IT'S A GIRL!

Blake Kristina
born June 20, 1996 at 3:58pm
7 lbs. 13 oz.
21 inches long


I was expecting our first child on June 20, 1996. When I woke up that morning at around 10, I felt some lower back pain (although this was not new to me!) Since I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon, I wasn't worrying when the back pain was getting worse, and coming and going. At about 2pm, it was quite painful, so I had Geoff (my husband) take me to the hospital. Since I didn't think that it was labour, I had Geoff leave the bags in the car. When I was examined at about 2:30, I was told that I was about 8 cm dilated! Things progressed fast, but I would not push until my doctor arrived, although fully dilated. When the doctor arrived, he broke my water, and less than 5 minutes later, we had our beautiful daughter, complete with a full head of dark hair!

IT'S A BOY!

Brayden Geoffrey
born June 8, 1998 at 8:32 am
8 pounds
20 1/2 inches


Nearly 2 years later, I was expecting our 2nd baby on June 4, 1998. The due date passed, and finally on June 8, the sound of Geoff's alarm clock woke me at around 6am. Geoff was nearly ready to go to work when I asked him to stay home because I wasn't feeling quite "right". I knew I had a doctor's appointment at 9am, so I asked him to take me to it. I decided to have a bath, and while I was in there, I had 3 contractions in about 10 minutes. Shortly after 7 am I phoned my mother and asked her to come and stay with Blake (who was still snoozing in bed) because I was in labour! The contractions were coming really fast, and by the time my mother arrived at 7:45, they were every 2 minutes. It was a speedy 5 minute drive to the hospital. I got into the bed at the hospital at around 8 am, and was 9 1/2 cm dilated. My water broke, and this time I was not waiting for the doctor to arrive. I started to push, and the baby's head was out before the doctor arrived. He made it just in time to deliver our son at 8:32am. We were so thrilled to have a daughter and a son!

IT'S A BOY!

Gavin Daniel
born May 19, 2000 at 4:45pm
8 pounds 12 ounces
21 inches


We were expecting our 3rd child on May 13, 2000, who we found out was a boy in January. I had a wonderful pregnancy, I felt better in this one than in the other two. I did however, have gestational diabetes, but with a diet change, I controlled it nicely, and managed to keep my weight gain down as well. My due date came and went, and I reluctantly agreed to an induction on the 6th day overdue. I had wanted a completely natural birth to see if it would be faster than the last, but agreed to have the gel put on my cervix to speed things up, simply due to my gestational diabetes, and complications that could arise. I got the gel at the hospital on Friday May 19 at 12:30. I was hooked up to the monitors and was having contractions all the time (even before the gel), but wasn't feeling them. At 3:05pm, I began feeling little "tightenings" across my back, these were painless though. They were however, every 2 minutes lasting 45 seconds long! By 4:00 the contractions were starting to come across my belly, and they were starting to hurt. At 4:20 I told the nurse "I think I'm going to want to push soon, and I think my water is going to break". She checked me and I was 8cm, fully effaced. She phoned the dr. he said when I wanted to push to call back. She barely got off the phone with him when at 4:30 my water broke, and dr. was phoned again. Just 2 pushes later, the baby's head was out, delivered by the nurse, with Geoff's assistance! With 1 more push my beautiful son was delivered at 4:45pm. My dr. missed this birth entirely, he arrived about 10 minutes after he was born.