Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

I woke up this morning to a crap load of snow! I was so happy! It's funny how normally when I wake up I'm a grouch for the first hour or so! But nope...not this morning! All the white stuff seems to make me happy! Just took Abram out in the snow for the first time.....here's some pictures of him with his brother.

He loved it out there! Can't wait til he can run around in it! We're taking the kids out tonight to pull them behind the truck on crazy carpets.

The Grand Finale

Okay...so to start this one out, I am going to put some pictures on here that go with the story so far.

Wes and Mom not too soon after first arriving at the
hospital......

At mom's after being sent home.....Wes
putting pressure on my back during
the contractions

On Mom's bed having killer contractions
wishing I could change my mind about
having a baby!

Okay...on with the story........


As I said before, they had broken my water sometime before to see if that would get babe to move down some more. When they did this there was meconium there meaning that babe had decided to crap inside of me before he showed his face to us all! When they do this, they can ingest the meconium (eat the poo) and so when the time came for him to be born, he'd have to have his lungs and stomach pumped. This whole meconium thing was also part of the c-section decision. The longer they are in there swimming around in and eating their poo, the worse it is! (do I find it weird that someone else has poohed in me? YES!)

That afternoon, my Dad, Wes's mom and Wes's son, Richard came up to the hospital to be there for the birth. (not THERE for the birth...but in the hospital waiting for the new arrival) I know that they were there, but I don't really remember seeing them at all. If it weren't for the pictures, I don't think I would believe anyone that they were actually there!

Watching the contractions......is was SOOO nice to NOT
feel them!

Once the decision was made to do the C-section, things went really fast from there. Wes was dressed and ready to go in no time at all, so we were just waiting for the OR room to be ready for us.

Waiting to be wheeled away! As you can tell,
I am completely exhausted by this point........
couldn't open my eyes or even smile!

I don't even really remember what I was thinking at this point. I know that I was excited to meet the little one that I had been carrying for the last 9 months, but I think I was pretty emotionless. The wait was not long. I think it was 20 minutes from the time they told me I would be have a C-section to the time I was in the OR. Now, don't quote me on this as I was so drugged up, but IF I remember right, it wasn't long.

The last kiss goodbye, until we met again in the OR!

Being wheeled away......

Once I was in the OR they started prepping me for the surgery and explained to me that because there was meconium, the baby would be taken right away so they could pump his lungs and stomach and then would be taken to the nursery for chest x-rays. I don't think that I fully comprehended what they were saying. Really at that point they could have told me anything and it wouldn't have fazed me! I do remember the Dr. who was performing the C-section asking me what I wanted the sex of the baby to be. I told him that it didn't matter, but I thought I was having a boy. He then made me a deal that he would pull out a boy if we named him Denis. (the Dr.'s name) I remember that I thought that was funny. Once I was all prepped and ready to go, Wes came in a took his seat by my head. It was so nice having him there. He sat there stroking my hair and loving on me. It was wonderful. I don't recall too much about the whole procedure, seemed like it was over in a flash to me. I do remember smelling burning flesh, and there was lots of pressure and then the Dr. announcing that he just pulled out "Denis"! Wes and I looked at each other and smiled, both saying "I knew it!" (knew that it was a boy) I didn't get to see him up close as he was taken to the warming table right away. The Nurse moved to the side for a brief moment so I could get a quick look and that was it. As soon as his they had dealt with his lungs and stomach, the whisked him away for his chest x-rays. They allowed Wes to go up to the nursery with them, which I was so thankful for.

Abrams first moments of life....

Our little man holding on to Daddy.....

After they left the Dr. told me they were just going to stitch me up and then I would be taken back to my room. My midwife was still there with me at this point, to make sure I was doing okay. All I remember is asking her if it was okay if I went to sleep! I didn't want anyone to me mad at me for wanting to sleep! And that was it....I was out like a light! I don't remember them stitching me up or even moving me back to my room. Man...I was SO tired. Once I was back in my room, I vaguely remember seeing all of my family. I know that they brought Abram into me so that I could nurse him, but I don't really remember it. Once again, I have pictures to prove that it happened!

