How the Grinch Stole Christmas...and Our Hearts: A Labour Story

As our due date approached and then passed by, I frantically tried getting everything in order for the arrival of our little one. Little did we know, Muppet had no plans on arriving on time, in fact, our little monster decided to stay so long, that our doctor decided we needed to be induced on December 27. Originally she wanted us to come in on Boxing Day, but later decided we'd probably like a day of shopping. We were so crushed to hear that we would have to be induced, and I spent all the days leading up to our induction crying and trying to figure out how we could postpone our appointment. We both really wanted to do things as naturally as we could, and didn't want to force the baby out before it was ready, as this was truly the opposite of our plans. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any answer, so I tired to face the upcoming hospital visit as positively as possible (not so easy).

I did keep busy though by finishing up Muppet's Christmas stocking, though I was so sad to know the baby would be missing Christmas holidays and all the presents we had gotten for the little one, including the most adorable Baby's First Christmas ornament made by our friend Lesley Wellington from 'The Cat's Pyjamas'. She makes the cutest cake toppers and ornaments and I know I will be buying many for years to come! You can purchase her amazing and unique artwork from her website which links to her Etsy store: www.lesleywellington.ca.

On Christmas eve, we headed to Chris' family's house to celebrate Christmas. It was a little difficult to get into the spirit of the holidays knowing our baby wouldn't be able to celebrate with us, but everyone did their best to keep us in good spirits and even helped me keep my mind off of the sad news by looking up natural ways to induce labour. We read that drinking red raspberry leaf tea, primrose oil, pineapple juice and walking around a lot can help speed up labour. At this point, I was willing to try anything, so I spend Christmas eve drowning in tea and juice and playing with Sawyer at the dog park in the snow. All day I had constant braxton hicks contractions, but around 11pm, after opening Christmas presents, I started to notice the contractions were coming in a pattern. I quietly began timing them, without telling anyone, and after an hour of them being evenly spaced out, I showed Chris. Neither of us wanted to get our hopes up, as we had experienced this before, and they just turned out to be plain old braxton hicks, so we decided to just keep an eye on them. As the evening wore on, they got stronger and more frequent until they were 3 minutes apart. We decided to head home so I could labour at home (if this was labour) and be closer to the hospital. All night I had contractions, until finally around 4am Christmas day, we decided to go to the hospital.

At the hospital they decided that I needed to dilate more before they could admit me, so they had me walk around for 2 hours through the mostly empty hospital. Thank goodness for all those railings throughout the hallways! I was constantly stopping, turning to the wall, gripping the railing and pressing my head into the wall. By the end of our hospital adventure, my forehead was very bruised. I was finally admitted into the hospital and brought into our room, which was the room of my dreams! It was large with it's own bathroom, kitchen, rocking chair, television and birthing ball. It was nice and private, which was very important to me. They found my contractions to be strong, but not quick enough, as they slowed down from 2-3 minutes apart, to 5-6 minutes, so they had me go and walk the halls again to see if that would speed things up. Around 7am, I called my family, as they were expecting us to show up for Christmas breakfast around 8am, and I was pretty sure we weren't going to make it. ;)

After calling my mom, we went to see if we were progressing, but sadly my body was not learning how to labour properly. They decided to break my water, and when they did that, they found that the baby had already passed some meconium inside me which can be a sign of the baby being under stress, or simply be dangerous for the baby to ingest while in utero. They decided they needed to monitor the baby, so I had to be hooked up to some machines and had to stay in my bed (which was exactly what I didn't want). Again, I was a little crushed. After a few hours of moitoring, our nurse spoke to the doctor and they decided that the baby looked okay, and that I was able to walk around as long as I checked in every half hour for monitoring. I am so thankful for our nurse. She really understood how I felt, and tried to do everything to make this labour easy on us.

After 5 hours of not progressing any further, they decided I had to have pitocin to speed up my contractions. Apparently my body was not getting the hang of this "labour" process. I again didn't want any medical intervention, but knew they were concerned about the baby being inside with meconium, so I said yes. My labour pains intensified strongly from then on, as pitocin not only speeds up contractions, but makes them sharper as well. I tried to deal with the pain, but it came to a point where I was so tired from having no sleep and being confined to a bed again that I gave in and got an epidural. My feelings on the epidural are mixed, as I really appreciated the sleep I was able to get, and don't think I could have pushed in the final stages of labour without it, but I didn't like feeling just strong pressure without the sharper pain, as it didn't make sense in my mind. I also hated being confined to bed. They found the baby was sunny side up, which was causing me to have intense pain in my lower back, so in came the "Baby Whisperer", who reached in the turned the baby around. It was a little crazy!

They topped up my epidural with another medication that would wear off when it came time to push, and that just knocked me out. I couldn't feel anything, not even pressure, and I fell into a deep sleep. The next thing I know is someone is shaking my shoulder and telling me it was time to push! Push what? I didn't even know I was still in labour! I was supposed to push with each contraction, but because of the drugs, I couldn't even feel when I was having them at first. After a while, the drugs began wearing off, and the pain came back. All I wanted to do was get up and walk around, but I was hooked up to machines and my legs were numb from the epidural, so I was unable to. This became the worst part of my labour. I would take the pain over not being able to move around any day! I started to feel claustrophobic and began panicking. I kept saying, "I need to get up, I need to get out of here!" The nurse and Chris both tried keeping me calm, but I could see the worry in Chris' eyes and just wanted the whole ordeal to be over. As I pushed and the baby's head came out, they told me to wait and not to push, and I'm pretty sure I freaked out and said, "Either take it out or put it back in!" I was not happy with it being half in and half out. *shudder* With the next contraction I pushed hard, and finally our little Muppet was born!

