Sophia Jane

We are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl! Sophia Jane was born at 2:44am on February 19th. She weighed in at 6lbs, 10ounces. I think she's probably gained a couple of pounds by now as she's quite the little eater. All the "baby" things are so much easier this time: breast feeding, worrying, sleeping, wondering what she wants when she cries. The more difficult part is adjusting to life with two children. Sam is going through a bit of a difficult time of it, even though we're trying to make it as easy as possible. We've had a constant parade of people through our house - in-laws, my mom and sister, friends - to keep him company and to help out.

Labour was also easier this time, knowing what to expect. Contractions started on the Sunday night around 11:30 pm. They were about 30 minutes apart and I managed to stay in bed and get some sleep. Because my mom and sister were both part of our birth plan and they were both up north skiing...I decided to call them 1:30am and get them to head back to the city. They arrived at my mom's by 4am and I told them to stay put and get some rest until I called again. Unfortunately, contractions stopped by 6am. They came over and hung out with us anyway, as they had nothing to do and Monday was a holiday. In the afternoon the contractions started again and by around 6pm when we were eating dinner they went from 15 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart consistantly. When I called my Dr. he said to head down the hospital. Saying goodbye to Sam was something I dreaded, but he was really good about it and I knew he was in good hands with my sister, so leaving was that much easier.

My mom came to the hospital with us as I wanted to have two people that I felt comfortable with this time, rather than the Doula like last time. I spent most of the next two hours pacing the room and leaning over the bed when a contraction came. None of the other positions were comfortable and I was starting to have back labour. I learned from last time to make sure to stay hydrated, so I had a special labour drink with me and kept sipping from that and taking Rescue Remedy.

When the Dr. arrived at about 11:00pm he said that I was only 3cm dilated, but while he was checking, he surprised me with the absolute torture of "stretching and bringing my cervix forward". Those were the only tears that I shed during the whole birthing process. He stretched me to 5cm and suggested that we break my water to speed things up. Then he left us for a while so that I could make a decision. During labour with Sam they broke my water eventually, but I put them off for so long that by the time I agreed to it I was exhausted and asked for the epidural. I knew that I didn't want to go that route this time, so decided let him break my water without the epidural. I figured that we might as well get this over with sooner than later in case I exhausted myself again and started to panic.

He broke my water just after midnight and the contractions came on fast and furious. I could no longer stand up because the pain radiated down my legs so hard. I lay in the bed on my side with my mom holding my hands on one side and Rick rubbing my back on the other and helping me breath. Remembering my yoga breathing was the thing that got me through - each contraction I just concentrated on slow and steady exhales and everytime I started to lose it Rick would help me get back to that place. I remember snapping at the nurse because she kept asking me if I was having a contraction, during the contraction and she was ruining my concentration. I finally asked her to back off and leave me alone.

At last it was time to push and I was having a hard time dealing with the pain and finding a good position to push from. My Dr. had to give me some tough love to get me to focus, but it worked and within about 5 pushes our beautiful baby girl was born! He put her right on my belly and let me hold her. She is so perfect and wonderful. When she was handed back to me she latched on really quickly and nursed for a while before falling asleep. The Dr. stitched me up very well - I didn't have any swelling or anything this time. My recovery has been amazing compared to last time.

When we got to our room my mom headed home and Rick actually took a nap before I did... he was just coming down with a bad cold and said he felt awful. I had to wake him in order to get some rest myself and eventually he called my sister and asked her switch with him (he wanted to just leave and have my sister watch Sam while he slept, but I reminded him that I just had a baby and was pretty tired myself!) My sister came to look after me and Sophia and Rick and Sam went to my mom's, who was roused out of her slumber to watch Sam with Rick slept at her place. We had a really peaceful day in the hospital, strolling the halls, eating the horrible food and dosing. I went to the breastfeeding clinic for a refresher - which was very helpful. Later that evening Rick, Sam, my mom and her boyfriend and my sister's fiance all came to visit. It was a bit hectic in that little room and Sam wasn't able to contain himself for too long, so everyone left for the night except mom, who stayed and held Sophia while I took a nap. She finally left around 9pm and Sophia and I stayed up almost all night as she got the hang of nursing. I remember phoning Rick at 4am and leaving message - telling him I was so tired and that he'd better get something for his cold and leave Sam with my sister as early as possible and come back to the hopital. He had to deliver the cord blood to the blood bank at 7:30am and then came to look after us.

We finally were able to leave the hospital by midafternoon and brought our little darling home. I would have happily stayed in the hospital another night, it was pretty keen there! But home we went and started this new journey with our little family of four. It's already been the biggest challenge of my life, but I love kids more than anything in the world and wouldn't change a thing.

I'll post pictures once we get around to loading them from the camera.