Surprise!

Guess who decided to show up?

Loenne Prairie was born Thursday April 30th at 7:30pm.

She weighed 9lb 3oz at birth! And was 22 inches tall. She is a substantial baby.  

My labour story? I won’t go to into the gorier of the details but it went something like this- I started getting contractions Tuesday night. They mellowed slightly during the day on Wednesday so we thought it might not happen. Dom and I went on a long walk to get a big breakfast, and we chilled, and waited. Wednesday night they started up again and were about 10 minutes apart all night, getting stronger and longer. By Thursday morning at about 11 am, they were coming more frequently at about 3 minutes apart. My midwife came by and checked me out and I was already 4-5 cm dilated, so we decided to head to the hospital.  It was an intense experience, I can’t really describe it. I would say that the milder contractions kind of felt like a snake bite on my insides (ie. when someone wrings your arm skin in opposite directions, most often performed by 11 year olds) The stronger contractions were similar but way deeper. The depth of that pain was mind blowing.

 My pushing stage was over two hours long- supposedly for a first time birth it’s 45 min to an hour. It was kind of terrible! I definitely felt some serious desparation. The pain was mostly in my back. Loenne was stuck for a while, but we got through it, one contraction, one push at a time.

I did it all without any drugs or an epidural. Why? I have no idea- because I’m crazy and it just kind of turned out that way. I dealt with the pain in other ways- yelling and swearing mostly. My Mother-In-Law said she could hear me in the hallways! Haha.  I think this is hilarious! But I am glad I didn’t know at the time. We stayed the night in the hospital, and came home the next day. She cried almost all night that first night. We had been through a seriously tramatic experience, and I think she had a headache. I wasn’t allowed to get out of bed, so we practised side lying feeding all night, and Dom was on diaper duty. 

Five days later- she’s a different baby! She is so beautiful and lovely, and very healthy. We’ve got breastfeeding pretty much locked. She eats well, and poos and pees like it’s going out of style. We’ve been in bed together since we got home, I’ve been on bedrest and there’s no place I’d rather be, with her and Dom in a cozy hole.  

I’ve started emerging back into the world the past day or two, ready to figure out a new routine. No rush, I guess. Dom and I are amazed at how adorable and beautiful she is, and how much we love her. I’m a Mom now! She totally rocks my world.