Maggie Jane Guenther

I'm sure you all have read or heard that our little baby girl has arrived!
So sorry for the delay in posting on here...
Maggie Jane Guenther was born on September 27th at 1:48 am weighing 7lbs 11 oz and measuring 19.5 inches.
As the dr. said, " this one was in a rush to get out!".
Friday morning, September 26th, I went to my 39 week OB appointment. I had been feeling some painful contractions on the Monday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night, but they always subsided and I wrote them off as being Braxton Hicks. Turns out I was wrong- a quick internal and my dr. discovered I was SIX CM dilated and almost completely effaced. She then proceeded to tell David and I that I was a walking time bomb and that if I wasn't careful I was going to be the woman who delivers on the doorstep or on the way to the hospital. She gave us strict orders to go directly to the hospital the very minute I felt another contraction. She actually wanted to admit me right then, but legally I guess they can't do that unless you are in active labor. Since I wasn't feeling any contractions at that point, she nervously sent me home. We were totally blown away by the news, as we figured we had a bit of time left...
So we ran home and got ourselves ready. It was actually a very nice day of preparation. I called my parents and told them to start driving ( they're 6 hours away) and we went out and got some supper. My parents arrived around 7 pm and we went for a nice, brisk, uphill walk to get things moving. We put Cate to bed, and around 9:30 I started to feel a bit achy, so we decided to head to the hospital. We were happy not to be driving down deerfoot during traffic, and made it to the hospital in about 20 minutes. I went to maternal assessment and they hooked me up and within half an hour ( 10:30pm) I was having regular contractions about 2 minutes apart. They were a bit painful, but totally manageable. Just around midnight they officially admitted me and sent me to labor and delivery. At this point I had made it to 7 cm and we were given our room and David was preparing all the "tools" i wanted to use to get through labor naturally. The exercise ball, the shower, etc. At 12:30 The dr. decided she would break my water to get things moving, and my oh my....it was game over. Up until this point I was quite happily having conversations with nurses and David and my mom-just pausing through the contractions. Well, as soon as they broke my water I was in incredible pain. I walked around the room a bit, and suddenly felt like I had to go the bathroom very badly. I asked david to grab a nurse and ask her if I could- she said "Well, tell her not to push too long or too hard" and so he came back in- but before he could even tell me, she came in and said " you know what? Let's check you first and see how you're progressing". It turns out I was 8-9 cm dilated and this was maybe 15 minutes after she had broke my water! She told me i did not need to use the washroom, but that baby's head was what I was feeling. I felt nothing like this with Cate ( note: NOTHING about this labor and delivery was like Cate's!) Minutes later I felt an incredible urge to push, so she checked me again and I was nearly 10 cm- she ran for the dr. and told me that I'd be pushing soon. The dr. came in the room at 1:42 and as David describes it- it was like a broadway show- the lights were on, the bed dropped and 2 nurses and the dr. came rushing in and preparing. I pushed 4 times in the next 6 minutes and at 1:49 am Maggie Jane was out and on my chest! From the moment they broke my water until she was born was one hour and ten minutes. There was about 4 hours of active labor. It was intense and painful, but I did it without pain medication and I felt like it went so smoothly and naturally. We were both just stunned that she had arrived and were looking at her little face- there had been no time to even comprehend what was happening- it was just boom, boom, boom and she was here!
Enough talking- the week's been great and we're all adjusting well. Cate has been wonderful-gentle and sweet.
Here are some pictures of our new little babe.
We think she's a beauty :) Here we are, minutes after birth.
My little Maggie enters the world.
Cate meets her long awaited baby sister.