Luke's Birth Story

It might be weird having the first post that I've done in years be about Luke's birth story, and you may not want to read it.  If not, just skip this one.  It's been on my to do list for 9 months to write out his birth story, so here it is!

I'll start from the time that I was working and realized I needed to stop soon. My lower back hurt worse than ever (probably due to an injury when I was 15 years old), and I was sooooo tired and huge. I was working at RBC at the time, and couldn't do it anymore.  So I started my maternity leave a month prior to my due date which was February 25.  People say that you get super bored being off of work for so long before the baby comes...not so for me.  I hoped he would come early, but enjoyed every day that I got to just veg at home and relax, get baby stuff prepared and actually get to see friends.

I started getting anxious once I reached my due date and he wasn't come.  Not even a hint or a sign that he wanted to come out.  My greatest desire was that we would be able to have the birth that we wanted...with midwives, at home, in the birthing tub.  As the 2 weeks kept creeping away from me I became more anxious as this would not happen past 14 days overdue.  The last thing I wanted was to have to have our baby in a hospital...I hate them.  That's another story for another day.  During these 2 weeks we had weekly check ups.  My midwife did the "stretch and sweep" to try and get things going.  Nothing.  One day the midwife detected a heart arrhythmia and was concerned and sent us to the hospital for an ultrasound and to be monitored.  He was fine. Phew!

March 6/7 (early early morning).  Started getting stronger and more regular contractions.  My friend Jackie was intentioned to be our birth support person, so I called her and she hung out with me late into the night to see if anything would happen.  We watched Lady and the Tramp.  The contractions stopped and she went home.  I was very disappointed and tired and sad that nothing happened.

March 8.  Our midwife Asia came in the morning to check me and did another "stretch and sweep". I started losing all hope.  I was told by my midwife that I needed to get as much sleep as possible as this baby wouldn't come if I was super tired.  My sister called me, and she was getting worried for me.  Maybe the mixture of rest and other people being worried for me started things going...or Luke could hear her over the phone, but it was 5:30pm when I was done talking to her and that's when my real contractions began.  They started getting stronger and stronger.  We weren't supposed to call the midwives until the contractions were 3 minutes apart, and had been for 2 hours, and lasting at least 1 minute long.  Mine were 4 minutes apart, but lasting for over a minute, sometimes 2.  We decided to call them then.  At this point it was about 8:30pm.  Our midwife, Maryam asked to talk to me and listened to me when I had a contraction.  She told me she was on her way.  Prior to this I had a nice looooooooong shower.  It felt so nice to have the warm water pounding on my back.

Maryam showed up and monitored me.  She made me do stairs and encouraged me to get into whatever birthing positions felt good to me.  When I started throwing up, realizing that I was probably in transition, I started getting worried that I wouldn't be able to spend any time in the birthing tub since it wasn't set up yet.  She and Andrew started getting it ready once I told her I was probably in transitional labour.  Because of my super awesome long shower, there was no hot water.  Therefore, Andrew got to do the cliche manly thing by boiling water...not sure why the women would send the men to do this task way back when, but kinda funny that he had to do this.  Miriam wouldn't let me into the tub until I did one more set of stairs.  It was awful, but I did it and welcomed the wonderful feeling of floating in the water and having the warmth surround me.  Shortly before this I already felt like pushing so once I got into the tub there was no stopping me.  

I don't know how long it took...I just remember the second midwife, Asia, showing up and starting to take pictures.  At some point the top of Luke's head came out, I got to feel the super soft hair.  It was creepy, weird, but awesome.  Andrew wanted nothing to do with it. ;) I don't blame him. Fast forward from about 2am to 4am, and Luke was still happy as a clam positioned in the birth canal.  My assumption is that while I was so relaxed and warm in the tub, listening to Sigur Ros, Luke fell asleep or something cause his head was sticking out for about 2 hours.  He wasn't progressing, which is when the midwives made me get out of the tub and head for the mattress we set up in the living room.

