Monday, January 23, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Heeeee's heeeeerrrre!
Well, it's been an interesting week and a half for all of us. On January 10th at 8:56a.m. wee Callum James Calvert McKinnon joined the world 22 days early! He is a precious and perfect wee boy that we are all totally in love with. It hasn't been an easy road for wee Callum so far. Let me tell you the story...
Late evening on the 8th of January I noticed a bit of bloody mucus (I know, too much information) and having been well read about pregnancy and labour, I realized this one was one of the signs of true labour. The next morning the bloody mucus was still there, so I called my Doctor to let him know this was going on. He told me I should watch for other signs of labour and let him know as soon as something else happened. Around 2p.m. my water partially broke, so again I called the Doctor and went in to see him at 5p.m. He swabbed the fluid that I was secreting to identify if I was just peeing my pants over and over or if it was in fact amniotic fluid. Lo and behold, it was amniotic fluid but it wasn't a lot. I guess the baby's head can act as a cork and the fluid can only escape when the head is out of the way.
At this point he gave me two sleeping pills so that I could get some rest for what was going to be a big day on the 10th. See, once your water breaks there is a greater chance of infection and you therefore must deliver your baby within 24 hours after.
At 10p.m. I was feeling really crampy and uncomfortable and was sure I was in labour, so off we went to Burnaby Hospital. I was quickly turned away by a very terse South African nurse who was really not very nice. I was horribly disappointed but accepted my fate and went home. The sleeping pills did absolutely nothing for me and I stayed awake all night...in labour! The nurse told Graham if I was in true labour I wouldn't be able to speak through my contractions, but what she didn't tell him is that some girls are tougher than others and not everyone is totally debilitated by labour. Guess what happened next? Graham thought I was being sookie about my 'contractions' and told me to come to bed and try and relax. Of course I couldn't stay in bed because, guess what? I was in LABOUR! I sat on the toilet all night pushing and moaning with contractions. My water had broken everywhere and boy was I getting annoyed. At one point Graham actually put the duvet over his head to try and mask the sound of me writhing in pain!
At 7:30a.m. Graham was busy realizing the state of the evenings events and going into a bit of a panic telling me we absolutely had to get to the hospital...I guess he finally believed me. At this point I could barely walk and it seemed like my contractions were coming in one on top of the other. Rush hour traffic made the situation a bit more frightening because all either one of us coul imagine was having to deliver our wee man in the car on Lougheed Hwy!
Long story even longer, when we got to the hospital parking lot I remembered that the upper level parking was for two hours or less. I convinced a nervous Graham to park in the long term level so that we wouldn't get a ticket or get towed. Can you believe I was still thinking about money?! Good Scottish sensibilities I suppose. The unfortunate bit about this parking level was that it took a lot longer to get inside the hospital. After passing by many alarmed looking people, an orderly scooped me up into a wheelchair and rushed me to the birthing suites.
A nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor and was going to put an electrode on baby's head until she looked 'down below' and said, "...or not. We are going to have a baby now!" As it turns out I was already 10cms dilated and was going to have to deliver immediately. Our Doctor didn't even have time to get to the hospital before Callum was born. Our nurse and Graham delivered Callum and it was a great success! In case you're wondering, I went au naturel baby, that's right completely natural birth. It hurt, oh did it hurt, but one neat thing I learned about myself is that I can be a very tough cookie :)
Fast forward a bit to today and I am totally sleep deprived, but I am loving being a Mummy to Callum. It hasn't been easy, what with him having a bout of jaundice; not sleeping at night and a few breastfeeding issues, but when I look at his wee face it makes it all worth while.
I don't know how to add multiple pictures into one posting, so please pardon the piece-meal effect.
Allison...Mummy Extraordinaire
Late evening on the 8th of January I noticed a bit of bloody mucus (I know, too much information) and having been well read about pregnancy and labour, I realized this one was one of the signs of true labour. The next morning the bloody mucus was still there, so I called my Doctor to let him know this was going on. He told me I should watch for other signs of labour and let him know as soon as something else happened. Around 2p.m. my water partially broke, so again I called the Doctor and went in to see him at 5p.m. He swabbed the fluid that I was secreting to identify if I was just peeing my pants over and over or if it was in fact amniotic fluid. Lo and behold, it was amniotic fluid but it wasn't a lot. I guess the baby's head can act as a cork and the fluid can only escape when the head is out of the way.
At this point he gave me two sleeping pills so that I could get some rest for what was going to be a big day on the 10th. See, once your water breaks there is a greater chance of infection and you therefore must deliver your baby within 24 hours after.
At 10p.m. I was feeling really crampy and uncomfortable and was sure I was in labour, so off we went to Burnaby Hospital. I was quickly turned away by a very terse South African nurse who was really not very nice. I was horribly disappointed but accepted my fate and went home. The sleeping pills did absolutely nothing for me and I stayed awake all night...in labour! The nurse told Graham if I was in true labour I wouldn't be able to speak through my contractions, but what she didn't tell him is that some girls are tougher than others and not everyone is totally debilitated by labour. Guess what happened next? Graham thought I was being sookie about my 'contractions' and told me to come to bed and try and relax. Of course I couldn't stay in bed because, guess what? I was in LABOUR! I sat on the toilet all night pushing and moaning with contractions. My water had broken everywhere and boy was I getting annoyed. At one point Graham actually put the duvet over his head to try and mask the sound of me writhing in pain!
At 7:30a.m. Graham was busy realizing the state of the evenings events and going into a bit of a panic telling me we absolutely had to get to the hospital...I guess he finally believed me. At this point I could barely walk and it seemed like my contractions were coming in one on top of the other. Rush hour traffic made the situation a bit more frightening because all either one of us coul imagine was having to deliver our wee man in the car on Lougheed Hwy!
Long story even longer, when we got to the hospital parking lot I remembered that the upper level parking was for two hours or less. I convinced a nervous Graham to park in the long term level so that we wouldn't get a ticket or get towed. Can you believe I was still thinking about money?! Good Scottish sensibilities I suppose. The unfortunate bit about this parking level was that it took a lot longer to get inside the hospital. After passing by many alarmed looking people, an orderly scooped me up into a wheelchair and rushed me to the birthing suites.
A nurse hooked me up to the fetal monitor and was going to put an electrode on baby's head until she looked 'down below' and said, "...or not. We are going to have a baby now!" As it turns out I was already 10cms dilated and was going to have to deliver immediately. Our Doctor didn't even have time to get to the hospital before Callum was born. Our nurse and Graham delivered Callum and it was a great success! In case you're wondering, I went au naturel baby, that's right completely natural birth. It hurt, oh did it hurt, but one neat thing I learned about myself is that I can be a very tough cookie :)
Fast forward a bit to today and I am totally sleep deprived, but I am loving being a Mummy to Callum. It hasn't been easy, what with him having a bout of jaundice; not sleeping at night and a few breastfeeding issues, but when I look at his wee face it makes it all worth while.
I don't know how to add multiple pictures into one posting, so please pardon the piece-meal effect.
Allison...Mummy Extraordinaire
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