Zander's Birth Story (Part 2)

If you missed part 1 of the birth story, find it here.

Arnold texted back that he got a hold of her (what a huge relief) and he was now on his way back!! He got back around 4:30 or so, put his swim shorts on and hopped in with me. What a relief!! Soon my midwife asked me to let her know once I felt like I needed to start pushing so she could call the backup midwife. It wasn't long until I told her she should probably call her. 

Around 5:20 or so, I started to push and shortly after that my waters broke. At this point the contractions didn't want to stop, there was barely any breathing room between them. I pushed quite a few more times and then finally my midwife told me that with one more big push his head would be out. Sure enough, with the next push his head was out and with the one following that he was out completely @ 5:44am! She whisked him up and put him straight on my chest.

I remember I couldn't stop smiling and laughing, in almost a giggle like way. I was just so happy that he was here and that it went sooo fast! It amazed me how alert Zander was as well, just looking around and content. From the time I woke up with contractions to the time I was holding him was just over 4 hours! With Brielle from start to finish I was about 36 hours…yikes! After a few minutes Arnold got to cut the cord, which was also really special since he didn't get to do that with Brielle. 

After delivering the placenta, I got cleaned up while Arnold and Zander had some bonding time, and then they weighed and measured him. Our big boy was 9.8 lbs & 22 inches long!! I had totally thought he would be at least a pound less when I was holding him, he was so curled up that he didn't seem that big. 

This whole birth was just so amazing, from the care the midwifes gave right from the beginning, to the time we went home. I just loved having him at the centre with no doctors, no medical equipment and no one but me, Arnold and the 2 midwifes there, it was so peaceful and quiet!! We had a few hours of alone time in our nice, beautiful queen size bed while they made a scrumptious breakfast for us! It didn't take long for Zander to have his first feeding either, he latched on very well! 

Zander and I were both doing so well that we got to leave around 9am. Once we were in the car, Arnold confessed "now don't be mad at me, but I stopped to get a coffee on the way to the centre". I said "I already saw your cup there, good thing you didn't miss the birth because you had to have a coffee!". To his credit though, we both didn't think the birth would be nearly that quick!!

We stopped by to pick Brielle up on the way back home, her babysitter was shocked that we were on our way back home already…with a baby (they had just gotten up and had breakfast)!!

So Arnold's mom was due to arrive around noon, so we decided not to tell her that Zander had arrived, we wanted to surprise her! Arnold's brother and his family was driving her up from Calgary, so it was going to be a surprise for all of them. We had just talked to them the night before when nothing was happening yet, so they didn't suspect anything. I'll never forget the looks on their faces as they walked in and I was sitting on the couch with Zander sitting on my lap. My mother in law said she thought I was babysitting because he was so big!  

*On a side note, on the way to drop Brielle off, Arnold had been praying that she would pick up her phone if he tried to call one more time. She said that it was like in her dream someone was trying to get a hold of her and it woke her up, she looked at her phone and saw about 20 missed calls. Can you say that the power of prayer works and God woke her up? I have no doubt!!