Kiriah Anne Taylor

Well, I guess it all started later in the day on February 4th. Tim and I had... taken certain measures to try and get labour started. I had little contractions all night (like 15-30 seconds long, 2-4 minutes apart) but nothing that really caused us to panic. When they kept going the next day, we called our midwife but she said not to bother going in to Rocky until things got a bit more serious. I also called my mum and they decided to leave the next morning to come our way. We were feeling pretty antsy by the evening of the 5th and decided that we would rather drive to Rocky at a leisurely pace, pick up some groceries, and spend the night at The Guest House even if baby wasn't coming right away. We continued to "help labour along" and my contractions kept going, though at a rather random pace. We spent the evening, night, and next morning (the 6th) watching John Wayne movies, walking around, and trying to rest.



I don't really remember exact times, but at some point Tim called our midwives again and they agreed that Barb (head honcho midwife) should come over and check things out. At about the same time she got to The Guest House (4:30ish), my mum also arrived. My contractions had really started working in the hour or so before, so I was pretty hopeful that things would start happening. Barb checked me out and was quite surprised to find that I was already 6 centimeters dilated. She called our midwives (Jen and Jess) and told them to get their butts over to us. They had an hour drive ahead of them and Barb thought maybe things could happen fast. At that point I made the mistake of letting myself get comfortable instead of letting my contractions work for me, so everything slowed down quite a bit. A lot of the details have already slipped my mind, but I do remember Tim and my mum taking turns rubbing my back.
When Jen and Jess arrived they encouraged me to go for a walk and then switch things up by laboring in an uncomfortable position for a while. Well that kick started things. My contractions got serious and they started to fill up the birthing pool (aka: a fishy pool :). I guess it was somewhere around 10:30pm or 11:00pm when my water broke. Pretty soon after that my body just started pushing... it was like I didn't even have to consciously do anything, my body just took over. It was pretty cool. I got into the water then and after a couple of minutes Tim got in too. I was on my knees, leaning over the side of the pool and he was sitting behind me. My mum was at my head feeding me ice cubes :)
I pushed for 45 minutes and all of a sudden, at 11:59pm on February 6th, Tim was catching our baby and passing her to me. I sat back on Tim's lap and we just looked. She was so perfect.
We left the cord attached for a while, then Tim cut it and we got out of the pool.



The rest of the night/early morning is a blur...
We got into bed right away and I started nursing Kiriah while Jess gave me some stitches. (Kiriah came out with her fist at her head, so I had some tearing and artery damage) Then while everyone else cleaned up, Tim and I tried to digest the fact that we were parents... we just sat and cuddled and bonded with our baby. It was so awesome.






Side Notes:
Our midwives were AMAZING!
Having a home birth was AMAZING!
Having a water birth was AMAZING!

It was such a blessing to have Tim so involved and interested in everything that happened... also having my mum there was pretty sweet - very helpful!

When we got home from Rocky and had hardly unpacked, Tim looks at me and says "so when can we have number two?"

:)

Coming Soon...

I have great intentions of getting on here in the next couple days and writing out Kiriah's birth story (along with post some pictures). But for now I'm quite happy to spend my time staring at my beautiful daughters face. :)

Sunshiny Goodness...

Yesterday I went ice climbing! It was pretty funny because I couldn't see my feet and you kind of need to see your feet to ice climb efficiently. But it was good fun anyways. Definitely pulling a lot more weight around these days. :)



Today is a BEAUTIFUL sunshiny day! Another restful day off for Tim and I together.

Roses are Red...

And so is my HUGE Amaryllis.
It was taking it's sweet time and just getting taller and taller without opening up... until this morning, when it pretty much just burst open. Crazy.

Oh Mister Sun...

Today was BEAUTIFUL. Sun has been a little bit rare these days around Nordegg, so when he decided to come out we took advantage of it. Tim gathered some other hockey fans and I gathered my wool blanket, camera, book, and chair and we headed down to the lake.



It was an awesome day for Tim and I to just hang out and rest. We are learning to cherish every moment we have left as just the two of us.

Money Can't Buy Me Love...

I paid $2 for this adorable little plant. It was near death in the Ikea "As Is" section and as soon as I saw it, I knew I couldn't leave it behind. I have been tenderly nursing it back to health ever since.



(Apparently it's some kind of Succulent plant, but for the life of me, I can't find any info on this specific one.)

"Earn-Save-Give"

I listened to a podcast this morning by Bruxy Cavey and really liked what it had to say... so here are some notes I took from it:

"God asks us to regularly give a portion of our income to God as acts of worship and thanksgiving. This practice will keep our hearts focused on God and lead to a life of contentment and generosity."
-Edwin Friesen

"Life is not measured by how much you own."
-Jesus, Luke 12:15

Why Should We Give?

1: Giving is at the heart of the Gospel.
-Ephesians 5:2 "He loved, therefore He gave"
-John 3:16
***When we are giving, we are living the gospel.

2: God wants our hearts (and we tend to attach our hearts to the things we own).
***Giving helps me experience the heart of Christ.

3: Giving helps free us from the myth that money can meet our psychological needs.
-1 Timothy 6:17 "Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment."
***Contentment is an intentional, conscious, mental state that we need to work at cultivating.

*Giving should be a joy and not a burden.
-Acts 20:35 "...it is more blessed to give then to receive"
-2 Corinthians 9:7 "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully"