Labour and week 1

**disclaimer - this is going to be long, go get a drink and a snack and then read all about us!**

Wow, Paige is a week old already! I can't believe it. She is the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen and it's amazing how much fun it is just to watch her while she sleeps and the little facial expressions she makes! However, I'm getting ahead of myself, we'll start at the beginning....

Ryan says I bought the labour on myself. We were at some friends celebrating a birthday last Saturday night and while we were there I was feeling pretty uncomfortable. When we were driving home I said to Ryan that now May was over with I was ready for the baby to come anytime. I had a hard time getting to sleep that night and I woke up at 3am feeling really uncomfortable. I got up, went to the bathroom but then couldn't get back to sleep and still felt uncomfortable. At around 4.15am the thought crossed my mind that this could potentially be labour pains so I went downstairs and started looking in the books that I have reading and re-reading about false labour and real labour and still felt inconclusive. By 6am I felt like I was probably going for the real thing and called the hospital to see what they thought. They just told me to keep timing them and not to come in until the contractions were 3-5mins apart. When Ryan got up to get ready for church he came down to find me on the couch and I told him I wasn't going anywhere. We still weren't convinced it was the real thing though so Ryan left to go to his meetings before church leaving with a promise to call when the meeting was done and then throughout church to see how I was doing. So he left and I put on the movie Sense and Sensability and got comfortable on the couch. I then had to run up to the bathroom as I started being sick. After about half an hour and a few dashes to the bathroom I called Ryan and told him I needed him to come home. I called the hospital again and the nurse told me to come on in and they'd check me out, see if I really was in labour. Did I mention labour pains hurt? It was like really bad cramping but it wasn't constant. So Ryan got home, we loaded up the car called both sets of parents to let them know we were going to the hospital and left. Ryan was in no rush and we managed to hit every set of red lights. We got to the hospital for about 10.30am still a little skeptical and expecting to be sent home. Turns out I was 5cm dialated! Thats half way! I do have to admit for being half way I was expecting labour to be a lot worse. They asked me if I wanted any pain medication and I told them I wanted an epidural so they went to sort that out while I was moved to my room. The first thing they had to do was put an IV in but because I was dehydrated and still being sick it took three tries before they were able to get it in. Apparently I have tough skin and tough vein walls, go figure! It's left me with some pretty nice bruises on my arm. I got my epidural at about 1pm, some emergencies had come in so I was bumped back. I can't remember much before getting the epidural, I was so tired and just lying in the bed half napping, every so often getting pains through my stomach which would wake me up. I was a little nervous about the epidural I wasn't sure how much it would hurt but it was nothing until I started getting a contraction whilst he was still doing it and I have him saying "don't move, you really can't move" and I'm hugging a pillow looking at Ryan saying "ow ow ow". Ryan was great the whole time, really supportive, said the right things if neccessary and held my hand when I neeed him to. Once the epidural was in my right side was numb instantly. I could still feel a little on the left so I had to lie on my side and I had a button to press everytime I felt pain and more epidural would go into my system. It only took about 10mins and my left side was numb too. From then on it was a breeze.... no joke. I was more comfortable than I had been for nine months. The nurses bought in a chair that turned into a bed for Ryan and we both spent the

next couple of hours resting. It was wonderful! They would come and press a bag of ice at different points up my side to see where I was numbed to and I couldn't even feel them touching me right up to my armpits! Like I said, best I'd felt in a long time! Just after 3pm the nurse came in and said I was 10cm and if I wanted I could try pushing so I said sure. We tried for about 5-10mins and then she said she would get the doctor. However there was then an emergency somewhere else and we got to rest for a little while longer. It was funny having the nurse and Ryan trying to hold my legs because I had no control and they would keep slipping off the table! The serious work began at 3.50pm. I couldn't feel a thing so I really had no idea what I was doing but apparently I was doing great. (I'm sure they say that to all the labouring women!) The nurse asked if I wanted a mirror so I could see the head to help motivate me in my pushing but I wasn't so sure I wanted to see! In the end she just went and got it and I'm actually glad she did, it was pretty cool and she was right, very motivating seeing the head. Pushing was hard though and exhausting. Ryan was fantastic the whole way through. Having his hand on my shoulder, just knowing he was there helped me more than he'll ever know! Paige was finally born at 5.25pm after about a hour and forty minutes of pushing and she was perfect! A thick head of hair, not a big screamer but she scored 9 par 9 on the apgar test which means she was pretty much in perfect health. The best score you can get. The doctor fixed me up... I needed quite a bit of fixing, I had third degree tearing (still couldn't feel a thing mind you) and Ryan and I were left to enjoy our new baby.

