Our labor and delivery story!

On September 3rd we were scheduled to be induced by a gel called cervadil that is inserted to help with effacement. At the time I was 2cm dilated thinned out but not effaced at all. We went into the hospital at 7 am got a day pass to see how it does and began to get some contractions around 4 pm or so. We decided to go back in I was still 2 cm dilated but 2/3 effaced this time, they gave me some morphine and gravol for the pain and sent me along my way. We had to come back anyways at 9 pm to get the cervadil taken out and try again the next day. 

When we went back in at 9pm the Dr. decided that he would reinsert the cervadil since I was beginning to get contractions even though I was in the same place. We ended up leaving the hospital at around midnight to go home and get some rest. At about 1:30 in the morning I began to feel some sharp contractions, decided to go and take a bath relax a bit. By this time the contractions began to get worse and I was moaning in pain. Jesse was the one that actually decided it was time to go to the hospital, he began to time my contractions and they were lasting about a minute and 2 minutes apart. We were told to go to the hospital if I had 4 or 5 contractions that lasted 45 seconds in 10 minute intervals. 

When we went back into the hospital at 2:30 in the morning I had dilated to 4 cm and was 100% effaced, this time we were not going home haha. They gave me more morphine for the pain but the morphine did nothing to help the pain it just took the edge off. They let me go and have a bath to help with my back labor I was having. I had asked for more morphine around 5 am but the dr. decided it was time to get an epidural. At 6am they wheeled me into a delivery suite to administer the epidural. The epidural was the worst part of the whole thing, I felt intense pressure in my spine while he was inserting the needle. It was very hard to stay still, all the while, the woman next to me was giving birth naturally absolutely no medication haha once the epidural set in I was just happy as can be that I did not have to give birth naturally. 

The nurse that we had labored with is named Mikaela and she did regular checks on me to see how I was doing, asking me questions every once in awhile. Throughout this whole time I only had about an hour of rest prior to this, I was very exhausted. I didn't feel like I had slept mom and Jesse told me I was sleeping the whole time. Around 11 am I got checked by Dr. Henderson (who I was supposed to deliver with) I was stuck at 6 cm now for around 3 hours and she decided to start the oxytocin drip to speed my delivery more. I was only on the drip for 5 minutes when Macy's heart rate dropped to 50 beats per minute. 

They quickly reassessed the situation and Dr. Henderson came to the conclusion that we would have to have a c section to get this little girl out. It was quite a scary situation because once they decided that they began to prepare me for it right away by giving me a catheter, doing bloodwork to make sure I would be good to be going under the knife. All while they were doing this I had a major major panic attack because I was just thinking in my mind if this little girl is actually sick I would need my strength to get through it. 

The surgeon that was going to perform the c section came in and talked to me to try to calm me down. Basically he had given me three options about how we could go about doing this..1. Wait to see if I would progress on my own. 2. Start the oxytocin drip again and see what her heart rate would do or 3. just perform the c section. I was so panicked I couldn't respond so he decided for me that we would wait to see me progress. While all this was happening Jesse and mom stood back and watched this. Jesse said he almost lost it when he saw me have the huge panic attack since he knew he couldn't hold my hand throughout it. Dr. Wiebe (surgeon) checked me to see how many cm dilated I was which was 7 cm and he moved the baby's head a bit to wait to see what would happen. While they prepped me for the c section my epidural wore off and the anesthiologist came back to give me a top up. It hurt like a bitch I can't lie my legs felt like bricks were crushing my legs. 

They checked me in about an hour and I was fully dilated ready to go. The nurses wanted to begin to deliver me but Dr. Wiebe wanted to deliver me himself, because he thought that I would be the first first time mom in awhile that would deliver really fast. 

When he did come they gave me a quick lesson on pushing and away we went! I would be pushing so hard that I would forget to breathe, I couldn't feel the pain of it but I could feel Macy making her way down slowly. Jesse was giving me ice chips the whole time (almost choking me haha) and the nurses put cold compresses on my forehead to help me. I only pushed for 25 minutes and she was out. My mom had watched the whole thing and they placed her on my chest for a minute. We all cried for a bit relieved to just have her out. NICU was already waiting there for her since her heart rate dropped during the delivery. She wasn't crying when they placed her on my chest and they whisked her away to get her breathing. I looked over and saw my little girl hyperventilating trying to get some air in her lungs but struggling. She would let out small little cries but nothing that they would want to hear when they are first born. Jesse went with them to the NICU for her to be assessed and mom stayed back with me to make sure I was ok. I only had 2 small tears on the inside walls. Nothing too bad to recover from. I was just relieved to have her out but sad at the same time about not having the first family bonding time that I had initially thought would happen. I was terrified as hell because she was so sick I had no idea, they told me after I wouldn't be allowed to see her for 2 hours since they were stabilizing her, she ended up staying in NICU for 6 days because of it. 

My thoughts about my birth. I was only in labor for 13 hours and pushed for 20 minutes and she was out. I had not thought that would happen for me at all especially being a first time mom. I was so extremely scared when her heart rate dropped so bad I can't even describe the feeling. In a way I feel bad that I was induced because I feel like I rushed her to come out and as a result struggled throughout the labor because of that decision. Throughout being pregnant I always tried to come up with all the worst case scenarios that could happen during my labor with me, but I never even thought that she would have struggled with the labor. Her being in NICU was a thing that I thought was not a possibility. But by being in NICU we got the best crash course into parenting as opposed to other parents. In the end we got this beautiful baby girl that was born September 4th 3:08 pm weighing 7 lbs and 19 inches long ✨⭐✨

waiting on baby!

These last few months have just flown by! A few updates on our expanding little family, Jesse got a new job at a logistics company delivering construction materials all throughout Alberta. It is a great job for him, he is able to drive a truck and he is home every night. As for myself, I still work at the hospital and now am currently on my sick leave before baby is here! 

An update on our pregnancy, we finally decided a name for our baby girl we are going to name her Macy Jean, Macy because we both agreed on it and Jean named after my mom (her middle name). My pregnancy was going great up until 27 weeks. I got horrible hip pain at 30 weeks pregnant and now currently have what is called a "irritable uterus" that could make me go into preterm labor which can be pretty scary stuff. I was officially put off work at 34 weeks from work because of it. I have been enjoying my time trying to meet up with first time moms and I feel like I finally have a tribe of moms that I like to hang out with. We try to meet up every monday at some point during the day to get together talk about stuff and get babies to interact with each other! It is a great support system that I am grateful for, doesn't make me feel alone with this stuff at all. 

I have been going on ride alongs with Jesse at his new job, and his job is extremely mentally draining. Going on the ride alongs has taught me patience while driving, and to allow truckers in no matter what haha. 

Eileen and Devon with their babies Timothy and Emie from mom group

We have been trying to get some travelling in as well. We have gone to see Uncle Chris and Aunt Linda a few times. When Jesse was away working at Trican I surprised mom to go see her brother and go to cross iron mills since I have never been there before. There is a huge shop called bass pro shop that nearly everybody told me to go see even the peopel that disagreed with hunting told me to go see it haha. I didn't get why because it is just a store in my mind. Well let me tell you one thing...when we got there a person was at the door and I thought you had to pay to get into the actual store! You could literally take your kids there for a birthday instead of going to a zoo and best part it is free to go see! The other time we went to go see Uncle Chris, Jesse and I went and Aunt Linda wasn't there. Uncle Chris took us to the private lake and we just floated on noodles to take the pressure off my hips. When we went out with the noodles Jesse didn't bring one and he was treading water forever, was quite the workout for him lol. We tried to go on a canoe as well, I guess Jesse had never been on a canoe before and it was 13 since the last time I was on. I guess since Uncle Chris had the card to sign them out he was supposed to be on the canoe with us, but just as he said its ok they are responsible adults we flipped the canoe haha. We only lasted about 2 minutes on that canoe before it flipped. 

private beach with uncle chris

Bass Pro shop with mom

Our snack at cross iron mills ironically this stand was neighbors with the maternity store 

Mom's snack 

dogs, babies, jobs and houses! OH MY!

These past few months have been quite the whirl wind. We recently bought a house in Blackfalds. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath bi level house. Tons of space for growing and a great opportunity for our first home. We really love it there and look forward to creating many memories there. 

As well as, we recently got a dog, her name is Ruff, she is a 3 year old border collie cross. We picked her up from a shelter in panoka, she loooves attention, she doesn't know how to play and she loooves her food however only certain treats. She is truly a great addition to our family and we love her lots, even though she can be a bit whiney.

