Saturday, May 03, 2008

Introducing Cameron Elizabeth: The best birthday present ever.

Cameron Elizabeth formally introduced herself at 4:58pm on April 30th, 2008. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 7.5 ounces and meausured a respectable 20 inches in length. Also, she was born on my birthday. How awesome is that? An interesting sidenote - my son Max was born on my husband Scott's birthday - April 23rd. So, not only do we have 4 birthday's within a week, we have 4 Taureans under one roof. I'm not sure whether or not to laugh or cry, but it sure makes for a good story.

This little girl is a sweety pie, the apple of our eyes. Her middle name is a tribute to my mom and my great grandmother. She is still very sleepy and is a "warm baby" so we have to be careful not to over swaddle her. Most of the time she hangs out in just a onesie and a blanket. Makes for great access to her feet, which are tiny, yet long and slender. She has a full head of dark brown hair and dark blue eyes which look like they are going to turn brown like her dad's. According to my mom, she is a tiny replica of what I looked like as a baby, except I had reddish hair. I think her face changes every day, so I guess time will tell.
I gotta say, baby number two is nice from the standpoint that you actually have a clue as to what to expect and what to do with the little creature. Breastfeeding has been a snap compared to the saga I went through with Max, and both Scott and I are so much more relaxed...it's no wonder that first borns are overachievers and subsequent kids are more chilled out.

The day of Cameron's birth I had been up pretty much all night with cramping which turned into fairly intense contractions by 6am. They weren't falling into any kind of pattern though, so I wasn't sure if it was the real deal. Since my doctor was on call at the hospital that day, we decided to drop Max off at the daycare and head over to the hospital to get me checked out. Once my doctor examined me she decided to break my water to get things going and by 10:30am my contractions were 2 to 3 minutes apart. My 11:15am I requested (that's a nice way to put it) an epidural and by noon when one of my closest friends, Christine appeared, I was blissfully relaxed and smiling through the contractions.
Since my mom was on the way from Vancouver while all of this was going on, Christine texted her so that she would know to come straight to the hospital once she landed. By 4:30pm I was ready to push, we just needed my doctor to arrive so we could start. Since I only pushed for 3 minutes with Max, I wanted to wait in case this baby came out equally fast. My doctor appeared at 4:45pm and I got ready to push. After the first push, my doctor told me that the baby was face up and for a minute I thought she was going to tell me I would have to have a c-section. Not so, I would just need to push a lot harder, and my doctor would have to try to turn her like a corkscrew to get her face down. With Scott and Christine by my side, I pushed like I have never pushed before. I swear, after each set of contractions I had nothing left, and I was a bit worried about how long I could keep it up for. Luckily, it only took 4 sets of contractions (10 minutes), and out she came. After she got an initial wipe down and Scott cut the cord, she was placed on my chest for me to examine her. What a beauty. I immediately fell in love with her.
My mom arrived a few hours later and Scott went out to get us all some dinner. I lucked into a private room as well, so this hospital stay was a lot more restful than my stay with Max. We went home the next night and it has been a blur of visitors and sleeping and feeding ever since. My milk came in very quickly this time, and she is eating like a champ. Max is not sure what to think of the new arrival in our house, but I think he is slowly getting used to her.

I'll post another update later - for now I need to go get some rest. This baby thing is tiring! Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and kind words. We will start making calls in the next few days as we settle in.

4 comments:

  1. I'm dazzled by your grace and expertise during this birth. What a lucky coupla kids. Oh - and happy birthday, too.

    Finally...Huge congrats to Max on being a big brother! xx

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  2. Look at you, you old pro. You rocked it kid. Congratulations to you guys. The kids are lucky to have you.

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  3. Congratulations -- she's lovely (of course). Cool about the birthdays! I can't believe that you're posting already -- it's been four months and I still have trouble getting anything done!

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  4. She's lovely and so are you! Congratulations!!! :)

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