We're in LOVE!!

New family of 5 - wow that sounds big but absolutely wonderful at the same time!

Daddy's Girls

Love this pic! The kids coming to see their new baby sister! Bryce was so excited to give Shanelle her gift, which was her halloween costume (a little pink skeleton) You can see it in his hand.

Seeing Shanelle for the very first time.

Checking out her tiny ears and hands and feet, so tiny

Bryce adores his new sister

Sisters - best of friends for always 

big brother

awww

We all just love her so much!

The kids were excited to see their new baby sister, and loved her and couldn’t believe how tiny she really was. 

This circle of love is never ending. Seeing the kids with Shanelle and their love for her makes me love them even more. It’s the same with Jeff and Shanelle. As I watch him rock her and talk to her and hold her and cherish her, I love and adore Jeff that much more. She truly has brought so much love and happiness into our family already. I have felt an increase in love in our family and know it will only continue to grow. 

Here’s the story of how she came into this world....

I started having random contractions at 7 in the morning which woke me up. At around 8 they started becoming constant every 5-7 minutes apart, but only lasting for 30 seconds or so. Around noon they were still the same amount apart but they were starting to last for approx 40-50 seconds long and getting stronger, but as long as I walked around during the contraction I was okay. (my kids weren’t really sure what was going on, seeing their mother walk around and around every 5 minutes :) Actually it was perfect, we had planned a play date for Jaycie that morning with Brynlee Burrows and so Jaycie and Bryce were occupied playing from 10-1 and they mostly just did their own thing all morning so I didn’t have to worry about entertaining them and made a simple lunch for the kids. Then grandpa came and picked up Jaycie and Bryce and Kristi came and picked up Brynlee. From 1:15-till 2 I well to tell you the truth I don’t know what I did... but then texted Jeff right before 2 and told him to come home. The contractions were getting stronger and decided we had better go to the hospital because when they got worse I wouldn’t be able to walk around since we would be travelling in the van to Lethbridge, so decided it was better to go now. Got to the hospital at 2:45, registered then went upstairs where they put me on the monitor for 15 minutes. Once again, wishing I wasn’t lying there on the bed, I can deal with contractions much better when I’m up and moving around. Then the nurse checked me and said I was 7 or 8cm and couldn’t believe that my water still hadn’t broken. I was relieved because I wasn’t quite sure when to go into the hospital because I didn’t want to go and them tell me I was only like 2cm or something so when I heard 8cm I was thinking wahoo, I’m so close! They called Dr. Malach then paged him but couldn’t get a hold of him. He must’ve left early on Friday for the weekend. So then they called Dr. Adolph who was the Dr. on call. Waited for her to come. (wished that one of the nurses was allowed to break my water because I knew as soon as they did that the baby would come right away) and I was right. Finally Dr. Adolph showed up (okay, well it wasn’t that long but seemed like a long time to wait for the Dr. at the time) and she broke my water and told me I could push on the next contraction, which I did and out she came at 3:50pm The nurse was actually the one who caught her head. I don’t think they expected her to actually come out on the first push, but she did and she was the most perfect thing that I laid eyes on. Perfect in every way. Wow, what a rush. It really all happened so quickly and as far as labour goes it went really well, I can’t complain one bit. During the last few contractions before she broke my water my whole body was tingling because I wasn’t getting enough oxygen and breathing too quickly which started to scare me because I felt like I might pass out, but other than that it all went wonderfully. A lot of people have asked whether or not I was disappointed that it wasn’t my own Dr. who delivered her, but it all went so quickly and with no problems and no tearing that it didn’t really matter. I was so captivated with Shanelle that I was oblivious to everyone else in the room and what they were doing that it didn’t matter. Afterwards there is always that adrenaline rush feeling where you have such a high from the delivery and all, and feel so great, combined with the blissful feeling of holding your newborn and that instant love and bond you feel. It’s all so wonderful, such a miracle. 

She is beautiful and most precious, oh how we love her!