We are now a family of 5!

On January 12, 2011 at 11:51pm Becky gave birth to our 3rd baby girl. Ruby-Claire weighed 8lbs 7oz. Here's the quickie birth story.

 

On the 12th, Wednesday, I got Grace on the bus and dropped Amelia off at pre-school and met Becky at her parents. She had stayed there for the night to be closer to the hospital should anything happen. She was feeling crampy and such so we started timing her contractions. They were around 6 mins apart but they varied. We called the midwife anyway and went in to the clinic. We got there around noon and when the midwife checked, Becky was about 3cm. But the baby's head wasn't oriented in the right way so as to put pressure on the cervix and open it up more. Becky laboured there and tried some stuff to get her head to turn to no avail. Around 3:30 we were told to go home or whatever and see what happens. We decided to go to my parents. Of all our parents they were closest to the hospital and definitely closer than home. I went and picked up the girls and brought them there. At this point we kinda knew they were going to have to stay somewhere without us. We knew this was the night. Becky prefers to give birth at night apparently. (10:19pm, 1:41am and now 11:51pm) By the time I got back Becky was in a LOT of pain. Around 7 she was telling me that she couldn't do it anymore. She was concerned that all she was going through would have been for nothing and nothing would have changed. I told her that all we could do was go back in and check. We met the midwife at the hospital around 9pm. Becky barely made it to LDR. She was really hurtin' now. They checked her there and she had progressed to 6cm but the head still wasn't right. She spent a couple more hours labouring and trying to get the baby turned. I put a Buddhist chant for removing blockages on repeat on my iPod and we listened to that the whole time. Also, when she was contracting, I gently placed my hands on her and visualized that when I breathed in, I took away all her pain as black smoke. It dissolved in my heart. And when I breathed out, pure white healing light channeled through my hands into her to ease her suffering. I told her what I was doing and she would visualize it too. She told me it really helped her.

Shortly after 11, the midwife offered to try and turn the baby. Becky agreed and voila! The baby moved into position. Then The midwife broke her water and we were underway! According to the records, Becky started pushing at 11:42pm. That means she was only pushing for 9 minutes. 9! 3 pushes to get the head out and one more for the rest. They had Becky grab hold of this bar that went up over the end of the bed. She was able to pull on that bar to really put some leverage into it. As with Amelia, I helped "catch" the baby. I held my hand on the back of her neck once her head was out and when her little body came sliding out, I put my hand under her back and "caught" her! It's awesome. I got to cut the cord too and Becky actually got that on video! I haven't watched the videos yet but that's a cool moment to catch.

After all was said and done, all the checks complete and a-okay, we were headed out the door. A mere 4 hours after she was born! Ah, the beauty of having a midwife. As long as everything is good, you go home! No sitting around in a loud, unprivate and (let's be honest) disease-spreading hospital for no reason.

So from the time we arrived at the hospital til we got home was only 8 hours. Some women push for that long! haha Maybe not that long but you get my drift.

So as you can imagine, we have been bombarded with "Are you gonna try for a boy?" The answer to that is a resounding HELLS NO! Hahahaha I know we have a 50/50 shot (no pun intended) every time but so far our luck has been leaning one way. So the likelihood of having a boy isn't very good. We are just meant to make beautiful girls. We could go on and on and never have a boy.So we're quitting while we're ahead.  You have to draw the line somewhere. It sounds bad to talk about kids in a financial respect but it doesn't make sense for us to have any more kids financially. Our situation isn't likely to change in the foreseeable future so we want to do the best we can for the kids we have now. If you can afford lots of kids, go for it! We always kinda knew we wanted three and now we do. Besides, Becky's the one that has to carry and deliver them, and she said No. So that's that. LOL

Plenty of people have asked me how I felt about having all girls. Well, there's nothing I can do about it right? So I embrace it. I have to be honest though and say that in the back of mind there will always be a voice that says "3 teenage girls all at home" and it kinda freaks me out. Then I think "4 possibly menstruating women all at home" and freak out a little more. I'll have to find a safe place to hide. I've even coined the term "Estro-fest".Ah, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love my girls. And I will turn at least one of them into a metalhead. It's all about exposure. I'll wear 'em down.

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