She's Here - Our New Babe

Monday evening was a night to remember. With absolutely no warning, our second child came into the world, two weeks early, in one hour from start to finish. NO WORD OF A LIE. We had planned a home birth under the care of a midwife, all along, because I knew this birth was going to be fast (and because we believe in midwives for normal births). Our first child was born in a birthing centre in Quebec, under the care of a midwife, and my labor was about 6 hours, with Quin being born about 2 hours after my water broke. I knew this time it would be faster, and I would need to drive 25 minutes away if I wanted a hospital birth (I didn't), since the obstetrics ward in our town has been temporarily closed. My husband and I felt comfortable with having our child at home. You can read more about the closing of obstetrics here and of our choice to do a home birth here.

Well, on Monday night, after having some light cramps while I ate dinner, which turned to not being able to talk while I had them within 20 minutes, I went to take a bath. I knew if I was not having contractions that meant I would soon give birth, that the bath would stop them. Not so. It became apparent very quickly that they were two minutes apart. Our midwife was called, but soon after, when my water broke, myself, my husband, and our midwife who was on route and on the phone, knew things would change in a couple moments. And that is what happened. One urge to push and there was her head, another urge and her shoulders came out, along with her body, which my husband caught skillfully, as our three year old assisted. Crazy, yes, but we had all been so calm, and when our babe let out a cry and quickly turned from purple to very pink, we knew all was ok. Our midwife arrived less than 10 minutes afterwards. And it was time for celebrating!

Welcome to our world, Emmanuelle Louise Hélène. Thank you for joining our family :)