I pause here to explain that we really wanted the dogs to be a part of the whole experience.  Animals are amazing when it comes to all this natural stuff. I wanted to see how they would react.  Charlie spent a lot of time being worried about me.  Sitting next to me or retreating to a bathroom and laying on the bath mat.  He was a bit stressed.  Arthur on the other hand seemed to have no clue anything was happening and was his normal happy/sometimes annoying self.  They were around while I was in the tub as well, but as soon as they had to move me to the mattress, they had to be on the landing of the stairs, watching through the baby gate.  Kind of needed the area to be sanitary.

They had moved me to the mattress around 4am. I kept pushing when contractions would come, but he still wasn't coming.  Finally at one point when they monitored him, they realized that his heart rate was dropping.  At this point I started pushing with every bit of strength and adrenaline I had left, even without a contraction, to get him out.  4:17, Luke Alan Hanna was born!!!! I can't explain the feeling.  I expected to be so incredibly happy, overjoyed and cry a bunch...but all I felt was this surreal, but natural "this is what this is supposed to be like" feeling.  Didn't cry...just took his slimy self into my arms and held him for the first time like it was something I had done a million times before...ok...now I'm starting to tear up.  He opened his eyes right away...sneezed...and was just the cutest little thing we'd ever seen...despite how slimy and dirty he was (he also pooped as soon as he came out).  I instantly decided to try nursing.  (This was a journey that took me into lots of peaks and valleys, like most women, but I'm happy and proud to say that I stuck with it and to this day am still able to nurse him.) Andrew got to cut the umbilical cord after a few minutes of it pulsing and putting Luke's blood back into him, which is why he was such an amazing color afterwards.

The beauty of giving birth at home: the midwives cleaned Luke up, Andrew got me food and orange juice, I was brought upstairs to shower, the midwives changed the sheets on our bed (as I had forgotten to do so previously), and we all went to sleep.  Charlie wouldn't sleep with us for that first "night" (as it was about 6am), and of course Arthur we had to keep shooing away.  The first family member to see Luke was Suzanne.  She got to hold him only hours old.  Next my parents and Siglinde came the next day and stayed for the weekend.  Then Andrew's parents came.  We were so blessed with each visit.  We are incredibly blessed to this day with all the help, support and love we have received from all our family and friends.  I couldn't imagine a better environment for Luke to grow up in.  So thank you to all of you. We love you all so much!

Our midwives at Luke's birth: Asia and Maryam

Job News!

The last week and a half has been a time of change for us. I wasn't getting any feedback from employers in the admin world, and I was getting a growing feeling in my gut that maybe that wasn't the path for me. When I look deep down into my heart, I know that the only reason why I was pursuing that particular road was because of how much money I would make, not because that was what I really wanted to do. And yes, I know that sometimes you have to just suck it up and do it because you really need the money, but in our case, I've been doing that for the past 5 years and finally decided that it's time for a change. Andrew's looking for a "regular" job (still doing web developing stuff, which he loves), and I am pursuing my dreams.

My ultimate goal is to join the world of Out-of-School-Care. Whether I do this before we have children or after, only God knows right now. In the mean time, I get to work at one of my all-time favorite, not just places, but places that I have worked in the past...Starbucks.



I start on Tuesday and will be working at the one closest to our house. Yea!!!! Walking distance!!!! The other nice thing about this job is that I am starting as a Shift Supervisor. This means I will get to learn how to be a gentle assertive leader...something I don't know how to be...usually I just end up being mean and bossy. I'm not sure how long I'll work here, but I know for sure that it's one step in the right direction. I am also contemplating continuing my education at Bow Valley College taking their Out-of-School-Care course. I know it doesn't really make sense for me to be working at Starbucks instead of an OOSC program, but I knew that this job I could get right away, and when you're on EI, you can make a little bit extra before they start docking you pay. So we'll see how much longer EI lasts. Another option I have been contemplating is starting an on the side dog walking business. My thoughts seem all over the place as to exactly what the future holds for me, but I am confident that God will show me in His time. I just need to keep searching out His will instead of my own and all will make sense in the world...eventually. :)

