Welcome Baby Blake: Labour and Delivery Story

My beautiful little girl, Blake Lea Noseworthy, entered this world (pretty quickly) on May 1, 2017 at 5:00pm. She weighed 6lbs 5oz and measured 51cm long. She's much smaller than I imagined she would be, but after going through labour and delivery, I'm glad she wasn't any bigger...lol. Everyone thought she would be at least 8lbs, and maybe she would have been if she was born at 40 weeks, but she came 1 week and 5 days early.

At 37 weeks, I was beginning to get tired of being pregnant and the anticipation of meeting my little baby was killing me. I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms. I was getting so huge and everything was starting to hurt, especially after she dropped in my stomach. I was still working, but by the end of week 37 I had to call it quits. I was in so much pain and could barely walk without limping due to a really sore pelvis. It was getting so uncomfortable to lay down or even sit at this point and I was really wishing I wasn't pregnant anymore. Andrew was still working in Labrador when I experienced my first sign of labour (losing the mucus plug), and a few people advised me that he should probably come home ASAP because I could give birth any day, really. Andrew was supposed to come home on May 9, but came home on April 26 instead and thank god he did!!!

A week and 2 days later (38 weeks + 2 days) I went into labour. We had just gotten home from Andrew's parents house and I had some cramps on the drive home. When I got home I was bouncing around on my exercise ball and talking on the phone with my best friend, Jessica (who now shares a birthday with Blake!) and I experienced what I now know were contractions around 12am. At the time, I had no idea that they were contractions as a lot of people said my entire stomach would clench and contract and I would 100% know that I was in labour when it happened, but mine didn't do that. They just felt like pretty intense period cramps that would come and go every so often. When they started getting more regular and more intense, I asked Andrew to write down the times I was feeling them and how long they would last. After about 3 hours, they were about 5 minutes apart and lasted 1 minute each. This went on for an hour. I called the case room and told them and they said to come in right now. So we threw all of our bags in the car and drove to the hospital.

At around 4am, I was 3-4cm dilated when I got there and they gave me morphine and gravol to help with the contraction pain. I don't think that helped much, but I was able to use my breathing techniques I learnt in prenatal yoga to help get through each contraction (I would HIGHLY recommend prenatal yoga to anyone who's pregnant because that's what got me through labour, for sure). After about 5-ish hours of contractions, I fell asleep and when I woke up after a 2 hour nap, I was out of labour. My contractions had stopped altogether for several hours and because I was no longer in active labour, they were going to send me home. I was so disappointed because I really thought I was having a baby soon. Andrew and I were going to get ready and pack up, but then the nurse said that they wanted to see if my cervix had changed before they sent me home. Fortunately, I had dilated to 5cm so they decided to keep me for 24hrs to monitor me and see if labour would start up again before sending me home.

The nurse unhooked my IV and told me to get up and get some toast and walk around for a bit. 5 minutes after I had gotten up and put some bread in the toaster, my water broke and contractions started again stronger than ever. I was now dilating quickly...too quickly to get an epidural, much to my dismay. I had asked for an epidural at around 6cm and they said I should have lots of time before they needed to bring in the anesthesiologist. But about an hour later I was 8cm, then 9.5cm and before I knew it they were telling me it was time to push... and that it was obviously too late now for an epidural. I pushed 6 times in 10 minutes and she was out. It was the most painful thing I've ever been through especially since I could feel it all, but because it was such a short amount of time it was bearable.

Andrew, his sister Jennifer, and I all bawled like babies. It was such an emotional moment holding her for the first time, especially after 9 months of carrying her around in my stomach. She was the most precious thing I had ever seen and I couldn't believe she was finally here. We had an hour of skin to skin before they took her and cleaned her up.

Normally, I think babies just like wrinkly old men when they're born, but when it's your own, you can't help but think they're the most precious thing you've ever seen. I can't wait to journey through motherhood and go through all of the new experiences having a baby brings. I know it's not going to be easy as I've already seen in these first 3 weeks of her life, but I know all of the sleepless nights spent changing dirty diapers, soothing and feeding, and countless hours pumping breast milk are all worth it for this beautiful little girl.