 INCLUDING, we got to find out the gender of our future child. We found out that we are going to have a baby GIRL! We found out easter weekend with Jesse and my mom at a 3d ultrasound. She was a very stubborn baby when the ultrasound monitor was placed on my belly all we saw was her back, as well as, she had her feet crossed and her hands over her face! Everything possible that could make a ultrasound difficult! She made me go in multiple different positions to try and get the baby to move. She even made me get up and exercise a bit with a juice box. She eventually did move, and she showed us her face for a brief moment but the umbilical cord was still in the way! Talk about difficult! After she showed us her face, it was time to get to the nitty gritty and find out the gender! Towards the end Jesse and I saw what gender she was before the tech told us. Mom was excited it was a girl, Jesse kind of groaned because he wanted to have a little boy, and I just cried because I couldn't believe I was going to have a daughter! 

Lastly, Jesse went to school for his class 1 he only took 8 hours of class time to get his class 1, which is pretty good. He also recently got a job at Trican being a fracturing operator and he enjoys it, he enjoys his cooworkers and he has a really great boss! 

This past year has already been crazy, moving super fast but I can't wait to see how the rest of the year will go! 

13 weeks! with some life updates!

Well little bean this week I am 13 weeks with you! Mommy and Daddy love you so much that daddy went back to school for you! He has been working hard this last month to get his class 1 to support us! Mommy went and bought us a house for you as well! Somewhere for you to love growing up. The house is located in Blackfalds and cannot wait for you to grow up there! In a few weeks we will get to see what your gender is and to further plan for that! Momma's cravings so far has been fruit in any form, and dark chocolate with absolutely no sugar in it! Little mama finally has her energy back and daddy is getting more excited to feel you grow inside me! So many updates and life changes just to make your life better my little bean ❤❤❤❤❤❤

OUR WEDDING ~ Getting Ready ~

On the morning of my WEDDING DAY! I had to get up really really early at 7 am to meet our makeup artist for 8 am. I quickly shot out of bed, was weird not having to get ready before I left at all, I don't even think that I had brushed my hair. I met my cousin Sarah (bridesmaid) at her hotel room and she began to curl my hair and pinned the curls to let them set. The longer they set the longer the curl will stay. After that Mom finally had come up to the hotel room as well as the makeup lady. Since I did not want to sweat my makeup off first before the wedding, we decided that mom would do her make up first. Maria was great with my mom and gave her tips on everyday make up that she can do herself. Maria made my mom look super hot. She could have found me a daddy the day of the wedding if I do say myself! It was funny though because as Maria was almost finished with my mom's makeup and then she started to tear up. She would almost be finished again and then start to tear up again! Haha It took awhile for her to be completely done with her wedding! After that she decided to do Sarah next, and even gave us the bonus option of getting Saphire's makeup done for the wedding! That whole morning though was just chaotic, from ordering Jeremiah (Sarah's man) to get stuff done for us that day, such as trying to get us food, getting us drinks before the wedding, etc. Basically he was our lifesaver that whole day! Couldn't have done the day without him! It was extremely hot in that room too, we had to open the window and prop the door open with a towel it was hot! It was so disorganized too! It looked like wedding stuff was vomited all over the suite!

The whole morning I was pretty quiet, everyone kept on asking how I was feeling because I was so quiet. I honestly was not nervous to get married. I was just excited. Finally when my make up and hair were ready it was time to get into the dress. We had already agreed that Sarah would get me into the dress because I knew she would be ruthless with the thing and make sure that it was tighter than anything. I had to hold onto my mother's hands to make sure that I wouldn't fall over, still almost did haha. But with the photographer he wanted to make it look like my mother still got me dress so after Sarah was finished he made it look like she was lacing up my dress and got photos of that haha. When that dress and all that were done...with only 15 minutes to spare...it was time to get married.
Getting into the elevator Sarah made sure that no one would see me in my dress before Jesse, so when we got out the elevator she would go out before me and give me the cue that the coast was clear. Then it was time to line up...to get married...

TO BE CONTINUED....