Holding my little man for the first time

I'm pretty sure everyone cleared out soon after that. Wes stayed for a while, but I couldn't even stay awake, so he took off to go get some much needed sleep. As soon as he was gone, I was out again. The nurse woke me up sometime during the night so that I could pump and try to get my milk to come in. When you have a c-section it sometimes takes longer for your milk to drop, so they wanted me to start pumping right away on top of breastfeeding to speed things up.

I was put into a semi private room (for free) and my first night there I was the only one in it. Not that I remember enough to actually say that I that I enjoyed it though! The next morning came and the nurse came in to wake me up and get me to go to the washroom. It was pretty funny. She came to help me get out of bed, but I had totally forgotten that I had just had a c-section, so I started to refuse her help thinking that I could get up by myself. Ouch!! Didn't take long for me to remember what I had just gone through! I was still extremely groggy, but can remember the pain of trying to stand up. And the worst part of it was that once I was in the washroom it took me forever to find the muscles to go pee with! Strangest feeling ever! I remember looking in the mirror in the washroom and being totally shocked by what I looked like! I came into the hospital looking pregnant, but not all that big, and then after the baby came out I was HUGE! It looked like I had packed on another 20 pounds. I couldn't tell where my feet connected to my legs....it was a bad bad case of kankels! The nurse reassured me that this would go away in no time at all. It was from all of the fluids they had been pumping into me while I was there.

Prior to Abram being born, Wes and I had said that if it's a boy we were going to shave his hair into a mohawk. This was going to be mostly to bug my mom, but I thought it would look so cute! Well that morning when they brought him into me it was really the first time that I was awake enough to look at him and take everything about him in. Man...he was so cute!! This is what I saw.....


That's right! He was born with this cute curly mohawk! When Wes showed up that morning the first thing I said was "he has a mohawk!!!!". So adorable!

I seemed to be recovering from the C-section fairly well. I was up and walking around later that day, and was feeling pretty good. I hated being in the hospital. I so just wanted to be at home and was hoping that the next day they would let me go. I talked to the nurses about it, and they said they'd have to wait until the morning after my blood results came back. During the surgery I had lost heaps of blood, so my hemoglobin count was really low. For me to be able to go home it would have to go back up to the 90's. Because I was feeling so good, I was certain that this wouldn't be a problem. The next morning came and the blood results were taking forever to come back. The nurses said I was looking pretty good, so they didn't think it would be a problem for me to leave. They would just check with the Dr. that did the c-section to see what he thought. He also agreed that I was doing well. So I got the ok, and started packing up all my stuff, waiting for Wes to get there. I was SO excited! I was all ready to go and literally 2 minutes before Wes arrived the nurse came back in and told me that I would not be allowed to leave anymore. They had just received my blood results and the count had dropped to below 70. I started bawling, and then nurse just stood there looking at me like I was a complete freak! She left the room just as Wes got there, and he walked into me crying like a little baby! I know...sounds bad, but I REALLY wanted to go home! The first thing I said to him was "why couldn't you have come 2 minutes earlier???" Yah, I was 2 minutes away from walking out the door. Eventually I got over it and came to terms that I would be there for yet another night. The Dr. came in a little while later and told me there was no way he was going to let me go with a count that low. Usually when it's under 90 they give blood transfusions, but because I was young and healthy he was going to wait until the morning to see if it goes up on it's own. I've always had low iron, so I guess I wasn't all that surprised. The hospital had been giving me iron supplements, but they didn't seem to be doing all that much. I phoned mom and got her to bring up my liquid iron supplements and started downing that stuff. It seemed to help more then what they were giving me. In all I guess I was just pissed off because they had already told me I could leave and then they changed their minds. I know that it was for my safety, but at that point I wasn't thinking along those lines. All I was thinking was that they were liars!!

The next morning came and Wes made sure he was there first thing just in case the same thing happened again. We were going to be prepared to leave as soon as someone gave us the okay. We weren't going to give them anytime to change their minds again! My hemoglobin managed to go up to the high 70's over night which was a big jump, so finally that morning I was allowed to leave. Man...I couldn't get out of there fast enough!!

