You know what's absolutely magical?

Sitting up late at night when the house is quiet, the neighbourhood even quieter, and the only sound you hear is the sound of your son quietly feeding at your breast.

Night #1 at home was fantastic. We're finding our way. Coordinating the diaper change is the funniest (and most time-consuming) thing. Oscar is not a fan. Babies are so squirmy!

Poor Donald... when O's poop started to change from the black tar of meconium to the green "stuff" that it now is (that STICKS to his bottom), I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I've never seen it either, but I mean, poop is poop. What's the deal?

And speaking of poop....

I do believe the universe is getting back at me for choosing to have an epidural for childbirth, by making me go through absolute hell in the pain that comes with the first bowel movement post-birth.

Not good times.

Perhaps tonight we can order take-out from The Banana Leaf.

Works every time.

And now? Time to wake up Oscar for his snacky.

S.

PS: LOVE your comments! Love the positivity behind all of them! Thanks so much for thinking of us enough to leave a note.

S.

Oscar's home!

We came home from hospital today. FINALLY!

Feels wonderful to be a family in our home. Feels so different. Feels right.

Oscar Joshua Yen-Jo Lee was born on February 6 at 3:05am at BC Women's Hospital. He was a very surprising weight of 8.4 lbs and was 21 & 3/4 inches. Long baby.

Big baby.

Laboured for 55 hours. Loved every minute of it. It simply meant that he was that much closer to being here! (Don't get me wrong, the labour pains were something fierce.. but much more on that later.)

It was quite the traumatic birth for the little guy, and very traumatic for me as I couldn't be with him right away, and couldn't start feeding him until about 36 hours later... but he's ok, (he was the "Big Kid on Campus" in the intermediate nursery!), he's home, he's healthy, he's a monster at breastfeeding, he's a devil at peeing on his own face, he has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen, and he is, quite simply, Love.

More, much more, later. For now, it's time to nap with my little guy.

Off to the hospital!

12 hours of early labour in the "comfort" of my own home and the induction nurse just called. I told her that labour actually started on it's own and she recommended we come in right away all the same as we're 8 days over. As labour has quieted down a bit for me, I might need some help to get it moving again (drip perhaps). Which means.... We'll be admitted!

Won't have to worry about being sent home. Phew! Somewhere to lay my hat until our son is here!

And another fantastic piece of news... my OB is on today! Looks like she'll deliver if things go well.

S.

Labour has started. Contractions are fast and furious. Can't get comfortable. I guess just the mere thought of being induced, induced me! :)

Oh God, here comes another one....
s.

*Update*

Very briefly as we're having a quiet night together at home.... We're being induced tomorrow. The Non-Stress Test was all good, but when I had the ultrasound, it showed the amniotic fluid was a bit low (moderately low). So, after a consult with the on-call OB, it was left to us whether we wanted to go ahead with induction tomorrow, or wait until Friday.

We chose tomorrow.

For a few reasons.

• He's ready. He's 41 weeks in there!
• We don't want to take a chance that we're doing him any harm at all by leaving him alone in there for 3 more days. Might be only three days, but still.... (with this going on, it's better he comes out than stays in)
• Waiting until Friday to induce would mean constant bed rest for me and also back and forth to the hospital for monitoring (so I guess not constant bed rest!)
• My stress about the above point would, in our opinion, be worse on him.
• It is, simply, time.

Cervix is still not dilated. I think it might have been but when we were in the Assessment area, there was a woman in labour and it friggin' freaked me out so much that my cervix immediately closed!!! :)

The induction will start with a pill called Cervidol. It apparently softens the cervix. It's also on a string, so if things move along too fast, it can be removed. The OB called it, wait for it now.... "soap on a rope". I thought that was hilarious.

Anyway, they'll insert that, watch me for an hour or so, and if nothing, send me home for a while. Then I'll go back 6 hours later for another one. If that one doesn't take I think the oxytocin starts. OR, if I'm finally dilated a bit they'll break the water or do the membrane sweep. I'm not a candidate for oxytocin at this point because the cervix isn't ripe enough for it.

Or something.

Can't remember it all right now, nor the exact order of things, just that it's all starting tomorrow!

As upsetting as it may be that labour is being induced, it also means that my son is that much closer to being safely in my arms. As a friend once said when talking about bringing children into this world, "It doesn't matter HOW they get here... just that they do."

Exactly.

I may post in the morning, or when we come home/IF we come home to wait for the Cervidol to kick in, but who knows how the next day or so will go.

