I wanted to include the kids birth stories on here, before they get lost! So, although I want to add pics, they will have to be added at a later date...so just put on your imagination cap!

The Story of Ella

After waiting desperately for July to come from the moment I found out we were pregnant, it finally came, heat and all! One of the hottest years since 1950! Hot and muggy for almost the entire month of July! And yet nothing could upset me, because I knew our baby was on her way…due July 18.

July 1^st finally came, my first day being finished work for the year, and it was the big garage sale day in Embro. Rick, Nikki, Colby (watched by Grandma Darlene) and I all sold our goodies all morning (and made a nice little profit of $250!). It was perfect weather – one day that was a break from the humidity…and there weren’t many of those days! The following week was my first entire week off, and I used every moment I had doing some last minute shopping, organizing her room, and enjoying the time off, while trying to keep cool. Rick had already put together the crib, and we had bought the change table from Tricia (my hairdresser) – all in white. We only needed something to keep all of her clothes in, which we ended up buying just after she was born. Grandma Dianne and Nikki painted the baby’s walls mauve and baby blue, and we picked out the curtain material to be made by my mom – the little seamstress she is!

On Tuesday the 5^th I went to Vina's with Grandma Dianne, Nikki and Colby to visit with Vina, Jennifer, Eryn, Rebecca and new baby Georgia (almost two weeks old) and swam in the pool in a bikini!!!!! (Ella's first swimming lesson.) I wished my baby was here to hold!!! Grandma Dianne remembers me standing up with Georgia in my arms, a tiny little girl in my arms with dark hair on her head and a sweet little bum on my arm and then my baby arrived soon afterward, a tiny, female with dark hair!!! How amazing!

On Wednesday I put the final touches on Ella’s room, and then went to St. Marys to pick up some parts for Rick at Ford. After that I drove to Stratford and Tavistock in search of a dresser without any luck. I was worn out that night, but on a high from getting so much done that day, including putting the crib sheet on her bed.

I went to bed late, and woke up about 12:30am for a bathroom break (one of the many I did every night being pregnant!). Once I got back to bed, I thought I felt something funny, but didn’t think it could possibly be my water breaking because I was totally sure that I would be overdue…except every time I moved in bed, something was happening. At first I thought maybe I could go to the hospital myself, just in case I was wrong and it wasn’t time yet, then I wouldn’t have to wake up Rick. Then if it was time for Ella to come, I could call Rick and have him come meet me there. (At the time it made sense…) After really thinking about it, I figured I’d better just let Rick know that I thought something was happening. I first whispered to him: “Are you awake?”, and once he answered, I still hesitated not wanting to worry him. Finally I told him that I thought my water was breaking, and just as I said it, I rolled over and the waterfall began! I ran to the washroom just in time to soak the entire floor! At that time, it was painfully obvious what was happening – and she was early! A week and a half before she was due!

Since my water broke – we had to go to the hospital right away, but not before a quick shower! It was extremely nerve-racking thinking of what was to come in the hours to come…and again because my water broke, I knew we would have her within 24 hours!

I can’t explain all the thoughts/questions/concerns, etc. that were running through my mind as we were getting everything together before we left the house – my mind was just racing! I lined the seat in the car with a garbage bag and large towel, just in case anymore ‘waterfalls' began, but we lucked out, and I maintained all my fluids till we got to the hospital. All the way there, again, my mind was racing – I was in complete shock I think because I hadn’t expected her to come yet – it had just seemed so far away, and now it was here! I remember thinking “Gosh, are we really ready for this?” Although by then it was a little too late…!

We got to the hospital (St. Joseph's in London) at 2 a.m., and Rick dropped me off out front of the admitting doors, and I waited patiently (kind of…) while he parked the car. When he finally came to meet me we ventured upstairs to the prenatal triage department (luckily we had just gone for our hospital tour 2 days before so we knew exactly where to go). Once we were admitted, we were put in a triage room and I had monitors put on my belly to read her heartbeat, and my contractions (which were non-existent, except for those lovely Braxton-Hicks!). We were there for a little over an hour, when they finally brought us to a delivering room.