And there you have it....that is my little mans story.

Things I would do differently next time......make sure that I was able to hold me babe before the rest of my family. I have pictures of everyone holding him while I was still in surgery. After a few weeks, this really started to bother me. Still does actually!!

Stay tuned for "Post pregnancy drama"!!

Abram a couple of hours old.....

Happy 50th Mommy!

Well after 2 months of planning, we were able to pull off a surprise 50th birthday party for mom! I will never again plan a party that big in my life! Didn't realize that something like that would be so stressful! In all it went great! She is the hardest person to keep a surprise from, so I was impressed that we were actually able to pull it off.
It was held at the Tigh-Na-Mara resort. We had just over 60 people attend, and I think everyone had a great time. The food was awesome and we had a great night of dancing after the meal.
It was my first time going out and leaving the babe with a sitter. She. Wow...that was SO hard. I think I did pretty good though....I only phoned twice to see how things were going! That's pretty good right??? The sitter was my cousin so I felt pretty safe leaving him with her. It was actually really nice to get out with the hubby with no kids at all. Definatly start doing it more often!! Well, this is short and sweet.....I'll leave you with a couple of pics from the party....

Me and the Hubby......



Mom and I......

More pictures to come along with the grand finale of the birth series...check back soon!

Lonely Blogger......


Sometimes I think it would be nice to have more people leave me some comments.....not that I'm not thankful for the 2 that do!! It's just that it would be nice to feel like all this writing is being read by more people. Shame on those who read and don't comment!! I know you're out there!!

Okay..now that I have done my pouting, I am going to attempt to go to bed early tonight. Abe has been up all night for the past 3 nights and it's making me miserable. I don't think I could handle a baby that does that all the time! I can't even function, and the days are taking sooo long to go by. He seems to have some special "mommy's going to bed now" sensors, so when I do go to bed he decides to wake up! Oh how I love him! (I do really!)
So...goodnight!

ps- Cece, we need to get together again soon! I love chocolate chip cookies or even better....we could share an icecream cake! :)

Part Two: The Adventure Continues

Me at the start of it all....still smiling!