I'm going to try and post weekly updates, but it might be hard with a newborn... I'll do my best, lol.

The day she was born <3

Our first picture together (excuse how haggard I look...)

Andrew's first time holding Blake (also his first time ever holding a baby)

Little cutie <3

Proud Daddy with his baby girl

Just before leaving the hospital to go home

Ready to go home!

All snug in her car seat, ready to go home from the hospital

Pregnancy Update: 25 Weeks

Today I had my 25 week check-up and so far everything looks great. The baby's heartbeat is perfect, she moves a lot, and had the hiccups during the ultrasound today (so cute!). I also found out I don't have gestational diabetes (thank god!! chocolate is my weakness), iron levels are perfect and blood pressure, blood counts and whatever else the doctor checks are all on point.

Since this is my first time ever being pregnant, I never know what to expect during the process, and I'm always scared to death that something might go wrong with me or, especially, the baby. Each time I have a check up, she reassures me that everything is going really well which is awesome. Hopefully, this pregnancy continues to go smoothly...and quickly.

I'll be 26 weeks on Saturday, then it's only 2 more weeks and I'll be entering the third and final trimester!! Looking back, time does seem like it's gone by pretty fast, but 14.5 weeks still seems like a long ways away.

Andrew went away to work in Labrador this past Sunday for the next 3 weeks :( which means he wasn't able to attend today's doctor appointment (it's the first one he's ever missed) so my doctor was nice enough to do an ultrasound and let me take a video so I could send it to him. I was so excited to see her on the screen moving around and hiccuping. She's grown so much since the last ultrasound <3

I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like, because at this point we have no idea what she will look like. I have a feeling she might be Andrew's twin, because so many girls I know are born looking more like their fathers, but we'll see when the time comes. 102 days and counting...

Pregnancy Update: 21 Weeks and Gender Reveal

Happy New Year!! I can't believe 2017 is already here! In just 4 and half months we will be welcoming our first child in to the world!

I know it's been way too long since I last wrote a blog post, but things have been super hectic over the holidays with my sister visiting from Wyoming, as well as work and family events.

But, we received some exciting news! We are having a baby girl!!! I was ecstatic and so surprised because I was 99.9% sure that we were having a boy. Obviously, I would have been over the moon with either outcome, but the thought of having a little girl to dress up and be best friends with was even more exciting. Andrew is super happy and excited and we both can't wait to do up her nursery and buy tons of PINK EVERYTHING!

We found out the gender on December 22 at the Janeway, and then later that day we decided to go to UC Baby juuuust to be sure :) Both ultrasound technicians told us it was a girl so we took that as a sign that we were probably having a girl LOL. We waited until Christmas Day to announce it to our parents in person and to everyone else via Facebook. It was so hard to keep it in because I know they really wanted to know. For our gender reveal to our parents, we bought them each an ornament that says "It's a girl" with her due date May 2017. We wrapped it in blue tissue paper (to be extra sneaky) and put it in a little box with the ultrasound picture and blue and pink bows. We filmed them all opening the boxes and their reactions were priceless :)

On another note, we found out that we are actually further along than what we thought (by 5 extra days!). I haven't even taken a 20 week bump picture and we are actually at 21 weeks. It will be 22 weeks on Saturday, so I think I'll just forget about taking a 20 week picture (since it would't be accurate anyways!) and just post my 22 week picture in a separate blog post.

P.S. I've also been feeling her moving around for about a week now. At first, I was unsure of how it would feel and if I was even feeling it. It's hard to describe because the movements are so subtle but I guess it's almost like gas bubbles haha. After feeling it every day for a week I was certain that it was the baby moving. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to feel her move from the outside yet, but hopefully that will happen soon because I know Andrew is getting anxious (and maybe a bit jealous, lol) that he can't feel her move yet.

