A Birth Story

Everybody's got one.

I know you've been waiting with baited breath...
For whatever reason, I do feel the need to document the occasion, as many have done before me. If only for myself. And you internet.
I will try to keep it brief.
Feel free to skip this post entirely if it's just TMI.

First of all, I was concerned about how I would know when it was time to go to the hospital. Last time my water broke, and that was a pretty good sign for me. I figured if it didn't break this time, how would I know?
Ummm...not an issue.

I'd been having crampy (crappy?) Braxton Hicks contractions all day. Lots of them. But I normally have a lot, so I wasn't overly anxious. I had a Dr.'s appt that afternoon, but with no great panic. I was 3cm's at 3pm. My Dr. (or rather her replacement as she was away on a 3 week vacation) suggested it may be early labour, but maybe she'd see me again next week.

6:50pm
Intense labour contractions start. Maybe 5-7 minutes apart. Did I mention INTENSE.
Call nice neighbour to come over to watch kids until sister can HUSTLE IT OVER ALREADY! (She kindly watched the twins with my mom while we were away)

7:00pm
Throw bags in car and race to hospital while honking and using flashers to get people out of the way. Did I mention contractions getting closer and more INTENSE?
Luckily it was not still rush hour and their wasn't too much construction on Glenmore Trail or baby would have had to been named Glenmore. After her birth place.

7:15ish (I didn't really check the time here)
Arrive at hospital. Freaking out about contractions as they are still close and INTENSE. 6-7cms.
Get checked out by maternity ward, they dawdle around a bit and move me to a delivery room, while I loudly request a freakin' epidural already.

7:16-8:12
CH and nurses try to help me while we wait for the Epidural Guy. He's on another job. I request louder. Contractions are getting closer, longer and INTENSELY PAINFUL.
Epi Guy comes and fumbles around a bit. Almost gets into fist fight with CH. Everyone is getting INTENSE.
My water breaks. Watch your shoes!
This is out of control! Epi Guy finally finishes. Thanks for nothing.
PUSHING!! I will refrain from going into too much detail here. Let's just say I was 'unprepared' emotionaly and physically for the INTENSITY of my natural birth. I had fully expected to be drugged and relaxed.
Oh yes, and the on-call Dr. arrived somewhere in there. She was lovely.

8:13
Hello Baby!
A few stitches and everyone is friends again. Except us and Epi Guy. We're not friends.

*noteworthy*
I was watching Veronica Mars when my contractions started. Just a random episode on tv. Coincidence??

Dance Hall Days

Where do grown married women with breastfeeding babies and small children go to dance?
Why, their cars of course! Bustin' a move with a little classic MJ. It doesn't get much better groove-wise.

Honestly, where should grown women who don't want to go to bars, or even dance with men go to dance??
There was a time when my very best girlfriend and I would go out every weekend to a stinky bar just to dance. We'd go early before the 'crowds' hit. We were bar nerds. Drinking water and dancing for hours.
I don't miss the bar. At all. But sometimes I miss the exhileration of dancing for hours, sweating and losing yourself in music. Dancing at home can be fun, no doubt about it, but it's not the same. You try the occasional Christmas party or wedding, but it's not the same either.

What's a suburban mom to do?

Delicious

We had one of these delivered this afternoon. Amazing! Ours came with a duck. Gack, gack!

As pretty as flowers, and more fun to eat!

Many thanks to Aunt C.

And So It Goes...

The Baby wanted all of my attention this morning. Which is difficult when you have siblings (hers, not mine). I tried to explain this to her, but she cried anyway. Maybe that's why she cried...?

And then the boys were into kissing. Me. On the mouth. Which was super cute, and just a tiny bit gross because I'm a Virgo and they were a bit slobbery. They were pretending to leave. They had their old easter buckets full of plastic balls and they would say 'Goodbye' and come over and give me a kiss and then pretend to leave...wherever they were going with their buckets full of plastic balls...
The Baby got a couple of good kisses on the head too. Kisses for all!

