These are the days of Elijah

It all got started at 6:00 am on Saturday, March 17th. Steph whispers to me, "I think I'm in labour". Of course I responded with a question, "Really?" We called the midwife, Steph got into the tub and I fired up some coffee and waited. Thankfully once labour was underway, the midwife called over to St.Boniface hospital and they had a lot of room for us. We sped off to Winnipeg, with Steph lying down like a beached whale in the back of our wagon. Once we got there, we followed specific directions from a receptionist, just to find ourselves on a floor with a long empty corridor full of locked doors and no people. Needless to say, we eventually found our way to the labour and delivery ward.
After 15+ hours of the craziest thing I've ever seen a human do, out pops Elijah Cornelius Paul Loewen at 9:37 PM on St. Patrick's Day. Due to meconium (stool in the amniotic fluid) and the chord wrapped twice around his neck, he came out "flat"...meaning no movement and no breathing. I look at Steph and don't know what to say. I tell her it's a boy as he's whisked into the corner of the room where the doctors suction him and revive him. Thankfully the specialists were on hand due to the meconium in the water and Elijah was able to get immediate help. Praise God! His breathing started and he headed off to NICU. We got to see him about 3 hours later and had to wait until the morning to hold him for the first time. By the next morning, his breathing had stabilized and was in good shape. He had a rough start, but after a few days he was definitely moving and kicking lots. On Tuesday, we were discharged from St. Boniface Hospital and headed home to Steinbach.
Since being home, it's been all about working on very little sleep, trying to get to know this new person in our lives and what he needs, and finding time to shove food in our mouths. It's a lot tougher than we thought it would be, and thankfully I've taken off a month of work to adjust. Steph's mom came to stay with us for a week and what a HUGE blessing that was for us! We have seen so many of our small and big prayers answered and can only continue to praise God for His faithfulness in helping make this major change much more manageable.
Elijah is now 2 weeks old and is super cute, as well as becoming more animated. He has started making a "Weeee" sound when he seems happy. He smiles as he's drifting off to sleep and flashes us his sweet dimples (that he got from mom.) He loves being cuddled and held close to us, and often falls asleep within minutes. We're excited to be parents and to watch this little guy grow. Oh yeah, there's a bonus photo of Cory when he was a baby thrown in the mix here. Any similarities? So, call him what you want...Elijah, Nelius, ECP, Eli, or any other new names we haven't heard.
Ultra proud parents,

Cory and Steph

The belly goes on...

What fun for you...more belly shots! Can't get enough, huh? That's why I haven't had the baby yet - I'm just lapping up all the attention that I get from this blog. Once the baby arrives, it'll all be about the baby. So I'm taking all I can get right now.
Anyways, I met with our midwife today and had another exam. Her words were "things haven't changed much from last week" (note a tone of disappointment.) I'm still only 1 cm dilated, the baby's head has to drop down more before there is enough pressure on the cervix, and the cervix is about the same thickness. The only progress has been that the cervix has moved more to the front (a good thing) and is softer. So she's given me orders to do side lunges and walk stairs to get this head down further - apparently these things are more effective than the "drive down a bumpy road" strategy. She estimates the baby's weight at about 7 pounds, 7 ounces right now - a nice size.
I'm getting another induction massage tomorrow morning. If things don't happen, I'll have a fetal assessment next Thursday to see how the baby is doing in utero. By that time baby will be 1-2 weeks overdue. Oh, and our midwife is away March 22-24 so let's pray baby arrives before then!
I'm having a lot of braxton hicks (uterine toning contractions) in the evenings, so Geraline told us to expect to go into labour in the evening or middle of the night. just great...best time of the day (note sarcasm).
Another tidbit of info - our hospital of choice (St.Boniface) is "horrendously busy" this month so chances are we won't be able to deliver there. Our midwife is not impressed with Health Sciences (the only other Winnipeg hospital with an L & D ward)...so our options are slim. I'm trying not to be anxious about these potential "glitches" - goodness knows there will probably be lots more to come!




















This is me picturing myself NOT pregnant anymore!

This may be the last belly shots!

I saw our midwife today and had an exam which helped to narrow down how far along I am and when baby is likely to arrive. I am one cm dilated and the cervix has about 40% more thinning to do. Also, the baby has about one more cm to drop and then it will be right ready to fall out of me. She expects baby to come next week, so her prediction of the 12th may be on target! My uterus is measuring at 37 cms high now, which means the baby grew a lot in one week! Because our midwife is away on Saturday, I am going to hold off this week on getting a massage or riding down bumpy roads (almost impossible to avoid in Manitoba!) I went into false labour this past Saturday, and that was a definite test of whether we were prepared for the real thing. I'm glad it happened but it sure shook us up a bit. Overall I'm feeling okay other than aches, pains and poor sleep. My mom stayed with us this past weekend and had some fun feeling these strong feet jutting out my side and watching the belly roll. If you know anything about the Loewen calf muscles, then you'll know what I mean when I think this baby will have dad's calves (in other words "large"!) So here are what could be the final shots of my belly in all it's massive glory. Enjoy!