"Gettin' hit by a Mack Truck...(Named Annie)"

Annie's due date began like any other day in late pregnancy, except I had to come up with enough things to do to keep Amber occupied and distracted with two notable limitations: it can't involve walking, and it had to be local (Burlington or Oakville). WHAT? Well, turned out Annie had other plans!

Amber reported no contractions early in the morning so we decided to go to Stoney's (a restaurant in Oakville) for breakfast to keep her mind off the due date. In the car on the way, Amber began to get contractions... sometimes 10 minutes apart, sometimes 15... but relatively intense - enough to make me hurry up (but not stop) eating my fantastic Stoney's breakfast.

Once we got home, Amber decided to call her Mom (Maxine) and Sister (Miranda) to give them ample time to drive down from Keswick if the contractions got more intense. Turns out Miranda was already in Etobicoke helping with a move, and Max and Daniel were on their way down to visit Dean and Amy downtown T.O., before you could say Cervical Dilation, everyone was here! Good thing too, because the contractions turned out to be the real deal! Now, a while back we talked about how people always say, "You'll know..." when you ask them to describe how to differentiate labour contractions from false ones... Amber preferred to describe labour contractions as like, "Gettin' hit by a Mack Truck!..."

Eventually, the time came to beg the Midwife, Abigail to let Amber go to the hospital... much to our surprise she said "Sure". So, off to the hospital we went, met our Midwife and Amber was checked for dilation... drum roll please... 1.5 cm! Wait a tick... 1.5 cm? All that and 1.5 cm? Abigail reassured Amber that she was in early labour and a couple hours of walking and labouring would do the trick... it did.

After a couple of hours Amber was 3 cm dilated and good enough for the Epidural to be administered... bad news was the Anesthesiologist was attending an emergency C-section so Amber would have to wait... and wait... and wait. Just as Amber was telling us she was "dying..." and threatening to kill someone, Dr. Kay, the Anesthesiologist, arrived and quickly became Amber's new BFF.

The epidural worked like a charm. Amber progressed quickly and she was at 10 cm before long. Then the pushing began and lasted about 3 hrs. The Obstetrician was in the room because Amber developed a fever and she was concerned that if Amber couldn't get Annie out soon enough she would have to intervene with a vacuum extraction. At the last minute (the OB gave Amber 3 more contractions before she intervened) Amber requested to have a mirror (so she could see her progress and help her visualize her pushing), and Amber managed to make so much progress the OB left, satisfied Amber had it in the bag. With a couple more pushes and a pull or two from Abigail, Annie Madelyn Fraser was born at 4:54 am!

I must give a special mention to the midwives that were present: Jenna, our student Midwife who never left Amber's side... literally... she never left the room for the 10 hours she was there. If it weren't for the fact she told us she was a student, you would never have known. She's a real professional. Abigail, Annie's Midwife (Yes, Annie's) attended Amber's labour for all 12 hours, only leaving to catch a few minutes sleep here and there because she was herself, six-months pregnant. And finally Wendy, the midwife who stood in for Karin (she was off for the weekend) - we hadn't met Wendy before the birth but she fit right in and we barely noticed that she had stepped right in as Amber's midwife and helped coach her through and finish the delivery after Annie was out. We really couldn't have had such a good experience without these fine people.

Last but not least; our Families. Maxine, Daniel, Miranda, Darren, Don and Barb camped out until all hours to meet Annie and give us support. Also, all of our friends and family alike that called, visited, or sent gifts; thank you so much. We love you all.

Love,

Mason, Amber, and Annie