Where has the time gone. My baby girl is going to be 7 weeks on sunday. It makes me sad. Today we had our final midwife visit. I hated saying goodbye (or see you in a 3-4 years, i hope- If its sooner... it was a big oups) But i LOVE my midwife. DD is a porker (dont tell her i said that). She was born at 7.2 and 7 weeks later is a whopping 11.8lbs. She sure does love her milk.  

I thought i would share with you a bit about my labour. I had a home birth complete with midwives and DoulaS. It was my second home birth and i can honestly say.... i think im addicted. Is that crazy? The whole experience was FUN. Of course a little uncomfortable but quite honestly both were some of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. 

I have a track record of delivering babies on Sunday AND willing them out. I was determined to have my DS on his fathers 30th birthday, which was also his due date and a sunday. Well i did just that. With DD same thing. I was aiming for a sunday. Preferably sooner then later. Sundays are family days. Both my DH's family and mine dont work on sundays. They make an event out of it and hang out at my moms house around the corner waiting. Well they got to do just that. I spoke to my mom on saturday night and she told me she felt it was going to be the next day. I laughed at her and made plans to go out for breakfast cause i felt FINE!! That was 10pm. At 1030 i got a cramp. At 1012 i got another... this continued till about 11ish. Literally a small cramp. I had an odd feeling about these "cramps" so decided to go to bed. Well at 1 when they didnt go away but werent more then a dull ache i called my midwife and my doula (who was UP NORTH at a cottage only available by boat - but i knew ahead of time and wanted her to go. i had great friends as back ups ). I was told to wait and get some rest which amazingly i did. At 430 i woke up, rolled over and HELLO!!! sheesh these things were getting a bit worse. After a bathroom break and YELLING for DH who was sleeping and clueless of anything (sorry but its true).. it was time to make the call.. a call he decided to make half asleep saying to the midwife i was "HAVING the baby" not that i was in labour causing her to have a mild heart attack lol. I called my friends and my photographer. no answer.. this was the day that somehow everyones phones were either off, silent or not close to them. SO... i called my dedicated doula who was 3 hrs away and she got in a boat to get to her car and drove to be with me. 

When my midwife got to the house just after 5am i was 4 cm and my cervix was thin. my bedroom was all set and ready to go. Same sheets i had delivered my son on too. Keep in mind DS was still asleep in his room, not a clue what was happening. I laboured great with DH as my Doula (lol) and he really really was an amazing coach. We laughed, he made coffee and toast and all hung out upstairs just waiting. at 730 DS woke up and came to see me. i struggled with not appearing in pain but i didnt want to scare him. I called my mom to cancel breakfast and to come and pick up my DS. She arrived just after 8 and just as my midwife checked me and discovered i was 9cm. YIKES! really... that was fast. Both my mom and dad came into my room and visit but before they both started crying. Before i had another contraction i asked them to leave QUICKLY.  My mom asked my midwife how much longer and she said "ah well, i think you will have a new family member by 10am" no pressure or anything. 
My back up support finally arrived just 15 minutes before my doula made it in the door from up north. MY GOSH i was sooooo happy to see them. My water still hadnt broken despite trying the tub, toilet, squat stool, all 4's, on my back, you name it i tried it. the pressure was intense but i always had a break in between. Only thing was that i needed to make a decision as to if i wanted to have my water broken or not. Here is that part that i loved having them there. My brain was mush. i didnt know if i did or didn't. i wanted everything to happen on its own but knew i was so close that it could just be what got things OUT. My Doula was there to help me best decide that yes... im 9cm breaking my water wasnt evasive and most likely going to make things move a lot faster. i may have had a small bit of regression but maybe not. Decision made. They broke my water at 930am. 

Now comes the strange part. Everything eased off. i got a bit of a break. my midwife kept asking if i felt i needed to push. Nope i didnt. With my DS i pushed for almost 4 hrs. it was horrible. so i was all ready for that to happen again. after chit chatting about what was happening. it turned out. I JUST DIDNT WANT TO PUSH. seriously!!.. I had to convince myself to push. crazy i know. i tried a bunch of different positions but in the end, ended up flat on my back. DD was born au natural at 1020am. 2 of my best friends (one who so happened to be my doula and the other an amazing momma friend) by my side. My DH who was suppose to catch DD but i had him in a head lock that he wasnt able to escape, and my amazing midwives. We didnt know the babes gender ahead of time and all secretly wanted a girl. Tears flowed when DH finally said we had a girl and as they placed her right on my chest i just cried. Everything was PERFECT. No tearing, placenta in tact and i felt amazing. My photographer finally made it, sadly 20 min late but it didnt matter. We called the family to come over, (not telling them the gender yet) I had my shower and went downstairs to introduce my lil baby girl to her family. AND to eat lunch.. I WAS STARVING.  DS was home in perfect time for his nap (YES, these are the things i think about!!!) and took a great 2.5 hr one even with all the excitement and commotion. Thats it. That was my morning of Sunday July 8th. An absolutely perfect day. 