On the flip side to all this, one feeling that seems to be haunting me lately is shame. It's really hard to go from being in a respected, well paid position, to working somewhere like Starbucks. Part of me fears that people will think I'm a sell out, or when I tell them this is where I work, they'll think less of me. I know these are all lies, and that my true friends will just be happy that I am happy, but still. I'm in Calgary...the corporate city. I guess this is one of those times that I need to get my self-worth from God and realize that no matter what anyone else thinks of me, He finds worth in me, and that's all that matters. Besides, I'll be getting the discounts. :)

Love Y'all!
Christa

Woah! I Blogged!!

Hello Family and Friends!
I know it's been forever since I last blogged...I'm not very good at this. Jinny tells me that I will blog way more often once we have kids. I guess we'll see. I'm unemployed and still don't really feel like I have the time, so I don't know how those mothers do it. Oh well, here goes. I'm sitting here right now as Charlie and his best doggie friend Ryder are downstairs chewing on bones, and who knows what else they are doing...kinda scary to think about.

I didn't really know what I was going to blog about when I first sat down here, but now I think maybe it's time to catch people up on what's been going on for the past 4 months since I last blogged. I think I'll do this chronologically.

July
Very exciting month as we had a wedding to go to in Montreal and decided to first start our little vacation with going to visit the Toffelmires in Hamilton. Always a treat! Went to the Toronto Zoo and Niagara Falls!

Then we took the train to Montreal. In Montreal we stayed with Andrew's aunt Margo and I got to experience real French Canadian culture. In 4...or 5 days...can't remember...I was able to start picking up more and more French as I listened intently and tried to speak the language. I was very proud of myself. While we were there we were visited by Andrew's aunt from Quebec City, Irene, and Andrew's Mom who was visiting from Puerto Vallarta! It was a short but sweet visit. We were very happy she was able to come out while we were there. We did a little touring and ended up going to their Farmer's Market where we brought home lots of super yummy maple syrup and maple butter...mmmm....I'm getting hungry...

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and we were blessed to be there for Jason and Genvieve for their special day.

Our next aventure in July was going to Saskatoon for 2 and a half weeks. There, Colin, Jinny and Liam came to visit and we got to celebrate Liam's 2nd birthday. So fun! Grandma and Grandpa Sankey also came out which made the trip that much more enjoyable. July ran into August and we got to go to Rachelle and Grant's wedding which was the most perfect of days which was good because it was outdoors. From this I was able to reconnect with my wonderful friend Chantel who now lives in Ontario with her husband and little boy Cole...cute little button.

August
We went camping with our friends Dan and Mel Graham...they were lucky enough to spend our anniversary (August 7) with us. Fun times! This was also the month of weddings! My good friend Darcie got married to the love of her life Sam from California and I was fortunate enough to be apart of the wedding and help out with making it happen. It was also a very beautiful wedding...one that I have to admit I enjoyed more than any since my own. Sam cried throughout the whole ceremony...therefore I cried, and it just made it that much better. I'm a sucker for men crying. Besides, they got married at the same church Andrew and I got married in 5 years ago...so special.

(this is the dress I wore at Sig's wedding, only I added the straps)

We also had a wedding after this one...like I said, month of weddings. Andrew was able to set up GuestReel at 2 out of 3 of them and it was a success. People loved it.

September
Deanna came to visit on her way back from Seattle and got me to go real rock climbing. It was awesome!

When Andrew goes on business trips, I'm not usually able to go with him due to me having a job, but since I was jobless, I got to go with him to Chicago where he and his long time friend Stephen had some work to do together while I read most of the time and Kelly, Stephen's wife, worked and on her off time showed me a good time. It was the most fun, relaxing trip I'd had in a while. It was nice to just stay up as late as I wanted, sleep in as late as I wanted, and read as much as I wanted!!!! Knocked off a few Twilight books while we were there and finished The Shack, which I had started on our trip to Dominican. Great book.

