A labour of love.

At 10:44AM December 4th 2009, Kaleb Michael Bourgeois was born. Here is the story of our journey to bring him to this world.

Over the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy, we made frequent trips to the doctors office and the hospital because my blood pressure was getting high. We had many recommendation to induce the labor early because of hypertension caused by pregnancy. But Mathieu and I decided to give our baby the best chance to come to this world naturally and as safely as possible. Close to the due date, we had an ultrasound to see how the little guy was doing in there. He was measured at 10lbs 9oz. From there we decided that it was time to go the hospital and induce the labour.

On Thursday December 3rd we were admitted to the labour and delivery unit (Unit 51) of the Foothills Medical Centre, where they used medication called Oxytocin to make me go into labour. Mathieu and I laboured all day and all through the night, he was an incredible support to me, standing by my bed for 20 hours. He helped with every step of the way. We also asked a good friend of ours (Deborah Bobrow) who has tremendous experience as a midwife and labour/delivery nurse to spend time with us during the labour and help us stay relaxed and focused.

Through the night we had challenges, at 3AM the baby heart rate started dipping a bit low on occasion. A couple of epidurals and an aminionic infusions where done to protect the baby and get me ready if a emergency C-section was required to get him out fast. I was also having difficulty finding the balance for my pain. The doctors and nurses where very caring and kind thrue it all. After spending 6 hours at 9cm and experiencing every part of labour including transition, we agreed with the doctors and nurses that it was time to go the operating room and get the baby out safely via C-section. Within an hour, we heard the first cries of our beautiful baby boy and we met our son, Kaleb.

We were filled with joy but our challenge wasn't over yet. Later that day, I had a post partum hemorrhage and lost a lot of blood. I stayed a couple extra days in the hospital where the nurses and Mathieu by my side, helped me recover. We came home on Monday December 7 th and introduced or dog Sky to the new member of the family. From here our world will change, we are on the journey of learning how to become parents. The basic tasks are to feed our baby, keep him warm, and provide love. So far, it has been a complete roller coaster ride of ups and downs but we are so happy to be on the ride and are growing as people every step of the way.

A special thank you to Donelle, Jackie and Karina, 3 wonderful nurses who made this journey a wonderfull human experience for all 3 of us.

Stacey