A little of this, a little of that....

Friday, December 31st....

Well, I managed to blog everyday in December. I'm going to try to keep the pace up, just to help document everything about Finley and to share pics with everyone.

She is one week old today! Jim and I both think she's getting bigger already. She should be growing like a weed given how much she eats!

Finley had visitors today!

Here she is with her Uncle Eddie...

With Auntie Lisa...

With cousin Kendall...

Cousin Brett was visiting too, but didn't feel well, so she didn't get to hold Finley.

Unnfortunately, I missed their entire visit. I was all ready for the visit- I showered, washed my hair and even put make-up on today. A little bit before they arrived, I got a migraine and had to retreat upstairs. I fell asleep for awhile, but I still had it when I woke up. I still have it now, but I'm trying to not let it ruin the entire day. It's New Year's Eve, after all!

Jim is at the grocery store picking up some things. We were going to drink some champagne tonight, but with my headache, I don't think it would be good.

Two years ago today, Jim proposed. Last year, we celebrated our first New Years as a married couple. Now this year, Finley is with us. Things have changed so much over the past couple of years. Jim and I feel so lucky we found each other. We were joking that we should've named the baby 'Harmony' after eHarmony!

Happy New Years everyone! I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

Thursday, December 30th...

We're quickly realizing that everything for Finley comes with some sort of instructions. If only she came with instructions! My attention span is next to nil these days, so Jim's been so great about reading the instructions for the car seat, the bottle warmer, and how to sterlize the bottles.

Our routine is getting better. For now, I sleep from 8pm-2am-ish and then Jim sleeps from 2am-8am-ish. I've been also able to take some naps while she's sleeping and while I'm "on duty". So overall, I'm getting about 7-8 hours of sleep per day. I'm still tired at the end of the day, but I think that's only natural as my body heals. We're going to switch it up in a week or two and both try to go to bed at the same time, but we're not ready to not have one of us on duty throughout the night.  I said "we're" not ready, but it's mostly me. I think it's every new parent's worry about making sure their newborn keeps breathing OK throughout the night, right? I don't think I'm alone in my overcautiousness.

Today I sorted through all of the boy clothes I'd gotten. I need to make a MAJOR return at Carter's. It's more obscene really than major, if that's possible.

This afternoon, Finley had a visit from Bernie!

And while Bernie was holding her, she discovered how to suck her thumb...

Finley is still doing great at eating/burping/pooping. She eats an average of 3oz. each time and sleeps from 3 to 5 hours in between.

Today was my original due date. For so long, I focused on this date of 12.30.10. Now 12.24.10 ingrained in my brain as the best day ever.

 

Wednesday, December 29th...

Things are slowly starting to settle into a routine. Finley usually sleeps anywhere from 3 to 4 hours at a time. If she sleeps past four hours, we go ahead and start changing her diaper in order to wake her up so she can eat.

She's still a superstar at eating. She sucks down those little 2oz. bottles so fast! Sometimes we have to give her more. We try to distract her after the first bottle is gone, but she still wants more. She continues to root around and smack her lips. She's a growing girl! Her discharge weight was 6lbs., 8oz (she only lost 4oz), but I bet she's gained it all back. She's still such a good burper and pooper too.

I'm doing much better. I'm tired, but I'm starting to get more and more sleep each day. Sometimes it's just hard to break away from everything and go upstairs to take a nap. I'm also trying to deal with my obsessiveness about not being able to do everything like I used to. I'm slowly learning to 'let things go' for awhile, but it's hard. Since I didn't have a job, I always considered it my job to take care of the house and keep things in order. I also like to do any job the best that I can, so now when I don't have everything under control on my own, I feel like I'm not doing my job. Jim's great about reassuring me, but it's just me being quirky and anal retentive. 

Jim's doing great. He loves Finley so much. He's so good about wanting to take turns to feed her and change her. He's always kissing her and telling her how cute she is. He is definitely crazy in love with her!

OK, now back to the world of Finley!

Dad gave her her first sponge bath today...

She did great- she fussed a little, but didn't really cry.

After her 'bath', Auntie Deb came to visit...

Finley was very popular today... after Auntie Deb left, Sara, Troy and Baby Troy came to visit...

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and admiring Finley!

 

Tuesday, December 28th...