I have to give a big shout out to all the nurses I delt with while I was in the hospital they were all absolutely wonderful.

Two hours later they came to move me to go to the maternity ward but because of a lack of staff I was going to have to wait to be moved for another four hours. It made no difference to me and the nurse who was with us got really excited because normally they wouldn't get to see the babies after they're born because they get moved but we were sticking around. She went and got a little hat and socks and had a great time giving Paige a bath! She adored our little girl! At 10.30pm Ryan left to go home and the nurse said if I needed some rest I had babysitters already to go so I told her sure, why not! The door to my room was left open so I could hear what was going on. I have to admit though I didn't do much sleeping as I was then questioning whether I should have let my baby go! At around 12am they came back in though and brought baby back as I was ready to be moved. The nurses were all beaming talking about how they'd had so much fun and Paige hadn't been put down once. All the dads whose wives were resting or waiting for their wives in the labour process had come out to admire Paige and the nurses had held a cutest baby contest and Paige had won! It was cute.

As they wheeled me to the maternity ward I recgonised one of the nurses, Diane, who I play netball with. It was pretty cool to have someone I knew come and see me and baby! That Sunday night Paige slept the whole way through while I was woken up every three hours. Monday morning came around and I was exhausted and so emotionally spent I was so upset waiting for Ryan to come back. Monday really is just mostly a blur though of sleeping and learning to feed Paige. Tuesday was a very long day. I knew I was going to be discharged and I was so eager to go home especially as Ryan had the day off and was just waiting for the phone call from me to tell him to come get us. When I asked the nurse about being discharged she said the paediatrician had to do it and she would be in sometime in the afternoon. We gave Paige a bath and still no doctor. It got to around 4pm and I was at my witts end. Every part of me just wanted to walk out and leave. It got so bad I had to go call Ryan and the moment I heard him on the other end of the phone I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying just telling him to come, we had to wait still but I needed him to come. He left straight away. I went back to my room and one of the nurses came in to make sure I was ok. She was pretty ticked off at the doctor as well. Ryan arrived and I instantly felt better. We were finally discharged at around 6pm and we were so happy to get out of there. Not for any reason other than we wanted to go home. We did have to come back the next day though because they wanted to recheck her for jaundice.

Just a note on hospital food... it was pretty good, the portions were tiny though, espcially for someone who had just had a baby and was breastfeeding. They really need to check that! hehe

Tuesday night was rough though. I wanted to breastfeed and that night I found it so painful. It got to 2am and I was in tears again because Paige was crying but I couldn't feed her it hurt too much. Ryan suggested I say a prayer so we did and all three of us fell asleep until the morning giving me a chance to rest and heal so I was able to feed her in the morning. I felt awful but because we were going back to the hospital anyway I knew I could see the lactation consultant. Paige was given a clean bill of health and we spent the hour with the lactation consultant who was wonderful and I left feeling so much more confident to keep trying. My first feed at home that afternoon went fantastically and I had renewed confidence that I could breastfeed. We bought some special cream too and it worked magic! I haven't had any problems since.

Wednesday night Dan and Kate and Lindsey and Otto came over with dinner and we spent the evening with them which was wonderful. We have the best friends and we were laughing so hard at dinner. Dave and Cori brought dinner for us on Friday night too and Paige and Dashiell were able to meet for the first time. Dashiell was born May 21st and so it was the beginning of a new friendship... they both slept right through it!

Thursday was my first day at home on my own with Paige and I slept all morning with her. A friend from church came over at lunchtime and just held her while I had some lunch. It's hard to find time to eat when you have a baby! We then slept all afternoon too. That night wasn't very fun either though. She ate at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm and then from 9.30pm-2.30pm. That was a long night!

