Yes, I know that I should be sleeping right now, but this is the first time that I have free to update everyone.

So, you may have noticed that I changed the title of my blog!

Susan Idania Dawn was born on January 21st at 7:19am.

Susan-After Michael's mom
Idania-duh!
Dawn-After my mom

Her birth story is funny...I may get graphic, so if you get queasy, you might want to skip it.

As some of you may know, I decided to stay at my mom's house since it's a 10-15 drive from the hospital, as opposed to our house, which is over 45 minutes to the nearest hospital that I can give birth at. The last time I gave birth, my contractions started at 1am, and I gave birth just over 3 hours later. So we didn't want to take a chance and deliver on the side of the road!

I woke up at 6:30am and went to pick Jillian up out of her playpen to get her some breakfast. Immediately, I felt my water break and handed her off to my mom to double check. Sure enough, I hadn't peed myself (phew!). I went back to my mom and told her that I needed to get to the hospital *now*. I called Michael's co-workers and asked them to get him to get to the hospital ASAP since he had already left 45 minutes earlier and didn't have a cell phone on him. (Yes, we are technologically impaired). I also called my sister in law Tanya to stay with me at the hospital until Michael showed up, since my mom needed to watch Jillian.

Anyway, I hadn't relayed the urgency to mom; even though my contractions had started, she didn't realize because I wasn't moaning or yelling-and I didn't tell her! I really didn't want to freak Jillian out, so I was trying to stay calm and get her ready. We get in the car at 7am and leave.

Did I mention that there is a bus strike in Ottawa? Grrr. Anyway, there was more traffic on the road as usual, and my mom was at the wheel, obeying the speeding limits, signalling, etc. As we approach the turnoff for the hospital, I am breathing heavier and tell her to "get out the lead foot" because I can feel the baby's head in the birth canal!!!

Mom stayed calm and pulled a couple of cool manouevers-I didn't know she had that in her! We pulled into the hospital and I followed another pregnant woman with her red suitcase. I was going through another contraction and realized I didn't have enough time, so I interrupted and started speaking loudly to the admissions person (maybe yelling?) "I'M SORRY, BUT MY BABY IS COMING OUT ***RIGHT NOW***"!!!". He immediately pointed me in the right direction and I waddled down the hall as fast as I could, with my ammniotic fluid gushing down my legs. I do remember saying/shouting, "My baby is coming!". I was immediately flanked by 2-3 nurses and one of them was following me with a wheelchair, asking me to sit down. I immediately thought that this was like a relay race in the Olympics and I was Usain Bolt...I am *not* going to slow down!!! She did manage to get me in and we were whisked to the delivery room.

Once inside, I managed to take my pants down during another contraction and jumped on the bed while the poor nurse was trying to get me to get a gown on. I immediately asked when I could push and the nurse said that as soon as the doctor got her gloves on, I could go for it. She told me that I only had to push once (yah, I've heard that line before!), but I got ready for the next contraction. When it came, I pushed, and she was out!

So the timeline:
6:30-water breaks
7:00-leave for hospital
7:15-arrive at hospital
7:19-Susan arrives

I found out afterwards that I didn't set the land record at the hospital; one other woman had delivered in the hallway on the way to the delivery room a few months earlier.

By the time Tanya and my mom came in, they were very surprised, but were happy that they were able to hold her and were the first people to hear Susan's name! Michael showed up at 9am (rush hour traffic and OC Transpo strike-grr!), and came in my room, thinking I was still in labour. He was shocked to see Tanya holding Susan but was thrilled to hold her for the first time.

Gotta go! Feeding time! Pics to follow *soon*!