Labour of Love - Corny I Know...Deal With It.

Ken has been pestering me to post the story of Frances' birth, so here is the timeline.

2:30 am - I wake up with light cramping, wake Ken up, tell him not to get too excited and kick him out of bed so I can watch TV.

3:30 am - I realize now I am in labour, decide to watch the food network. Learn how to make a proper coconut cake from Alton Brown and timing my contractions reveals they are 7 min apart. I decide not to wake Ken up, he will probably freak out and I continue to labour in peace.

5 am - My contractions are now 6 min apart and I am too uncomfortable to stay in bed. I get up and make a lasagna. Yes, you read that correctly. We ate it when we got home, I did an admirable job.

6 am - The contractions are now much stronger and still 6 min apart. I wake Ken up and tell him to call in a sub. I call the hospital and speak to a doctor. He finds out this is my second kid and asks pretty please for me to come down to the hospital.

6:15 - I take a shower, do some last minute packing and call my parents. My Dad asks "is this a trick?" After assuring him it's showtime, he promises to send my Mom.

7 am - My Mom finally arrives, and we say goodbye to Teresa and head off.

7:30 am - I am put on a monitor in triage. My contractions are 4 min apart and very strong. I am only in triage for 30 min, and was dilated 4 cm.

8 am to 11 am - I labour and actually feel pretty good. My nurses took me off the monitor so I could move around, use the ball, and watch arrested Development on the laptop. At 10:45 I request the epidural. I am checked again and am 7 cm dilated.

By 11am I am in the process of having a very large needle jammed in my spine. This whole process takes about 30 min. During this time I start to feel the need to push. The anesthesiologist gives me a test dose (which is very small) and leaves to get the IV. I tell the nurse I need to push, and low and behold, I am now 10cm. My nurse puts on gloves and begs me not to give birth without a doctor. I hear her go out in the hall and yell for the doctor, saying "this is her second kid and she's pushing!" The doctor arrived, and in 3 contractions and 4 pushes my little Frances was born, naturally, at 11:48am.

I would not choose to give birth without an epidural again, but I'm glad I did it. I went through the whole birthing process on nothing stronger than Tylenol 3, and felt a little badass. Ken said when the shoulders came out I screamed louder than he'd ever heard before, whatever. Shoulders really hurt when they come out.

She was so worth it.

   Teresa seems to think so too.

The First Frances & Teresa Videos...

Well I guess you could call these two videos "Sugar & Spice" because the first one is of Teresa bring incredibly sweet while the second is one of her during her maniac pre-bed & post-dinner time...

The first video is of Teresa 'reading' to Frances from the book "On The Day You Were Born" which is about how the whole world awaited news of your arrival...  Teresa knows it pretty well for only having had it read to her 4-5 times.  Near the end she talks about Franceses, which are images of people.  This whole event was unprompted, got broken up due to me pestering Cara to take a picture, and then Teresa sat back down with Frances a minute later to finish.




The second video begins with Teresa giving Frances a kiss, then goes into Teresa dancing...  She had just watched the Super Why episode today where Princess Pea needs to learn how to twirl, and she kept falling.  Of course, Teresa fake falls really well.  I guess I should mention here that when I was at church this Sunday Teresa fell down a couple stairs from the stage as she was running and stumbled as she attempted to stop, and she had a bit of a bloody nose but was perfectly fine 2 minutes later...

Teresa also adjusts the blanket for Frances, which she had initially put there, takes a 'picture', gives me breakfast, spins some more, runs from a roar, has a really good real fall, makes a mess, doesn't listen to mommy, does listen to mommy and practice swimming...  All in barely 4 minutes!

More pics

We were allowed to go home yesterday with Frances, so Ray & Myrna brought Rowdy and Teresa back to the house and we relaxed.  After Teresa went to bed I got to cuddle Frances for a good hour while Cara caught a cat nap before the next feeding.

Right now feedings last about an hour (is she a slow eater or is the colestrum just really slow? We're not too sure.) and Cara is working on one as we speak.  I took today off (my one day I get) and am having a good time managing the two girls and the dog.  Rowdy has sniffed Frances down and seems to understand that he is going to be getting a little less attention now.

Frances went to bed around 1:00 and slept until 5:45 when she fed again.  I somehow got suckered into doing all the diapers this weekend so I am getting up to help at these odd hours now :)  Now for a few more pictures.  I will try to get video, but 90% of the tim it would involve Cara's boobs being out so I have to be careful.

I forgot how a well fed baby goes into a milk induced coma...

I got Teresa to hold Frances today solely for photographic evidence that they like each other.  Many people seem to enjoy the attitude that Teresa is evidencing in the hospital pic, but that was only caused by Myrna telling Teresa not to cover her eyes so she put her arms down crossed.

Another one?  Man!

Teresa really wanted a picture of her & her tower.

Teresa came up and asked to cuddle with me when she saw Frances doing it.  This is a welcome change, I no longer have to beg.

The Friesens Remembered Their Camera

So here are the 6 pictures they took while they visited.