That night DD was UP SOO many times of course, why wouldnt she be. It was funny because DH said to me "what are you suppose to do?" i had fed her (the lil bits she could drink of colostrum) changed her, and in the end even after going through it before my answer was "i dont know" he laughed at me and said "what do you mean? You teach babies how to sleep." Ummmm yes... but shes less then 24hrs old... by day 4 when my milk came in, My DD's sleep nurturing program began and thats where i am today. Still guiding her in the right path. Its not a perfect path by any means. Its quite bumpy with a lot of forks in the road. BUT its a lot smoother then the first time i attempted it without a road map. 

Well... we did it. Our first family vacation to a cottage. Yup. a 2.5 hr drive with a 1.5 yr. old and 1 month old. In debating if we were going to go I thought many times, "I'm crazy" but in the same thought if i didn't go i'd  regret it. So .. i packed up the car while DH was at work, charged the iPad and  loaded it with movies and in the morning off we went. We need a bigger car.  Poor  dog was cramped and we had majority of the stuff on the roof of my small  SUV. My  biggest fear was screwing up DD's sleep. Guess we were going to find out.
We arrived with great weather. I set up both kids rooms. Got a lil ghetto and rigged up a blackout blind for DD's room. for DS's I have a GroBlind.  Purchasing another... too expensive. AMAZING PRODUCT THOUGH! Take a look at my  creativity.

We arrived around lunch and had everyone down for a nap including us and  hit the beach when they woke. Hey this wasn't that bad. No hard transition. Awesome. Bath time/bedtime. Both kids in bed and we weren't far behind. Well DD  woke up at 5 am. a 6hr stretch. I was ecstatic.... AND THEN... it started. I went to nurse her. She wouldn't latch. I moved to the couch, I tried different   holds. NOTHING!!! she wouldn't eat.  DH woke to see if he could help, or at  least be supportive which i appreciated. After an hour of trying. I gave her her  soother and she went to sleep. Alright then, at 730am...  I was woken by my DS.  DD was still sleeping. WHAT!!!! My boobs were about to pop. The pain was intense, it had been 8.5hrs since she ate. I woke her up thinking she had to be   hungry now... NOPE! Again, she wouldn't latch. Didn't want anything to do with me. After another hour, I placed her down and she slept. I had to wake her again  at her next scheduled feed. Keep in mind. I'm up north with a baby who always  nursed, SO WHY would i think to bring a bottle or pump. I was in agony. My  JUMBOOBS were leaking everywhere. So.. again getting creative I grabbed a new  bottle of water, dumped out the water and started hand expressing (cant let perfectly good milk go down the drain - ALL 8 oz of it!). For her 3rd scheduled feed of the day, again she wouldn't eat. She was so content though that it was freaking me out. Happy, cooing, just not eating. I was texting Debbie all day.
I  called my midwife, she said some babies go days and to call her back if she wouldn't eat for 24 hrs. Just as debbie had said, I was to watch for wet diapers. I called the lactation consultant at Joe brant to see if my supply was in jeopardy. They told me i had to feed my baby and to either go get formula or to come home as the change in atmosphere had to be affecting her... WHAT!! seriously, absolutely not. My lil lamb was going to have to adapt. Worst case
we  would be going home the next morning. I could cup feed if needed. FINALLY. After  17 hrs, like nothing phased her. She latched and nursed. SHEESH!!. My whole day,  all I did was worry and be consumed with what was going on. What did i eat? Was  she constipated? Is it really the new surroundings? She must be fine. A hungry  baby wouldn't be as content or sleep would they? Her weight wasn't my concern.  She had gained 3 lb in her 1 mo of life. Born at 7.2 she currently weighs 10.2.  After she ate she went down for a nap again no problem and had her normal  bedtime feed. Crisis averted. She woke at her normal 4am and 7am that  night. But alas... our getaway was only one full day. We had to pack up and come  home. All in all, it was a great trip. We had lots of fun on the beach playing in the sand, attempting and failing at flying a kite and indoors building table forts and playing cars with DS when it rained. Back home now. Im worried that my  supply may be effected. So i'll be pumping after a few feeds for the next  week  or so. Drinking my mothers milk tea and taking my fenugreek. She striked on me  once before.. it was 3 weeks ago. Same thing. No apparent reason. GREAT!!  my 1  month old daughter has started PMS'ing early. She's gonna keep me on my toes.  Not that my DS allows me to sit anyway.  Well back to reality. Home again and DH at work for the night. All in all a  great trip and STRIKE aside I'm very glad we went. 

Hi everyone, my name is Sabrina.  Debbie approached me (cause i said i was bored) and asked what i thought on   doing a blog about my sleep nurturing journey with my DD. I had full intent... BUT then my son got busy and soaked up all my time. I've now got some time back  and am excited to document our progress and let you know how our journey is going. I've seen both sides of the spectrum. A living breathing sleep training  "poster child".  Its not been flawless. Debbie has gotten many a text messages. But a big difference from my first child. 