Right away I was hooked up with an IV so they could inject oxytocin to help start my contractions. At this point I was barely 1cm dilated. In our room we had a t.v., so at least Rick could relax in his uncomfortable chair for a bit, and tried to sleep, but it was pretty hard for him – especially when the contractions really began! They started really slowly and didn’t hurt very much, but they kept getting more and more intense. I had hard contractions for almost 2 hours (starting around 10 a.m.), and around 11:30 I gave up trying to deal with them (they HURT!) and asked for my epidural. While I waited for the anesthesiologist to come, we decided to try some different positions to help out with the labour pain. I liked the one where I hung off Rick’s neck, the only problem was I wanted to completely let go of my legs when I was having a contraction! The nurse suggested using the exercise ball, but after sitting on it (it was fun to sit on and bounce) I had a contraction and it was completely uncomfortable! So she put that away pretty quickly!

Just after 12 p.m., the anesthesiologist came with my epidural. It was nerve-racking while he was putting it in, but Rick was a great help, and it was pretty easy overall. By this time I was 3-4 cm dilated. The epidural was completely wonderful, I could still feel my toes, and I could still move around (I’m sure I couldn’t walk, but I could still move over in bed), but the contraction pain slowly just melted away! That (and the comfy chair that our nurse, Mary brought him) made it possible for Rick and I to get a little sleep for a few hours.

By 2 p.m. I was dilated to 6cm, and then at 3:30 I started to feel some extra pressure. I asked the nurse if ‘bearing-down’ contractions felt much different than regular contractions. She looked at me funny (not expecting me to have progressed that quickly), and explained what I would be feeling if they were ‘bearing-down’ contractions. Once I agreed that I was feeling that extra pressure like what she explained, she check me again and found that I was completely dilated and ready to go! She asked me if I could not push, but wait for about an hour to let my body do some of the work for me. I agreed, and by 4:15 Mary said it was time to do some pushing.

She explained to me how to hold myself during pushing, and to take deep breaths in between contractions, then hold my breath when they started and count to 8, take a quick breath, then hold it again for another count of 8.

Right away both Rick and Mary told me how well I was progressing, and that they could see Ella’s head already! I honestly thought they were just being encouraging, and it wasn’t possible to be going this quickly – I figured we still had hours to go! After about 15 minutes of pushing, Mary asked if I wanted the mirror (which I had previously not wanted), and I agreed – mostly to see if they were lying or not about how quickly she was coming!

When she brought out the mirror I was amazed that they really weren’t fibbing after all! And seeing Ella’s head as I pushed made me want to push harder and longer!

At 4:45 p.m. Mary called in the doctor, which meant Ella was coming very soon. I was shocked, I still couldn’t believe that it was almost over, and we would have our little angel soon! The doctor, a resident and another doctor (observer - it is a teaching hospital) came in to deliver Ella. They were all women! Another resident tried to come in to see the birth, but my nurse Mary stopped him as he hadn’t even met me before, and she thought that would be rude!

Mary explained that at one point they would tell me to stop pushing, and that meant the baby’s head was out. And a few minutes later when she did tell me to stop, I was again skeptical as I figured we still had a long way to go! She wasn’t joking though, the baby’s head had indeed come out! And with one more little push, Ella was born at 5:01 p.m.

They declared that it was a girl, and placed her on my stomach. Ella had loads of dark curly hair, and looked so tiny! Rick cut the cord, and the nurse took her to the warmed table to clean her up. She was weighed, measured and completely checked over – and then they brought her to me again, and said she was perfect. I had to agree!

Once they were done with me, we were wheeled over to our room, and awaited the family arrivals to see our little bundle of joy. Grandma & Grandpa Vries came first, followed by Grandma Dianne and Grandpa Bob, Aunt Nikki & Colby. At 8pm visiting hours were over, so everyone left, and it was just mommy, daddy and baby together, finally a complete family.

A little after 9pm, I told Rick to go home, although he was prepared to stay with us through the night, I knew he wouldn’t sleep very well (if at all) and he needed to stay strong to look after us now! So he reluctantly went home for the night, promising to be back in the morning. That just left me alone with my new little angel. I think I was supposed to be tired, but I just couldn’t stop looking at Ella…I was just so amazed, and so in shock that it was all over, and we had a baby!

Throughout the entire night, between feeding her, looking at her, and holding her I got little rest (not that I minded). I was just happy when the sun finally came up so I could stop trying to sleep (because it just wasn’t happening!). Rick came back just in time for the nurse to come in and show us how to bathe Ella. And she really didn’t like her bath! So then mom and dad had to hold her and look at her for the rest of the afternoon to make her feel better. (Or was that to make us feel better?)

