The Light In My Life

In July 2013, my husband and I were delighted to discover we were going to be having a baby! We weren't taken by surprise because it was something we were aiming for. However I was completely surprised that it happened so quickly. I have always heard of couples having to try for sometimes years before getting pregnant. Well not us. We tried once. That's right.... once. I actually found out the day before my 27th birthday. How fitting; I got a baby for my birthday!
 The pregnancy, for the most part was a breeze. I am sure there are many women out there rolling their eyes at that sentence. I have a few cousins that would probably like to beat me for it too. I have heard of women spending night after night in the hospital, hooked up to iv's because of  nausea. I didn't throw up. I felt icky in the first couple of months at night, after 6 pm. But other than that, it went really well. We nicknamed the baby Peanut because it looked like a peanut in our first ultrasound. I felt Peanut kick me for the first time while I was at work, doing the front store order. I still don't know how to describe what that felt like. It's amazing knowing that life is growing inside. But it's almost like validation once you feel that first flutter of movement. It's like- "Yes..! I really am pregnant and I didn't just fool everyone else around me into thinking I was..."
 My husband was very excited to say the least. It doesn't matter what it is, if he is into it.. he's REALLY into it. He got occupied with building a room for Peanut and basically did all the nesting for the both of us combined. I didn't mind. I mean, I had to help. There's no free ride in this household. Pregnant or not.. I painted the walls and helped hold the tape measure. But in the end, Peanut's room turned out more than I could have hoped for. Our little house was now ready for a new room mate. The room mate is what we jokingly called the baby as well. 
I would say; "Our new room mate is going to be the worst.. It won't clean up after itself.. It's going to take up so much room. Never help clean or do it's own laundry.. "
 As the days whizzed by, my belly grew.. and grew..and grew.
 Peanut was an avid kicker. I have video footage of Peanut having a dance party in there. It was probably my favourite part of the entire 9 months.. the kicking. Before I would go to bed at night, I had this feeling of excitement because I would always feel the most then. I'd lay on my side and have my hands resting on my belly waiting for the show. Even in the mornings I wouldn't like to get up and out of bed until after I felt Peanut move a little bit. Dropping things became my new pet peeve. Bending down to pick things up, tie my shoes or even just standing became pretty difficult near the end of the pregnancy. To say that peeing became quite a frequent occurrence would be an understatement. My husband became VERY patient with me when it came to how many times I'd need to stop to use a bathroom.
 My due date was March 14th. My water broke on the evening of March 7th around 10:45, while I was reading in bed. My mother in law had just arrived from Ontario that afternoon. My mom and her were both at the hospital for the delivery. The entire ordeal took about nine hours in total.  Our daughter, Alina was born at 7:39 am on March 08, 2013. When asked what I thought about the whole experience.. I replied, "It's enlightening." I found the experience to become intense, fast. The contractions are the real bitch. That's the part that made me yell out and moan. Once I had the magical epidural- things got more manageable. The pushing was intense, but I enjoyed it in the sense that every push was getting me closer to it being over AND meeting the baby!
 Around 7 am - after one set of pushes, I opened my eyes and the entire hospital room was filled with golden sunlight. It was absolutely breathtaking. Later we found out, once she was named, that Alina means Light.