The Copeland Ramblings/

Canaan – The First Few Days

So here’s the story….

Sunday
4:30 a.m. ~ Debra had already been going through spurts of contractions for days now, but she was woken up by a new contraction that was a lot more intense then the ones she had been having. She woke me up and we waited for a couple hours before calling Deb’s mom and dad.
9:00 a.m. ~ Michelle, one of our midwives came to our house and checked Debra out then gave us the exciting news that today was the day! She told us to hang tight and she would call at noon
12 noon ~ Michelle called and told us that we need to go to the hospital to start an I.V. in Debra so that Canaan is protected from Group B Strep, a condition that can develop into meningitis.
1:30 p.m. ~ We arrived at the Hospital and got Debra registered and set up her I.V. Her contractions were very regular and strong but manageable.
2:30 p.m. ~ Our midwives decided to break Debra’s water to get the process going a bit faster. She was immediately kicked into active labour. Her contractions were VERY intense and painful.
2:30 – 7:15 p.m. ~ It was really hard for Debra, I’m so proud of her! She said that she felt an overwhelming panic each time a contraction hit. I can tell you that I have a new found respect for every mother out there from watching Debra! Debra had really bad back pain during her labour and was feeling very overwhelmed but sometime after five they let her use nitrous oxide (laughing gas). The gas doesn’t do anything to the pain but it made everything fuzzy and a little easier to deal with. After 6pm she started to feel the urge to push but it wasn’t time yet and she had to resist it, which was incredibly difficult for her!
7:15 p.m. ~ Time to push! I’m amazed at how hard Debra had to work, it was incredible. She pushed for over an hour and at 8:17 Canaan came into the world!

The last two days have been a whirlwind, but an amazing whirlwind. Despite lack of sleep, extreme soreness on Debra’s part and sickness on mine we’ve had so much fun getting to know our son. We’ve already seen lots of funny faces and personality.

Browse our first Canaan photo album here
(use this album on a dial up connection)