Brock and Angel's Wedding

Brock and angel had gotten married August 13 2016, she invited us to their wedding along with my mom and grandma. Mom wanted for us to come especially so we could drive them to their wedding to drive grandma there since no buses went to Grande Cache. We left earlier the night before to drive all the way down to Lethbridge. 

The next day we decided to visit with Holly in Brooks. My mom and grandma finally got to meet her and get to know her a little bit since she is Jesse's family. The visit with her was great, grandma and mom were really impressed with her. After the visit with her she had told us to take the scenic route up to Grande Cache going through Jasper. We thought it was great idea, but in the end it was great for Jesse and I, not so much for Grandma and Mom which are not the best road trippers. It took us about 8 hours to get to Grande Cache and once we got there we were really glad. 

The next day we met up with Uncle Ron and Aunt Diana and we went together to the camp grounds that Angel and Brock were to be married. We met up with Brock there and chilled out for awhile until their wedding. We left grandma and mom there and Jesse and I decided to go back and get ready for their wedding and explore Grande Cache. It wasn't that difficult to explore the town of only 3 blocks pretty much. Not much had changed from what I remembered when I was a little girl going there every summer. 

When we went back to the campground, I got to see my Aunt Diana's brother Uncle Andy, he would also spend the summer's with us sometimes and it was good to see him and catch up with him.

Angel was quite late for the ceremony, about half an hour and the weather was going to be coming to them. The clouds were quite dark and you could hear strikes of lightning and thunder in the distance. Once Angel was there. It was beautiful, it was hard not to cry from the song that she chose to walk down the aisle to "A thousand years" by Christina Perri. her bridesmaid dresses were different shades of purple and she had about 3-4 flower girls with little tutus and crowns. It was absolutely beautiful. And then she emerged...beautiful being walked down the aisle with her stepdad and brother. She looked stunning, her dress gorgeous with organza flowers on the bottom of the dress, bling around her waist and neck. Absolutely Gorgeous. Not only was everyone else crying but we took bets to see if Brock would cry when she walked down the aisle. Brock was crying as she walked down, completely bawling much like his dad. Tough on the exterior but a teddy bear inside. Their vows were beautiful too, she promised to love him and that she had met him at the right time after they had both been through hardship. For his vows they were a bit more frisky than hers haha. He had promised to always pinch her ass and protect her and the most important vow of all "to ride her as hard as he rides his harley" haha. After they were pronounced as husband and wife his group of biker brothers gave them a proper send off, roaring their motorcycle engines echoing into the moutains. It was beautiful, and glad I got to see my cousin get married. 

After the ceremony it had poured rain! Completely downpoured, since it did we decided to go back to the hotel and relax. When we came back it was about 7pm. Their reception had started so late due to the rain not ending faster. Their wedding was completely outdoors and they had originally had tents but couldn't find them on the actual day! Crazy! 

We had missed the dinner but we went but we came back for the speeches. It was great all the speeches and love that was in those mountains that day. Her step mom had photoshopped a photo of her getting ready with her on her wedding day since he had passed which was beautiful to see all that emotion.  We got to congratulate the Mr and Mrs and got to take a shot with my Uncle Ron and party with my bridesmaid Sarah. It was a great time! 

Wedding prep!

Two days before the wedding we had to drive to Edmonton to get Jesse to the airport to pick up his niece. Jesse had to fly all the way to winnipeg to pick up Saphire and then bring her back here on the airplane in order for her to attend our wedding. Since Jesse's side of the family was so scarce we of course had to have his niece! While I was in Edmonton already, I decided to meet up with my bridesmaid Sarah and my "cousin-in-law" for some wedding prep! 

We decided to meet up go to Sally's get some hair dye because I wanted to look like the little mermaid before the wedding. It was also the perfect chance for wedding nails! 

We decided to go to the nail salon with Angel and get my nails did! They did not have what I originally wanted for a design but they were great. They were sparkly silver tips and Sarah's nails were navy blue with the ring fingers silver as accent nails. Angel didn't get her nails did with us but instead decided to get a pedicure done! My nails were done before Angel's so I decided to sit in the pedicure chair and have a little massage. Angel was making fun of me for how short I was because I put it the chair on lower back massage when it was actually a whole back massage for me haha. We went to lunch and had a great time getting prepped for the wedding, and the best part was picking Jesse up from the airport with Saphire! She was so cute and so excited to be our flower girl!