Welcome to the world Lynsey Raeanne Kroeker!

Yes, the day has come for Brian and I to be parents! If you're not interested in the labour story and just want to see pictures, scroll down to the bottom of this post. They are the same pictures I put on Facebook, to those of you who have looked at those already. Now, for those of you who are interested in how this all happened, read on.

Allow me to continue the thought from my previous blog post from Friday night (please scroll down for that). At the time I was writing that post, I thought I was experiencing really painful contractions. Haha - if only I knew how much worse it could and would get! So naive I was:). I called the Healthlink line right after I wrote that because I just wasn't sure if we should go in - I knew the contractions weren't close enough together, but I just had an uneasy feeling that this really was the real thing and should get checked out. The nurse told me to go to the hospital, although for the reason that I hadn't felt the baby move in the last half hour (although I did tell her she often doesn't move for an hour at a time and it's never been a concern before). So, we got the hospital around 1:30am and got hooked up to a fetal monitor - turns out the baby was just being lazy and started moving again a half hour later, nothing to be concerned about. At 2 they checked me and I was 2cm dilated and the head was still quite high. So, they told me I was in early labour so I should just go home and either the contractions would just stop or they would eventually get stronger and closer together and I should come back. Well I was of the opinion that they were strong enough so they offered to give me some morphine so I could at the very least "get some sleep" through them. So we went home and I anxiously awaited the drugs kicking in. We got home around 3am and it wasn't long before I started feeling really drowsy. Unfortunately, they hadn't given me enough morphine and the contractions were still way too painful to sleep through, so I was basically hopelessly drowsy but unable to sleep. I think it might have helped just relax my body though, because as the night wore on, I got better at breathing through them and coping. I wasn't really paying attention to how close together they were at this point, although I checked a few times and they still seemed to be quite far apart. Well, at 8:15 or so, I got a whole new feeling - a new level of pain that I've never quite experienced before. I was thinking, wow that was a strong one, and when the next one came like 5 minutes later feeling the same or worse, I thought, hmmm maybe this is intensifying. On the third one I decided it was time to get in the shower (everyone told me that having a shower while in labour is very relaxing and helpful so I was willing to try anything). Please at this point remember that all accounts I've ever heard of first deliveries is that you have plenty of time to get to the hospital because they are never really that quick, so you should take your time and make sure it's time to go. So I get into the bathroom and I hadn't even gotten into the shower yet when I had the most painful contraction ever and at this point, I was no longer bearing them in relative silence. Brian heard me (how could he not) and got up, realizing that I wasn't messing around so we had a shower (which in hindsight we really didn't have time for) and booted it over to the hospital. The contractions were at this point 2 - 3 minutes apart and wayyyy too painful to walk through, so this was slowing us down in even getting to the car. We got to the hospital at 9:20am and they checked me - lo and behold, I was fully dilated and ready to go to the delivery room. Any woman that has had a baby and is reading this will understand that it usually takes much longer to get to this point. You'll recall previous posts first where I talked about trying to do things naturally without drugs, and then last night me recanting and saying to heck with natural bring on the drugs. Well the FIRST thing I asked for when I got there was drugs and of course because I was getting ready to push it was too late for an epidural, so all I got was a bit of laughing gas. It helped a bit, but really wasn't much of a pain reliever. Kind of ironic how I got my wish of a natural birth without really wanting it at all! Anyway, I got to the pushing part of labour (oh and I'm sorry if you're queasy and really think this all too much information, but it IS a labour story so I have to give some details!) at about 9:30am. Apparently the average pushing time, especially for a first baby, is 2 hours. Half an hour later at 10:01am, November 3rd, 2007, Lynsey Raeanne Kroeker entered the world at 7 lbs, 9 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She just didn't see the need to prolong things and I can respect that! She is a beautiful, healthy baby girl with no major issues to speak of - she was awake for the first two hours of her life and then basically slept the rest of the day and night away (apparently she didn't really like what she saw when she first came out - I imagine it would be a letdown if you were looking forward to it for nine months!). We are at home now (it's Sunday evening) and we are doing great so far - I am tired as I didn't really sleep for the last two nights, but physically I am doing really well and so far, still running on adrenaline! Brian is able to stay at home with me for at least the first week and a half, so that will be a big help to me. Thank goodness for the nesting I went through before I gave birth because I feel like everything in the house is as orderly as it possibly could be and I feel very relaxed even with the new sense of responsibility. Anyway, this needs to come to an end now so I will just let you enjoy the pics of Lynsey's first few days in the world. More to come soon I'm sure so stay tuned! Our blog will become updated much more frequently from now on now that there is a more interesting person in our house:).

