The Stories of our Lives

(I’m sorry to have waited a week to have posted this, but you’ll understand we’ve been pretty busy. I’ll timestamp it for July 28 anyway.)

We present to you Xavier Gélinas!
8 lbs 2 oz, 21 inch. Born July 28, 2006, at 20:52.

His grand-parents have been very keen on photographs, and grandma put up a full album of his first/second day at the hospital. Here it is : http://picasaweb.google.com/lucie.prov/BBXavier

LABOUR

Labour was… well, labour – there’s no way around it, it seems – but we’re very proud that he’s here with us now and all healthy. Quick notes on the induction/labour: We got to the hospital at 7:30AM, as planned, and the induction started at 8:30. They’ve used Cytotec for the induction, which is a little pill they insert… well, you know. 6 hours and 2 pills later, the OB/Gyn decided breaking the water would be the best way to go. A lake of amniotic fluid got out, THEN I can vouch that the pain level of contractions really went up a notch (or 9).

We switched rooms and they’ve monitored the contractions and the baby’s heart rate. Unfortunately, the latter tended to drop during contractions, which was worrying (though I did have my mind occupied with the contractions, I’m sorry to say). It turned out that the only thing that helped was for me to lie on my left side during labour – so that’s how I spent most of the next 6 hours.

After a while, they gave me a drug for relaxing (not sure what that was… didn’t take much notes, and Frank was quite busy massaging my lower back until his arms almost gave up). Then we were 10cm dilated and started pushing (well… I did). However, baby’s heart rate was still dropping at times, so the doctor suggested an epidural, because he wanted to get it out quickly, and was expecting using the ventouse and cutting. By the time the anesthesist came, though, the head was starting to show. The anesthesist – bless him – was quick and efficient (I didn’t feel a thing) and then contractions got a little easier to bear. The doctor did his part with the ventouse and the cutting – and I did some more pushing – and baby was here!

We stayed at the hospital until monday, July 31st, when we brought Xavier home. He’s been doing well since – minor some drama and cries at time, mostly concerning nursing and sleep deprivation. But it’s been a week now and we’re all adapting to one another quite well – with lots of help from the grand-parents (thanks mom!).

I think we’ll be just fine. And happy.