Welcome to the World Danica!

January 14, 4:00 am- I woke up in the middle of a really weird dream about Donald Trump realizing that my water had broken...weird I know.

4:30 am- Myka woke up with a dirty diaper and didn't want to go back to bed, so she was my "mini labor coach" for about an hour...we played, we did dishes, we drank milk...and waited for contractions. I also called my mom to let her know what had happened to give her lots of time to get here, since the roads sucked :)

6:00 am-mom got here, Myka had gone back to bed, and the contractions were coming every 10 minutes. At this point I pretty much assumed that I would have a baby by lunchtime..and I started to get nervous!

9:00 am-Everyone was awake in the house, and my contractions had started to space out again :(

11:00 am-Daniel and I made our way to the hospital, with a pitstop at Tim Hortons

Steaming Pants- ok, a little funny sidenote story...on the way to the hospital, I realized that I wasn't as prepared as I should have been for travelling with broken waters. When we got to the hospital, I jumped out of the van and asked Daniel if you could tell my pants were wet ( I thought it might be incognito since they were black). His answer? "Uhhh, yeah, because they are steaming!" Yay for -30 weather :p

3:00 pm-I was starting to get frustrated that my contractions weren't picking up! They would come regularly..some as close as 6 minutes apart...for about an hour, then they would just stop. Just like that. I got checked and was 5 cm. It was so slow compared to my previous labors! Aaaaah!

So, we filled up the birthing tub and I soaked for a couple hours.

FYI-if you ever get the chance to labor in a tub, DO IT. It's so much better! Contractions still hurt, but you can move easier to help ease the pain, and between contractions, you can just soak and relax!

My contractions got to 7 minutes apart in there...and then stopped again. The doctor came in and said he was torn about what to do because he wanted to bring his son to Fort St. John that evening and wasn't sure if he should go and risk missing my delivery...I told him to just go, nothing was happening lol.

*another sidenote...that doctor was also my third potential doc for this delivery. Doc #1 was out of town, Doc #2 left for the weekend.

11:00 pm-Now getting even more frustrated, I had officially "given up" at this point on anything happening EVER. So, we ate pizza, and visited with my friend Gail in the lounge for a couple of hours! I was still getting contractions, but they were about 15 minutes apart. Sheesh.

Enter Doc #4- I was informed that I needed to get hooked up to antibiotics because my water had been broken for so long. I was also offered oxytocin to get the contractions to come at more regular intervals because "if you haven't progressed now, you won't on your own". I said yes to the antibiotics, no to the oxytocin...at least until morning. Daniel and I prayed for our baby girl and asked God to help my body do something on it's own....if anyone could get her out, He can!

So we settled in for the night...Daniel fell asleep on the wonderfully comfortable cot, and I listened to some David Crowder Band and bounced on the exercise ball :)

Through the night, I kept having contractions, an average of 20 minutes apart. I eventually gave up moving around and decided to get some rest. Around 3:00 am, although no closer together, I could tell the contractions were actually doing something. I could sleep between them though, which was nice...I kept thinking it was "God's epidural" :)

6:00 am- the nurse came in and said it was time to start the oxytocin. I was cringing because my contractions were already so painful that I didn't think I could take the "fake" ones.

7:00 am- the oxytocin was started, and I laid there and tried to relax while I waited for hit.

7:20 am-The first oxytocin contraction hit, and I literally felt Danica's head drop into the birthing canal...and had to push! The nurse moved super fast, getting gloves on and taking off blankets. "She's fully!" she yelled, and everything moved at warp speed from there. There happened to be a doctor nearby, Doc #5 for my delivery, and he rushed in just in time to see her crowning. That contraction finally ended, and on the next one, I pushed out her body, and she was here! Doc #4 walked in then, and said, "I even timed myself...it took me 4 minutes to get here and I STILL missed it!"

And here she is...Danica Steckly :)

9lbs 1oz

20 inches long

so chubby :D