Back to the hospital we go. I was really dreading going back there, as I knew they were just going to say the same thing. But at this point I didn't really care all that much. If I layed on my back and the contractions slowed down it was very welcome. I was tired...very tired. It's 3:00 pm......still 1 cm dilated . Wow...that sucked. They decided that they would send us home as nothing at all seemed to be happening and they thought that at the rate I was going nothing would happen until the morning at least. I thought that I would be upset to hear that, but I was okay with it. My mom has a big soaker tub, so we decided that we'd just go there and I'd soak for a while and see what happened. Back in the car for another hours drive. Got to moms, got settled in the tub and then it really began. 1 1/2-2minutes apart. The contractions up until this point now seemed rather enjoyable. Wes was sitting there timing them for me, and would prepare me a couple of seconds before the next one would come. The bath was nice and relaxing when I wasn't having the contractions! He would count down the seconds left during the contractions, which gave me some hope that they would be ending soon.....only to start again though. I was so proud of him.....he was such a good support. Once they started getting really bad I decided to get out and walk around for a bit. Still 2 minutes apart and getting stronger. During them, I would lean against something....whatever was in front of me at that point and Wes would put pressure on my lower back. And so it went for an hour or so. I went and layed down on moms bed, thinking I would get some relief that way. By then the whole family was pretty much there. Tasha's kids had shown up with Gary, and my dad was there also. The poor girls didn't know what to think about me laying there moaning and screaming and Tasha getting in my face telling me to breath. It's a good thing she was patient with me....I have a feeling that I was being pretty stubborn about breathing...it was easier just to hold my breath! At one point my dad came in the the room and was on the bed with all of us. It was sooo funny! Every time I would have a contraction he would hold his breath and wiggle his toes! Too cute! :) By 7:00 pm, I was in SO much pain...couldn't talk, couldn't walk, couldn't lay down...couldn't do anything. I got Tasha to call the midwife and tell her that we were on our way BACK to the hospital. Soo ...back in the car we go! That was the worst car ride I have ever ever ever had in my life! Every single little bump hurt SO back. I kept telling Wes to stop hitting the bumps.....poor guy. There was nothing he could do about it, but I was getting so mad at him! I think we made it to the hospital in about 20 minutes that time! :) He's trying to drive....I'm trying to squeeze his hand, getting mad about bumps, telling him to go faster, telling him to slow down, telling him to pull over because I'm going to be sick. Wow..he sure took a lot from me!
So we go thru the same routine again.....get hooked up to the monitors. Even on my back by this point the contractions were coming good and strong. They checked me and I had made it to 2.5 cm dilated. Grr...I wanted to hurt someone at that point! They decided that they weren't going to send me home again. They'd keep me over night, but would have to move me to a normal room in case more people came in during the night to have babies. By this point I didn't care where I was....I was so tired...all I wanted to do was sleep. So, they start moving me into a different room and the nurse tells me that Wes, mom and Tasha will have to go stay somewhere else for the night because there is no room for them. I just kind of sat there trying not to cry. I didn't want them to send everyone away and leave me there by myself!! Tasha saw my face and stood up for me. She told them that there is no way Wes was going to leave me. She really layed into the nurse! It was great!! So back to the big labour room we went so that Wes could stay with me. They told me that they would have to move me out of there in the middle of the night if anyone came in. (they have 2 more empty labour rooms as well!!) Mom and Tasha went and got a hotel room and Wes crashed on the big lazy boy chair that was in the room. They gave me some morphine to help with the pain so that I'd be able to sleep a bit. I couldn't care what they gave me at that point...as long as I got to sleep. Well...the morphine didn't do a thing. I think you can gather from the start of this story that Wes is a VERY deep sleeper, so I layed there all night in pain. Even my moaning and groaning didn't wake him up. The nurse came in a few times during the night to give me some more morphine, but to no avail. Even though I was in a severe amount of pain, the night actually went by pretty fast. Mom and Tasha were back by 6 the next morning....just in time to hear that I had only made it to 4 cm dilated. We came to the conclusion that it was time for an epidural. I had not slept since 2 am the morning before, and if I was going to have this baby today, I needed to get some sleep. Wow....to anyone that wants to have a "natural birth" you are crazy!! It was the best feeling in the world!! The best part was that they put a catheter in you, so I didn't even have to get up to go pee! From that point on, things become a little blurry. I was so exhausted, so once I had no pain, sleep took over. I could still hear what was going on around me, but my eyes would not open. I was so completely relaxed. At some point over the next couple of hours, they broke my water so see if that would help me dilate any more. All I remember about that is saying a little while after...."why am I still leaky?" I know....gross, but that was what was going thru my mind! I also remember the Gyno coming in a few times and checking things out. I was a little confused about this, as I was having a midwife deliver my baby, so wasn't sure why he was there. Didn't care though...too tired to care. I also remember a nurse coming in and getting mad at my sister because she was talking too loud and I was trying to sleep. I tried to tell her that I didn't mind....I liked laying there listening to everyone, but I couldn't gather the strength to speak my thoughts.
They Gyno came back in again...checked me and said something like "I'll be back at noon....if nothings changes we will go from there" Huh. Wonder what he's talking about....too tired to care.
By this point my dad, Wes's mom and Wes's son were all there waiting for the arrival of the baby. I remember seeing them for a bit, and being glad that they were there to meet the new little one when the time came.
Noon came and I was woken up and told that I was going in for a C-section. I was still only 4 cm dilated and they were getting concerned about the baby. Okay...no problem, just get it out of me. It's funny...I was not worried about it at all. You'd think you'd be a little concerned about being sliced open, but I wasn't. I was totally okay with it.

We must pause here as Abe is awake and hungry. Don't worry...there is more to come!

Part One: Six Months Old Today......here's His Story!


Well, today my little man is SIX months old!! Where does the time go? Seriously, I can't believe how fast time has gone by! I had a little teary moment this morning as I thought about the last six months. It seems like yesterday that I was waking up in labour anticipating the arrival of my baby, and now he's already 6 months old! It's funny how I can still remember every single detail of those moments.........this is how it went.

