His Story...

We would like to welcome our newest addition, our son, Elijah John McCallum. He was born at 9:16am Oct 13th at Regina General Hospital. He is beautiful, unique and absolutely precious. This is his story.

Dana and I headed to bed after watching some TV and relaxing. We talked for a bit. Mostly I cried, saying that I am so 'done' being pregnant and Dana consoled me trying to offer any words of encouragement to keep me going. We kissed and then went to sleep. Not long after I woke up (around 12:30am) with the starting of contractions. Thinking it was false labour, as the contractions were not very strong and about 15 minutes apart, I went back to sleep. I floated in and out of sleep for the next couple hours, until it was too uncomfortable. I started timing the contractions again and they were down to about 5 minutes apart, the same intensity as before though. I went and had a shower thinking maybe that would relax me and stop these 'false' labour pains, woke Dana up to message my back, and at about 4am Dana and I went for a walk. At this point, the contractions were still only 4 minutes apart, but much more intense. I was having to breathe through them. The fresh air felt so good on my face, and walking seemed to help. We came back inside, and put on a movie. What better movie to labour to then, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... LOL. It didn't take long before it was too uncomfortable lying on the couch so I went back up to the bathroom, only for a warm bath this time. Dana started noticing that the contractions were getting a little closer together, but much more intense. That's when we decided, maybe we should go accessed at the hospital. I was still convinced that I was false labour. It was about 6:30am when we left the kids with mom, texted my friend and doula- Jen, and headed out. The labour and delivery ward was buzzing with other women labouring. Apparently, we picked one of the busiest weekends to have a baby. The put me in an assessment room and checked me all out... only 4 cm dialated. All night of labouring, that is not what I wanted to hear. BUT the nurse did say my membranes had ruptured and they would be admitting me, so I was happy to know that my baby was on the way. After the assessment the contraction got much more intense and frequent. We got into the delivery room and I was able to try different positions... I rocked on the ball, went in the tub and eventually squated on the bed to deliver. With only two pushes he was out.... it was fast once I got to the hospital. And he only took two pushes to come out. Basically, it went like this:

Susie; "I need to push!!"
Nurse; "No, no. You are only 7 cm. Let's breathe through this one."
Susie thinks... I hate you.
Next contraction...
Susie; "Okay, I really need to push... I'm sorry... I can't stop..."
Nurse; "No, no, you are not ready. Don't push... oh! There's the head! Okay, the heads out. Let's wait for the next contrac... oh, there's the shoudlers... okay, here's the rest.... It's a boy!"

I always find it utterly amazing that your body just knows what to do. We can say we know, but ultimately our bodies were designed to know better. And thus was Elijah. Perfect in every way. He looks so uniquely different with his round head and fuzzy black hair, but also familar- sharing many characteristics with Kynan.

We only stayed at the hospital for a total of 9 hours and then were allowed to go home. So I was able to have all the comforts of a hospital birth and still sleep in my own bed. It was great. Lunch and dinner provided, and then on my way to the comforts of home. I feel really good, so happy to have Elijah in my arms and not in my belly. This morning I enjoyed a nice nap on my belly for the first time in 9 months... yes, it was heaven. I have had 3 hours of sleep in 36 hours so I am exhausted, but utterly delighted. I have so much more to share, but right now Kynan is yelling at me: "Go get him! He's crying! You are too slow... go now." Elijah started crying 30 seconds ago. LOL.... bliss.