Has the time finally come?

It is 12:27 am and I am officially unable to sleep because of contractions. They started this evening, but were so mild - mostly just a tight sort of feeling. Ten minutes apart and not that painful - doesn't necessarily mean it's time, right? Well, we went to bed and lo and behold, they started becoming more and more painful. Still only 10 minutes apart though. So instead of writhing in pain beside Brian, I decided to come downstairs, sit on my exercise ball and write a blog post. Oh, here comes another one. Okay all this talk about foregoing an epidural is starting to sound like crazy talk - yikes this sucks! Okay now that its over, I feel like I can conquer the world again:). Ohh it's going to be a long night. I think I'll be seeing the Peter Lougheed by sunrise.

39 weeks . . . and counting . . .

Yes, I am still pregnant. Was I one of those people who had a 6 and a half pound baby just a week early so she was still fully healthy and developed but not massive? No, I was not. Will I be one of those people that goes two weeks overdue and has a 9 pounder?? Oh I do hope not! My official due date is November 6th but I am starting to really feel like this is going to go on much longer than that. I really hope my "mother's intuition" is completely off about this and I go into labour this weekend. I made a list when I went on maternity leave (my last day of work was October 12) of things to get done before the baby comes and I've pretty much done it all (well housework is never ending so I don't really count that - all the major cleaning is done) so now I wait.

I have LOVED being off work - I must say that after two and a half weeks of being at home, I am not at all antsy to get back into the working world. I miss my coworkers and being part of the downtown world, so close to things, but the truth is I can now go down there for an hour to visit and shop if I want and then just come home so it really isn't that bad. We've been taking prenatal classes which is at the very least giving me the illusion that I can handle this whole labour and delivery thing, maybe even without drugs (all you mothers out there can stop scoffing and let me be naive please!). I'm saying now that I really want to try and do this without an epidural, so we'll see how I do! I'm certainly not going to be a hero and if it turns out that I can't handle the pain, I'll take the needle. We're learning how to breathe and different positions to try to get through painful contractions so I'm going to make an honest effort - wish me luck!

Painting nightmare!

What a weekend! Before I get into it, I just wanted to show everyone what I look like now - 8 months along! Anyway, Brian and I decided to paint the room that we're turning into the nursery. Painting is not rocket science - you pick the color(s), buy the supplies, paint a few coats, and you're done. It's actually difficult to really mess it up if you're just a bit careful. All was going well, until we completed the second coat of the lighter walls (as you can see from the pictures, we did one wall a darker green than the rest). There was a bit of a rough patch on one of the walls - somehow, the paint just hadn't covered it very well. In hindsight, we should have just let it go - chances are it wouldn't bother us for that long and most people probably wouldn't notice it. Is that what we did? Nooo - I had to take the roller that didn't have very much paint on it and try and patch it up, thinking it should just blend it. Made it worse. So later Brian tried with more paint on the roller - only made the area bigger. At this point I need to make it clear that all along Brian was the voice of reason - he suggested right away that we just repaint the entire wall if it bothered me, but I wanted to take shortcuts. Anyway, at 7:30pm last night, I went upstairs to observe the wall and see if I could live with it - I could not. I started crying uncontrollably as though the world had come to an end and poor Brian had no idea what he was to do! He suggested that we try to repaint the whole wall as that seemed to be the only solution to this problem. I had thrown away that last roller because I was determined at the time that no matter how it looked I did not want to repaint the entire wall, so now Brian had to make a trip to Home Depot to get another roller. He called and asked me if I was sure we would have enough paint left over to do the entire wall and I assured him it would be fine (there was after all half an inch of paint in the bottom of the can - you can shake your head now). So I'm doing all the cutting in around the edges and baseboard while he's off to Home Depot and he comes back with this enormously fluffy roller - I think it soaked up all the paint we had in like two dippings! Now we had a problem - weren't going to have enough paint. Sooooo Brian was off to Home Depot again, where he ALMOST didn't get the paint because they close at 8 on Saturdays (who knew!) but luckily he was able to sneak in just before (phew!) so I finished the wall and we were able to relax - finally, the wall was done. We went downstairs, watched a movie, relaxed for a bit, and when we came upstairs to check on the wall, we noticed that the part we had rollered was lighter than the edges. Thinking it must just need more time to dry, we went to bed, all the while deep down having a sinking feeling that this was not going to correct itself. I got up at about 2:45am to use the washroom, and started thinking about the wall and just had to go check (here's where I'm going to really start blaming my pregnancy hormones for making me irrational!). Sure enough, the edges were noticeably darker than the middle. At this point I thought the new can of paint must have been slightly lighter - that can happen when they mix it at the store - so what did I do? I get the paint brush and repaint the edges - at 3am. How can you be so wide awake and yet so tired? I don't really know. Anyway, I got back to bed and had a restless sleep until morning. Of course I had to get up super early just to see if my experiment had worked. To my dismay I discovered that the edges were indeed still darker. Wow you can't imagine my disappointment. Brian gets up, and being the rational one in all of this (and I thank him for finding a solution and not just having me committed like I'm sure he thought I deserved at that point!) he figured out that the new paint was NOT lighter than the last can, but for some unknown reason the last time we rollered the paint must not have been mixed properly (it was straight from the mixer at Home Depot - how could it not be mixed properly?!). So the decision was made to reroller the wall and be done with it. One thing I should mention is that last night after we rollered the wall Brian wanted to clean the roller just in case we needed it again - I assured him (because I really am of sound mind) that would not be necessary, and if it was surely we could just soak it in hot water for a while and it would be good to go. As you can probably guess, soaking it did NOT help so we were off to Home Depot once more for another roller! It's a good thing it's so close or this could have been much more of a painful experience. I finally conquered the wall today - I rollered it and sure enough, it now matches the edges. The ironic thing is that the wall itself is still not perfect - there are still patches that look a bit more dull than the rest. But I assure you - I am now willing to live with those imperfections (as most people do!) and am NOT going near a painting project again for a LOOOONNNGGG time! On the bright side, the colours look great and now that we got the crib, glider rocker and dresser set up in there, it looks awesome:). Our baby has a room! Still pretty plain - still need to figure out what we want on the walls etc, but it's a good start. It was all worth it in the end, although I have to wonder - how much less stressful would this weekend have been if I could have just been reasonable about the rough patch. Anyway, I have decided to blame the entire episode on pregnancy hormones and take no responsibility for it whatsoever. Oh it's going to be a longgg five weeks! Thank goodness I have a husband who loves me:).

