to push. The nurse let me push whenever I wanted to and let me rest when the contractions were over. It was so much nicer to not be forced to continuously push, like I had to with Claire. Even the OBGYN let me rest and really listened to me. I pushed for 26 minutes and Grayson was born! He weighed 7 lbs and 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.
I really have to say that my experience here in Canada was great. I appreciated the fact that I wasn't checked a ton and was really left alone to rest. The nurse didn't even count while I was pushing!
We were so happy to see our beautiful baby boy! I hope I never forget the moment he was laid on my chest after being born.

Grayson's birth story - part one

I feel like I should quickly write down the events of Grayson's birth before they are forgotten!

Three weeks ago I thought I was going to go into labor at any moment. I had three nights of braxton hicks contractions that would get pretty consistent and then by morning they would disappear. My sister-in-law decided to go ahead and come to Canada because she didn't want to miss Grayson's birth. We picked her up on the 12th of July and it was so nice to see her! She watched Claire while Charlie and I went to my 39 week doctor appointment. At that appointment my doctor stripped my membranes and we all thought something would definitely be happening at any moment.
The next few days were uneventful in the contraction department. I actually felt fine. The membrane stripping didn't do anything and I started to worry that my sister-in-law was going to have to leave before Grayson came. One day we even looked up labor-inducing methods and tried a few. We baked lemon drop cupcakes, applied acupressure to my feet and ankles, drove over speed bumps, and I did the running man a few times. No luck! I will say though that the cupcakes were SO GOOD!
That Saturday, the 16th of July, my parents and their good friends came to Canada. They were going to stay with us at the beginning and the end of the week and go to Banff, Alberta to see the mountains in the middle of the week. I was super excited to see them since I hadn't seen them since Christmas.
On Sunday we decided to take everyone to Fort Edmonton. My sister-in-law was leaving the next day to fly home and my parents were driving to Banff then too. We spent the whole day outside in the sun and it was hot and by the end I was WORN OUT! I could tell I had overdone it.

At Fort Edmonton...I look huge!

I got into the car and by the time we had driven to a restaurant for dinner, the braxton hicks had started. I didn't feel well. I hardly ate any dinner, and I think the poor waitress thought I was going to drop the baby at any moment! My sister-in-law started writing down contractions and though I knew they were braxton hicks, some of them were painful!
When we got home I went to the bathroom and put on my pj's. Charlie got all of our stuff to take to the hospital and put it in the car. We were all so convinced it was going to happen that my sister-in-law started looking into changing her flight! I laid on the couch and tried to recooperate.
After a while I decided to go to bed. I kept waking up during the night and timing the contractions though. And then AGAIN, by morning the contractions were gone. I felt fine again. So, my parents and my sister-in-law left. I was really sad to see them all go. I was worried that there would be no one to keep Claire and I had really wanted some family to be here when I needed them.
I made Charlie stay home Monday and Tuesday. We had a nice time just spending our last moments together as a family of three. On Tuesday (my due date!)  we took Claire to a splash pad and I sat in a lawn chair and watched while Charlie and Claire played in the water. It was a really fun time. We then all came home and took a nap. I had my last doctor appointment that day and Charlie and Claire came with me. My doctor asked if I wanted him to strip my membranes again and I told him YES!!!! This time felt different. I'm not sure what made the difference, but from that moment I didn't feel as well as before. I also started bleeding, which I know is normal, but I could tell that this was going to lead somewhere.

To be continued...

Canada Day!

Friday was Canada Day, which is definitely celebrated like the Fourth of July at home. We had parades and tons of free events going on all over town. Unfortunately, Charlie was stuck in the lab for half the day so we got to a late start.
When Charlie got home, we took off to take part in some festivities. This year I dressed Claire in Canada clothes. It is still a little weird to see red and white with the blue missing!

We were excited to eat free Canada Day cake and see a juggler and some improv actors. Claire really liked the cake!

Then we checked out a garden with the most beautiful peonies! There were a ton of them in all different colors...so pretty!
We also saw pony rides. I had put Claire on a pony last week for the first time and she loved it. So I told Charlie that she wasn't going to let us pass up another chance for her to ride again. Sure enough, she ran right up to the girl with her tickets...I think Charlie was the most excited because when she was done he started talking about horse-back riding lessons, ha!

Later that night our city had a fireworks display. I really wanted to go, but they didn't start until 11 and Claire was so tired. Our amount of daylight here in the summer is crazy...imagine 5am-11pm of bright, sunny skies!
Saturday was my birthday and Charlie decided that we should have a Canada flag cake since my birthday is so close to the 1st and the 4th!

It turned out good! I had a really nice birthday thanks to Charlie, some great Italian food, and a surprise pedicure at a pregnancy spa! Yay, for pretty toes after not being able to reach them for so long! :)

Happy Father's Day!

