... and a lot has happened. I've gone through a difficult pregnancy and a difficult labour but now Maya has got a little sister that was born on Friday the 13th 00:48am. Her name is Nikki Faith and she is the luckiest little girl. I was due on the 9th but she was too comfortable and stayed in my belly for a wee bit longer. On Thursday the 12th my waters broke and we went into the hospital. After 13 hours of labour pains I was 10 cm open and in a lot of pain. Nikkis heart rate went down. The doctor came in to my room and decided they couldn't wait any longer. I was in so much pain that I didn't grasp everything that was happening.

My husband wrote about it so I'm going to let you read about it in his own words:
"On the 11th of July 2007 Sara and i went into hospital in Eskilstuna, Sweden. We thought that this was going to be a trouble free birth for our 2nd daughter, how wrong we were.
Arriving at hospital just before noon we checked in and Sara was then given the usual tests, when they were all checked we were taken to our room, a nice size, bright and fresh but a little cold. Most of that day seemed to go well with Sara not having to much pain. Due to staff changing shifts we had a total of 3 midwives, all of them done a good job in making sure that Sara was as comfy as possible.
Later in the evening the contractions started to get painful for Sara so some gas & air was suggested, this didn’t help for very long and an epidural was then requested. Even with the combination of gas & air with an epidural didn’t seem to help too much. 13hours into labour was when things started to go wrong.
The machine that checks the babies heart rate and length of contractions kept on losing the heart rate, at first we thought it was due to the baby moving around so much. The midwife called in a doctor who then advised that she needed to take a blood sample from the baby to check if all was ok, this took about 5mins, and the result was fine. We both breathed again. At 40mins past midnight (30mins after the blood test) the midwife came in to check up on things again, after a quick exam of Sara and the heart rate of the baby she called in the doctor again, in less than 60secs and they told me that they have to take out the baby now!
An alarm button was pushed and a crash team were at the doors in seconds, everyone was rushing Sara to an O.R. I remember running beside her bed telling her to be strong and everything will be ok, but she was in so much pain and being sick that i don’t think she understood what was happening or what was being said to her. As we reached the O.R. i was told i had to wait outside. Everyone else ran in with Sara.
I was in an empty corridor with no info on what was happening or why. I felt so alone, a million miles from anyone. I looked at the clock, i read 12:45am. More doctors ran past me into the operating room. My mind was filling with panic, why so many doctors? What had happened that turned this into such a rush? 12:50am another 2 nurses ran into the O.R. glancing at me as they past. Still no info. My mind was about to crack, i remember saying over and over in my head “Please let them both be ok, please let them both be ok”. I don’t remember how long i sat on that chair with my eyes closed, it seemed like forever, a hand touched my shoulder and broke my chanting, it was our midwife. I took my hands away from my eyes trying to guess what news she was about to give me. “Congratulations, you can come and see your baby now” I couldn’t stand up fast enough, a huge pressure had been lifted from me and my head was swimming, i asked her to repeat again, she said “Come inside and see your baby”.
I followed her into a small area just outside the main operating room, i could see 6 nurses/doctors around a small table with a breathing machine on our little babies face, they told me to come and talk to her, touch her. As i moved closer i could see her lungs moving up and down, her skin was cold and the colour was deep purple. They told me she was going to be ok and she just needed a bit of help to start breathing. I told her that i loved her and was happy she was here now, she gripped my finger and squeezed, tears filled my eyes. The midwife then told me to cut off the cord (this was tricky as i couldn’t see clearly from the tears in my eyes). I asked the midwife how Sara was, she told me that she was still under but she would also be ok and i could see her in a few hours when she wakes up. I was then asked to follow the team with our baby upto the new ward where they would check her out and make sure that everything was ok.
While they done the tests a doctor told me what had happened and why they needed to operate right away. It seems that she had wrapped the cord around her neck tightly and she only had about 60secs of air left in her blood, to put it another way, if the operation didn’t go as fast and well as it did our baby would not have made it. He then told me about a test that is done 1min after birth, then again 5mins later, then a last time 15mins after birth. These tests have a max score of 10, they test breathing, blood, reflex, reaction to sound and heart rate. In the 1st test our baby only scored 2/10, in the following 2 tests she scored 9/10, we were in the clear and knew that she was healthy.
I sat for over an hour just holding her and looking at her, a very lucky little girl. One of the nurses then said she could show me to the intensive care unit where Sara had been taken, as we arrived i asked the ward nurse if Sara was awake and for how long, she had been awake for less than 5mins and didn’t know anything. As i walked over to her bed she looked at me, still not fully awake, i told her “It’s all ok, you done a great job! Our baby girl is going to be fine!” Sara looked at me and said in a cracked voice “What? A girl?” tears rolled down her cheek, “Yes, a beautiful baby girl” i answered."

December 8 - 6:00 PM

It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I

took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the

huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma

Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!



December 9

We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every

inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more

lovely place in the whole world? Moving here was the best idea I've

ever had! Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy

again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon

the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in

the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life!



December 12

The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment! My

neighbor tells me not to worry- we'll definitely have a white

Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have

so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow

again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man, I'm

glad he's our neighbor.



December 14

Snow, lovely snow! 8 inches last night. The temperature dropped to

-20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath

away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This

is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried

everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this

much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way. I

wish l wouldn't huff and puff so.



December 15

20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought

snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the

freezer. The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes

out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.



December 16

Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway

putting down salt. Hurt like hell. The wife laughed for an hour,

which I think was very cruel.



December 17

Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere.

Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to

stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to

irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't

admit it to her. God I hate it when she's right. I can't believe

I'm freezing to death in my own living room.



December 20

Electricity's back on, but had another 14 inches of the damn stuff

last night. More shoveling! Took all day. The damn snowplow came by

twice. Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said

they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the

only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and

they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're

lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and

bill me. I think he's lying.



December 22

Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the

white sh*t fell today, and it's so cold, it probably won't melt

till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to

shovel and then I had to piss. By the time I got undressed, pissed

and dressed again. I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who

has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter, but he says

he's too busy. I think the *sshole is lying.



December 23

Only 2 inches of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted

me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she,

nuts?!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she

did but I think she's lying.