Jim and I tried the same routine as last night. I went to bed around midnight and then got up around 2:45am. I came downstairs with her and managed to fall asleep on the couch later that morning. I know we should just both go to bed at the same time, but we're new parents and we're still learning. We're still on day #3 at home, so I'm sure we'll find a schedule that works very soon.

Once Jim goes up to bed, he sleeps until he wants to wake up (usually about six hours). This is helpful because he's more help during the day and doens't need a nap like I do. He's been so helpful. He's the best husband and now best dad.

I'm starting to feel a little better, however I woke up with two huge canteloupes on my chest today. Not pleasant.

Finley is now eating and pooping like a champ. She started off only eating 1/4 to 1/2 ounce of formula in the hospital, but she's really gotten the hang of things now. She's now downing one of the 2oz. bottles and wanting more. We started giving her a second 2oz. bottle and she's been drinking about 1/2 oz. from it. She's great at burping and sleeps sometimes up to five hours between bottles. She's also a champ at either rooting or tooting. Once she gets hungry, she starts smacking her lips together. If one of her hands finds her mouth, she starts sucking on her fingers. Also anytime the blanket happens to rub her face, she turns towards it like she's going to eat. Even if Jim is holding her and she's hungry, she starts rooting around like she's going to eat. She also toots a lot... we can hear when she's filling a diaper!

She hates to have a dirty diaper, so with her eating as much as she does, we've been changing A LOT of diapers.

We had the morning to ourselves.

Spending some time with Daddy...

Around 11:30am, Grandma came to visit! At 12:47pm, Finley was 100 hours old!

Finley was dressed up for Grandma wearing the little outfit Grandma brought for her in the hospital...

As snug as a bug again! (Thanks Jen for the super soft pink blanket... Claire was right- it's a favorite!)...

And the verdict is still out on Gus. We're still not quite sure what he thinks of Finley...

Monday, December 27th...

Our first night went fairly well. I went to bed around 10pm and slept until 2am or so. I came downstairs and then Jim headed upstairs to go to bed. We both did fine on our own, relatively speaking. It's still a whole new ballgame though. We've been changing her right before feeding her, just to help keep her awake while she eats. We quickly learned to get everything in place before starting this process, because once she's ready to be changed and fed, she is a pistol. She arches her back and pumps her legs.

While I've spent the last nine months planning about her arrival, wondering about labor and delivery, and psyching myself up for the process, I failed to plan (or realize) how my body would feel after having her. I knew I'd be tired, but I guess I was naive to think of how sore my muscles would be. My body was stiff and sore in places I didn't even know I had muscles. Today was probably the worst day for me for recovery. I was super sore and my muscles were really really tired. I've still been taking the same dosage of Motrin that they gave me in the hospital, so that helps, but my body is still tired. Hats off to those women who have c-sections. Wow... I couldn't imagine the recovery process those women had to endure.

Finley's adjusting very well to home life. She's doing well and eating, burping and filling a diaper. When she's fussy, Jim walks all over the house with her showing her around, just talking to her. She keeps her eyes open as if she's listening to every word he's saying.

Finley had some visitors this morning!

Leslie, Henry, and Leslie's mom Brenda stopped by. Henry was checking out his future girlfriend...

We then had the rest of the day to ourselves.

Here's Finley (three days old)...

As snug as a bug... (she's in the bassinett that's been in Jim's family for a long time... it's the same one he was in when he was a baby)...

See that blanket with the ducks on it (in the photo above)? Jim made me take it from the hospital! He wanted to save everything that she first used in the hospital!

We already started the pacifier. She loves it....

 

Going home! Sunday, December 26th...

We could've gone home early on Saturday, but honestly, I wanted to take advantage of staying there as long as we could. Since Finley was still learning to eat, I wanted her to get as much practice as possible before going home. It's also comforting to have a staff of experts and trained nurses on call. At one point on Saturday, Finley had hiccups and we were both like "WHAT DO WE DO?!?" It was so nice to have a nurse right there to ask questions.

I went and got Finley from the nursery around 4:15am Sunday morning. We kept her in the room for a few hours and then took her back so we could get another little nap in.

Once Finley came back in with us, we started getting stuff ready to go home. Here is Finley's little cart and where she spent her first hours...

The hospital photographer came in to take her picture. Once she was finished taking her picture, she put all of the photos into a little digital slideshow so we could see them (she had a little kiosk on wheels with a monitor). The slideshow started playing along with a sappy song and guess what happened?! I burst into tears. I became "blubbering new mom". I was so filled with joy over how beautiful and perfect she was, I was overcome with happiness. The photographer said it happens all the time. Shame on the photography company for using the emotions of new moms, but excellent job to their marketing team... way to go for the emotional purchase. Of course, I wanted the pics. They were ridiculously overpriced, but without hesitating, Jim said "we'll take the CD". I love that man. He knew I couldn't say no.

I'd brought a couple of gender-neutral going home outfits for the baby. If Baby T ended up being a girl, it was my plan all along to bring her home in one very special outfit... it was the outfit that I came home from the hospital in. Mom had saved it for me and I'd packed in our hospital bag with hopes that we'd have a baby girl to put it on.

Here she is in her 36-year old outfit (would her outfit be vintage, or retro?)...

In the pic above, you get a good look at her little big feet and her finger-like toes! I think she's going to grow tall like her Daddy!

The outfit had a little tiny bonnet, but it didn't fit her little head so well.

Dad makes everything better...

Jim can't stop kissing her!

OK, looks like she's had enough pictures...

We ended up having to change her back into her little t-shirt because the sleeves on the shirt were too tight and the little underpants made her butt sweat (they're the old school training pants that are lined with plastic).

Jim made a couple of trips to the car and at 12:30pm, we headed home!

It was super cold and snowy and I thought for sure she'd fuss once we got in the cold air, but she did fine.

Jim loaded her up in the carseat. She looked UBER tiny in that big ol' carseat!

And we were off! Jim did a great job driving home. He said he had to purposely make himself press on the gas to go faster on 315. He wanted to be extra careful on the drive home!

And we made it!

I wanted to take more photos getting her out of the car and in front of the house, but it was too cold for photo ops.

In order to get the best reaction from the cats, I went in first without the baby. We learned that the primary pet caregiver should go in first and greet the animals before introducing the baby to them. So I went in and sat on the floor to pet them. Jim came in then with Finley and while I was scratching and petting Chingy and Gus, he got her ready to be out of the carseat. He gave her to me while I was still sitting on the floor. Gus and Chingy started sniffing. Chingy didn't pay much attention, he just wanted more scratching and petting. Gus took notice though- his eyes got really big like he was thinking "Umm... why is that blanket MOVING!?".

We quickly settled in. The afternoon went well. She slept while we put things away and got supplies in order! We moved her PlayYard over by the couch. It has a changing station on it and we have all of her diapers, blankets, wipes and supplies in it. We brought her bassinett down from upstairs and also put it by the couch. After we fed her and changed her, she went back to sleep.

We couldn't wait to get a picture of our favorite Christmas present this year...

While she slept, Jim and I opened Christmas presents.

We spent the rest of the day just getting used to having Finley at home. Jim and I decided to keep her in the living room 100% of the time (for now). Our plan is to split the night shifts. That way when the other person goes upstairs to bed, we can get some quality sleep (we're going for quality sleep now instead of quantity sleep!). Plus, as new parents, we're smack-dab in the phase of wanting to watch her every breath or be close to her while she sleeps. We still check on her a hundred times and hour and also at every little sound she makes. Jim's as cautious as I am with her... he said he even blew on her cheek to get her to move while she was sleeping. We're also over-cautious about making sure she's not too cold or not too hot. I'm sure our guard will go down with each passing day.

It was a big day in the Taylor house. And our household will never be the same (sorry Chingy and Gus, she's here to stay!).

Merry Christmas! Saturday, December 25th...

Before I forget, I wanted to add a quick little fun fact.... Riverside delivers around 7,000 babies a year (that's around 20 per day). On the day that I was induced (Thursday, December 23rd), they delivered 27 babies! Eight babies were delivered in ONE HOUR! What an amazing place to have little miracles come into the world so often! I give my highest kudos to Riverside... they were absolutely awesome.

OK, now back to the story!

When Jim and I took Finley to the nursery, there was only a few other babies in there. I thought- oh boy, I'm a wimpy mother, all of the other mothers are toughening it out and keeping their babies in their rooms throughout the night. But, we were both exhausted and knew this was the only way we could get any sort of sleep.

Jim and I went back to the room and fell asleep around 9:30pm. I managed to get some sleep, but it was really broken- the nurses didn't hestitate one bit about coming in to wake me up to check my vitals, or to give me some Motrin!

Around 3:45am, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep... all I could think about was what if she was the only baby in the nursery? I couldn't take the thought of her being lonely, so I trodded across the hall and got her. When I looked in the nursery, there were probably about twenty babies in there! Whew! Other mothers wanted sleep too! I also could see that the nurses had all of the babies in red hats and were all inside a red stocking. I wheeled Finley back into the room- I couldn't wait to show Jim our Christmas baby!

All of the stockings were different, so I think it's ironic that Finley got one with a cat on it! The nurse said that one (the one with the cat) was her favorite and that's why she put Finley in it! I told her we had two cats, so it was perfect (purrfect!).

Daddy's little girl...

We kept her in the room for a couple of hours, and then took her back to the nursery. We wanted to get another one or two hour nap before we started the day.

Later that morning, Finley had some visitors! And as of 8:47am Christmas day, she was officially one day old!

With Leslie and Dustin...

We had a little break in visitors after Leslie and Dustin left, so we were able to have some mommy/daddy/Finley time!

I don't think I've posted many pics of it yet, but Finley has a lot of dark hair!

Here she was looking over at Daddy...

Getting hungry...

Jim went home around 11am to shower and check on the boys. He took Finley's first hat (the one with some of the vernix on it) home so they could smell it. He said they first were more interested in being scratched and petted, but then became very intrigued by the little hat. Jim even took a video of the boys smelling the hat so I could see what they did! At one point Chingy had his face down in the hat smelling it! Jim said he had a talk with them to let them know there's a new girl in town!

While Jim was at home, I took a shower (I took Finley back to the nursery) and got in a somewhat presentable state for the day.

Then Mom and Granny came to see Finley again!

Mom and Granny left to head home to get ready for Christmas at their house.

Jim came back around 3pm and then we spent some more time with our baby girl.

I could just kiss her cute little face off!

Around 5pm, Debbie and Jack came by to bring us Christmas dinner.

We then had the rest of the evening to ourselves!

The nurse took a picture of the three of us...

Time for (another!) dinner...

Jim and I took Finley back to the nursery around 11pm and got some sleep.

It was an awesome Christmas day. Finley is the best gift ever.

 

The best day ever continues... Friday, December 24th...

Going from the labor/delivery room to my postpardum room was also very surreal. I had just had Finley about an hour prior and was being pushed in the wheelchair with her in my arms. Everyone I passed gave me a huge smile. I felt so proud. I had an extreme "Hey everyone! Look what I just did!" moment.

We got to the room and settled in. We opted to have the nurse do the postpardum checkup on Finley in our room. She was under the warmer while she was being checked out, but she did not like being exposed!

The worst part was hearing her cry during her bath. The nurse really had to give her a good scrub down to get all of the vernix off of her. She did not like any part of the process. Once Finley was done, she had to stay under the warmer until her body temperature was high enough.

While she was in the warmer, her visitors started to arrive!

Since Finley was in the warmer, she couldn't be taken out until her body temp was high enough, so unfortunately Sara never got to hold her!

Here's Sara with baby Troy (he's almost seven months old here... isn't he the cutest?) and Uncle Terry...

Even though Finley couldn't be held yet by visitors, I had carte blanche to hold her (skin to skin) so her body temp could regulate itself. Riverside is big into Kangaroo Care- that's what they call skin on skin contact with your baby. It's proven to regulate the baby's heartbeat and body temperature and soothes the baby almost instantly. It's true- Finley was so perfectly content to be on my chest. Her body temp was fine in no time!

Before I forget... the best part of the postpardum room? I got to eat! I was STARVING. I distinctly remember the potato soup they brought for my lunch. It was quite possibly the world's best soup ever created.

After Terry, Sara and baby Troy left, Finley's visitors continued to arrive!

Here's Finley with her Grandpa Taylor...

And with her Grandma Taylor...

And with her Auntie Lisa...

And her Uncle Eddie...

The nurse came in to check up on Finley. She also fed her...

After Finley's lunch, she had more visitors!

With her Aunt Deb...

With her Aunt Chris and cousin Kadin...

Finley's visitors also included Jack (Debbie's boyfriend), Paxton and Logan (Jack's son and daughter) and Brandon (Chris' boyfriend)...

After everyone left, we had a little break in between visitors. It was nice to be able to love all over Finley and be selfish with her for a little while!

Ah! She's got that 'new Finley' smell...

After our little break, Finley had more visitors!

Here's Finley with her great-aunt Suzi...

