Nearly a week ago, we finally got to say hello to the newest addition to our family – Nayla. It honestly feels like yesterday that we found out we were going to have a baby. Here’s how the labour and delivery went from my (Romel) point of view:

It all began the night of June 27, 2018. Jenn said that she was feeling cramps and wasn’t sure since they were very far apart. Little did we know that this would be the last time that we would ever have a full night’s rest (for at least the next 6 months). We woke up that next morning and Jenn started to feel the contractions happening more often. They were about 10 or so minutes apart at this point. Our game plan was that we would head to her parent’s place and power through early labour since we would have to drop off Simcoe there anyways and they lived exactly 6 minutes from the hospital we were to give birth at.

We ended up at the hospital around 12:50 AM on June 29 and were admitted right away since Jenn was already 7cm dilated. When we made it into our labor room, Jenn was probably already at the “Transition” phase of the labor. It was honestly the hardest thing to watch as I wasn’t able to do anything to help. I was there to be held and squeezed as hard as humanly possible during the contractions. Once she got the epidural it was slightly smooth sailing after that. I was able to take a quick nap to prepare for the “Pushing” phase of labor. We started the pushing phase at around 8:15 am and lasted nearly 2 hours.

Ready

To Push

During every contraction at this point, Jenn was instructed to push as hard as she could 3 times. At first we saw some hair, then we saw the top of her head, then we saw the tips of her ears and then BAM she’s out!  This part was the most surreal. Finally, after the 9 months of waiting, 26 hours of labor, we finally got to meet our daughter Nayla.

It was a such a crazy rush of emotions that it’s hard to put into words how I felt. Seeing our daughter was truly amazing and brought so much joy. She was born June 29, 2018 at 10:29 AM. She spent about an hour with her mom skin to skin and after that she was ready to be tested! The stats she rolled were pretty standard: 7lbs 10oz and 20 inches length.

Spider-Baby

Ready For Home

She had a few more tests she needed to do when she reached 1 day old so we spent another day at the hospital before heading home. I was pretty nervous driving Nayla home. It’s a bit different driving knowing you have this little baby in the back seat! I’m a lot more used to driving with her now as she doesn’t really make a sound when she’s in her carseat. She usually passes out and enjoys the ride!

We picked up Simcoe on the way and made it home safe and sound! Jenn brought up Simcoe first and then I brought up Nayla shortly after so that he could welcome baby to the home. I definitely had my doubts about how Simcoe would react to Nayla, but it went surprisingly well. He was very cautious around her and did a lot of sniffing! I’m excited to see how these two will get along when Nayla is a bit older.

We’re hoping to update the blog more frequently with parenting adventures but that’s all for now – I got to catch up on some sleep!