It all started on Sunday May 7th and 2:00 in the morning. My due date was April 30th, so by this time I was a week late and had come to the conclusion that I was just never going to have this baby. The funny thing is after goingthru the longest worst week of my life, I had finally come to terms with never having it. It's hard to explain how I felt, but I really did think it was never going to come out! That night I went to bed and it was the first night I didn't fall asleep thinking "is tonight the night"?? It was probably the best sleep I had during the whole pregnancy. I slept right until 2am until I had to get up to go pee. Now that in itself is a miracle as I was usually up every hour or so to go pee. Okay...so it's 2 am and I wake up to pee. As I was so used to getting up to go pee during the night I developed the talent of not really waking up to do it. So, I roll out of bed, take the 3 steps to the washroom, sit down, start peeing and then OUCH!! Something hurt. I was confused as to what just hurt me because I wasn't really awake. I sat there for a little longer in my sleepy state, and then OUCH...it did it again. All of the sudden I woke up. I sat there in a confused frame of mind thinking, "no way...I'm not in labour....remember Alisha...the baby is never coming out". OUCH...it did it again. Okay....so I am having contractions....what do I do?? I climbed back in to bed and layed there for a while watching the clock and timing the contractions. 5 Minutes apart. Do I wake Wes up? Yah..that's probably a good idea.

Me: "Wes...honey......wes......are you awake?.....Wake up baby......honey, I think I am having contractions.......Wes, did you hear me?....WES WAKE UP!!!"

Wes: "Huh? What? Contractions? How close?........'snoring'"

So I decided that they weren't hurting all that bad, so I would let him sleep a little longer. I layed there for about an hour watching the clock tick by, dreading the 5 minute mark of another contraction. They started getting more intense, so I thought I'd better try to wake Wes up again and then maybe call my Midwife to let her know what was going on. She had told me to call her when the contractions started to hurt and were around 5 minutes apart. Well..they started at 5 minutes apart and as far as I could tell they WERE hurting! Time to wake Wes up....

Me: "Wes, I am having contractions so you NEED to wake up...."

Wes: "........silence.....snorning......."

Me: " WESLEY WAKE UP!!......(start pushing him).....wake up, wake up, wake up...."

Wes: "WHAT?........snoring......"

So by this time I am getting slightly frustrated. I decided that I would get out of bed and walk around for a bit. As I was walking around the house in the middle of the night, the reality of what was happening really started to hit home......it was kind of scary. Suddenly I was the closest I have ever been to being a mom. I never once starting worrying about how much it was going to hurt or anything. I was just so shocked and excited that I was about to become a mommy! Okay.....time to go wake Wes up.....AGAIN!

Me: "Honey, you need to wake up NOW....Wes if you don't open your eyes and wake up I am going to hurt you!! Did you hear me?? WES!!"

Wes: " Huh?.....what's wrong honey? What time is it?"

Me: "It's 3:30ish and you need to wake up....I've been having contractions since 2!!"

Wes: "What? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?? Have you phoned the midwife?"

Me: "I HAVE TRIED to wake you up THREE times now!!"

Wes: "Oh...uhhh.....I'll go make some coffee!"

Yes, it's amazing....he actually woke up this time! So I called my midwife....I so didn't want to at that time in the morning, but hey...that's what they get paid for right? She told me to go have a shower for a bit and see if that brought the contractions on any stronger. I thought she was crazy for telling me to do something to bring them on STRONGER!! I was to phone her after the shower and let her know how things were going. So about a half hour later I called her, and she told up that we should probably start heading to the hospital because this was my first baby and you never know how fast things are going to go with your first. The hospital in about an hours drive from here...that is unless you are married to Wes and you are in labour! Wes called my mom before we left the house to let her know we were on our way to the hospital. She of course was up and out the door in no time at all! My mom and sister were to be in the delivery room with Wes and I. It took me a good half hour to get thru to my sister though. Can't even remember how many times I called!! Finally her oldest, Emily went and woke her up because the phone kept ringing and it was bugging her!

