At the hospital

We arrived at BC Women's at 8:30 am and were taken right away to our private birthing room. By now I've been experiencing contractions since 6:30 pm last night. The bad ones really didn't start until about 4 am...lucky me ;)

I made it through the natural labour to a full 10 cm dilated, but by 9pm it became clear the little one wasn't going to drop enough. And the head was turned the wrong way!

So after receiving my epideral (I had officially reached my pain threshold after 26 1/2 hours of labour already!) we decided on a c-section after being told the baby was not lickely going to drop any further. If the baby dropped they could have used forceps to turn it around to finish off the natural birth. But after being told I could try pushing for another hour or two and likely it still wouldn't drop far enough I voted for the c-section. Not going to push any longer for no reason!

Then it was the waiting game until surgery. This pic is me and Mark waiting to move on to the next stage. Me doped up and him in his scrubs. An emergency c-section was a head of us, and then as they were wheeling me in for my turn, the obstitrician was called away for another labour...and I was wheeled back for some more waiting time in my room.

Finally, at midnight, I was taken into the surgery room. Mark had to wait 'til I was prepped before he could join me...

36 weeks...

So, I was going to post another belly pic for this weekend to mark the end of the eigth month...but it seems that our little one has decided to start coming early!

This is a picture of the Brit Baby Bellies, me and & Marina who is due in July. Good thing I brought my camera for this pic as it will be the last of me with my baby on the inside.

15 minutes before my shift ended at 5:30 my water started breaking! I rushed home to call the midwife and she said the labour would begin within 24 hours. Sure enough, my contractions began within half an hour!

Hey Mom...Happy Birthday! Looks like your grandchild wants to be a gift to you too!

Let the labour begin...

Good news official!

With 6 weeks to go we officially recieved the a-okay from Dr. Rhone and are now in the complete care of our trusty midwives! Yeepa!

Though it's become somewhat intimidating to constantly have little gem referred to as a "big big baby" I am totally reassured by the fact that so far we are both happy and healthy. :)

A look in & out at 32 weeks

With two months to go we have finally started getting things organized around the home for little gem's arrival. Still so much to do, but my work schedule will now be lightened a bit and I have more time to get us ready!

Very much enjoying my prenatal yoga classes every week! (I will finish this class the week before I'm due) All part of my "taking care of me and baby" routine. Though I keep letting things fall off my plate in these past months, I have no regrets about putting rest ahead of all else when I feel it's needed.

As you can see in the latest belly pic (and I keep hearing from everyone!) my belly has gotten pretty big. It's amazing what a difference one month has made in making me look very pregnant!

At our appointments this month both gem and I have been in good health. And it has been mentioned by all that gem is a big baby for this age.

Yesterday we went for another ultrasound to make sure all was developing normally. Before Dr. Rhone is totally willing to let me go as primary care, and release me to the midwives completely, she wants to be sure the risk of complications is still minimal late in my pregnancy...good news is that we continue to pull through with good results!

As the technicians were doing the ultrasound one of them asked if I wanted to know approximately how much little gem weighed at this point. I said "sure" and they told me baby is already about 6 lbs. So, I asked if this was a good weight...and she said "Yeah...for delivery!" Ha ha! Developmentally right on track, but a close to a few weeks bigger than average.

However, it is fairly healthy for a baby to be bigger than average (there are more concerns when a baby is smaller than average), and everything is developing as it should be at this stage. I'm just hoping the last two months don't have too much more growth in store for me! ;)

Check out the chubby cheeks on gem! Not as good a pic as we would have liked, but at 32 weeks it's not easy to get good images...especially when they're big for their age! I turned the pic so you don't have to tilt your head to see the face...blurry as it is!

Mark has felt baby move many times now. Of course, I feel it move all day long! Like most, gem has a few very active times in the day, and then small movements throughout the day to remind it's there. :)

We have our prenatal workshop coming up in April, and more frequent visits with the midwives starting this month too. I figure there will be more to update everyone on and therefore more frequent updates to come!

3 months to go!

So here I am at 27 weeks. The belly began showing by the end of January but I only got to taking a belly pic today to share with everyone. There is definetly no hiding this belly now!

Only 3 months to go 'til due day. :)

I seem to know so many women who are expecting this year, and most of them are due in March (almost ready to go!) or in the summer. In the past month though I have met 5 women who are due in May...and all 6 of us are due on the 26th! It should be interesting to see when each of our little ones actually decide to come out!

Some good news: the hemotology expert has decided that my blood work has shown I don't need the Heparin and should be able to get through the pregnancy on the low-dose aspirin I've taken daily for years (since finding out I had a blood clotting potential problem). As this was the biggest fear for Dr. Rhone it would seem that I am no longer a high-risk. Though there is still potential for complications (like with all births!) I should be able to have the midwife as my primary care-giver for the delivery...so I am a very happy camper indeed! By mid-March it should be official.

This week I begin some prenatal yoga classes to help limber me up...looking forward to it!

And we've started calling the baby 'little gem' for our little gemini. Either a boy or a girl will be a gem to us, and as long as it isn't more than a week early it will be a gemini for sure (no way it's staying int here to become a cancer!) Wondering how much of a 'twin personality' it will end up having!