And with her second-cousin Bethany (and Bethany's fiance Gregg)...

With Jen...

After a busy and exciting day, the three of us spent some quiet time together after everyone left. Jim and I still could not believe how incredible she was. We were perfectly fine to just sit and stare at her for hours. To us, she was and is the most fascinating thing we've ever seen.

But by this time, we were so incredibly tired. My body was starting to feel all of the strain I'd put on my muscles and I was exhausted. We intended on keeping her in our room, but we ended up taking her to the nursery. I'm sure every new parent goes through the same thing- we wanted to make sure she kept breathing and thought she's best in the nursery so someone could watch her the entire night! Plus, she was having some trouble eating. She had a lot of mucus in her belly, and threw up a couple of times. She was still also learning how the whole sucking/swallowing thing worked. She was only eating small, small amounts. She first ate 1/4 oz., then bumped up to 1/2 oz. So, we thought it would be best for her care to have the nurses watch her while we slept.

And so December 24th came to a close. The best day ever, in our opinion.

 

The best day ever...Friday, December 24th....

I'll pick up where I left off from my last post... I had several hours of waiting around for things to really start kicking in and progressing. We'd been coached that since this was my first baby, and that I'd started out only at 1cm, we should be prepared for the labor/delivery process to take around 24 hours.

Mom, Granny and Uncle Terry got to the hospital around 8pm (this was on Wednesday, December 23rd). Everyone was so excited. Mom and Granny were certain I'd be having the baby soon (like that night!), but we knew and were prepared for this to take awhile.

And here's the last time it's just the two of us  (pretty soon, 'us' will equal 3)....

This next part is a lot of details. You may get bored with the labor/delivery nitty gritty, but I wanted to write everything down while I could remember. I didn't want two days, then three days, then two weeks to go by and not be able to remember the details of how our little miracle came into the world.

Mom, Granny and Terry headed to the waiting room and Jim and I waited for the Pitocin to kick in. It really started kicking in around 11pm. At this point, I was about 2cm. Once I got to 3cm, my contractions were painful. PAINFUL. As in FULL of PAIN. I guess I was a little naive or misinformed about my epidural that I'd be getting... from the childbirth education class that Jim and I took, we both had the understanding that the epidural had a window of use. We both thought I'd be given an amount and towards the end, it would be tapered off. So, I didn't want to cry wolf too soon and then "run out" and be stuck writhing in pain to get to that last 10th cm. The nurse also told me I could get Nubane (for pain), but I also didn't want to use this little 'ace up my sleeve' too soon. Turns out, my epidural was a bottomless pit. The nurse said if it ran out, then they'd get more. That would have been helpful to know much sooner. I was in serious pain for a couple of hours and then threw in the towel to get the Nubane. I got my first dose at 1:50am. The nurse said it makes some women loopy. Loopy wasn't the word. It kicked my ass. At one point I could not open my right eye (seriously). But I was able to drift off to sleep for about 45 minutes, which was a nice break. The contractions started back in and I asked for a second dose. The nurse had prewarned me that the second dose typically doesn't work as well as the first dose. I got the second dose at 3:05am. By 3:30am, I was ready for my epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural around 4:00am. Of all the things to be nervous about for labor and delivery, I had been most nervous about getting the epidural. Something about having to sit perfectly still (even through a contraction) while a needle and a catheter tube was being put in my spine just gave me the willies. Getting the epidural turned out to be a piece of cake. I did have to withstand two strong contractions while it was going on, but I did it.

Had I known that my epidural would have lasted me the entire time, I would've gotten the Nubane earlier, and then the epidural earlier. But, know I have some new experiences and knowledge. Also confusion on why or how anyone could get through childbirth au naturale? WOW.

My epidural kicked in at 4am and I almost instantly fell asleep. I was so happy to get some sleep. Jim set up his bed in his recliner and he also got some sleep. Even with my blood pressure cuff going off every 15 minutes, I was OUT.

Throughout the night, Jim went out to check on our cheering squad in the waiting room. Terry went home after midnight, but Mom and Granny stayed the entire night. Mom said she kept the 24-hour onsite Tim Hortons in business. She said she had about six donuts and twelve coffees.  Oh, and before I forget- Mom (as nervous and excited as she was) got through this entire process still WITHOUT smoking. Great job Mom... so proud of you! I guess Mom was more than ready to give up smoking in order to be ready to hold her grandbaby!

