First comes love...: then comes marriage...then a house...a dog...then baby is born

Dear littlest Russell,

I wish to share with you how amazing your birth story really was. Partway through my pregnancy I knew I needed/wanted support beyond the medical team of doctors and nurses and the loving help of your father. I mean after all this was his first experience too. We signed up for prenatal classes and went once a week for eight weeks learning the ins and outs of labor and delivery. During my research I found a wonderful support person called a Doula. I knew hands-down this was the one person I needed on my side. A perfect stranger, a person who is been through it herself (twice) and had witnessed countless others and supported them along the way.

I was 41 weeks pregnant (one week overdue) when you entered our lives changing it all for the better. I had been having early labor contractions for a week solid every.single.night. It was terrible, and exciting, and incredibly exhausting...like really really exhausting.

When you are overdue as a mother there routine tests the doctors do like ultrasounds and nonstress tests to make sure that both baby and mom are still happy and healthy. We passed with flying colors but they were concerned that my blood pressure was a little high. I was given the choice to go home for a couple of days before they induced me or to try a little bit of medicine right then and there called Cervadil. They told me that if my body was ready the little bit of extra hormones would just help keep labor going. If my body wasn't ready they would try another dose the following day.

I went home that afternoon and had the start of irregular contractions. When daddy came home from work that night the contractions though mild, were starting to become regular. We called the Doula and she arrived at her house at around 7 o'clock at night. We went to the hospital twice that night although I cannot remember the exact times. The first time I wanted to make sure I was indeed in fact actually in labor and I wanted to be checked to make sure progress is being made.

I was at 2 cm dilated and was given the option to go back home to labor where was more comfortable than staying in the hospital. I sent daddy to bed and the Doula to the couch and climbed into the tub.

Several hours later I felt like the contractions have changed. Back to the hospital we went and discovered I was 5 cm dilated. For the next nine hours I labored in their soaker tub with no medication or interventions except for the laughing gas.

I then pushed for half an hour. I was so incredibly tired by that point as I had been up for about 30 hours by then. The nurse started me on a small dose of oxytocin. I remember sleeping through pushing contractions. I could sleep through two contractions and then push on the third. Trust me when I say it felt a lot longer than only half an hour.

I was so amazed that your daddy helped me as much as he did. He watched you being born and such pride filled his voice when he told me that he could in fact see your head coming. I honestly didn't believe him and remember saying "you're all lying to me" as the doctor also chimed in "he's almost here!"

My baby! The baby I had dreamt about, prayed about, cried about. After all these years you were finally here.

We started breast-feeding immediately and had more than an hour of skin to skin. You were a champ you knew exactly what to do and so did my body. Nothing in this world had ever felt so right for me than having you at my breast feverishly sucking away and your daddy grinning from ear to ear with amazement at our new family of three.

My son, you were born on October 26, 2013 at 12:05 pm in White rock British Columbia. You weighed 7 & a 1/2 pounds and were 20 & a 1/2 inches long.