In the afternoon Rick went down to the gift shop to get me a few supplies, and came back with a little pink hat for Miss Ella. He said there were other ones with animals, etc., on them, but she needed a pink one. (Awwww…)

During visiting hours that night Marie-Eve came to visit (who works at Norampac with me, and was due 1 week after me, but who ended up having Camille 3 weeks exactly after Ella was born). Then Grandma Dianne & Grandpa Bob came again, followed by Aunt Nikki, Uncle Jeff, the Colbster, Diane & Dave Borman, (Diane works at Norampac too) Great Uncle Gary, Great Aunt Jeany, Lindsay & Carlie. Everyone brought presents, especially Grandma Dianne and Aunt Nikki, they had quite the time shopping for ‘pink’ stuff – and BOY did they shop!! Ella got everything a little girl needs that you could think of, from dozens of pink outfits (plus one ruffly blue one) to bibs, slippers, toys and even her own purse! (Including a pink soother, a pink brush and comb, and 2 dimes*). She even got a pink soccer ball (since I called her my little soccer player in the womb, because she kicked so much!).

*

The second night in the hospital I tried to get a little more sleep, (I was definitely tired by then!) but all Ella wanted to do was nurse! By the wee hours of the morning, I was so sore I didn’t know what else to do. She would be contented by sucking on my pinky finger, but then I couldn’t sleep! Finally I went out to the nurse’s station and asked what I could do. The nurse said I could try supplementing her with formula (which I didn’t want to do, nor did I think she needed it, as she was drinking fine, she just wanted to suck) or try a soother. Duh! That was all I needed. Since we had just received a soother as a present from Grandma Dianne, I tried that out, and it worked! That helped a great deal, and then I could get some sleep.

Saturday morning came (not nearly as fast as I’d hoped, as I just wanted to go home by then!) and Rick came to take me home. We had so many presents, my bags and a ‘baby girl’ balloon, it took 2 trips down to the car. I rode in the backseat with Ella as Rick drove home. I was so happy to be going home at last! (Although the hospital was great, it had good food, and lots of nurses ready for all my questions! But nothing is like home.)

That afternoon Nikki brought over lasagna and garlic bread, along with Grandma Dianne who brought over loads of treats and goodies to eat. It was sure nice not to have to think about cooking, just napping! Over the next few days Great Aunt Norma brought over many casseroles and desserts! We had so much food we didn’t know what to do with it all! We also had our neighbours across the street bring us soup and goodies! There were so many people that gave us presents, cards and good wishes– it was completely overwhelming, but felt so nice that so many people cared.

Overall my pregnancy and delivery were wonderful, especially since they brought my perfect Ella to us. We are now so happy to finally have her! She amazes us every day! And this is only the beginning…

*On the day Ella was born Grandma Dianne was doing laundry while trying to keep busy…busily waiting!!!

"Stace had called at 9:01 a.m. cheerfully reporting that she was at St. Joseph's Hospital and in labour with pains a few minutes apart! I was shocked! She was over a week early and I had not expected this to be "the day"! I wished her well and prepared to wait by the phone. I called Grandpa Bob and then, to keep myself busy, I finished the laundry and was ironing in the basement when I shook out a pair of jeans and a dime rolled out of a pocket and across the floor. I picked it up and smiled, thinking I would keep it for the new baby.

At noon Stace called in a dreamy voice, told me she had had an epidural and was feeling just fine...6 centimeters dilated and ready for a little rest before the big event. I was so excited but to keep myself preoccupied I washed dishes and put away the clean clothes. While folding some jeans, I heard a tiny thunk and another dime was shining up at me. Then I knew it was going to be a girl. I wasn't getting pennies from heaven, I was getting dimes because somebody knew a little tiny shopper was being born! I laughed when Stace called at 5:01 p.m. and told me that Ella had been born. A girl, of course! I had the dimes from heaven to prove it!

When Grandpa Bob arrived home after work we gobbled a little supper, picked up a sub for Stacey and drove to the hospital in a rain storm. As we drove into London I looked over my shoulder and saw a huge rainbow arcing over us and the hospital. Beautiful!! Ella had become our rainbow girl.

The next day I went shopping with Nikki and Colby. I bought my new little shopping partner a tiny lime green purse (very funky!) and filled it with a brush, a comb, a soother and two dimes...Ella's two dimes. "

Written by Grandma Dianne