It's a girl !!

On Friday January 7th at 9:31 AM Amber Mackenzie Nelson entered this world weighing in at 6 lbs 8 oz and measuring 19 inches long. We didn't know whether we were having a boy or girl but the surprise was even greater considering that our due date wasn't until January 23rd.

Kristy, although asymptomatic, had been having high blood pressure (pregnancy induced hypertension) and had been going in for weekly tests. Thursday around 2:30 she headed out for what she thought was going to be a routine blood pressure check. Once again, it was too high for chance so they sent her to Women's/Children's hospital to have some blood work done. After a few stressful (for me) phone calls, Kristy told me to come to the hospital. As we are currently a 1 car family I headed out on the bus to the hospital not knowing what to expect.

At 10:30 PM Thursday they gave Kristy a drug to induce labour. The plan was that we were to return the following morning at 9:30 AM for the 2nd dose. We were told that most women need 2 doses and that likely we'd again be sent home the next day but that the baby was coming within a couple days and maybe a week.

Well Kristy progressed WAY faster than the average woman. All night she was having horrible cramps as well as contractions. The contractions kept getting stronger and closer together. By 5:30 AM her water broke and we knew "it was on". We had a Dhula visit us by 7:00 AM and I explained that she really was in active labour. Nobody believed us until the Dhula saw her in person (had paged a midwife a few times through the night), but once a woman has 3 minute-long contractions inside of 10 minutes then she meets the medical definition for "active labour". By about 7:15 AM we were out the door but not moving very fast as Kristy had 3 huge contractions before we could get her down to the car in the parkade.

It was surreal but I still thought we had a long day ahead of us. We drove to the hospital in rush hour and likely didn't break 30 km/hr the whole way there (I always dreamed of driving like a maniac at breakneck speeds). We got to the hospital at 7:45 AM and fairly quickly found ourselves in a delivery room.

Poor Kristy was in severe pain. The quality of care was phenomenal, but as they deliver thousands of babies they tend to provide care as though the woman is the "statistical average". My interpretation is that they really didn't believe how much pain she was in and although nobody ever said it, they were basically telling her to "suck it up". Upon initial assessment they were all amazed to learn that she was already 4 cm dilated (40% of the way there).

To try and handle the pain, we got Kristy in the bathtub. The midwife explained that she would have to just deal with the pain for awhile (with laughing gas during contractions) and that they would check her again after enough time had passed for there to be a significant change. Well less than an hour later after Kristy was clearly in a TON of pain they checked her again and we were all amazed to learn that she was now FULLY dilated and thus it was too late to administer anything for the pain.

So I guess that's when the all the kickboxing toughness really helped out. We had considered having a water birth but weren't positive. As it turned out she had progressed so fast that we didn't have time to get her out of the tub and so a water birth it was going to be.

After several painful contractions, the nurses and midwife noticed that Kristy wasn't pushing during the contractions as this was her way of minimizing the pain which was more intense than I could ever imagine. I felt so helpless seeing her in that condition.

After Kristy figured out that while the pain would be worse, if she held her breath and pushed with the contractions, the process would be over with faster. I've lost track but I really don't think it took more than 3 additional contractions of her actually pushing "with" them before our baby was first under water and then on her chest. After all, Kristy is a black belt and tough as nails so in hindsight perhaps it wasn't all that surprising.

"The baby" was on her chest with eyes wide open and not even crying just staring at all of us with a bewildered look which I interpreted to be "What in the ____ is going on here?". It was probably another minute before one of the nurses said "check to see if it's a boy or girl". Hard to explain but I truly didn't care and after inspection, indeed it was a girl.

Nobody in the hospital could believe how fast Kristy progressed nor how well she did considering it was her first baby and that her labour was induced. She's a real statistical outlier and several nurses came in to tell her how much of a champion she was.

So it ended up being 11 hours from when Kristy was induced to when she gave birth, 4 hours from when her water broke, and less than 2 hours from when we arrived at the hospital. As mentioned, we drove to the hospital in rush hour, but amazingly found ourselves discharged and driving home, again in rush hour, but this time with a new member of the family.

As I pulled into the parkade I was suddenly hit with the thought, "OK what now?".

So far so good. Amber is a "textbook baby" who only seems to cry for a reason. Kristy is already an amazing mom and I'm doing everything I can to help her out. This new chapter of life has begun.

Baby Room

 Our baby room is finally shaping up! We've managed to get the crib set up as well as a nice large shelving unit to hold all of the baby items and stuff from Tim's old desk that was 'relocated'.

I have to admit that now that everything has started to come together I'm feeling a lot less nervous about the big day. Although, fear of the unknown still manages to keep me up at night from time to time.