Best bet is to stay tuned via twitter!


One week overdue.

Off to hospital in a few minutes for ultrasound and monitoring... to make sure all is well with him in there. Hopefully my OB will be there and we can chat about the tentative induction on Friday - what the procedures are, what they'll start with (ie: membrane sweep if I'm dilated at all? Prostaglandin gel? Oxytocin?), how it all works.

If all is well with everything today; if placenta looks good, fluid looks good, heart is beating at whatever rate is normal at this point, all that good stuff.... then we'll be sent home with a date and time for induction IF it doesn't start on it's own.

And on my side... if that's the case, I'm meeting up with Dr. Tanya again this week, and I've been chatting with a bodyworker to look into Bowen Therapy and if it can help induce labour naturally. I'm still fighting the good fight to have things happen naturally! (Hmmmm, I used the word "fighting"... perhaps I should change the languaging!)

Having bizarre dreams still. But it's good: they're showing me places I still have to work on before baby comes. For example? Two nights ago I dreamt that a woman wouldn't give me by son back. She was holding him and when I went to get him, she turned away with him in her arms and did not want to give him to me.

Not good. I woke up completely panicked and mad and really upset. And remained that way for a few hours until I got a bit of advice via Twitter.

And then last night I dreamt that I was fighting a female vampire. Woke up thismorning wondering who is sucking the energy out of me. Who's the energetic vampire in my life?

Good news?

I won the battle.

So I know I'm on solid ground with myself.

By the way, I've set up Twitter on my cell phone so I can text in updates along the way. If you want to follow along with the labour and delivery (well, I dare say I won't be texting during delivery!), you can follow me on Twitter, or check this blog often and look on the right sidebar to the Twitter update box.

All for now, time to hit the road!

S.

40 weeks 6 days.

Went for acupuncture round #2 today with Dr. Tanya. It was different. Something has shifted. Can't quite put my finger on it, other than the fact that I'm SO READY (!) and perhaps it will all happen very soon. Perhaps he'll decide that it's time and things will start moving along. Like right now. Ok, Ok, wishful thinking.

Both Dr. Tanya and my mom seem to think I've dropped even more. I didn't think there was any more room to drop, lol!

I'm having alot of cramping and pressure happening, but, alas, still no labour.

He's still very very active in there. As for me, I'm not so active. It takes so much energy just sitting down for crying out loud! More of the mucus plug is breaking up (at least I think that's what's happening!). And yet, still no labour. Argh.

Tomorrow morning we're off to BC Women's for the ultrasound and monitoring. We'll learn more at that point - and I'll get to see him again! - and I'll have lots of info to digest and research. Started to look into medical inductions earlier thismorning so will keep up with it tomorrow (if all looks good with him and we aren't admitted!) so I have a clear picture of what exactly we're in for... IF we have to go that route.

All for now. Time to crawl into bed and hope I can sleep for more than 2 hours straight! (I'm sure I'll be saying that in a week or so too... but for a much better reason!)

S.

40 weeks 5 days.

I am SO restless. We both are. It's like knowing a Vegas trip is only 2 days away.

Only better.

And scarier. Hey, at least I know what to expect in Vegas!

I have another acupuncture appointment tomorrow so we'll see if that moves things along. Plus it's just a bonus to visit with Dr. Tanya. And have a nice, relaxing session. You know really, I can do as much of this as I want but the truth is, it's either going to happen naturally or it's not. Simple as that. He'll arrive in the way that he's supposed to arrive. I don't have much say in it. Other than putting off any medical interventions for as long as it's safe to. I'm not about to jeopardize his health and safety in any way so I'll definitely do what needs to be done. But only when it needs to be done.

Donald is pretty much done work now except for going in for a few hours early tomorrow morning. At least I'll have company in my restlessness until labour starts. IF it starts on it's own. WHEN it starts on it's own.

We're going to be all prepared (I've got to work on being emotionally prepared) for Tuesday and the possibility that we may be admitted and induced. (First time on this site?: If I don't go into labour NOW (ok, ok, I have until tomorrow), we go in on Tuesday for an ultrasound and monitoring. If there's anything that makes the doctors uncomfortable with what they might see/find, we'll be admitted.) So we're doing laundry, cleaning up our room, making sure cats are fed, all that good stuff on Tuesday morning.

Just in case.

Whatever it takes to make sure he arrives safely. Count me in.

S.