Firstly, if you don't know me I'll give you some background on who i am and  how i came to be in this sitution. I've been a paramedic for the city of Hamilton since 2002. In 2007 I got married to my DH and in in 2010 we found out we were expecting. Over joyed of course and so excited.  My DS arrived right on  his due date, which was also his daddy's 30th birthday (ya try to top that gift every year). Of course the first month we dealt with the sleep deprivation and breast feeding issues fine because, Hey, It must be normal right? I finally mastered the painful breast feeding after 10 weeks, but how to get my son to sleep or what to do was beyond me. I read book after book. The one I thought was  working was the baby whisperer. It did work pretty good until 2.5-3 mos. Then,  WHAM. Exhaustion took over. Not only for me, but for my DS as well. I was  on the  internet searching for answers. Joining forums, wanting someone to tell me what  i was doing wrong. I would sit in his room and hold him through cycles of sleep,  i shushed, patted, swaddled, unswaddled, held through the jolts and  just watched  him like a hawk to see if i could notice a pattern.  I never had  any luck. I  felt doomed and i was frustrated. In feb, when my DS was 4.5 mos  old, we went  on a weekend getaway with my best friend and her boyfriend. All my DH and i did  the whole time was try to get our son to nap or sleep more then an hour a night  or more then 20-45 min in the day. I broke down to my friend and  admitted I  hated my days, I hated being a mom. I sucked at it. My DS didn't even sleep. All  I did was think about the next nap or overnight and how little sleep I was going  to have to function on. She reminded me that I had seen something about a "Sleep Consultant" on the news. I googled it right away and found  Precious Moments Babeez.  So, I emailed : (yes i saved the emails, it reminds me  of how far he has come)


" Hi Debbie.  Just wondering about taking a sleep class or setting up a  consult. How much do you charge for help overnight?  Or even advice. Me and my  husband are lost. DS is 4 months and has crappy naps. (45 min. If that). Wakes 4-5 times at night. Cannot self soothe. I'm crying writing this. I don't know  how to help him. Or what I'm doing wrong. I don't enjoy being a mom, thats not  a  good feeling. Please help us.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Sabrina"

Debbie answered me right back and said to hang in  and she could help. I'll never forget. She said " It's an easy problem to  fix."  I thought this lady is crazy. If it's so easy why on earth isn't my  kid sleeping. We did out consult and of course when I found out my son had to  "cry" a bit I cried. Like every new mom thinks. "it's not good for him", "he's  going to think I abandoned him", "hes gonna be hungy".  She assured me that wasn't the case and she would guide me through. That the schedule and routine  she was going to teach me drastically helps. Well. Long story short. She did help me, and by night 2 my DS slept from 10pm to 630am straight. SERIOUSLY!!  

That's it... Within 2 weeks my DS was napping 3x a day and 11 hrs overnight. I started getting caught up on sleep and LOVING my time with my DS and my new time  to myself. An amazing transformation. No guesswork. I had all this free time  on my hands now that I looked into becoming a doula. My best friend  and I joined  Cappa and took the postpartum and labour doula classes. When I finished I called  Debbie and joined her team. Eventually becoming a sleep trainer under her  guidance, an incredible honour. My first training (i actually became good  friends with her through the training) was amazing. As I started helping others,  I was in awe. Parents were as happy as I was with their  children's progress. It  really wasn't a fluke. It works. I also realized just how many people felt the  way i did. i could completely relate to everyones story. I felt back in their  shoes in every training. Difference was, i had confidence in their kids. My  clients soon did too.

I returned to work in November of 2011 and found  out we were going to be blessed again with another lil bundle. This time. I was  ready for it.  My son was 13 mos at the time. Still sleeping great (that never  changed) but I felt like I knew the "do's & don'ts" to get my new babe on  track. (if not. I had Debbie).


In July 2012 my DD was born at home, in  the care of midwives and my best friend, my doula. Let just say. What a  difference the second time. Breastfeeding was something i really paid attention  to to NOT get into the same troubles i did with my son. My DD had 24 hrs to  adjust to life outside. Then, the sleep nurturing began (keep in mind this is  NURTURING good habits, not getting into trouble with the bad ie rocking to  sleep, co-sleeping, etc) On  night 3 she slept from 10pm-4am, 430am - 7am. She  kept that up with the odd night of maybe 2 wake ups.  Everyone would always  say.." oh you must be so tired" actually. No. I'm not. I'm tired from chasing my  now 22 mo old. But we all have family nap time (a huge key factor).


We quickly fell into a great routine and have kept it up with ease.

It's taken me a month to get around to blogging my sleep nurturing   journey. But I'm ready to give it a go. I've gone from one extreme to another.  From a very inexperienced new mom, to sleep training my DS at 4.5 mos and  helping maintain his sleep through his growth and travel. Becoming a sleep  trainer, getting pregnant, having a new baby and implementing all that I have learned. IT'S BEEN AMAZING but still has its struggles. Not only with my DD but  with having 2 children. I hope you want to join me on my blogging adventure.  

As  I'm sure it won't be a perfect sleep journey. But join me and let's see how
it  goes.