The Story Of His Birth

And now it's time for the story of Theo's birth. Some of you who are looking at this page have heard all this before, but it's a good story so feel free to read it again.

First, some background. This hasn't been the world's easiest pregnancy for Steph. But the last five weeks were especially hard. On January 11, we were rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster because Steph started showing signs of early labour. At this point she was only 33 weeks, and the doctors were very concerned about the baby coming. Fortunately, he decided that it was best to stay in for a little while longer, and we were discharged from the hospital after four days. However, things had started moving along, and that's when what they call "latent" labour started for her (latent labour is when the cervix is between 1 and 4 cm dilated--she was 1 cm on January 11). Ever since then it's been a constant stream of contractions and pain.

On Saturday morning (Feb. 4), we ended up actually going to the hospital because Steph noticed a little bit of bleeding. The baby was checked out and everything seemed fine. After we left we decided to hit Tim Horton's for lunch (mmm...donuts), and while we were on our way there, the contractions started full-throttle. When we got home we timed them and they were coming about 8 minutes apart. Then at about midnight they were 6 minutes apart. Finally, the next morning, Steph woke me up at around 6:30 when her contractions were 3 minutes apart. Back we went to the hospital.

After assessing us and determining that Steph actually was in labour for real this time, it was time to get admitted. Things stayed roughly the same until about 3:30 when the doctor decided it was time to rupture membranes and get this show on the road. *Side note*--yes, you read that right, it was 3:30 pm on Superbowl Sunday when she went into labour. It's obvious that our doctor is not a football fan. Needless to say, I ended up missing the game. But I'm okay with that because (1) the obvious reason--we had a baby, and (2) I hear it wasn't much of a game anyway. *End of side note.*

After about 2.5 hours, Steph was fully dilated and started to push, and after about an hour of pushing, we had our little boy. And for those of you who think that's fast, let's just remember the almost five weeks of latent labour that preceded it. Here's what he looked like:


Unfortunately, Theo had a little bit of trouble breathing right off the bat, and the nurses ended up having to "bag" him (use a mask-type thing to help him breathe) for a few minutes. After I cut the cord (what a cool experience that was!) and he was weighed (did I mention he was 7 lbs 10 oz at a month premature?), he got to go see his mom very briefly before he had to go into the nursery. He was immediately placed in an isolette and put on supplemental oxygen to stabilize him. Guess what? I've got pictures of that too!



Later that night, after things had calmed down and Steph was able to walk again (she had to have some stitches after the birth) we went to check out his awesomeness in the nursery. Let me tell you, this kid is cute. I know, not exactly an objective opinion, but come on, he really is cute, isn't he? Feel free to post comments regarding his dashing good looks. I like to refer to him as "devestatingly handsome." It's only a matter of time before the ladies start calling!

Anyway, that's the whole story of our day on Sunday. I still have more to post about what's been happening since, but that'll be a different post. For now, I'll leave you with my favourite picture of the whole day. See you soon!