This year for Father's Day, Claire and I made a cake for Charlie. We also bought him a movie he had been wanting. I wanted the cake and icing to be made from scratch and I have to say that the cake turned out super moist and yummy! For those interested, I got the recipe here. I used a recipe for the icing from a book called the Cake Doctor and it was good too. Claire had a blast with the sprinkles! It turned out to be a fun project for us to tackle together!

When Charlie got home Claire ran to the door and told him we made a special birthday cake. It has taken three days for her to say "happy Father's Day" instead of "happy birthday!" Now I'm afraid she will say "happy Father's Day" when it is his birthday, ha! She also sang happy birthday to him after we finished dinner!

Yum!

When we picked Claire up from her class at church today she had made Charlie a "tie" covered with paint dots. Nothing says Father's Day like a paper tie covered in wet paint, ha!

Check out that art work!

I hope you are enjoying Father's Day with the ones you love! Charlie and I are so thankful for our Fathers and Father-in-laws. And of course, nothing has been more rewarding than watching Charlie become a daddy. Soon, he will be one again!

Jurassic Forest

Saturday we took off to Gibbons, Alberta to visit the Jurassic Forest! Claire was ready to see some dinosaurs! Charlie saw this place advertised on the news and after checking out the website we thought this was something we needed to see.

 There were two paths that led through the forest to see the dinosaurs. Each dinosaur had a sign on the path that told some information about it. There were signs that also gave information about other plants or insects that are native to the area. Each dinosaur was sensored to move when you walked near it. Claire loved hearing them roar and watching them move their heads, tails, and even blink!

Claire must have been a little tired when we got to the park because she spent most of the first path watching from her stroller...that is not like her!

Charlie and I liked this guy. Even his spines moved!

Checking out the dinosaurs with Daddy.

Everyone was waiting to see the T-Rex! If you look close you can see that he is munching on a little dinosaur and there is another one under his foot!
After we finished the first path we took a playground break. Claire didn't have to be persuaded to play, she ran right out there to explore!

I loved this slide! Isn't it funny?

I look like a beached whale!

After Claire played for a few minutes, we took the second path to see some more!

This sign was posted on the path. Charlie and I considered throwing Claire in....but thought maybe we shouldn't do that, ha!

This is the Albertosaurus. Can you guess where he is from?



After we finished checking out the second path, we ate our picnic lunch. Claire then convinced Charlie to play on the playground again.

Brushing some dinosauur bones!

Since we have gotten back Claire has spent a lot of time talking about dinosaurs. Charlie even dug through my classroom books in the basement to find Claire a dinosaur book! We have read it at least twenty times this weekend!

A Movie and a big bag of Popcorn

Today Claire saw her first movie. She was so excited...mainly for the popcorn! We chose to take her to see Kung Fu Panda 2. We own the first movie and read some reviews that said it was clean and had a good message. It is hard to know now-a-days if the movies are going to be clean or not!!

Walking up to the theatre.

This was Charlie and my first time seeing a movie in Canada. Not much to compare, although it is a lot more expensive and there isn't a matinee discount!

Ready to go in!

We got the large popcorn...which was huge! Claire never stopped eating. I got full and Charlie got full, but everytime I looked at Claire she was still pulling out more and chomping away!

The movie was really cute and we loved watching it through Claire's eyes. She laughed out loud several times and kept saying, "Look Mom! What's Panda doing now?" It was definitely a good first movie for her to see.
I keep thinking about how these last few weeks are going to be the end of our family of three! We are enjoying Claire so much but are excited to welcome Grayson!

May Long Weekend

We have had such a nice holiday weekend! Here in Alberta they celebrate the whole weekend and Monday is Victoria Day, in honor of the Queen's birthday. The weather has been beautiful, and I think I can (hopefully) safely say that the warm weather has finally arrived and the snow is gone for a while! We took advantage of the nice weather and took off yesterday for Fort Edmonton's grand re-opening. I have already posted two posts on Fort Edmonton (here and here), so I'll just share a few pictures from our day.

Claire and me on the train ride to the fort.

Charlie and Claire in front of the train.

There were many extra activities in honor of the re-opening of the park. Claire was all about the petting zoo. Right when she ran in she went straight for the pot bellied pig. She said every animals was, "sooo cute!" Charlie and I really liked the baby goats. They were only a week old and were so tiny and friendly.

Brushing a baby goat.

We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed walking around and looking in the old buildings. We found some horses that were hungry for all the grass you wanted to feed them. Claire got a kick out of picking the grass for them.

Hopefully we will have many more weekends like this one...there is nothing like enjoying your family in the warm sunshine!