Gemma's birth story- The Short of it

Sept 11th, 2013 (Her due date)
My water broke around 4:30 am and had a slight green colour
Midwife told us to come into hospital and get a reading on the baby and check the fluid
She comfirmed it was meconium and my care would have to be transfered to a physician and I would have to birth in the hospital
I wasn't having contractions yet so she said go home take homeopathic medicines, walk, get accupressure, pump do anything to start labour and come back to be admitted to hospital at 2:30pm
At 2:30 still no contractions, arrived at hospital was immediatly induced with pitocin.
Sept 12th, 2013
Around 1am the piticon was so strong my contractions were actually on top of eachother but I was only 1-2 centemeters dialated. Had epidural.
Between 4-8am After multiple examinations Doctor keep telling me we would have to have an emergency c-section. Called midwives in and they held the doctor off.
Around 11am I was about 9 centimeters dialated and epidural was worn off.
11:30am started pushing. Nurse kept threathing to use a vaccum and forseps because my contrations were so far apart and Gemma's heart rate was slowing.
12:37 Gemma was born vaginally with a 2nd degree tear. No forcepts, no vaccum. 
4pm left hospital with a beautiful healthy 7 lbs 2 oz baby Gemma-roo.

And there you have it, our birth story in 300 words or less!

Please share your birth stories and ask me any questions, I love talking about it!

Love and Hugs

Gemma's birth story- The Long of it

I wanted to share Gemma's birth for two reasons. Because before she was born I was so nervous about giving birth I wanted to read every womans story imaginable to get a better idea of what I was facing and the second reason is because it was such a life changing amazing event that I never ever want to forget. So here goes.

On her due date Sept 11th at 4:30 am I woke up because I thought the dog had to go and pee. She never normally goes out in the night and regularly waits until around 6:30-7am to go out. But this morning I just woke up and shook Vince and asked him to take her out. When I heard him go out the front door I stood up out of bed and thought I was peeing myself! HA! It was my water breaking! And it sent the most amazing exciting shivers to my stomach! We were gonna get to see Gemma today!

When Vince came back I was bouncing up and down telling him! I went to the toilet to check the color and put a towel between my legs. Unfourtuately the fluid was light greenish. We called the midwife and she said she was so sorry but that means there was meconium in the fluid and I would have to deliver in the hospital. (We had planned an all natural home water birth). She asked us to come into the hospital in an hour and she would take a reading of the baby's heartbeat and make sure everything was okay. Honestly I wasn't scared at all. A little bummed but just so excited that she was coming that I didn't really care where. We called my Mom and Dad who then called my Brother and Britt and headed to the hospital.

When we got there our midwife (Basak) but a band around my belly and I laid still for 30 mins. Basak said everything looked great, the baby is healthy, head home get some sleep, take some homepathic medicine, do some acupressure and pump your breasts and try to bring on labour.

So that's what we did and we waited and waited and waited. My Mom and Dad and Brother and Britt came over and the sun shone and we ate and waited some more. Finally Basak called and said to come back to the hospital at 2:30pm to induce due to the threat of a baterial infection from the meconium. This I was not excited about. I didn't mind giving birth in the hospital but I was still holding out hope I would be able to do it naturally. Pumping my veines full of synthetic oxytocin was not my idea of fun. But whatever! Gemma is coming so off we went to the hospital for the second time.

When I arrived they had a big bright cozy sunny room all set up for me. I was happy but that lasted for all of 30 seconds. All the sudden there was two nurses, an intern and some other people I didn't quite know what they were doing? Janitors maybe? All in a flury in the room around me. They were rushing me and I didn't know really why. The one nurse wanted me to get in the hospital robe but I wanted to wear my jamjams and we disagreed about that a bit. I was begining to think these people didn't read our birth plan at all. (HA! understatement!) Then the intern was stabing me in the hand. I tried to stay calm through it all but in the end she messed it up and 2 other nurses had to come and I got stabed 3 times in different parts of my hand and wrist to get the IV ready. They hooked me up without really talking to me and then left me. Finally when all the people left I cried. I was trying to be strong but I was scared and starting to realize this was not going to be my touchy feely lovey calm water home birth that I had imagined.

