Hello. I’m a little bit surprised at how having a baby can rock my world so much. I’m also surprised at how much love I feel for Holly and Conor. Very shortly after Holly was born I felt some fierce maternal instincts kick in and I honestly feel like I would do anything to protect her. It’s incredible.

My labour was fast. I didn’t sleep much Thursday night, although I did my best to rest. I started to get steady contractions around 10:30 or 11 Friday morning. We laboured at home for a little bit until my emotions got the best of me. We went to my doctor’s office at 1:30 pm and at that point I was 5-6 cm and 90% effaced. Fortunately we were smart enough to pack our bags into the car before we went to the doctors and so we just went straight there to the hospital. We checked into our room shortly after 2 pm. At 4:30 pm my water was broken (weirdest feeling ever!) and by 5:30 pm my contractions were only a few minutes apart and very painful. I choose to get an epidural. At that point I was 6.5 cm. It took a little bit of time for the epidural to kick in, but I tell ya, just knowing that relief was coming calmed my nerves and anxiety. Emotionally, I felt so much better. At 5:50 pm I was 8 cm and completely effaced and the nurse told us that our daughter had hair. At 6:30 pm I was 10 cm and ready to push. I dilated 3.5 cm in an hour! We started pushing and did a couple and then stopped and waited for the doctor because Holly was coming. We resumed pushing again somewhere between 7 and 7:10 pm and Holly was born at 7:38 pm! I had one of the nurses bring in a mirror so I was able to watch the birth of my daughter which was absolutely amazing.

I still can’t believe I did that!!