Alice Catherine Isabella Murray

Corinna and I are the proud parents of a baby girl! Her name is Alice Catherine Isabella Murray. She was born September 18, 2004, and she’s pretty big for a Murray:

• 3.44 kg (7 lbs, 9 oz)
• 47 cm long (18.5")
• 33 cm head circumference (13")

She has black hair. At first we thought it was curly, but after the nurses gave her a bath, it looks pretty straight. Labour started Friday, September 17 at 4:30AM. After a couple hours, Corinna thought it was another bought of false labour. She stayed in bed resting, until she was hungry at 7:30AM. While she was downstairs getting some Cheerios, her water broke. No more false labour - this was the real deal. We stayed at home and Corinna did a great job managing her contractions. She was comfortable, but by 11AM we decided to call the Women’s Specialty Unit at Rockyview General Hospital (RGH). They asked us to pack up and head in for an assessment, and said that Corinna would probably be admitted. We arrived at RGH at noon, were assessed by 12:30PM, and transferred to room 6235 in Labour and Delivery by 1:00PM. The initial assesment was 3-4cm and 80% effaced. This was better progress than we hoped, but it slowed considerably once we were at the hospital. Once in the hospital, Corinna coped very well with labour. Unfortunately, she made very little progress. At 4:30 on Friday, she was in the 4-5cm range. Four hours for one centimetre is very slow indeed - doctors prefer to see about a centimetre per hour. Corinna made the brave decision to get an epidural. I thank God for that - little did we know how much longer it would take. Alice was born at 12:42 on September 18th. I was witness to an incredible display of strength: Corinna was in labour for just over 32 hours; she pushed for the last 4 and a half hours. I am so proud of both my girls, and very grateful they are both healthy. Alice didn’t rush her birth - we think she got that from her father. At the same time, Alice proved to be a really tough girl - we think she got that from her mother. We had a few scares along the way. Friday evening there was some concern that Alice was not coming straight out the birth canal - kind of ear first. That would explain the slow progress. Alice’s heart rate was also elevated for a while, and her mom had a slight fever - this was pretty scary for Corinna and I. For a while it looked like there might be a caesarean section. Corinna was examined by Dr. Chang (RGH obstetrician) - she thought Alice was in a good head down position, and that we could continue with labour. After two kinds of antibiotics, as well as gravol and tylenol, Corinna’s fever went away and Alice dropped back to her usual 150 beats-per-minute. Alice never again displayed any signs of distress. More to come….