October
Freedom Session started up again and this time I was given the privilege of leading worship for it. It has been an amazing experience, and God is already doing a whole lot of work and healing in my life. It's amazing going through the program twice and learning that much more about myself. Just when you think you've got things all figured out and you think you're out of denial about everything...BAM! Back to, well...not square one, but maybe square 2. It hurts, and it's painful, but worth every second as I know that it will benefit not just my life, but the lives of those around me, and our future children.
Andrew and I went to Saskatoon for Thanksgiving for an extra long weekend. It was wonderful spending time with family, and with Grandma who I fear might not be with us for too much longer. Spending time with my family is always a crazy fun time...video to follow at a later date...

Also, of course, I spend one evening with Heidi which was just lovely as always. I love her dearly and appreciate the time she takes to spend with me when I'm in town...for those of ou who might not know, Heidi and I have been friends since I was born...17 days after she was. Good times.

Later in the month, Andrew and I had the opportunity to travel to Vancouver with our friends Stephane and Jackie to see U2!!!! Such a great trip!!!!! We were nuts, don't get me wrong...the trip started with leaving Tuesday night around 6-6:30pm, the girls sleeping for maybe 4 hours in the car while the boys stayed up all night and switched off driving until we got to Vancouver at 4am Vancouver time. We went to Tim Hortons and had the first cup of coffee of the day and then the boys were off to the stadium where they got into line to make sure we could get a good standing spot in the inner circle of the stage. Jackie and I hung out, got lunch, checked into our hotel and then switched with the boys where we ended up meeting a few guys behind us who were Christians and they were nice enough to play Uno and Up and Down the River with us. Fun times! We finally got into the stadium at 5:30pm where we got the exact spots we wanted to stand in, bought t-shirts, and enjoyed 4 hours of first Black Eyed Peas and then U2. Amazing concert!!!! (Skipping on slight negative details such as 3 people collapsing and 3 men smoking pot right beside us)

(the guys Jackie and I played cards with)

(U2...aaahhhh)

This pretty much brings us to date. It's been one awesome, awesome summer and fall and I am thankful for every bit of it!!!! In the in between time, I have pretty much completely reorganized our house...or shall I say ORGANIZED our house, tried to keep the house clean, while job searching. Andrew was wonderful and allowed me to take this past summer off and search for the job that I would really want to do...a position either doing just Word Processing, or being a Report Production Coordinator. Neither really worked out...yet...so now I am looking for administrative jobs. Not my first choice, but I'm trusting God with this as I know that He will put me in the position that He wants me in, and hopefully I will be able to make somewhat of a difference in others lives. Kind of exciting to think about! Yesterday in particular I spend ALL day looking for jobs and applied for a bunch. I got one response back today, so at least I know my resume is working for me!

Well, hope you enjoyed this blog posting, cause you might not hear from me for a little while longer. I love you all!!!!!!!

Christa

Long Time No Blog...

I know it's been forever since I posted anything. I tend to like to go in spurts. So I figure I should just catch people who read this up on what's been going on with me. Let's see...since the Dominican I have...lost 15 lbs. and lots of my tummy chub, then gained a bunch of tummy chub back, found out the project I worked for might be canceled, then it got canceled and I received my severance package, fast forward 3 weeks and I just finished my last day at SemCAMS. Yea!!!!!!!!!