On Friday we had our first outing to the doctors office. When the doctor was checking her heartbeat I noticed she had a dirty nappy and asked if he minded if I changed her. He said no problem at all I could take as long as I needed. Of course the moment I took her nappy off and moved it she peed, everywhere. Then she started screaming. I'm trying to stay calm whilst cleaning her up and wanting to just get out of there! The moment she was back in her carseat to leave she was fine again and was back to being the angel she is. We then had to go to Ryan's work as he had gone into his office the day before to find it full of nappies. Instead of throwing him a babyshower they threw him a nappy shower and we now have enough probably for the next year as they're all different sizes! We spent the afternoon at the hotel with Paige being admired while daddy loaded up all the nappies into the car. One of the girls Ryan works with made Paige the most gorgeous pink blanket. People really are so generous. When we got home I had a nap and I could hear Ryan in the basement. He went on a cleaning spree and tidied up the whole basement, it looks great!

On Saturday we had a community garage sale so Ryan's parents came and we took Paige on her first walk. She slept the whole time. We went back to meet with the lactation consultant and she said everything looked great and suggested that instead of letting her sleep all afternoon that we wake her up for feeding every three hours and she'd be more likely to have her block of sleeptime in the evening so we decided to try it. It worked!! Last night we had a block of sleep from 10.30pm - 2.30am. The most sleep all week! She then woke up around 4am and then again around 6am. I can deal with that if I get a big block of sleep! We gave her her first bath at home as well... it went pretty good! We washed her hair and the bath we have has a little sling for newborns to lie in and so washing her was really easy! She smelt delicious!

If you're wondering why we're still seeing the lactation consultant when feeding is going fine now, Paige has a tongue tie. I'd never even heard of it until Paige but it's pretty common. A serious tongue tie can effect someones speech but it's easily fixed. It's just a bit of skin attaching the tongue to the bottom of the mouth. They just cut it. There's no feeling in it so it wouldn't hurt. It can effect their feeding because they can't manouvre their tongues as well but Paige's is just a small one and so far it's not being an interference and it could possibly just tear on it's own but they just wanted to keep an eye on it, make sure she's putting weight on which means it's not interfering. Actually when we were at the hospital and we undressed her to get weighed the moment Ryan took her nappy off she peed everywhere. Something about doctors make her pee! hehe.

So this morning we woke up tired but felt good enough to go to church so I went with Ryan to his 8am meeting and while he was in there I went straight to the mothers lounge and fed Paige her breakfast and then we just chilaxed in the air conditioned dark room until church started. She slept the whole way through and got lots of attention. I missed Sunday school to feed her lunch but went to all my other meetings. I've got to say, not a schedule I mind! I don't understand though, Paige is so incredibly pretty and was dressed in purple and some people still thought she was a boy! One of the ladies at church made her a beautiful quilt. She's really a very special little girl, so many people love her already! Leaving church I felt exhausted. Not from lack of sleep but from all the attention we were getting from having Paige! Ryan and I both had lovely long naps today and Paige has had the hiccups at least three times and it's so funny watching her!

How's Ryan doing.... he is a FANTASTIC dad. He is absolutely besotted with Paige and she is a daddys girl already. She has him wrapped around her little finger! My favourite thing is when Ryan is lying down and Paige is sleeping on her front on his chest. It's the cutest thing ever! He is also a wonderful husband. He is so supportive and if I need him for anything he's right there. He loves his girls and it's so obvious. He has this coming week off work and I'm so excited to have him at home. I really wish he had more than two weeks a year holiday time, it's not enough!

Corbit has been great with Paige. He's allowed to come close and sniff and his favourite place to be is lying right by wherever we are. He's been really really good. When she cries he immediately comes over to where she is to make sure she's ok. It's funny, he's a small dog and we always thought he was small but next to Paige he looks huge!

The hardest thing so far is the thought that my parents aren't going to be here to be around Paige as she grows up. It's great having Ryan's parents close by and all the help they are but sometimes it makes me sadder because I know my parents aren't here to enjoy the same things. My mum is coming in the next few weeks and I'm really excited for that and the rest of my family is coming in July which will also be great. I hope to maybe get back to England before Christmas. I still have both sets of grandparents (I know I'm lucky, not many people can say that) and this is the first great-grandchild for both sets and I want to get some four generation pictures. I'm also sad that they're not here to be around Paige either. I know they're all really happy for me, I found Ryan and we're building a good life for ourselves here in Canada but this is a whole new phase for all of them and for us and I really wish we were together so they could be more part of Paiges life. I'm going to work really hard at making sure they are though even though they might not be here. Look at me, I've made myself start bawling!

So that's our first week! Paige is wonderful and we love her so much! Life is going to be interesting......