Baby Sister!

Maklin got one more present for his birthday -- and it was a doozy!!  At 9:23pm - on his actual birthday - Maklin got a baby sister!!  [I've got a year or two to figure out how I'm going to best manage that one!]

Maeyer Eloise Klaassen came into the world fast and furious!  First contraction was between 7:30-7:40pm ... and she was born at 9:23pm ... 5 minutes after we arrived at the hospital!

I was on the phone with my Grandma just prior to the first contraction, and had commented on how the day was almost over and so I thought we were in the clear of them having to share a birthday.  I figured that even if I went into labour that evening that the baby would arrive sometime the following day.  My Grandma said, "not if you have a labour like any of mine."  Well -- I had to call her back a few hours later to let her know that in between our phone conversations -- I'd had a baby girl!!

I give Justin a hard time sometimes for driving my car like a race-car ... but I'm pretty thankful for that this time around.  My contractions started at 3 minutes apart, and once my water broke (after the 3rd or 4th contraction) I knew we needed to get going.  Justin's Mom (thank-you!!) was over right away to stay with Maklin, and we headed out the door (having to stop and breathe through 3 contractions from the time I was putting my shoes on to us pulling out of the garage).  The hospital is ~35 minutes away; 10 minutes into the drive I told Justin I was scared ... scared because I already felt like I wanted to push.  By the time we were nearing the hospital I was literally screaming, "don't push" over and over to get through each contraction (ya right!!).

When we pulled up outside the hospital, Justin flagged down a security guard, they got me in a wheelchair and he ran me inside.  The guard just kept telling me not to push!!  I asked him how he thought I should do that and he very sternly told me, "just don't push!!"  HA!  Because it was after-hours, we had to go through emerg ... the guard wheeled me up to the front of the triage line; the nurse looked at me, picked up the phone and said "no time for paperwork, we've got a woman here who needs to get up to delivery right now."

I won't go into the very brief, but intense, delivery details, but essentially we got into the room, the charge nurse said we were a go, and Mae was half-way out before the Dr. even made it in the room.  Quite the entrance!!  The car was still parked in the 15 minute passenger drop-off zone!! I remember Justin saying to me, "it's out Devo, it's out!"  My response, "what's out?!"  At that point I was seriously in some kind of out-of-body experience, and was so excited that at that point the baby's head was there already (I had to push for 3 hours with Mak) ... I was SHOCKED when Justin said, "No Devo ... the baby's out ... it's a girl!!!"  For some reason in all the excitement I hadn't noticed the addition of the baby crying.

I barely caught this moment with my phone ... I looked up to see Mae with her arms stretched out looking  adoringly at her Dadda ... precious.

 Other than a wee bit of suction and her face being bruised up a bit from her dramatic entrance, she's perfect.

Proud Dad!

And her name?  Mayer was one of the top-runners when we were pregnant with Maklin, but I wasn't nearly as sold on it as Justin was.  This time around, we thought we were set on a girl name, and Mayer was back on the list for a potential boy name.  Somehow we ended up talking about using Mayer for a girl, and switched.  We spelled it Maeyer after "Mae" (my Grandma's middle name - gee I really hope that IS how it's spelled, I don't think I ever double checked even!).  As well, the name Mae reminds Justin and I both of friends from Japan, and therefore Japan, and the huge influence that culture has had on Justin, and now myself.  Finally, Eloise - a variation of "Louise" - after my Mom (her middle name).