Charlotte Catherine Sharon Jamieson

My new baby girl is finally here and as I sit down to write this post she has started squeaking on me again.  I'll see how far I can get before I start typing with one hand :)

Here is the story of Charlotte's arrival

I don't know where I got this idea from but somewhere in the last month of my pregnancy I became convinced that I would have Charlotte early.  Not weeks early or anything like that but maybe a day or two, Vaughn and Greta both came right on time and for some reason I just had it in my head she would come before her due date.  Well I was most definetly wrong about that!  You'd think by my third baby I'd know better but alas I did not. 

I love being pregnant, I think I've mentioned this before.  I don't love the heartburn and the aches and pains but I love feeling my baby move and having that special time with them.  That being said I'm never really in a hurry to have them on the outside, I don't mind waiting and taking my time.  This pregnancy was different though, with Matt living two hours away I had this constant anxiety that he was going to miss our baby being born and that was not exceptable to me!  So the Saturday before my due date when I thought I was in labour poor Matt made a quick drive from Hamilton to Petrolia after a day of me calling and crying and not knowing what to do (gotta love pregnancy hormones :) )

I'll rewind, thanksgiving weekend arrived as did the Brigden Fair.  For those of you non-lambton county people, the Brigden Fair is the biggest fall fair around and is THE fair to go to.  My grandparents go every year and I often got to go with them.  The plan this year was to take the kids with my grandparents to the fair, I love fairs, I love the atmasphere, watching the kids take it all in, I just love it.  So when I decided I wasn't up to going you have to understand that I really thought I was in labor.  I had contractions off and on all day and generally just felt awful.  This was kind of how I started my labor with Greta so I decided that this must be it and asked Matt to come.  We loaded up and headed to the hopsital in Sarnia because by this time I had realized that there was no way I was driving in the car for two hours to deliver a baby in Kitchener (I finally made the decision on where to have this baby it just took me thinking I was in labor to do it).  Once we got to the hospital it turned out I wasn't really in labor, although they did tell me I could stay the night and see if things kept going.  I opted to go home because I would rather sleep in my own bed than a hospital bed! 

The next morning there was still no baby, Matt and I did some power walking to see if I could convince her to come but no such luck.  We were of to Chatham that night for thanksgiving with the Shaw side of the family when just as we are ready to leave I thought my water broke . . . back to the hospital we go only to find out nope no water breaking and no baby today.  The only good thing that came out of my multiple trips to the hospital is that Dr. Rutledge suggested she take me on as a patient so I have a dr. locally and could do my last few prenatal appointments in Sarnia.  This turned out to be a huge blessing as Dr. Rutledge really is amazing!  At my next appointment she suggested we book an induction date since Matt needed to get back to Kitchener.

4 days past my due date, we loaded up and headed in to the hospital but this time was different because I knew I would be coming home with my new baby girl.  Being induced worked our nicely because I was able to plan out childcare and have everything lined up and ready to go.  Here is how the morning went for Vaughn and Greta

Wake up with Grandma
Grandma got them up, ready and took Vaughn to school.  (After dropping Vaughn off she joined us at the hospital)

8:30 - 11:30 shift with Greta was Uncle John - he took her to Mommy and Me at the church and she had a blast

11:30 - 4:30 pm was with Hannah with John picking Vaughn up from school and dropping him off at home

4:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Hannah and Jessica brought the kids to Sarnia fed them supper and brought them to the hospital and got them back home and in bed

8:30 pm until Matt and I got home with Charlotte was Grandma

It worked out perfectly and Vaughn and Greta didn't seem to mind a bit that I was gone.

Ok Back to the hospital . . .

When I got to the hospital I was still have irregular contractions but  nothing too serious.  I was 4 cm dialated all ready so I was glad that the false alarms at least had been useful!  I got hooked up to all the monitors when I had a contraction and Charlotte's heart rate dropped pretty dramatically.  It was a scary few minutes as they had me switching sides and making sure the heart rate came back up and could handle the induction drugs.  Once they were satisfied everything was ok they got the drugs started.  Nothing really got going though  until they broke my water and then everything happened rather quickly. 

All in all I was in labor for about an hour with maybe 14 minutes of pushing.  She was out very very quickly.  I can laugh now but looking back I handled Greta's delivery very well, I might even say with dignity.  There was no screaming or yelling of real significance . . . I'm not sure what was different this time but there was screaming and yelling.  I'm embarassed of how I acted now, you'd think by my 3rd I'd have been better prepared but I think I knew how long it could go on and how awful it is and that made me nervous that it would be hours and hours.

Charlotte ended up coming quicker than the nurses were prepared for, which I blame myself for.  I knew I was getting ready to push, I could feel it but I was afraid to ask the nurses to check me because I didn't think I could handle it if they told me I still had a long way to go.  So I left it too long and Dr. Rutledge had to rush to get there.  Too Much Information Warning  . . . I left it so long in fact that the nurses where holding Charlotte's head in waiting for the doctor while I so screamed like a crazy woman, "I don't care who gets her out, just somebody get her out."  My nurses who were absolutely amazing commented during one of my fits of "I want her out" told me, "Well they don't come with handles you know"  I love that there was humour even amid the screaming, I even managed to crack a joke inbetween pushing which made my nurse tell me it couldn't be that bad if I was still joking . . . but it was that bad I just have an uncontroable need to talk all the time. 

It turned out to be a good thing they waited for Dr. Rutledge because Charlotte had managed to get the cord wrapped around her neck twice.  Again can I say how fabulous the nurses were through everything, after each screaming fit I apologized to them for yelling because it's not their fault I decided to have a baby.

She arrive at 11:47 am weighing in at 6lbs 3oz, my smallest baby.  She has similar features of my other two but is also uniquely Charlotte.  Where my other two were blond from the start Charlotte is sporting dark hair.  Not wanting to jinx it but so far she seems to be my most mellow baby, although we'll see if that stays true once we are in Kitchener and there aren't as many hands to hold her and she is forced to get used to her crib, bouncy chair etc.

I love my little Charlotte and I am so glad she is finally here.  She grew 13 oz this week and is almost at 7lbs, which is a good thing but makes me sad because I know she is going to grow up on me.  I am doing my best to cherish every minute of each stage because it goes so very very quickly.  Welcome to our family Charlotte, you are the perfect fit and exactly what we needed.  We love you lots and can't wait to see what God does in your life and the woman you grow to be.