Through the afternoon and evening my contractions were building. Vince and I were using our Hypnobrithing techniques of breathing and visualizations. We played calming music and meditated. The doctor and nurse kept coming to check on my progress (vaginally) which was extremly painful. Even though the pitocin was at full force and my contractions were 1-1.5 mns apart I was still only 1-2 centimeters dialated.  Aroound midnight the contractions were on top of eachother and Gemma was starting to react negativly to the pitocin. (her heart rate was slowing) So the night time nurse reccomended an epidural and to take me off the pitocin. I followed her instruction. I liked her better than the day nurse.
The Doctor came back in around 4-5 am to tell me thought we might have to have a c-section eventually. The Dr and nurse talked around me and about me and I didn't understand so Vince called the Midwives immediately.

My girls (The Midwives) came straight away and told the Doctors and nurses to back off. Luckily there was another c-section happening and I was left to continue labouring. Around 11am the epidural had worn off and the daytime nurse was back and suggested I start pushing (she did this when my Midwives lef the room) Annnnnyways. So I did. And the Midwives came back. Mom was on my right side and Vince was on my left. There was the nurse and the midwife assistant fighting over my cervix and my other Midwife off the center telling me to breathe and let go. Another nurse came and went. The main nurse kept telling me to GET MAD! GET MADDER THAN YOU HAVE EVER BEEN BEFORE! Acutally I was not mad and I didn't want to be mad. I put a bubble around us and only thought of love and love and more love. I didn't say much and tried my hardest and kept talking to Gemma in my head. I trusted she knew what she was doing and I was only helping her come down.

The Nurse finally gave up the fight over my cervix and backed away and started pacing with her arms across her chest saying the contractions were too far apart and we would need a vaccum or foreceps. I started to feel weary that I wasn't doing such a good job but I just listened to Vince and Mom who kept saying things like, "Wow! You're doing amazing! Oh my god Wow! Look there's her head! Keep going! Great job honey! You're doing it!"

 The Doctor on call came in last minute but my Midwife is the one who caught Gemma and handed her to Vince to bring her to me. The Doctor then started poking and proding violently in my nether regions. I kept telling him the epidural worn off and I could feel that. But whatever, he pressed on my belly hard, I delieverd the placenta and he helped the midwife student stitch up my tear.After we were left alone we relaized they had taken the placenta to the trash. I wanted to keep it so Nicole (The Doula) could encapulate it and I could benefit from the hormones. Vince chased it down and got it right before then wer going to throw it out. Thank goodness! Gemma was born at 12:37pm and we were back home and in bed by 4pm.

Honestly the last half and hour of delivering Gemma was amazing. It hurt a lot and I was a little nervous I was doing it right but to tell you the truth it felt really good too like in my lower body area. It felt powerful and kinda like a million light beam stars all shooting out! LOL! I know that is gonna totally weird some people out but I want to write honestly about it for other women. So there you go out of the 32 hours of labour the last 30mins where pretty euphoric and I was just so happy to hold her and see her for myself. And to finally kiss her!!!

Please please leave comments and share your stories or any questions, I love talking about this stuff!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is 1 year old!

Gemma is stlyin' in her birthday dress

 Sorry these are so fuzzy but she's hard to catch these days!

Holy Macaroni we made it! Me and Vince and Gem. 1 year and 1 healthy happy baby.

She is officially walking and it's awesome and a little weird. Awesome cause I love following behind her watching her teeter toter around the house, it's like one of those quintesential Mommy moments I always dreamt about happening in real life. Weird cause now when I'm making dinner and she's playing in the other room I will be sneakily trying to load the dishwasher and all the sudden she's there behind me with her chubby little hand on the knives! Holy crap how did she get there so fast!

Other great things are watching her play...seeing that she remembers things and thinks about things. Sometimes she comes over and looks at me deep in the eyes and mumbles something, it's so darn cute! I love watching her play the xylophone, she's clumsy and determined and it's also so darn cute! Everything she does is just so darn cute!

I suppose I will stop taking the monthly pictures for now and maybe go to every six months or so. I'm still working on writting her birth story and another long winded 'what I've learned' type post if you're interested.

Until then see you Saturday at Gemma's big bash!

Love and Hugs

Oh yeah and Gemma's dress is by a French brand called Catimini, her bow is from Carter's and her shoes are H&M. She likes to do that whole high/low thing. 

Gemma is eleven months old!

Little miss funny pants is walking! Okay not walking but she did take two steps unaided and now thinks she can surf. (evidence in the above picture).

