Welcome Lily

Here she is! Lily Grace Boisvert came into this world on May 20, 2014 weighing 6 lbs 5 1/2 oz and measuring 20 inches long. And this is our birth story:

On May 19th (Victoria Day) Justin and I did some big cleaning around the house in the morning getting ready for our little princess to arrive (thinking it would be later in the week or even next week...) We went to do a couple errands and then went out for lunch. This is when I noticed a couple little contractions but didn't think anything of it. By the time we got home they were gone. We went out again in the afternoon, came home, ate dinner, planted my flowers and still, no more surges. After Ella was in bed we watched a movie and they did come back but quickly went away so, again, I didn't think anything of it.

I went to bed and woke up at 1:15 with surges again. (this is what happened with Ella but these contractions seemed less intense and more bearable so I didn't think too much of it) They were about every 20 minutes and I didn't sleep at all. I just kept thinking to myself "This isn't really happening, is it??!" 

I texted Jen (our midwife) at 5:30 am asking if I could come in that day to get my cervix checked, and maybe a sweep and some verbena (that's what I did last time and Ella was born 5 hours later.) Unfortunately, she said she was booked solid for the day but said that if I don't have the baby today (what?..), we could do that tomorrow at my scheduled appointment. I told Justin what had happened (he didn't know I was up all night) and he decided to stay home from work. After that, my contractions that had been consistent for 4 hours suddenly disappeared. (Great, I thought... I made him stay home for nothing...)

So still thinking that this wasn't really happening, Justin and I went for a walk after breakfast and lo and behold! they came back... Every 10-15 minutes now... I told Jen, she said to come to the clinic at 5 after her appts were done so she could see where I was at. (It was about noon) She also advised to take birth prep every ten minutes. By this time, Justin had packed our bag, the car seat and Ella's overnight bag for Grandma's (Ha! I thought, like we will need that today...)

Around 2:00 pm, they were 6-8 minutes apart but they were the same intensity and I still didn't really think anything of it. With Ella, I remember standing in the shower for an hour just trying to get through each one. Those ones were extremely uncomfortable... But not these ones!

Jen said to come on down to the clinic now (Really? Now?) I still had to get Grandma here to watch Ella. It takes her 30 minutes to get here and then us another 30 minutes to get to the Lucina. But as soon as I got off the phone with my mom, that half hour as she was driving here, the contractions went to 3-4 minutes apart. I walked around the kitchen island still thinking "I'm going to have a baby today? This can not be real..."

On our way to the Lucina, they proceeded to 1-2 minutes apart. When we got there Jen was still in her clinic appointments (bless her soul!) and Kerstin (another midwife) checked my cervix and I was fully dilated (Apparently, I like to do that :P)

I got in the water (mmm my spa!) at about 3:30 and pushed but I tried to take it easy. Jen helped hold the perineum so that I wouldn't tear horrendously like last time. And this time, I wasn't discouraged by the unbroken membranes that I assumed would come out right before her head. (Last time, they kept saying "There's the head! We can see the head!" But of course it was the membranes bulging...) 

Miss Lily was born at 4:26 pm and I only got an itty bitty tear that can heal on its own! 

SUCCESS! I did it! 

Weird thing though: there were a lot of parallels with my two babes' births. Both labours started in the night and I laboured at home during the day. They were both born before supper time under the same (amazing!) team of midwives (Kerstin was at Ella's birth too). I was fully dilated when I got to the Center, it was a quick water birth, my membranes broke in the water right before they crowned... Stuff like that.... They were also born on a Tuesday after a stat holiday... (you can read Ella's birth story here...)

But then there was little things that made it the "perfect birth day." The mere fact that I didn't really tear made it perfect in itself. Also, Lily's head is incredibly tinier that Ella's was which I believe helped prevent tearing. I also got to stay and enjoy the beauty of the Lucina Center (last time we were rushed out because I needed surgery) and I got to eat my victory waffles!!!! (another thing I missed out last time all because of the tear)

So that's our story :D It was beautiful, incredible and extremely empowering. And, yes, I loved every moment of it!

Definitely worth every moment

Such  a sweetie pie