Chris, the proud new papa, looked down and exclaimed, "It's a boy!" I have never seen him prouder. :) Chris even cut the cord! As they cleaned him up (and stitched me up), I remember saying, "He's so cute..and I can't even see him!" That's really how you feel, no matter what they look like, to you, your child is the most amazing and beautiful baby ever created. In that moment, I couldn't tear my eyes away from Chris and the baby. It is a vision I never want to forget, as I've never seen such pure love shown before.

Little Oliver Sullivan Ysebert Gallant-Turner *whew* was born December 26 at 1:20am, weighing 7lbs 4.6 ounces and measuring 20 inches in length. He just missed Christmas and was a little grouchy because of that. He also made us miss Christmas, so we think of him as our little Grinch. :) I also think it's interesting that he arrived the day before we were going to be induced. Maybe that was his gift to us. I have to say, this is a Christmas we will never forget, and now this wonderful winter holiday will be even more special to us each year, as we truly spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day waiting for the arrival of the best Christmas present ever.

And I have to say...Our hearts grew three sizes that day. <3

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27 Weeks with Mood Swings Galore and a Brand New Floor!

Week 27 went by pretty quickly in our house. The week started off with an exciting project headed by Chris and his good friend Keith (who is quite handy, thank goodness!). ;) Together, they spent much of the day putting in the nursery flooring and I must say, it looks amazing! I had to work that day, so I admit I was a little nervous leaving the two of them on their own (not that I would know how to help them or anything), but what a wonderful surprise to come home to! I can tell Chris is proud of his work, as he always seems to just be standing in the middle of the nursery and then breaks into a little jig when he notices I'm watching him. I'm so happy that the nursery is coming together! Thanks gents! Keith, feel free to help us with the rest of the house! ;)

One thing I have really started noticing is the heaviness of my body. I have hit the uncomfortable stage. I get sweaty and overheated, can't roll over, need to pull myself upright in bed, and I just can't seem to get comfortable! The baby seems to be sitting up in my ribs half the time! Being uncomfortable has made me into an irritable and restless woman! I have been getting no sleep! Half the time, it takes me forever to fall asleep, and as soon as I do, Chris moves or breathes...and BAM! I'm awake. Many nights I've glared at him in the dark, wishing we had bought twin beds. Some nights I ponder the thought of sleeping in a chair rather then on a lumpy, hard mattress. I spent a few days going between tears and angry rants to whoever would listen (mostly the cats). Well, to amazement, Chris seemed to pick up on my moodiness and understood at once that we needed to invest in a better sleep (we had cheapened out when we moved into our house, buying the 'back to school' discount mattress).

We ended up going to Costco with my mom to check out the mattress toppers, and there on the shelf sat the most beautiful queen size memory foam mattress topper. I saw the price tag and immediately thought, "Uhoh...Chris is going to want to know where the $40 ones are hiding...", but again to my amazement, he picked it up and happily carried it around the store! He said that it was important for me to get my rest and to be comfy as I was only going to get more uncomfortable as time went on. That man is a lifesaver...though he may have just been trying to save his own life... ;) I have to tell you, if you have a crappy mattress and cannot sleep, get a mattress topper! It changes lives people! I am able to sink into the most deep sleep now, being hugged by my mattress. Even our dog loves it! I'm pretty sure I know what he's getting for Christmas! :) I am really glad we invested in this purchase, as I know it really can affect the quality of your life. I go about my day a little bit happier and a little more rested, which makes for a much better wife!

Another big accomplishment for us is that we booked our prenatal classes as well as a breastfeeding class! I'm so excited to go to these, as I feel like it's a good way to get Chris involved in the whole process. I also just finished an amazing book called "The Big Book of Birth" by Erica Lyon. It is the most unbiased and informative book I've read on the whole birthing process. Some of the books out there come across as a little preachy and condescending...and honestly, I feel a little judged when my opinion differs from the author, but with Lyon's book, you just feel like you have all the information and that it's up to you and your partner to make the best decision for you. The book educates you on all the birthing positions (I had no idea that giving birth on your back is actually the WORST position you can give birth in), medications, visualization techniques, interventions and real life stories from women in all different situations. She provides the pros and cons of each decision you will have to make, but remains positive and encouraging instead of scaring you off with warnings and negative thoughts. I also really like how she encourages you to have your partner read certain chapters, as it has tons of information on how they can help you through the birthing process, without laying too many expectations on them as this whole event is new to them too. She really opened up my eyes to not judge anyone's birth experience, because each one is personal and right for someone out there. If you end up with a healthy baby in the end, you know that whatever you chose to do, well, it was the right decision for you. If I could recommend one book to anyone during their pregnancy, this would be it. Heck, I'll loan it to you after my hubby is done reading it! ;)

At 27 weeks, Muppet weighed as much as a head of cauliflower. Muppet is sleeping and waking at regular intervals and is probably sucking away at it's fingers. It's lungs are still immature, but with medical help, Muppet's lungs would be able to function if it was born, though we want Muppet to marinate a little longer... :). Muppet has also become fond of playing with my bladder. I had an eight hour shift the other day and I spent at least 4 of those hours making surprised faces, running to the bathroom, or squatting down on the floor, pretending to tie my shoes. What a little bugger! :)

I'll be back soon with Week 28! I bet you can't wait! ;)

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