But seriously she took two little baby steps on Monday and has been practicing them ever since. She also added a few more teeth bringing the total to 12! That's a lot of work for a baby human and so she decided to compensate (WHAT?!!)  with just waking up earlier....how's 5:50am sound to everybody? Good? Good!

We went on a family cottage adventure vacation last week and it was so fun! She spent all her time with her cousin Will who is 3 months older and I think that's where she got this silly walking idea from. They were so cute together and I can't wait to watch them get in all sorts of trouble as the years go by.

But for now, next on the docket is her big number 1 birthday!


Love and Hugs



P.S. A few notes about lady Gem's style in this post, she is wearing her first and last pair of skinny jeans. She hates them and honestly I can say they did look pretty uncomfortable on her perfectly round chubla butt so back to the store they went. Her headband on the other hand is a keeper. It's handmade by a lovely local Mom named Christina Giancona-Jurewicz . You can find her shop Made with Love Bowtique here. We have a few of her things and they are just adorable! 

Gemma is ten months old!

 

It's weird how when I write the title of this post it seems so small...10 months. I fell like I have aged 10+ years. In a good way but older non the less!

This little one she's a steam roller that's for sure! She's started her tenth month on two feet walking with her walker and smilling the whole way! She's so proud of herself and it's adorable to watch. She's also got 2 new molars to help the eating pursuits which are close to her heart. This girls got a gourmet palate that's for sure!
Hmmm what else, a few favourites are messing up a fresh pile of laundry, knocking over lamps, climbing in drawers, slapping Sunny and smilling/giggling when I tell her NO!

I just can't believe we are getting close to a year already. I was chatting with another Mom today about our babies births and I think I'm finally gonna get that story written. Would you care to read it or TMI?

Love and Hugs

Gemma is nine months old!

We're still teething over here and expecting tooth #9 any day now.

 

There is also lots of dangerous standing

Hi guys, our little girl is 9 months old! And that means crawling! And standing! She's on the move and won't be stopped. I honestly can't believe how long she can stand for. All her waking hours are spent stading at her play shelf. I keep telling her to take a break but no she's a stading machine!

She's also spontaneously started playing peek a boo. I was doing dishes and glanced over and she was lifting her shirt over her head and then pulling it down and smilling. I obviously melted to mush. When she gets the notion to play peek a boo and I'm doing something else she grunts really loud to get my attention so we can play right now!

She's also waving and clapping. I don't know where she learned this, I don't think Vince and I wave or clap a lot to eachother but we must cause Gemma is waving and clapping like it's her job.

The other super cute thing is she hands me toys to chew on. Not in my hand but my mouth. It's the sweetest thing when we are playing she seems to think oh Mom would love a taste of this and stuffs whatever toy she has right in my mouth. Of course I oblidge her with a nibble.

Hmmm what's on the 'Not' list? Well she's gotten a lot better at getting her face washed but really really hates getting her diaper changed. All diaper changing is now happening on the floor with props ready to distract her and wipes all pulled out and diapers unfolded so we can get it done as quickly as possible. I honestly can't wait till Vince gets home just so he can help me with the diaper changes. Seriously.

Love and Hugs

Gemma is eight months old!

 I seriously can't stand her! She is just too too much! I almost left a hickey on her cheek today cause I wanted to eat her so bad!

Other than a little motherly cannibalism here and there the biggest changes this month has been her 8th tooth, her mobility and our big move. We've now renting a mansion (just joking it's a normal size house) in Cambridge to be even closer to Vince. Gemma just started army crawling a few days before the move so it was perfect timing for her. She's been all around this house and her favourite spot is definitely the dog food bowl!

She's still sleeping through the night and I am in complete disbelief. I honestly thought I was condemmed to a lifetime of being awake with my daughter every 1-2 hours for the rest of my life. This is awesome! The fact that she only naps for 30-40mins at a time is no biggie compared to 12 hours of straight sleep every night.

A few of Gemma's favourite things are the dog food bowl, crawling to the dog food bowl, the dog water bowl, sticking her fingers in the dog water bowl, licking the dog water bowl and oh the dog water/food bowl!

The only thing on the 'Not' list is getting her face washed. This is kinda new, she's usually pretty easy going about it but has lately been putting up a big fuss. She wants to leave her face dirty dammit!

