The Day I Met Gideon

 Everyone I had talked to said that the third baby is kind of the wild card, especially when it came to labour and delivery. And for me, they were right. In fact this whole pregnancy has been a bit different from my other two. I am not sure if it was because I am older or I was just paying more attention, but it was not as easy as my first two.

My first two kids were both 10 days early. So, I sort of figured this one would be early too. But, 10 days early came and went and no baby. But I had been having contractions on and off for a week already, so I was pretty sure my body was getting ready.

So, on Tuesday morning, April 26th, I woke up for the day and noticed I did not feel rested at all. I just pushed through the morning things, got the kids ready and then just took it easy. When Wilbert came in for coffee time, I told him I really needed a nap and I was having contractions about every 10 minutes. So Wilbert took the kids outside with him after coffee time and I had a lovely two hour nap. I woke feeling more rested, but I still didn't really want to do too much. We had lunch and I just sat and read for a while in the afternoon. By 4:30 is seemed the contractions had stopped and my energy was back again.

Wilbert called to say we should eat early and he would milk after supper. So, since my energy had returned, I made a meal instead of just having leftovers. Wilbert went to milk and I bathed the kids and put them to bed. It was during this time I noticed that my contractions had started up again and they were a bit more intense. I came back down stairs around 8 with the idea I would do the dishes and go to bed. But as I watched the clock while doing dishes, I noticed the contractions were coming every two minutes. After about 20 minutes of this, I called Wilbert to say that I thought we should go to the hospital.

Wilbert called his parents, who were at church judging the Cadet's Pinewood Derby race. They came back and Wilbert's dad took over milking. I told Wilbert he could shower quickly and then we headed to the hospital.

When we got there, I was certain I was going to be really dilated and the baby would be born really soon after we arrived. But when they checked me, I was only three centimeters. I was so disappointed. They told us to walk around for an hour and then come back to be checked again. We did and by the of the hour things had really picked up for me. And my body agreed this time, so it was clear this baby was coming soon. Sometime after 11, they asked if I would like the doctor to break my water and I said, "yes". The doctor came to break my water and then we were in business. Four pushes later, Gideon arrived about ten minutes before midnight. I am not sure if I was more happy to meet my baby, or just to know that my labour was over. But I know I was very happy.

When they broke my water, they could tell that the baby had passed some meconium already, so the nursery staff was called in take and check him over. So I didn't get to hold him right away. I was so glad when I finally did get to hold him. He also had some mucus and breathing issues, so after I held him for a bit, Wilbert and the nursery nurses took him to nursery for observation for the rest of the night.

I had some slight clotting and hemorrhaging that needed to be attended too. Thankfully they caught it early, so I haven't had any further complication and my recovery has been quite good overall.

Happy to hold Gideon for a bit before they took him to the nursery for the night.

Hooked up to the monitors in the nursery.

Big brother was very excited to meet Gideon

All ready to head home.

Our doctor and nurses were all just as surprised as we were to learn that Gideon was 9lbs 6oz. But we have all fallen in love with our big little guy and we can't wait to see the person he becomes.