So we got to the hospital at 5 am. They hooked me up to all the monitors to watch the contractions. Now this is where it really began to SUCK! They had me laying on my back and for some reason when I did that, the contractions would slow right now.....like to 1o-15 minutes apart. As soon as I went on my side, sat up, or stood up, they would be at 2-5 minutes apart! I was so sure that they thought I was faking it all! (crazy how you worry about that in the middle of it all!) They check me at this point and I was only 1 cm dilated. After a little while, they said that I was not in active labour so I should leave and go get something to eat and walk around for a bit, and check back in, in a few hours. Okay...that really sucks! So we (wes, me, mom and tasha) went to do just that. It was only like 6 am, so NOTHING was open except for Tim Horton's. I wasn't hungry at all, so we just went for coffee and a muffin. Now as I said before, when I wasn't laying on my back, the contractions were crazy!! So we are sitting there, and every 2 minutes I'm trying not to scream in pain! There were a few people there that had nothing better to do, then stare at a fat pregnant lady in labour! Ohh...how I wanted to tell them off! We then went walking around for a couple of hours, and then drove around for a couple of more hours. The contractions were 2 minutes apart now.....and they hurt!! Around noon sometime, we went back to the hospital and they hooked me all up again and check me. Yah.....on my back...contractions stop......still 1 cm dilated. YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!
So...out we go again. We went and had some lunch (I was super hungry by this time) and then I went into Superstore with Mom and Tasha. Keep in mind that during all of this I am having contractions every 2-5 minutes! Wes was waiting in the car for us, so once we were done we heading across the parking lot to find him. Walking along.....OUCH.....the worst one yet, and I am in the middle of the parking lot where all the cars have to drive to get out! There is no way I am going to move out of the way, so they just have to be patient and wait for me to be done. I am leaning on Tasha moaning and and trying my hardest not to scream. She's standing in front of me coaching my breathing (which I totally sucked at! Breathing was the last thing I wanted to do!) and this old man walks by and says as he's giving us the dirtiest look ever...."
what the f#%k is her problem? Move out of the way!!" By this point all I could do was laugh......I knew I looked like a total freak! Once we got to the car Wes was in there laughing as he had just watch the whole thing happen. Ahh....nothing like a good laugh to ease some pain!

So much more to come.......

Part 2.....Finally!

Now that I'm over a week behind, I figured I'd better get on here and do some blogging. And so after that being said, welcome to the last week of my life....

Our weekend together was wonderful. Not too much happened. We were just able to relax and spend some good quality time together. Something that doesn't happen all that often with a baby and 2 older kids around all of the time! My mom took Abram for the day on Saturday for us. It was definitely nice to have no kids at all. Although, I have to admit that most of the time is spent with me wondering how he's doing and doing all I can to NOT pick up the phone to check on him. Sad....I know!

Wes and I ended up going to Courtenay on Saturday to pick up an engine for his "baby". Unfortunately, the engine was crap and so not what the guy said it was, so we didn't get it. And so, it ended up being a pointless drive, but was still wonderful as it was just the two of us. Oh, his "baby" is a 1967 Oldsmobile. It's pretty funny how much he sees in this car (2 cars actually....one is for parts) and when I look at it all I see is a rusty ugly looking piece of crap! Makes me feel good though that he can look at something like that and see the beauty that is yet to come.....kinda like that "after baby body"?? Or so I hope! :) Him and Richard are in the process of restoring it.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just spent around the house here. Did some stuff in the yard, and relaxed. Uneventful I know, but very nice all the same.
Oh, have I mentioned that I got a new van? Yup...I'm officially a minni-van mommy. Yippee! That's right folks, we've gone from driving around in a GT Mustang feeling like a hot momma, to driving around in a minni van feeling like....well....I guess every other mommy out there pretty much! Okay...I can't complain about it that much. It's very nice to drive, I feel very safe in it, and the best part is that I don't put my back out every time I put Abram in the car! And on top of that, when we all go somewhere together, we don't have to take two vehicles anymore! I do miss the car though. I'll get over it I am sure. Well I am ending this one here...I know it's not very excited, but am in the process of writing more in which you should get much more enjoyment....it's just really long so I am going to post it seperatly......will be done in a couple of hours so make sure you check back!!