I love you Gem!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is seven months old!

This month has been all about sleep! After a mini breakdown just before Easter I just couldn't do the every 1-2 hour night wakings. But I honestly didn't know what to do. I didn't want to let her cry it out but the no-cry solution wasn't working either. I begged Vince for help and he stepped up. He took the monitor and slept on the couch for 3 nights while he helped Gemma learn to sleep the hard way. He put her down in her crib awake and if she cried (of course she did) he went in to soothe her in intervals until she fell asleep on her own. The first night I balled and balled and she fell asleep in half and hour. The same the next night and the next. The fourth night she fell asleep in 15 mins and now it takes her maybe 2 mins?! But the best part is she is sleeping 11-12 hours a night with no feedings. If she does wake up in the night she fusses a bit but puts her self right back to sleep.

We are new women. She smiles all day and so do I! Now we are working on naps. That is harder but we have seen major progress there too. She hardly cries when it's time for her nap and falls asleep in 3 mins or less but she only stays alseep for 35-45 mins. :( The other thing is I'm having a hard time indentifying her sleepy signals. But it's all good, we're in it together me and Gem.

She's also getting better at drinking from a bottle. She takes an average of 3 full bottles a day now. I think she was refusing them before because she was so damn tired. She wanted my boobie for comfort. Now that's she's well rested she has the energy and enthusiasm to learn something new. It's wonderful!

Other than that she is now sitting up and has a total of 7 teeth. We're still doing Baby Lead Weaning and she is loving every minute of it. Dinner time is definitely her favourite.

A few of her other favourites are shaking her Bright Starts activity balls, pressing the buttons on her play smart phone and laughing at herself in the mirror.

And honestly there really isn't anything on her 'Not' list. She likes it all!

Love and Hugs

Is self care important to new Moms?

Remember that Times cover article intitled "Are you Mom enough?" Well even tough I never read it I understood it loud and clear. And after the first 3-4 months of Gemma's life I certainly wasn't feeling "Mom enough."
 As you know Gemma isn't a big sleeper and she also started teething early. (She has 7 teeth now at almost 7 months old) Of course I was and still am blissfully in love with her but taking care of her is another story. It's hard work and I was feeling pretty mad and guilty for not being able to do it all myself. But at the same time I was desperate for help. I started searching the internet late at night for anything and came along this article called, "A simple self-care contract for Mothers" on Babble.com. A bell went off. I asked Vince to come home earlier and stop going to the gym, I asked Mom and Dad to make the long drive to help on Wednesdays and Saturdays and finally I called these guys:

My neighbour was literally the Nurse Next Door. Her name is Victoria and when I was feeling over exhausted she was the first person I thought of. She came over the next day and we signed a contract for a nurse to come help with Gemma for 3 hours once a week.

And guess what? I got a massage and it felt damn good! Best thing I've ever done.

So I just want to know, am I the only exhausted Mom out there who couldn't hack it?

Love and Hugs

Have you been watching Olive Us TV?

It's the cutest! Here's a little movie they made of their youngest on how to be 2 years old. (They have 6 children!)

How To Be 2 from Olive Us on Vimeo.



If you want to see more of their movies go to Oliveus.tv. 

You'll get lost for hours! I know Gemma and I did!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is six months old!

The Roo with a mouth full of teethens!

Well holy moly 6 months! Gemma has 6 teeth now and she doesn't seem to stop. I keep thinking after a few days of hard teething that we'll get a month break until the next one and then nope a few days later another bastard tooth pops out. So I guess this is Gemma's pace, fast and furious.

I'm getting better at not blaming myself for her horrible sleeping patterns. I mean they are getting better but still she is often up every 2 hours. We'll get a stretch of 5 or 6 hours once a week maybe and I chock it up to teeth and development and just try to roll with it.

But honestly I am beyond exhausted. I had a few bad crying days a couple of weeks ago and decided it's time to ask for help. I need a break and 6 extra hands so I called in the big guns. Mom and Dad are coming over every Wednesday night after work and every Saturday to help with the little toothy beasty baby and I couldn't be happier. Hell I may even get a massage!

A few things Gemma loves are: jumping in her jolly jumper, smiling at people at the dog park, the moment she hears her Dad come home and her frère jacques music box.
A few things Gemma could live without are: Gettting her jammies on after the bath, laying on her back, being held by anyone but me, bottles, pacifiers, sleeping, napping or any down time at all!

