My sweet Izzy is EIGHT!

These pictures were taken by my little photographer Lyric. One day she 'borrowed' my camera. 419 pictures and two dead batteries later I had quite the collection of pictures! Izzy loves to be the model for Lyric's picture-taking.

I can't believe that Izzy is already eight years old! It seems like only a couple of years ago that I gave birth to her. It was the most incredible moment of my life up to that point. Since I've never blogged my birth story with her, here it is. Joel and I were incredibly blessed and got pregnant the second month that we tried. I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of giving birth, so I hired a doula after hearing about them through my massage therapist. I went into the labour thinking that I'd like to try without an epidural, but that I had no problems with getting one (and I truly believed that I would need to get one to make it through).

My labour first began on Monday August 7. I wasn't due until the 18th, so this was a little early, but I was thrilled. The only problem was that Joel had worked the weekend before (civic long weekend) and at that time he was working 12 hour shifts PLUS on call through the night. That particular weekend he had worked Friday, Friday night on call, Saturday, Sunday and Sunday night on call. The weekend had been incredible busy and he'd gotten almost no sleep at all. I called my doula to let her know what was going on. The nurses at Stratford hospital told me to come on in and get checked. I was 2 cm when I got there and I forget how far apart my contractions were. They decided to admit me (looking back now with all my doula experience I"m not really sure why). My doula joined me that evening and helped me to labour in the bathtub while Joel slept in my room on the couch (thank goodness for doulas!!). The doc checked me late that night and told me I was 3-4 cm. He also told me he'd be back in 2 hours and if things hadn't changed that he'd break my water.

I got back in the tub and continued to labour with my doula by my side. Things started to space out and I was getting exhausted. The doc didn't come back for HOURS and by that time my labour had completely stopped. Before he came in I talked with my doula about my options. After careful consideration I decided to ask to go home (since I was still almost 2 weeks early) and we headed back home (probably around 4 a.m.). It was brutal!! I hadn't expected to return home without my baby and I felt a sense of loss (even though I hadn't lost her).

I spent the next few days sleeping as much as possible. I got my hair cut and loved telling people that I was walking around 3-4 cm dilated (I thought it sounded cool :) But by Thursday I was plain SICK and TIRED of the fact that I was still pregnant. I had a prenatal appointment that day and my doc didn't know anything about my adventure on the Monday night. He also told me I was only 3 cm dilated and that the other doc was 'known for being generous' when he checked. YAY :( I remember a very stressful dinnertime and a big fight with Joel. I was totally on edge, it was like super-charged PMS! Then in the middle of the night (I think around 2 a.m.) I woke up when I heard a pop and felt like I"d wet the bed. I was terrified and thrilled all at the same time. I ran around like a crazy woman trying to get to the toilet and back to the bed....the adrenaline was seriously affecting my ability to think straight. I kept standing up and whoosh, the water would come rushing out, it was wild.

The hospital told me to head in (even though I had no contractions yet), since i was about a 45 minute drive and I had already been dilated from my experience earlier in the week. I called my doula (who had to be at work in 5 hours) and she said she would call my backup doula in the morning. Then she called back while we were en route to Stratford and said the backup would be heading out soon and would meet me there.

I started to have some contractions on the way (which was good!). I was in triage FOREVER which didn't make me very happy. My backup doula came and it was great to see her. They finally let me use a room, but said I wouldn't be admitted so I couldn't use the tub, I could just use the space. Finally they allowed me into the tub. I don't think I was in there very long, I don't remember a whole lot except for holding Joel's hand and staring into his eyes through the contractions. Then I got to 'that point' where I kept saying I couldn't do it anymore, I needed an epidural. I was pretty much freaking out by this point. The nurse must have checked me in the tub because I recall her saying it was too late for an epidural and I was severely unimpressed with that!! I kept saying I couldn't do it without one. I also remember the nurses thinking that they'd better hurry up and admit me (duh...do ya think?).

Pushing was tough...it took forever to get used to how to do it properly. In the end I only pushed for about 50 minutes, but it felt like FOREVER. I remember the doc kept saying "Just one more push....just like that", over and over and over. Finally, when he said it one last time I sneered "YA PROMISE?" I remember him chuckling over that, but I wasn't really in a laughing mood, I was really discouraged.

He told me that I had a band of muscle that I couldn't seem to push through. He said I may need an episiotomy, I wasn't happy with that idea. He said he could try to freeze the muscle to make it relax and that I may be able to push past it than. So he froze me locally and shortly after that I heard him say "Reach down and get your baby". I reached down and put my hands under her little armpits and picked lifted her wet, slippery body onto my bare chest. The doc said "it looks as though she's of the female variety" (what a stupid way to announce the sex eh?!). But I was elated. I had a beautiful baby girl, the labour was over and I had done something I'd never imagined possible for me and given birth with no medication!! I was on cloud nine. It was absolutely incredible.

A few days later I remember talking about the birth with Joel and he had wanted to catch her. I asked him if he had been disappointed not to have been able to catch his daughter and he said "it helped that you got to catch her". I couldn't figure that one out until he explained that when the doctor had told me to reach down and get her, she was still halfway inside of me. SO AMAZING. I got to catch my own precious baby (and Joel got to catch the next two :)


And here were are eight years later. I never would have imagined how incredible my sweet Isabelle Rose could be. She has the most vivid imagination of any child I've ever known. She loves to write stories and to create plays and to dance.

Happy Birthday my sweet Izzy,

Mommy