Here are my ultrasound pictures and I've also included Week 18 since I haven't posted it on here yet:

Outfit of the Day: 06.12.2016 Fort Amherst

Today marks 17 weeks of pregnancy! We just had our third pre-natal appointment this week  and were happy to see that the baby is doing well and things are looking normal so far. He or she was moving around a little bit, not as much as last time but the doctor said the baby looked like a little swimmer :) Time feels like it's moving quickly (it's almost Christmas!!), but this pregnancy feels like it's taking forever. I'm sure I'll look back on it later and think that it flew, but it's so hard waiting because we're so excited to have a little baby to play with and watch grow up.

Today we decided to take a little drive to Fort Amherst and take a few pictures because the sun was starting to go down which made for a really cool effect in the pictures.

I've linked everything I'm wearing below:

1. Hat (Urban Planet it's only $7.99!)

2. Coat (Michael Kors)

3. Jeggings (American Eagle, 25% off!!)

4. Turtleneck (Urban Planet)

5. Booties (Urban Planet these are 40% off right now!!)

6. Handbag (Michael Kors)

7. Lip Color (Nyx Lingerie Liquid Lipstick in Honeymoon)

**Urban Planet has buy one, get one 50% off on pretty much everything right now!!

Baby Bump Week 16

I think this is the longest amount of time I've went without making a post, but I've been sick with a cold all week. It really sucks not being able to take any medications, but it's what's best for the baby so I just have to suck it up. I feel like I've been sick a lot this pregnancy but I guess that's what comes with pregnancy :/ Breathe-right strips and vick's have been my best friend lately lol.

Regardless of being sick or not, I had to force myself to get dressed and put some make up on to take these pictures or I knew I would regret not having them. But as soon as I was done taking the pics I jumped right back into my onesie and parked myself on the couch for the rest of the day.

Anyways, enough about me being sick. Here are my Week 16 Baby Bump Pictures:

The Bump has certainly grown a lot compared to the last 3 bump pics I've taken!!It's starting to actually look like I'm pregnant, and not just fat haha. However, it is still pretty easy to cover up the fact that I'm pregnant by wearing certain clothes.

We have our monthly doctor's appointment on Monday, so I'm pretty excited to see the baby again and make sure everything is still going smoothly.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Baby Bump Week 14: Entering the Second Trimester

This week is a very exciting one for us! Week 14 marks the end of the first trimester and the start of the second trimester. Apparently the second trimester is the "easiest" one of the three. I had a bit of a hard time with the first trimester and experienced a lot of morning/all-day sickness, loss of appetite, and mood swings. It was definitely hard to go through that while also trying to hide the fact that I'm pregnant from friends and co-workers.

The second trimester is also when the risk of miscarriage decreases dramatically and will continue to decrease until the birth of the baby. So it's safe to say that I can finally get excited for the rest of this pregnancy, as it should (hopefully) be smooth sailing from here until the baby's born.

Since reaching this point, we felt comfortable announcing to everyone on Facebook that we are expecting. It was such a relief to be able to talk freely about it with friends and co-workers, especially since the news is too exciting to keep to myself. Here's the photo we used to announce it on Facebook:

We took this photo in Bowring Park a couple of weeks ago. An older man asked us if we were making an ad for Starbucks (LOL)

I decided that I wanted to take bi-weekly baby bump pictures so that I could look back on them and see how much I've grown. It's also a fun way to show my friends and family how much the baby and I have grown. Everyone gets so excited when I send them the pictures :) I bought these milestone signs from an Etsy shop called "PearlPearDesigns". They came in the form of a downloadable file, so I got them printed off at Staples then purchased a frame from Michael's so I could change them out each time I took a bump picture. Anyways, here is my small collection of baby bump pictures (starting at Week 10): 

Only 180 more days until the due date (May 20, 2017). I'm so excited to meet our little bundle of joy!!! :)