We had some friends over for dinner on the weekend that we met in pre-natal class when I was pregnant with Emmy. Erin and Michael, as well as all the other couples from prenantal class, have really helped us keep our sanity over the past year. It’s always nice to be able to have someone to talk to who knows exactly what you’re going through because they’re at the same phase with their baby too. Nobody knows just what you’re going through like these guys–or all the latest toys, teething toys, vaccination schedules, etc!
Anyways, we were reminscing about some of our less useful lessons in prenatal class. Like learning breastfeeding holds with a doll — who doesn’t bite, you don’t have to latch and doesn’t even wiggle! Our teacher was a complete nutbar as anyone who took the class with us could attest too. She made weirder sounds fake giving birth in class than I did really giving birth at the hospital. However, by far the funniest class was the one where we “learned” how to bathe a baby with a doll. The tub didn’t even have any water in it!
The “babies” were handed out to all the couples as well as a bathtub. When we were handed ours, Mark looked at me seriously and said (too loudly) “Hon, you’ve got some explaining to do!” — our doll was Chinese. The teacher preceded to tell us how to bathe the dolls in the tub — how to hold them, what to wash first, etc. etc. Mark tried to follow, but was kidding around at the same time. Somehow during the doll’s bath with Mark, the doll’s head popped off and rolled across the floor. Of course the class errupted in laughter! It was a little embarassing to me that I had married this guy at that point!

A definite blast from the past. Christine has been scanning and posting a number of old family photos.

jordan slides

1952

Mark’s Mum’s big sister and husband in New York City.

Links to various family websites

So, a year has already passed. Wow! Apparently the phrase should be “Time flies when you have kids.” It all seems a blur.

So, here is my version of when Emma was born:

Paula was due on the 10th and we had finally convinced her doctors that Emma was large and might need some help coming out. So, we finally go our names on the list to be induced and they promised that they would call “when they were slow and had the time.” By the morning of the 20th, we were about the top of the list, and Paula had some “issues”, so we went in to the hospital to see what was up at about 7:30 am. The reason that we went in turned out not to be an issue after all, but after hours of working at it, we finally managed to convince them to induce. At this point, we figured that Emma might be big enough to survive…

To be honest, at this time, I think that there was still that seed of doubt that maybe this was all a dream. I still couldn’t believe that we were really having a baby!

So, they waited until I ran out to the car to get something and make a phone call, then they moved Paula to a private delivery room and broke her water. I was rather surprised when I got back and she was gone! A while later, they gave her OxySomething, and we waited. Then we waited. This was the beginning of a trend of Emma not wanting Mummy to put her down.

After hours of waiting, one of our really nice nurses suggested that we run down off and get some food. We were not supposed to let Paula eat (in case of C-section), but she needed the food! After that, there was lots of work, but no more food! I have no idea who’s idea that is!

After that, we waited some more for the contractions to get better. There was a lot of waiting, showering, waiting, checking Emma’s and Mum’s heartbeats, and waiting. It was really tough for Paula to be in labor that long!

What an emotional day. All day long I kept thinking what we were doing at that time last year. 7:00 am — got to the hospital. 10:00 — convinced them to keep us, started to induce me to help the contractions become more powerful. 11:00 — broke my water. 12:00 — snuck to the cafeteria for some soup, argued with woman in hallway who was sure I must be expecting twins (silly twit) etc. etc. By this time last year I was in unbelievable pain that I didn’t think would ever end. Mark was as white as a ghost but incredibly strong for me. My mom, who I constantly thought was going to pass out, definietely managed to hold her own. I’m not sure what we’d have done without her. They say you forget the pain of childbirth but I’m not sure that’s true. The trauma of that day is indelibly etched into my psyche. So too is the beauty of her tiny face and hands. I remember when it was all over and Mark and my Mom had both left. The nurse moved me over the the recovery section of the maternity ward and I was left alone with a silent child in a quiet room before visiting hours had even started. It was about 6:00 am, I had been at the hospital for about 24 hours. Very quietly, very slowly I began to unwrap her from the tight bundle she had been given to me in. Off came the ridiculously ugly tiny toque and the receiving blanket she had been folded into. Off came the tiny hospital gown that looked very much like the one I was wearing. Underneath all these layers lay perfect, tiny Emma just looking at me with wonder. Her eyes were so big and she was so wide awake. I was exhausted but could not take my eyes off of her for an instant. After all the pain, the exhaustion, the depression of a pregnancy that felt like it would last forever came this one perfect moment that I’ll never forget. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. Happy Birthday Emmy!

Well, for those of you thinking that there are not enough pictures on the site, or wondering what happened to all those non-family pictures that I took (especially pre-family), there is now a new section for the site. “Mark’s Other Photos” is a collection of some of my favorite pictures from the collection. I will add more as time permits, but it is a pretty slow process as they are mainly film and have to be scanned in. I apologize for the washed out ones. They are from an older scan and I will rescan them when I get the chance and find the pictures again.

Yesterday Emma and I didn’t have a very good day at all! She’s been teething really badly and is obviously in quite a lot of pain. Her nose is running and she’s starting to come down with a cold. She has been drooling so much that I kept a bib on her and she was still soaking wet all day. She hasn’t been crying so much as whimpering whenever she’s out of arm’s reach of me. I tried Tylenol, Orajel and even gum massages just to help her with the pain. By the afternoon, I was pretty worn out. I couldn’t seem to get her to go down for a nap at all. She was just crying and crying. I picked her up out of the crib and laid her down to change her bum. Through her tears, she covered her face with both of her hands, pulled them off really quickly and said Peek! The joy that this simple act brought to me was astounding! I started to cry, as usual, and screamed out “Did you just play peek-a-boo with Mommy?”. She did it again! I dressed her really cute and ran downstairs with her to videotape this momentous occassion. She kept doing it over and over until I tried to tape it. I tried for about an hour to get it on film to no avail. She’d only do it when the camera was off. Luckily though she did it for both Kristopher and Mark when they came home.
It’s moments like this that remind me why being a mom is so great. It’s moments like this that give you sanity. Hope somebody plays peek with you today!!!