Becoming a Mommy!

 The love and emotions you are about to feel for this little baby are not explainable. The love that you already had for your partner changes completely when you see them hold someone that you grew and cared for so much. You can slowly watch the love and bond that you have built and felt over 9 months enter their world and it is beyond amazing to see and watch.

 



 So what it is like being a mom. I just want to say that no matter how prepared you think you are or how many books you read the day you hold that little baby in your arms it ALL changes!

Becoming a mom has had it's good times and it's bad times. Ive learned who my friends are and who aren't. Ive gone off pretty much no sleep for days, and I've spent nights sitting up crying not knowing what to do for my baby. But every day I do it all over again because the feeling of falling in love all over again every time I look at Anya is totally worth it!!

The first week we were home we spent everyday driving to the dr so that Anya could be checked for Jaundice. For those of you who are not sure what that is, it is yellowing of the skin caused by to much bilirubin in her system. It can be very harmful and we were close to needing to go for photo therapy at the hospital but thankfully we never had to! She's a little trooper that's for sure! We also had her new born pictures done the first week she was home! Courtesy of little jay photography in Airdrie Alberta.

I wish the pictures truly showed you how little she was! The first month went by so fast! I was tired most of it and caved to the one thing I always said id NEVER do, co-sleeping! But the cuddles I got from her in the morning were amazing and well sleeping till 11 was definitely a bonus LoL. Aside from sleeping Anya didn't do much I had to wake her during the day and she never stayed awake for long. But even when she was sleeping I think I could stare at her all day!

"Her smile beams like sunshine which fills our hearts with love." Unknown  

During her second month Anya learnt how to smile, make noises and hold her head up!!! We also did our first long road trip with her in November for my moms birthday. If there was one thing I learned from that it's to NEVER drive 8 hours with a newborn! I was also pumping at the time to feed Anya so John had to stop halfway through the drive and everyone needed to get out so I could pump. It was great to sit in a vehicle feeling like a cow while everyone else had to wait outside in the cold for me lol. We also had family pictures done while we were in BC. Photos done by Hearts Entwined photography in Summerland BC. November was a really busy month but id have the say the best part of November was probably Anya starting to sleep through the night! :) She would get up at 5am to eat but that was it so id get a good 6-7 hours of straight sleep! :)

The time we had spent with Anya so far was everything I had hoped for and more! :) I couldn't believe how much love I could have for someone and watching the way John was with her made me fall in love with him even more. No matter how tired or how long my day was when john came home and I could spend time with him and our baby girl nothing else mattered!! :)

I definitely think that Christmas deserves its own post!! :)

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I guess it's time for an update!

So I guess its time to catch you guys up on life! It has been about five months so ill split the details between today and tomorrow. Today ill update you on my third trimester and how my delivery went (if baby was a boy or girl!) and tomorrow ill update you on how life has been with the baby!!

So last time I posted I was in my 31st week and things were going good. A LOT changed since that post LoL. A few days after posting I was experiencing a lot of Braxton hicks that started to worry the Dr so they took me off work early. Luckily my work had disability so I didn't have to start mat leave early! :)
At that point in time I felt awesome and was still loving every bit of my pregnancy!!

Around 34 weeks I started to feel less and less movements from the baby and was constantly being sent to the hospital because of it. On one of my trips to the hospital they learned that I had high blood pressure that was not going down at all only up. I was put on bed rest and had a home care nurse come and take my blood pressure every day. My Dr really wanted me to make it to 37 weeks so we could almost avoid the possibility of the baby being in the NICU.

On Sept 25th, 36wks, I woke up and took what I didn't know at the time would be my very last belly picture. :(

Through the morning while getting ready for the home care nurse I started to get a sharp pain on my right side under my ribs. By the time the nurse arrived I could hardly handle the pain. She had me explain what was going on and immediately sent me to the hospital. I had johns sister come and get me as she was the closest person to me. The nurse had me take my hospital bag and told me there was a high chance id be induced that day.

On our way to the hospital I called John, his mom and my parents to let them know what was going on. I hoped and I prayed I wasn't having that baby that day. I didn't want to have to tell my child that their birthday was the same day as the anniversary of their grandpa passing away.

Johns sister stayed with me all day while I had multiple test done and sat around A LOT LoL. John finally got there at about 4 maybe even before 4. We had an OB come in to go over all my tests with me. He told us that there were traces of an infection in my body and that he felt the best choice was for me to be induced. John and I both agreed with his choice.

I had cervadil inserted at 7pm on Sept 25th and was told it could take several hours for anything to happen but that I needed to stay there to be monitored because of my blood pressure. They sent john home that night because visiting hours were over. I was really upset about that and didn't like that they wouldn't let him stay at all.

Sept 26th I woke up at 4am in pain. I told them I was having contractions and my husband needed to come back. so they hooked me up to the monitors and I was having contractions but I wasn't having them regular enough to be considered labor so John couldn't come back. I was up till 7am, when John got there, in pain and connected to the monitors. About an hour after he got there I fell back asleep. He wasn't very happy about that LoL.

I woke up at 10am when my doula arrived and my dr came in to check me. I was 3cm dilated and she was able to break my water! She let me know that I still probably wouldn't have the baby till after dinner. They moved me into a labor room and hooked me up to a drug called pitocin that was supposed to increase my contractions. It was now 12. Oh I should probably add that I really wanted a drug free labor! :)

So you need to know before you go on that no matter what I try and tell you labor is like unless you have had a baby you'll never understand. I can't tell you its painful or that its not. I can't tell you that pushing is hard or that its easy. It's really all unexplainable. You honestly need to go through it to understand exactly what its like.

I went through some pretty intense contractions and around 3pm finally told them I caved and needed to get something. They told me they had to check me first and then they would tell me what I could have. They informed me that it was way to late and I was ready to have a baby!! :) 

I pushed for about 20 min and at 3:19pm we welcomed a little baby GIRL into the world!

John and I were very happy to announce the birth of our baby girl Anya Kathrine Marie Darker Weighing 5lbs 13oz and 19 inches long born Sept 26th at 3:19pm! She was very healthy and we were sent home within 24 hours of me having her! Amazing considering she was a month early!

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