I should be resting now, but I really want to get this down before other memories overwhelm me.

WARNING: the following post contains discussion of childbirth and other “female” topics. There is nothing graphic, but if you’re uncomfortable stop reading now.

I started getting contractions on Friday afternoon (Feb 9th). I went and checked my notes from the pre-natal class and concluded that they are preliminary contractions and decided not to worry. Chris had a goodbye LAN party to go to that his work buddies were throwing for him and I didn’t want him to miss it for nothing. We called Maria who previously offered to stay with me when Chris had to go somewhere. Maria, Dan and later Hubert came over and we played Scotland Yard. The game was fun except we started losing and my contractions increased so I ended up not paying much attention. I was really glad I had company. I was really comfortable with everyone around.

I vetoed Chris back home when contractions got to be about 7 minutes apart and they were about 5 minutes apart when we got to the hospital. We entered the hospital at 11:30 PM and Trevor was delivered at 1:32 AM. Everything went really smooth. The doctor saw me right away (he saw me in the morning too when I came in for the Non Stress Test I have been going to for the last week). It was really good to have familiar faces around who were well aware of Trevor’s history.

Chris is ready

Last hurah for DINKyness

By the time I got changed and prepared the OR was ready. The doctor assisting used to work at the clinic in Kanata so I was familiar with him too. We were joking around and I even go to pick the CD/radio station to listen to during the operation. They gave me a spinal block, which started working right away (I was sitting up when they gave it to me and by the time I laid down I could no longer move my legs). Then they brought Chris in and we started. Chris kept me entertained and when the little foot appeared the anaesthetist did a live play-by-play of the birth for me. Chris, who is usually extremely queasy, watched the whole thing. Then the paediatrician took the baby and did some checks on him. Trevor kept his usual attitude towards medial equipment and kicked off the little facemask used to measure his breath.

Watch out the World, here I come!

They actually let me hold Trevor for a moment and I got to give him a kiss. I was quite surprised since in the pre-natal class they said that they would only let the father hold the baby. They took Trevor and Chris to the nursery and I went into the recovery room. Chris watched then give Trevor a bath, which he says was very cute. You’ll just have to ask him about it.

One thing I can say is that I have a newfound appreciation for the nurses. After I’ve seen what they do for living, I don’t think I’ll complain about my job too quickly. Trevor did very well in the APGAR test and my recovery was good as well.

Splish-splash!