Love and Hugs

Gemma is five months old!

My big girl

Her eyes are coming through as more of a grey blue this last week, what do you think?

My happy missus

She loves looking at herself in the mirror.

Here's a shot of her adorable baby bum in jeans to cheer up your day! ohhhh I could just eat her!

Here we are at five months and what's new you ask? Well poor Gemma is still teething big time. I feel so bad for her and seriously wish that bastard tooth that's been bothering her would just come through already! What the heck?! The bottom two sprouted in a day so what's taking so long with these other ones?! 

We've started a bedtime routine (bath, swaddle, milk, luulaby, bed) and trying to help Gemma sleep better. Honestly it's not really working out. She still hasn't slept good since we got home from France on Jan 08th! Could she still be jet legged? I can't imagine. But those nights of 10 hrs and 7.5 and even 5.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep are far behind us. The little Gemmaroo wakes up around 4-6 times a night and the longest stretch of sleep has been 3 hours but it's usually more like 2 or even 1 hour. :(

Gemma is a rolling machine. She can't stop flipping fiercly from her back to her belly and then pulling herself up. The problem is she has a really hard time rolling back over again so she gets stuck and then mad. I know she needs to learn and teach herself but I can't help saving her everytime. She's my babe!

I love spending my days with Gemma. She's the sweetest little love bugly and such a gentle sweetheart. I can't wait to see what next month brings!

Love and Hugs

Gemma's nursery

We're moving again! Surprise! Surprise! (Yeah right you're not surprised.) We're moving to London Ontario in a few months due to Vince's job. It's good and bad, good to be closer to my Grandpas and Aunts but sucky to further away from my parents and Ryan, Britt and Will.

Now that the surprise is out of the way lets snoop in Gemma's room shall we? First off you must know that Gemma's room is tiny tiny and also has the only closet in the whole house but we were making it work. I say that in the past tense because as of a few days ago I bought a ridiculously XXL swing online after trying EVERYTHING to help her sleep. Well it arrived and is sitting smack dab in the middle of her room. You actually can't walk around it you have to shimmy. :(

Annnnnnnyways.

You might remember the post I made back when I was pregnant and sleeping like a normal person and basically in lala land. Here it is. So yes we did end up purchasing that print and using my wedding veil in the design and I'm so happy with the end result. It's all peachy pink and grey. When we were at Fabricland picking out the fabrics my Mom asked me ever so nicely if I might ever considering picking any other colour palette or will I forever be choosing peachy pink and grey.
I let her down nicely. ;)

Sunny welcomes you into her sister's room

Mom custom made all the crib fabrics and window coverings. Can you believe her?

See that little clown and puppy pillow? Mom used a silk scarf that
Vince painted when he was a little boy to cover it.

I think Gemma loves her mobile and crib. Too bad she never sleeps in there!

The Gallery wall

I found the paper mobile on you guessed it, Etsy!

Of course I wanted one of those $900.00 modern upholstered grey looking gliders but I live in reality so instead we bought this one for $100.00 second hand.

A few of Gemma's books came from Mamie and Papy in France. See the Popi one up there?
Vince used to read that when he was a little guy.

So there you have it, a peak inside Gemma's little nursery which we will have to pack up and
set up in a new house soon. :(

Love and Hugs

Gemma is four months old!

My little sweet darling babes

Sunny was not having this photo shoot without her!

Gemma was surprised....

and happy to have her sister beside her at all times! 

Well four months what can I say?! Basically it's all about teeth for us! 3 days after her 3 month birthday two little bottom front teeth sprouted and we have not looked back. She is continuously teething and has even started biting down hard on my breast. It's extremely painful and scary so we've started to giver her bottles of mixed breastmilk and formula during the times when she's really biting down hard. (Gemma would like to add something here, she HATES bottles and doesn't know why they were ever invented in the first place. )
Other than the teeth thing, we made our first trip to France over Christmas and it was wonderful! Gemma bonded right away with her Mammie and Papy and loved every minute of it! She was a great baby on the plane and basically slept soundly both ways.
She's started giggling a little and I think I even heard her say DaDa yesterday....shhh don't tell Vince. It doesn't count anyways cause he's called Papa in French! ;)

Love and Hugs