During our last doctor/midwife appointment we were told that the baby has dropped way down into my pelvis and is 'ready to go'. She also said that there isn't much more room for the baby to grow inside my belly. So it seems like Baby McNelson could be making an early appearance just like everyone has been predicting!

Another outcome from our last appointment is that my blood pressure is starting to creep up a little so now I'll be visiting the doctor once a week instead of once every 2 weeks just to be on the safe side. On the upside it gives us more chances to hear our little baby's heartbeat!

Last night I had a bit of a worrisome moment and even ended up calling the on-call midwife for help. I was pretty sure I wasn't going into labor, but I had continuous contractions from 2am until about 5:30am when I finally decided to call. "Fortunately" it turned out to be a case of food poisoning and after I was able to expel everything from my stomach I almost instantly felt better and was able to get back to sleep. I made sure to stay awake long enough to feel the baby kick again though. Today everything feels tickiddy-boo :)

Still growing!

I've reached 36.5 weeks and 40.5" around. I'm definitely starting to feel awkward and bending over to grab things off the floor has almost become comical.

I feel like I could pop at any point now and Tim must feel the same way because anytime I start to ask him something out of the blue he things I'm going into labor! I guess the big day could be any time now, which is a little scary considering we're still getting the baby room together. Although, we actually made lots of headway on the room today. Tim has been a big help in getting all the old furniture out in order to make room for the new stuff :) There may be a space for baby McNelson in our house after all!

Hanging up the gloves

After 8-1/2 years I'm finally hanging up the gloves - today marks the last day of my long kickboxing journey. Actually, I shouldn't say that I'm done forever...I'll likely be itching to get back to it (or at least something similar) a few months after the baby is born and I'm back into the swing of things :)

I have to admit that I'm proud of what I've manage to accomplish over the years.....a first degree black belt and 2 first place trophies :) I remember when I first started I told the academy that I would only be training for 4 months because university would be too hard to balance with kickboxing classes. I guess I showed them! Lol.

The photo above is of me and "Sensei" Steve, I've been training with him since the beginning and we've always been only a few belts apart along the way. He's been a good friend and mentor over the past 8 years. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but exciting times lay ahead!

34 Weeks & 39.5" around!!!

Well, I'm definitely starting to feel like I'm carrying around a whole-lotta-baby these days! Mix the "livin' large" feeling with the fact that our baby has picked up some kickboxing moves over the last few months and it makes for an uncomfortable day at the office! Some days I feel like the baby never stops kicking - I guess that's a good thing though.

Aside from the lack of comfort it is definitely an interesting time. I can feel the different parts (bum, elbows, feet, etc.) of the baby pushing around on my belly. I still find myself playing 'footsie' with the baby  - it's a great way to take a break at the office :) What's even more interesting is when the baby shifts into a position where I can put my hand around his/her entire butt! I'm guessing the baby is thinking the living quarters are getting a little cramped!

I'm starting to feel more nervous about the big day, which is only about a month away. I've even been having some weird dreams about what might happen - apparently this is normal :S  I just have to keep telling myself that millions of people have done this before me and that everything will be ok......fingers crossed!

 Here's an extreme belly close up just for laughs :)

Ever growing belly! 31 Weeks and counting.

It's finally happened. I've finally grown out of all my jackets! I had to go find a larger jacket (in the men's section) to keep me warm during this cold snap as well as during our Christmas visit to Elkford. I thought I'd be able to manage using Tim's jackets for the short period that I outgrew mine, but sadly the arms on his are about a foot longer than I need them!

The baby has been kicking up a storm these days as well. I think he/she has definitely picked up a little bit of kickboxing over the past few months. Some days I've even been able to play 'footsie' with the baby and chase it's little feet around the side of my belly :)

It's crazy to think that in about 2 months I'll be meeting our little baby McNelson for the first time. Even though I'm more than a little nervous now, I'm sure it'll turn to excitement as I get closer to January 23rd.

I've been lucky to be sleeping exceptionally well these days too! Thanks to Tracy I have a new body pillow that has changed painful, sleepless nights into nights where I pass out the moment I crawl into my "moat" as Tim calls it :)

Speaking of sleep....I think I hear my moat calling now!

Visiting the Twins

This past week I've been visiting my new baby nieces in Ottawa! It's been nice to be able to help out in the early stages as Rick and Tracy get into the swing of things and it's also been really great to get a taste of what to expect when my little bundle arrives in late January. Although, caring for one is probably going to be easier than caring for two :)

Rick and Tracy have been doing a great job so far and the girls are growing at twice the average rate. Then again, I guess they did have some catching up to do as they were pretty tiny when they were born!

As my week comes to an end here I'm sad to be leaving so soon, but I'm also really excited to get back to my own family (Tim and Loca) who weren't able to make the visit :)