But now it's afternoon and I haven't had a shower yet. And I'm eating chips. Out of the big bag. Because that's how CH have decided to bring Sexy Back. One chip at a time. And reading Woman's Health.
Good health to you!!

And by the way. Where IS everyone? They better not be over at FaceBook. That two faced...book. Sure it can be fun, but I find it overwhelming. Like finding out you suddenly have fans and paparazzi and everyone wants your autograph. Everyone wants a piece of you.
I spit my gum at Facebook. Now I must go check for messages...on Facebook.

27 Months

Daddy has been busy building in the back yard.

Ok, the boys were 27 months weeks ago. But better late than not at all right? I'm not sure how I'm going to continue in this format. Add another update for the baby? Do one update a month for all of them? Not sure, but I'll figure out something. I just need it to be relatively quick and easy to do, so I will be sure to continue...


View from the big tub.

The boys have been great. Mostly. With so much going on just before the baby and certainly after, they've done very well. There has been some acting up, but who could blame them. Since this update was due so long back, maybe I'll save more details for the next one coming, and just throw out some photos.




More backyard fun.

As handsome as ever...




Lovin' their new Thomas the Train shirts!

Hello World

And here she is....Little Miss Sunshine herself...I haven't decided yet what her blog name will be...not that you don't all know her name anyway, but if the boys have 'blognames' she has to have one too!


First car ride.


All in pink.


New crib.

She Was Born on a Tuesday Night...

Emery Sara Ellis
7lbs 13oz 19.5in
May 22 8:13pm

You may call her Baby Em, or Emmy (but not Oscar or Golden Globes). The photo is not so good, but in the mad rush to the hospital we forgot the camera so our really nice doctor (that we just met moments before) let us use her camera phone!
More details and better photos will follow....must feed and change baby...need sleep....all is well!

Quiz

Ok, feel free to play along...
What's more fun than being 38 weeks pregnant?

a) Being 38 weeks pregnant and having swollen hands and feet. Because nothing says pretty like thick ankles and man hands!

b) Being 38 weeks pregnant and the PUPPS. I guess I should be thankful it hasn't spread past my stomach, but the itching...oh the itching...

c) Being 38 weeks pregnant and having a SINUS INFECTION. Stuffy and snotty AND rationing the tylenol.

d) All of the above.

If you guessed (d), you win! I can feel your envy.
And because I'm not ALL about complaining, on the upside, my skin has been quite lovely lately. Dare I say a little glowy. It's a nice change from the first couple months of breakouts.

And in fun news, Congratulations to the MWB's on their beautiful new arrival. I'm sure details will soon follow!

Weekend Update

I was away over the weekend.
Can you believe it? CH and I went away. Without the children. For the first time. My fun-loving mother-in-law came in from out of town with two helpful and wonderful neices in tow, to look after our kids and WE WENT AWAY!!

It was the first time we've been gone over night. CH was worried that the boys might be a bit freaked out going to bed/waking up without us, but I think they managed quite well. In fact they have taken the past few days to get back to the reality of just me and them again after all that undivided attention and non-stop over stimulation. Apparently they were very well behaved while we were gone, but not so much when we got home!

Anyway...we got to spend two days in Banff at a wedding. CH was a groomsman for a good friend. I was a little nervous being so close to my due date, but I was determined to make it away for the weekend, if at all possible.
We stayed at the fabulous Rimrock Hotel, in a room with a stunning view of the mountains. I even managed to book myself in for a massage at the hotel spa! How indulgent of me. And we slept in the world's most comfortable bed. Not that we had time to relax as much as we'd like, but I could have stayed there all weekend.

The wedding was in a small chapel on main street on Saturday morning followed by brunch at the Banff Springs. Cheers to the new Mr. and Mrs. and congratulation to them on their most beautiful and happy wedding day!