So once I went to sleep around 4am, I was out until around 7am. The nurse checked me to see how much I'd dialated. I thought (was hoping), I was at least up to 5 or 6cm. The nurse was shocked! I was at 9 1/2 cm! WHAT?! I get an epidural, go to sleep, wake up and was ready to push? I *heart* epidurals!!!

I had to wait until I got to a full 10cm, so I had a little time to kill. I checked Facebook and even posted a status update!

Jim went to get Mom and Granny. They came in a last time before the nurse  got me ready to push.

Yes, I know I've looked better.

Mom and Granny headed back out to the waiting room and the nurse got me ready to push. Dr. Bell wasn't on call, so Dr. Shepherd (another doctor from the practice) came in to deliver the baby. My entire delivery team was Jim, Dr. Shepherd and Lisa the nurse. I told Jim about a dozen times- the nurses that work in labor/delivery are very special people to do what they do- they see anything and everything and still are so wonderful and helpful.

I started pushing at 7:50am. We were told the pushing could last up to two hours. To my surprise, I only pushed for 57 minutes.

Our only request from Dr. Shepherd was that Jim got to tell me if it was a boy, or a girl. At 8:47am, he told me what I'd been waiting to hear for the last nine months. IT'S A GIRL!!!

Our little girl, Finley Carson Taylor, was born at 8:47am on Christmas Eve day.

She weighed 6lbs., 12oz. and was 18 3/4" long. She was born with a lot of dark hair (all that heartburn was so worth it). I could not believe how tiny she was. The doctor said her head was big, so that was throwing off the ultrasound estimates on her weight. She was also an "extra cheesy" baby. She had a lot of vernix still on her (the waxy, cheese-like white stuff that coats the baby in the womb). 

Awww... look at my little cheese baby....

Here's Dr. Shepherd (on the left) and our nurse Lisa...

It was all so surreal. She was here, she was healthy, and she was perfect. Instantly I knew she was my biggest accomplishment I've ever done.

I think Jim and I cried more than little Finley did. Our cup runneth over. We were filled with more joy and more happiness than we ever expected or imagined.

Jim and I had about 15 minutes with her while the nurse and the doctor were getting things cleaned up and stitched up.

The new version of 'us'....

Jim went out to the waiting room to announce the joyous news. Terry had came back by this time, so Mom, Granny and Terry all came in to meet Finley. We were lucky- Finley was really alert for about an hour after she was born.

Here's Finley with her Grandma...

Finley with her great-Granny...

Finley with her great-uncle Terry...

Her first bottle...

From here, the nurse got everything ready for us to move to the postpardum room. Mom, Granny and Terry headed home and would be back later. 

I'll continue more in the next post. I've got lots of pictures to add!

It's time! Thursday, December, 23rd....

Hooray! Dr. Bell sent me on to the hospital today after my appointment today. My BP was really high again and he didn't want me to go through the holiday weekend with my BP and pulse acting up.

Jim left work and got home around the same time that I did. I'd already had everything packed, so I grabbed a light lunch, doubled-up on the cats' food and water, loaded up the car and headed to the hospital!

We got here around 2:30pm and I got into a Labor/Delivery room right away. Within a short time, I was hooked up like a car battery... I had the baby monitor, the contraction monitor, the finger-pulse monitor and an IV all a goin'.

Since my BP and pulse had been so high, Dr. Bell was a little puzzled over why... I never ended up getting eclampsia. So, just to be safe, he ordered an EKG and a heart ultrasound for me. Once it was determined my heart was healthy enough for labor, they'd start the process of inducing me. My heart turned out to be fine and healthy, so they started the Pitocin drip. The resident doctor also came in to put in a balloon in my cervix. This helps my cervix dialate... they slowly fill the balloon with saline to stretch things out. The doctor put the balloon in, and then I heard the word "ruptured". Turns out, my water broke when they did this! So, they cranked up the Pitocin a little more and now we're just playing the waiting game.

Here's a couple pics...

Riverside has free Wifi (and a 24 hour Tim Hortons)... so I'm in Facebook/Blog heaven...

It'll be awhile before anything happens... I'll be on the Pitocin for awhile and probably won't reach "active" labor until morning.

I called Mom and they're on their way! Mom said she'll stay the night up here!

I'll try to post as many updates as possible! I can't wait to announce the arrival of our little Christmas miracle!