Time to check in!

It's been a bit of lax summer with the blog posting, and there's no real excuse except laziness. And maybe that there's nothing terribly exciting going on! As you can see from this picture, I continue to grow and grow - I will be 30 weeks on Tuesday (which for those of you who can only think in months is 7 months almost exactly). I can't believe the baby's going to be here that soon! Ahhh I hope we're ready! People keep asking us if the nursery is done or if we have a name picked out or if we've bought a lot of stuff yet and the answer to all those questions is no, these things haven't happened yet. We did buy a stroller, carseat and playpen a while back, but there's still much to be done. I've decided that my last day of work will be October 12, so that leaves me about three and a half weeks until the baby is due - PLENTY of time, right?? No we plan on getting going soon - as you will see from the following pictures, our backyard is finally done!! Hurray!

All summer we (well mostly Brian as I've been sort of useless this summer) have been plugging away at our backyard, trying to make it somewhat presentable. We bought one of those vinyl sheds from Canadian Tire a few weeks ago, and now the last step was laying the sod. Brian started this process on Friday night by renting a roto-tiller (sp?) from Home Depot. We wanted to get a bigger one, but once again the curse of not having a truck cost us - the only one that would fit in the car was this dinky little one. So, a few hours later, Brian was thoroughly rattled (literally) and the ground not very much softer. Oh well - it helped a little. Saturday, Jer came over and helped Brian lay the sod. It didn't take too long in our tiny backyard and it was done right around lunch time. Todays rain couldn't have come at a better time, and now we can have people over and we don't have to sit in a pile of dirt! Just in time for the fall and winter of course. We even have one little patch left over beside the shed for a small garden.

New Fence

It seems like its been a busy summer with next to no progress on making our backyard livable, but last weekend we finally got our fence up with some help. Now all thats left is to get some sod in the backyard (if its large enough to be called a yard that is).



After the fence we had some family over for supper, where we had birthday cake for both Mike and Sarah's birthday. We were also given our first baby clothes gifts!

FINALLY looking pregnant . . .

So I've had some people telling me that they want to see me growing, and I've been putting this off because I really haven't looked all that pregnant until the last week or two. Now I'm pretty sure I look pregnant:). It's been fun shopping for maternity clothes and truth be told, I think I have nicer clothes now than I did before! Not as many maybe, but cuter. I'm having some trouble finding nice jeans, though - will have to keep my eye out for those. Some more fun news is that Brian finally was able to feel the baby yesterday when he put his hand on my tummy! I've been feeling her for several weeks already, but we never seemed to time it right for Brian to feel it. She was a bit extra hyper yesterday and decided to humour him I guess:). So far, besides some lower back pain, I'm loving being pregnant!