I took photos, but have not downloaded them yet. It seems that anything requiring any amount of effort is quickly falling by the wayside and just sitting here at the computer is incredibly uncomfortable.
No baby action yet, but will keep you posted!!

Happy Mother's Day

I too have a Good Mother.

Thanks Mom for all you do. For all you have always done. You're a blessing in my life.

Much love.
xoxo

7 Random Things

Ok, I've been tagged...

1. I'm a terrible phone person. Sometimes I avoid it like the plague. I don't know why. Oddly enough I've had a couple of jobs where I had to talk to people on the phone. I survived, but it hasn't improved the avoidance in my real life. It has nothing personal to do with who is calling me.

2. I have always thought I would have a daughter. I really hope we get along.

3. My first pet was a dog named Butch. He was already our pet when I was born. We got along great, but I've always been a cat person. I'm pretty ok not having any pets right now. I don't need any more messes to clean up.

4. I'll be 37 later this year. I'm getting a little freaked about turning 40 already.

5. I'm looking forward to having sushi when I'm not pregant anymore.

6. I'm afraid of fish. Touching me. Snorkeling creeped me out.

7. I wish I could sing. Well. (I 'can' sing, just not well enough that anyone wants to hear!)

And so I must tag Mrs. M, Mrs. Sweetpeas, and Mrs. Wonderful!

Baby Birds

I'm still feeling quite hooked on the little birds theme. I had at one time considered doing something with it for the boys, but it really fits much better for a nursery. It seems like little birdies are everywhere these days, which is fun. I'm thinking of painting or putting something together myself, but it hasn't really happened yet...big surprise! Oh well. I'm really not pressuring myself to do everything beforehand. The baby is going to be around for a while, and we'll have plenty of time to add decor or whatnot. At least the baby gets her very own room this time. That's a good start.
(that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

I think this would look so cute in the nursery. I need to do some looking around locally so I can find some fun artwork close by!

The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs...

Have One for Me (or ten)

Cheers!
I'm not a drinker. Never have been. Generally it's a total non-issue. But then there are days when I think it would be a good time to start...

I'm not going to, but part of me would just like to spend the day drinking these.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Latest Obsession

It's not mine. It's The Bee this time. And it's Thomas. Otherwise known as Toot Toots. With a strong emphasis on the 'ts' at the end.
Oddly though, he doesn't recognize him as a train. He is a bus. Or simply toot toots. Go figure.
My mom brought the boys a couple of dvd's which came with cute little toy engines a couple of weeks ago.
I was happy with the newly added variety to our viewing, and The Bug likes them well enough, but it is The Bee who LOOOOOVES them. It's probably a good thing that they are both not totally obsessed about the very same thing. I don't think I could handle it. The Bee will even choose playing with his train engine over eating his dinner. Now that is saying something.

My grandpa was an avid train enthusiast his whole life. He was also very mischevious and would spend hours playing games and being silly with his grandkids. My grandpa passed away several years ago, but I think he and my boys would have been the best of friends.

In the meantime, we will have to go check out the big (little) train this summer at Heritage Park. I suspect it will be a big hit.

p.s. The Thomas show at the park is completely sold out. Just our luck!

Not Feeling Guilty

Mrs. M had a post a while back about guilty pleasures. I don't think it's any secret that I love 'the dancing'. I don't care that it's cheesy or even a little freaky sometimes. That may be part of the appeal.
I also love to dance. Not all dancing. As a kid I took lessons, but no ballet or slow stuff. Give me something I can move to! And while I have no delusions about my skills as a dancer, it's all about the joy of moving to music.
Anyway, when I watched this the other night, it made me think of all that is good and happy about dancing. Somehow Joey (Fatone) even seems attractive in his enthusiasm and I can't help but smile when I watch him. The music stuck in my head too. This song with a samba beat.

All pure happiness!

