sep, 29th - the birth of Clémence Ever....

day 959 / 58: 

Claya is two months old today and before i blink and she's suddenly two, talking up a storm and telling me that next time she'd prefer that i left the carrots as carrots rather than turned them into soup (Limi's statement to me over dinner today)...i wanted to write about the day that she was born.

i was convinced that she would also be late like her sister (who had to be encouraged with some acupuncture at forty-two weeks....see day 0)....i was so convinced, that i had bought olympic games tickets to watch the football on what turned out to be her birth day.....so convinced, that when my friends organised my baby-shower for three days before due date {see day 903 / 2} it didn't even cross my mind that i may be cutting it a bit fine........

so after a fantastic day in the park, with my girlfriends at my shower, we walked into the Shoebox and i was really looking forward to a relaxing night in (a nine month bump was taking its toll by now). as i sat down, i felt a sharp and painful pop.....an actual pop. i wandered over to A. in the kitchen and mentioned it....only for the pop to be followed by my waters breaking impressively all over the floor.....which caught us both by surprise (although we covered it well in front of Limi).

there were no contractions, so i was still convinced that i could have my night in and wake up in the morning without any new baby in sight

and then they started........

and i started cleaning........

and then i decided to do a whole online grocery shop (which has to be the equivalent of stocking the freezer with homemade dinners these days)

and they kept getting stronger.....and i was still in denial but i downloaded the iPhone labour app and started tracking them anyway.....

we bathed Limi and put her to bed.......

and then tried to find the pump to blow up the swiss ball, i completely repacked my hospital bag, had a shower and eventually at about midnight, there was no denying that i was in labour (the contractions were only five minutes apart and lasting about a minute).......

so after chatting to the midwives, Kelly was summoned from her warm bed and we headed off to the hospital.

even though i ended up having an emergency c-section with Limi, i was keen to give natural another try this time around with my biggest concerns being a similarly long and drawn out labour that never progresses (and having to have an epidural which i hated) or going down the natural route and ending up having an assisted delivery (forceps, vacuum etc.).....

we arrived at the hospital and were directed to the pre-active-labour ward (not sure what it's real name is but that's what its purpose was).....there were three of us in there with a curtain dividing us from each other's body-splitting contractions and one midwife to monitorwhether we were ready to be moved into a birthing suite.....

by three am, i had a clear idea of what the girl next to me was going through.....she had a fairly large entourage and fairly graphic language to explain exactly what she was feeling 

by four am, i was still not showing any progression despite the agonising and regular contractions and the midwives were insisting that i lie on the bed so that the baby i could be monitored. there was just no way that i could lie on my back given that the only way i was making it through the contractions was to hunch over the bed/ ball/ A. and breathe....

the contractions were also being chased by a severe burning along my cut which was giving them some concern.

they starting talking about epidurals.

after a night of no sleep, chronic pain and no real progression, the suggestion of an epidural and having to lie on my back, with the potential for another long and drawn out labour with plenty of intervention, was pretty much my breaking point...

i starting talking about c-sections.

by five am they had agreed that a c-section would be the safest option. so having experience in this, A. carted our music into the theatre and at six am with a drop of the curtain, our baby girl was born

Clémence Ever

born on 29th July 2012

3.4 kgs

52 cms long

and of course......she had all three of us at hello :-)

and on day 904 / 3 we got to take our thunderhooves home.

p.s. i ended up in the same ward and the cubicle opposite to the one that i was in with Limi.....love those window cubicles

aug, 1st - mini hooves....

day 904 / 3:

it's been a week of getting to know our 'mini hooves'......she's been a real honey so far and already a vital part of our household.

thank you for all the congrats messages. we are so over the moon.

hmmm....so a name for our thunderhooves......we're still trying to agree on one in our house. it took us six days to name Limi, so we have until Sunday....

as for Limi at the same age.....these two look uncannily the same {see day 14}

p.s. love the violin-playing-pose in the last two.

feb, 8th - Bay B!

day 2:

Anyway, how wrong was I on wanting a puppy instead. She is completely delicious to be around and has given us a very gentle introduction to parenthood. we spent two nights in the hospital - in ward Bay B!! :) I had been dreading the hospital stay but it was actually quite fun, like a weird nocturnal, winter camp...slow moving women everywhere and an orchestra of cries. At least at all times of night there were people awake and going about the business of caring for mewling infants!

I had a cubicle next to the window with a great view, especially when the snow started to fall.

There are four 'nursery' wards at C&W and in each ward there are 8 'cubicles', sectioned off by bright blue curtains. The occupants change throughout your stay but I was in for most of the time with:

Opposite me - A muslim mum and Joseph her baby boy. The dad was constantly annoying the midwives by not sticking to the visitors' curfews and then trying to bribe them with chocolates :)

Next to me - A french mum & her baby who stayed behind her blue curtain for most of the time. I think that she was gorging on sleep while she could because this was her second baby and she was facing juggling a toddler and new infant as soon as she got home. She did have an impressive snore that on one night I mistook to be coming from our bassinet. It had me worried for a second that we had produced a baby bear.

Diagonally opposite - Kristy and tiny Gus. A cool Aussie girl.

Nearest the door on the left - A gorgeous Congolese girl (and her baby that I never saw). She was wearing the shortest t-shirt/'nightie' with unbelievable legs that even made the support socks look sexy. Damn.

And finally....

Nearest the door on the right - an Arabic woman who didn't speak a stitch of English. Who arrived on the ward at 9pm and moaned in pain constantly until she fell asleep at 4am.

Think that I'm ready to go home!


d