Nella

Baby number 2 was due in December. On the 19^th, 21^st, 24^th or 28^th…Depending on whose calendar or which ultrasound you looked at.

I thought, as Ruby was 10 days early, surely this baby would be too. You know, around the 10^th…in order to miss the holiday rush.

Har Har. Nope.

I spent all of the holidays waiting for my gift. And so did everyone else. If could have gone into labour based on the stares, hopes and dreams of the onslaught holiday visitors, I would have been golden.

But this little one had her own plans. She always has. Just like she decided on her own to become a part of our family-She decided to chill on the inside through out the Christmas Chaos and come out on her own terms.

However, by Boxing Day, I had had enough and I decided to take action. I had been to acupuncture a couple of times and we’d tried a couple of DIY labour starters with no action. So I decided to hoof into town and back.

In the rain.

While pushing a 2 and half year old in a buggy.

Full of shopping.

That should do it!

And it did.

Oh, did I mention that most of the visitors left that Sunday.

As soon as the pot was left alone…it started to boil!

At 3 am on Monday morning I went to the washroom for my hourly pee… and I knew it was going to happen. Again, as with Ruby, there was the undeniable sploosh of waters.

Finally. We were giddy with excitement.

There were no real contractions at that time, so after letting my midwife know we decided to try and sleep. As if!

As some of you may remember Ruby was born a couple of days after my water broke- so we knew we had to try and chillax for a bit.

We called the grandparents in the morning and Ruby was collected. I felt tad guilty as I wasn’t experiencing anything major. I wanted to be prepared in case we had to boot it to the hospital.

My contractions continued to be fairly mild throughout that day (the 27^th), which was lovely, we visited, lounged, went for a walk and talked about what was about to happen. (All without a toddler!) The midwife checked in on us a couple of times and by the evening we suspected we mat need to have my labour augmented – like last time.

We decided to meet at the hospital at 8am the next morning.

At around midnight or so the labour seemed to be kicking in. I was fairly uncomfortable by 3 am, not crazy uncomfortable though, and I started to wonder if perhaps things were happening. I was getting a little tired and was a little worried about having enough energy for the next day. Ruby was born at 5pm after being augmented at 8am – a long day.

When we clocked the contractions and they were ALL OVER THE PLACE… 5 min apart to 22 minutes apart. I think we even fell asleep through some of them –Or that could have been the night before…

During this time I called the midwife, at least once –maybe twice and she had a listen to my contractions. She was on the fence- They were long and sounded legit…but that timing was bizarre.

We decided to head to the hospital. Just in case. I think we decided to meet at around 5:30 am-ish…We figured we’d get checked in, get set up on IV, monitors, pitocin, etc…

Wrong!

6am, upon arrival at the hospital I was 5cm! Wow? Really? Woot!

Shortly after our arrival things started to pick up considerably-Probably because we had to hike a mile to the night entrance of the hospital from the parking lot. As contractions got more intense, I did a lot of loud moaning, walking around and on the spot and “slow dancing” with Nicholas.

I was able to stay relatively present and chatty. This was a totally different scenario than with baby number one. Last time, I had a very strange love for standing still with my head against the wall. I needed constant pressure on my low back. I didn’t talk for hours and I only moaned quietly.


So.

My lovely midwife Jenn was still working on some paperwork when I exclaimed “The baby is coming out now!” While trying to catch whatever might be dangling from my nether regions. My body started pushing on its own and I couldn’t stop it. It seriously felt like the baby was coming out.

It hadn’t even been an hour so she was a little surprised. She got me to quickly hop up on the table for a look and sure enough…

“Things are going to start changing pretty quickly here” she announced and called for some nurses.

“She’s getting a little pushy!”

This was funny because 7am is shift change time for the nurses. I think I heard Jenn ask, “Are you a delivery nurse?” and the friendly reply, “ I can be!”

The rest is a crazy blur of hard work! The pushing was fast and furious! I was determined. And after what seemed like 2 seconds, our Star was born.

7:34am.

It felt SO GOOD TO GET HER OUT!

No induction! No monitors! No extra doctors! No drugs! No tearing!

Just my midwife and a couple of nurses.

And more importantly - just us.

Nicholas. Me. And my Belly Star.

Nella Claire.


We decided against an early discharge so that we could get back into the swing of parenting an infant without playing defence with our wee toddler. Also having someone to do the cooking and cleaning for 24 hours is divine.

Just like last time we had the entire maternity ward to ourselves that night. After all the visitors were booted out, it seriously felt like we were on some sort of a date- it was that lovely.

Leaving the comforting and familiar routine of the maternity ward the next day was bitter sweet. We were excited to get home and to be with our number one girl Ruby Lou.

However, Nella is probably our last baby and I will cherish our experience and my memories of her Birth forever.

How Awesome, Serene and Intense.

A Wonderful Miracle.

Thank you for choosing me…

my precious little girl.

My Baby.

Nella.