Friday, March 23, 2012

funny things said this week

Kara: "Jane has stopped crying."
Mark: "Yes, she has stopped crying! Don't worry, its only temporary."


Chloe: "I don't want to hold Jane. I don't want to catch her hiccups."


Chloe: "Something is stinky."
Danielle: "Its Jane. She made baby bum noise. Baby bum noise is stinky."
Chloe: "No, its stinkier than that."

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Pictures!

Things are going well. I'm tired, but adjusting. I think the same can be said for the girls. I know its odd for Kara that she is no longer the youngest. Its also hard for me. Two weeks ago, even though I was massively pregnant, it wasn't hard for me to lift Kara. Now she seems very big and heavy.

Now for pictures :)





This is Jane:
 This is Kara:
 And this is Chloe:

Monday, March 19, 2012

Jane Marian Nicholson

Our baby is finally here. Jane Marian Nicholson arrived on Sunday March 18 at 4:10am. She was 8lb1oz and 21.5in long.


Now for the crazy story...

Jane was due on Tuesday the 13th. Since both Chloe and Kara arrived by their due-dates, Mark and I were rather anxious when Jane still wasn't here on Thursday. On Friday I looked up ways to induce labour naturally, as I was tired of being pregnant, and wanted to avoid chemical induction from being really overdue. The first suggestion I found that I wanted (was willing) to try was to go for long walks. So Kara and I walked to Chloe's school to pick her up on Friday afternoon, and then I went for 2 walks on Saturday. I also was intrigued by maternity acupressure, which says there are certain pressure points that can help the baby get into the right position and start labour. I worked on a few of these points through the day on Saturday. And the last thing I figure that ensured Jane coming on Sunday was us telling Aaron that we would give him a ride to church.

Around 2:20am, I woke up with a mild contraction, got up, went to the bathroom, and went back to bed. I fell back asleep. I woke up again right at 3am to another contraction. I went to the bathroom, got a drink, and waited to see what would happen. Based on my labours with Chloe & Kara, I figured I would have about 30min to an hour before I would need to wake Mark. However, by 3:15am my contractions were only 2 minutes apart. I went to the bathroom again because I needed to, and somehow I just couldn't get up to wake Mark. Eventually Mark woke up because of the sounds I was making (I was in lots of pain), and he knew that it was serious. He came in to the bathroom and said "Why didn't you wake me?!?!" to which I think I replied "I don't know!" He called my mom, then I called the answering service for the midwife while Mark went to the bathroom. Mark answered the phone when the midwife called and she said "Get to the hospital right now." So Mark tried to get me ready, but he had to find someone to stay with the girls first (they were both awake by then), since it was going to be at least another 30 minutes before my mom arrived. In the 5 minutes Mark took to find a neighbour, everything changed.

When Mark got back with Greg, he said "Lets go." I remember yelling at one point to something he said, "I can't!" I told him that I needed to push, and that we weren't going to make it to the hospital, and that he needed to call the midwife and tell her as much. The midwife called back, and said "I'll be there. If I don't make it in time, catch the baby in a towel, and start drying her off." Within 5 minutes of that phone call, I felt Jane's head crowning. By this time, Greg had called his wife Crystal over to take his place, and she was in the bathroom with me. Mark came in just in time to catch Jane in the towel Crystal was holding, with me telling him when I was pushing and how close to out Jane was, since he needed to know what I was doing/feeling. I think it took maximum 15 minutes of pushing from when I first felt it was time until Jane was all the way out.

Within 2 minutes of Jane being out of me, the midwife showed up, and thankfully took over. She cut the umbilical cord and wrapped Jane in a towel. Mark took Jane to meet her sisters (and my mom, who had arrived very shortly before that) while the midwife made sure I was doing okay. I was definitely in mild shock, with some shaking. But Mark got me some blankets, a drink and a muffin, and then I felt a bit better, though I was still cold. But my blood pressure was okay when the midwife checked it. The midwife then checked Jane thoroughly to make sure everything was right, and also weighed and measured her.

So, I woke up in full labour at 3am, and Jane was born 1hr10min later. I had her in the bathroom, and Mark caught her in a towel. My neighbour Crystal was a huge help. The after-birth check-ups with the midwife took about an hour. At that point Mark and I got a few minutes alone with Jane, which is when we got to decide that Jane would indeed be her name. Then I tried to feed Jane (it mostly worked), and then I got to nap while the girls watched some TV. Mark and Grandma tried to get them to go back to bed a few times, but they never did fall back asleep.

Around 9am, my mom took Chloe and Kara back to her place in Abbotsford, and we got peace and quiet for the rest of the day. I am still amazed at how fast my labour was, and everything else that happened yesterday. I am so grateful for both my mom and Crystal, and so proud of Mark for being so awesome a husband and dad.

Everything is going very well today, though I am very tired and need to rest a lot. The girls are back home, and its a lot louder, which is both nice and, well, loud. They are so enamoured with Jane, and Chloe keeps asking to hold Jane. However, I know it will take a lot of adjustment for them, especially Kara. She's not the 'baby' anymore, and I know its going to be weird for her to not have all of my attention when Chloe is at school.

Now begins a week of all of us at home, as Chloe is on Spring Break, and Mark is taking a week off work. The timing actually works out very nicely that way.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll post some pictures of Jane once I get them off the camera and onto my computer.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Oops (aka lots of updates)

So, its been 2 months since I've posted here. Not good.
MANY things have happened since then. Lets see where we get ;)

Peppers!

We are growing peppers on our kitchen window sill (inside). We've had one "crop" of a few peppers already, and a second is growing.


Daddy's DS

Mark's DS is a favorite toy for both our girls. They like to play Chrono Trigger WITH daddy, or either Pictochat or Scribblenauts by themselves.


Kara's Birthday

Kara is 3! Her birthday was March 10, though we had her party on March 3 just in case the baby decided to come early. (It didn't.) Here's some pictures from her party.



Playtime

So, there was the teachers' strike last week. That meant Chloe was home for a few days. The girls had a lot of fun playing different things, like finger painting and "princesses". Oh, and spinning around in new pretty dresses from Grandma Rose. (Thanks Grandma!)






Tooth Fairy

Chloe lost her third tooth last week. She pulled it out herself, even. She was so excited to get "a whole dollar!", which she spent on a pack of orange tic-tacs. It was funny, because the tic-tacs could fit through the hole left by the missing tooth.

What's Next?

Well, at this point, we're waiting for baby. My due date is technically today. We'll see what happens though. I sure would like to be done though. Chloe has Spring Break next week, which will make things interesting. Other than that, life goes on. Hopefully it won't take me 2 months to get back here again.