Léo's arrival

Pictures coming soon. I have trouble loading them on this blog from the mac...

Léo's original due date is today! He is 9 days old today and so much has happened since April 9th. Where to start? Well, I guess with that week.

As you know, Joe and I felt that Léo would arrive a tad early. My mom had given birth 9 and 7 days early -for my and my brother's births- and had relatively quick labors, so I figured I might follow in her footsteps. This whole week of April 4th, I cleaned up my desk at work (kinda) and tried to finish up hand over notes in case I wouldn't come back for a few months. Let me just tell you: that felt great!! I relished every minute I spent on those tasks knowing I wouldn't have to read reports this time around.

On Thursday, I started to have mild cramps, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then I woke up on Saturday morning early to call my mom and I felt that the cramps were becoming stronger. I texted my dear friend Jen, who had given birth 2 weeks prior, to ask about her cramps (and I have kept on relying on her for question after question since. Thanks Jen!). I thought those might be real contractions indeed. Joe and I drove to Bakery Nouveau and the contractions were a bit stronger -so much so that I had to stop talking or walking when they hit. We got home at about 10 or 11 and the contractions got stronger, stronger, STRONGER. I cussed a bit, but mainly I said over and over "make it stop; I don't know what to do; and get out of here already... not you baby, I'm talking to the contractions." I think I even cussed Eve a bit for eating the freaking apple and causing us women that kind of pain. At 12:30-1, the contractions were super strong, lasting 60-90 seconds and coming every 2-2.5 minutes. I know I should have called the doctor at that point but... I was waiting for the clothes I wanted to take to the hospital to dry. Yeah, not my brightest idea! At 1:30p my water broke. HOLY CRAP the contractions that came after that were really painful and the urge to push was scary. Joe took the clothes out of the drier, called the hospital, and made me get into the car. I don't remember much at this point but Joe said it took me forever to get in the car because the contractions hurt really bad. So we got in the car and got to the hospital in about 5 minutes -thank God the hospital is so close! We parked in front of the hospital -illegally- (I screamed at that point because the contractions hurt so bad. As in screamed at the top of my lungs. I give props to Joe for not laughing at me!) and went straight up to the labor area. I tried to hold it together because there were people waiting in the lobby but as soon as I turned the corner I was on all four, in pain. The nurses rushed us to a room. Again, I don't remember much. I know the doctor came, measured me, and said I was good to go. I know I asked for an epidural and the doctor said "nope, you're ready to push NOW." Um, what? No epidural? Oh sh*t. I also remember the nurse showing me how to put the gown on but I must not have listened because I ended up pushing butt naked with only a t-shirt on. Yup... all thoughts of grace and modesty left my brain! So now we're at about 1:50pm and I start pushing. I pushed just a bit because I was afraid of the pain. I think the doctor got a bit frustrated with me and tried to find ways to make me push harder. WOMAN, I'm pushing a 7-pounder out of my body and I know it's going to hurt. Patience! At one point I felt the famous "ring of fire" and knew the baby's head was getting out so I gave a real push...

Baby Léo was born at 2:24 PM on April 9th, 2011. He has been really gentle and sweet and cuddly and perfect. We love him SO much. Seriously guys... I knew I'd love him, but it still has taken me by surprise how much love I have had for him since day 1 (okay, maybe day 2, but you know what I mean).

The nurses freaked us out a bit because I bled a lot after delivery, but they gave me meds through an IV (I thought I would avoid the IV all together but no such luck) and it was better. I also had fever, but it passed after a few hours.

The stay at the hospital was rather reassuring because I could ask a lot of questions to the nurses. I even thought about staying one more night because the thought of going home scared me so much. We went home the day after his birth, on Sunday. Friends have shown us since an amazing amount of support by bringing food over and more importantly, by always checking on us by text, Skype, or email to know how we're doing and handling things. Seriously it feels great to have such a great support group -mainly of moms who have answers to my 1,001 questions and have gone through what Joe and I are going through.

Oh, a word on Joe... He has been such a great father to Léo and a great husband to me. I don't think I've loved him more than I do now, seeing him interact with the baby and seeing how attentive he is to me. He's taking the pulse of my mood every day to make sure I am not depressed -or not beyond what is expected at this stage- and is helping in any way he can, waking up at night to ask if he can do anything to help, picking up Léo from his crib and bringing him back when I'm done nursing. We even change diapers together right now because I'm afraid the baby will kick his penis with his heels (he's healing from circumcision), so Joe holds him while I change him! I love this man so much! Léo couldn't have had a better dad than Joe. It's really great to see this side of him I didn't know and experience who he is as a father. I knew he had wanted a baby for a while but I didn't know what to expect. He has surpassed any expectations I could have. I am so, so lucky to be his wife.

Ah yes, I have become emotional! I am actually better now. The first week was quite a mess. I cried when I thought how much I loved the baby, when I thought about bad things that could happen to him, when I thought about circumcision, when I thought about... well, just about anything made me cry! It's getting better now, thank God.

Next post... First week at home with baby Léo.