This of course is my favorite :)

Frances Helen Yost

Cara gave birth the old fashioned way (she had her epidural put in but she had to push before she could get the good stuff) to a beautiful 7 lb 13 oz baby girl at 11:48 CST today.  She is named in honour of St. Francis of Assisi & Cara's paternal grandmother

Cara had been up labouring since about 3:30 am but was up and about, going so far as to put a lasagna together.  We got to the hospital around 7:30 and she only needed to push 4 or 5 times to get Francis out.  In the hullaboloo we forgot to pack a camera, but our video camera took a couple of pictures before its battery died.  I also got a few poor cell phone shots.  All went well and everyone is healthy.

Here are a few pictures.

Just after birth

Mommy & Francis

Cuddles!

"Let's Roll"

Well, we're off to the hospital momentarily.  If we have internet and such things I am not sure.  Cara is scared she is having false labour but she did have bloody show last night so that's a good sign.  Contractions are regular, 6 minutes apart and she has to breathe through them.

See you all soon.

I think I may have lucked out

Ken and I really enjoy the comics, and today's Non-Sequitur (one of of personal faves) made me laugh so hard I teared up. Maybe it's the hormones putting me off balance, but I couldn't resist sharing it with all of you. I suddenly feel lucky in the fact that when Ken took Teresa to work, she only consumed so much candy she was vibrating for hours.

Winnipeg is Wonderful in Winter

The last couple of weeks in Winnipeg have reminded me why I love this darn city and its 80 degree Celsius temperature swings...  A few weeks back I think I posted that the river trail got opened up all the way to Assiniboine Park, and Rowdy and I have taken great advantage of it having gone for a number of walks and skates on the river.  Last weekend though was the first time that Cara, Teresa, Rowdy & I have all bundled up together and went to the park, as it was near 0 (and before 3 days of rain).  We brought the toboggan (but forgot 1 of her 2 skates) and had a blast.  We went sideways, over jumps, fell over and no matter what she had fun.  We did the same thing again today and she didn't mind the -15 weather.  Rowdy runs up and down the hill and likes licking our faces when we are at his level.  I can't think of many other places in the world where Teresa can spend a summer at the lake and a winter skating and tobogganing like this...

Anyhow, here are some pictures from that Sunday...

A view of Bourkevale Park (on the river at Ferry Road).  I am dragging Teresa up the hill on the left, the trees on the right surround a skating rink which connects to the walking & skating trails on the river by the snowbanks.

An action shot of us going down the hill.

Teresa has seen Ray & I go down head first, and wanted to do it herself but I only let her get dragged up the hill.

Rowdy looking all pretty

Cara wanted evidence that she was there as more than just the picture taker.  Here they are standing on the river trail.

Later that night we had dinner at Ray & Myrna's.  Teresa was making a hat out of her placemat.

FUNNIEST TERESA MOMENT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just stopped laughing.  I had called our wet dog (we have freezing rain here continuing until tomorrow) a dork.  Cara was trying to make Teresa feel better after she bashed her face accidentally and she was naming relatives in photos.

Teresa correctly named Uncle Tony, Auntie Jackie, Auntie Pearl, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Sarah and correctly identified Ed...  It's just that after all the correct names, she said 'dork'.

This has nothing to do with me I assure you I only call Ed dork to his face.

Nesting is for the birds

I am now tired of nesting, but the hilarious thing about this whole process is that I CAN'T STOP! If someone could kindly come over, take the vacuum out of my hands and tell me to go sit down I would be forever grateful... pretty please.

My laundry is done, every closet has been reorganized, all my kitchen and bathroom cupboards have been emptied, wiped down and reorganized. All the infant clothes have been washed, folded and put away. I have casseroles, soup, chili and stew frozen and waiting. My suitcase is packed and ready for me and mystery baby. And now... now I have nothing left to reorganize, so I must resort to baking and freezing cookies for potential company. Just a warning to our friends and family, you had better come over to see this child, and you better eat and enjoy these darn cookies. I'm not joking.

I am, currently, a week and a half away from my due date and praying for labour. I feel nauseous, tired, cranky and I have to pee ALL THE TIME. There is hope, I never felt like this with Teresa, I just sat on the couch until it was time for the induction. The interweb claims all the symptoms I have are pre-labour, but don't get too excited folks, these can last for weeks.

Here we are.....waiting......patiently.

As for Teresa, things are just trucking along. She spends 75% of her day in an imaginary world she culls from books and Gofrette. She also naps great....as long as I exhaust her physically in the morning. Thankfully the weather has been nice so this is easy.

Don't they make a lovely pair of princesses?

I believe she is currently in a car, or boat, or some other mode of transportation.

There is nothing imaginary going on here, I just think she's cute when she eats cereal.

Teresa on the River

Teresa & I went out to the dog park with Rowdy today and I took some really poor cell phone video and pictures.

Teresa skated on the world's longest skating rink (take that Ottawa SUCKERS!!!!).