Game On

For all my whining and complaining about being pregnant, now that the end is nearing I'm starting to freak out!
This is actually as far as I've been pregnant before. I am 34.5 weeks now. My twins were born at 34.5 weeks. I had them on this day in my pregnancy. YIKES!!
That whole business of actually giving birth is still very unknown and scary to me. It went very well last time, so l like to think it will be similar. But the reality is, it may not be. And I'm thinking that this baby will be at least a little early (not too early, just healthy) but that may be wishful thinking on my part. The whole 'mystery' about when and how, etc, can really make you (me) crazy. I know I just have to relax and accept that things will work out exactly as they should and everything will be fine...but I'm still freaking out over here!!!!

While the actual birth of the twins was very smooth and not nearly as scary as I'd worried it would be, there are some things I hope will be better. Mainly the fact that my baby will be healthy enough that I can 'keep' her right away and she won't be wisked away to the NICU for the next few weeks. Even though my boys were a decent size (4.5 and 5.5lbs) they still had to stay in the hospital to get stronger. It seemed like forever. There were many babies much worse off than ours, so I am grateful our situation wasn't so bad, but it was very stressful.

It's hard to believe my wet little kittens with all the tubes and monitors are the same healthy, rowdy boys they are today!

26 Months

Aaaahhh...my little babies are growing up. I realize it's all relative. And nothing earth shattering has happened over the past month, just little things. A few words are strung together, more interaction, more recognition of the world around them. Even a lot of their clothes are getting a bit shorter all of a sudden. Sometimes just the way they look at me seems more grown up.

With the exception of the general 2yr old defiance and exhertion of independence (tantrum power) things are going fairly smoothly at the moment. I realize these moments can be brief, and it feels like perhaps the quiet before the 'storm' of the new baby shakes up our household!
I can't imagine that the boys fully understand what is coming. The Bee likes to poke my stomach and say 'Baby' and he recognizes babies in pictures or on tv. The Bug doesn't say much about it, but that's his style. He may just be collecting all the data and sorting and filing it away in his busy brain for the right moment.


One thing is for sure, both boys can't get enough of their daddy. They will call him from their rooms in the morning if he doesn't get up soon enough. If I'm the one getting them up they will always ask for 'Daddy?'. Like they can't believe he would go to work without playing with them. Daddy always makes them laugh with tickles and cuddles and chasing them around..and the occasional ball to the head. They are definitely Daddy's boys.

Forever Winter

The reality is that I no longer consider a day to be a 'good day' or a 'bad day' or any section or part thereof. It is always just a sliding scale of partly 'good' and partly 'bad'.
Yesterday was mostly 'good'! Maybe 80/20.

We had quite a successful outing in the morning with Mrs. M (until meltdowns at hometime) but then good naps in the afternoon. Dinner was the usual shenanigans, but Daddy was home to help with bathtime and bedtime. I pushed myself to go out to a 'girl's night' complete with a chocolate fountain and games. It's one of those times when it would have been easier to stay at home, but I knew I would feel better for having put in a bit of effort. And I did. It wasn't a group of women that I knew really well, but I was comfortable enough, and the grown up conversation was refreshing.

CH had invited friends of ours over (a last minute thing) to watch the hockey game, so I made it home in time to catch the last/winning period. How sociable of me!

I am reminding myself as it looks a lot like this again today and we aren't likely to leave the house...spring has to come eventually...right??

Fabulous Photography

I aspire...

I don't usually aspire to photograph children as people who can sit still and don't cry a lot are much easier, but these are some of the most beautiful portraits I've seen. A lot of people are avid b/w enthusiasts, but the color here is enchanting.

Thinking About....

...these right now! So fluffy and pretty.

Anyone want to whip some up and bring 'em over???! That's ok...I'll just keep thinking about them. I was in a baking phase a while back. Cookies and muffins all over the place. I seem to be over it now. Only store-bought goodness for my family!