To dive more into the losing my job thing, I have worked at SemCAMS for 3 whole years as of June 12. It's been an interesting journey. I've never worked for a company so long. I got to go through all of the regular job stuff that I usually go through within a year span, and so much more. First 6 months are bliss, especially if your job is better than your last one. Then you start learning everything about the company that no one tells you in the first 6 months cause they don't want you to quit. At the 8 month mark, you want to quit, but continue on because you know it would look bad to quit a job for no good reason so you press on. The year mark hits and you loath your job and your life and life just sucks. Then you get a promotion, and go through the honeymoon stage again, but not quite as intense because you know all the bad stuff already, but now you get to learn all the bad stuff about the person you are now working for. You stay in denial for a little while about how bad that person is to work for and pretend they're not so bad, and then it hits and you hate your job and your life all over again. This is where the story changed for me (assuming that everyone goes through this...but I could just be special...). I had applied for another job, thought I had gotten it, thought they had told me an actual start date, then I gave SemCAMS 2 weeks notice and said all the "so longs" and "farewells" only to find out that they didn't actually give me the job and they wouldn't want me to start for another 6 months. That's when I had to go back to my boss, groveling at his feet asking for my job back. That was sure one dose of humility! They were nice and took me back, but had to look for a different position for me to take because I had done such a good job at convincing them that they didn't need me. Good job, Christa. They decided to send me over to the project office. This was good and bad. When I started at SemCAMS, I was the receptionist. At the 8 month mark, I HATED reception and swore that I would never do it again. God laughed...or rather said to Himself, "don't be too sure about that". I was promoted to Admin Assistant, where I was free and didn't have to be chained to the reception desk, and loved it...at least, that part of it. So the bad part about working at the project office was the fact that I had to sit at reception. I was pretty angry about it, and had quite the attitude when I first went over there. In time, their positive atmosphere rubbed off on me and I started seeing the world from a whole new light. It helped that I had oodles of people praying for me, and I was going through a lot of personal healing as well. The combination was incredible. I learned a ton about myself. Now I can say that I know what my strengths are, what I love doing, what I hate doing, what I KNOW I can do. I have a confidence that can't be taught, and a new appreciation and love for myself that I never had before. Thank the Lord! PAUSE...where was I going with this???? Oh yah...why I was laid off...So. A couple of months ago SemCAMS was on the market to be sold and everyone was looking forward to finding out who was going to buy us. The time came, and we found out that no one bid high enough so we didn't sell. This was really bad news for the project as we were relying on the new owners to fund the project. A couple of weeks later we found out that they would have to cancel the project. That same day, I was given a severance package and a month's notice. Once I got over the "grieving period", I worked my butt off and was able to leave yesterday, a week early.

What am I going to do with myself now, you ask? This is the awesome part!!! After 7 years of working all year round, I get to take the whole summer off!!!!!!!!!! I never really thought this would ever happen, unless I got pregnant and went on maternity leave...but as I keep hearing, that is NOT a vacation. I feel so blessed to this time. What a gift. And as I have been thinking about everything that I could get done within this time span I realized, I don't have time to work! Andrew and I are leaving for Hamilton in a week and a half and spending a week with Jin, Colin, and Liam and then taking the train (never done this before, so super excited about it!) to Montreal for Andrew's best friend's wedding. At the beginning of August, we will be in Saskatoon for a whole week, and then I may be flying by myself, or possibly with Andrew to Michigan in the middle of August for one of my best friend's wedding. In the middle I will be working on cleaning, and fully reorganizing our whole house and garage, and doing tons of yard work. Yea!!!! Anybody want to come out and help??? :)

So, that's my story. Thank you for reading it. Now I will reward you with some pictures of our yard so far. It's so pretty!!!!

And my blue bin!!!!! I love my blue bin...they start collecting the day we leave for Hamilton though...oh well. Yea for recycling!!!

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Punta Cana!!!

In February, we took a week off and went to Punta Cana...mmm...so nice and warm...unlike here. Yea for winter vacations! Here are some pics...might add more later when we get some new ones...

Our resort



The resort entrance



We went swimming in a cave...



and went quadding with our new friend Eric...



and I went kickboxing one day...



and we went to the Marinarium to swim with sting rays and sharks!!!!



on the boat



Our last night...and our friend Nelson, the fabulous waiter



So handsome







It was such a wonderful trip. So relaxing and nice to get away and just be the two of us. Needless to say, we want to go back!