Alexandra Jo Daly, where do I start.... I have no idea but I will say that she is the joy of my life and I have no idea how I managed to fill 24 hours a day before she arrived! 

February '97: I was in Perth, Western Australia, visiting some friends and as the medical facilities are not my favorite in Jakarta I figured I may as well do all the checkups while I was there.  So, after making all the appointments it seemed the first one was with the GP.  I hadn't seen him before so of course I had to fill in all the forms, you know the one that asks; are you pregnant - to which you just automatically respond - NO.   

The second the doctor said "Are you planning on having children?" I knew! I was 6 weeks pregnant and hadn't even considered the possibility.  The rest of the visit is a blur (wonder why?).   Friends met me after for a coffee and I asked Chris if I could borrow his handphone to call Martin, who was still back in Jakarta. When Martin asked me what I was doing all I said was "Oh, I just had a doctors appointment and now I'm having a coffee with Chris".  That's it, that's all I said and he said "You're pregnant aren't you!" I have no idea how he knew but he did! 

I'm glad it happened that way because if I'd had time to sit and think about it, how I was going to tell Martin, what were we going to do, etc. etc., I think I would have started to freak out.  Anyway, Martin was over the moon!  The rest of my visit to Perth, about 4 days, I just remember walking around with this stupid grin on my face the whole time. 

April '97: My mum was out visiting from Canada and I had the second ultrasound.  Martin was away on business but mum was there and when we saw that little hand move across the screen ...... tears all over the place.

May '97: It's a girl!  I had thought it was a boy for sure but Martin said girl.  Now the problem of choosing names started in earnest.  First, eliminate all ex-girlfriend names, second  - my favorite girls name Haley (Haley Daly?  I don't think so!).  Martin came up with Alexandra and it just seemed to fit. It was nice to now know who was going to be arriving in a couple of months.

End July '97: I went back to White Rock, BC, Canada and stayed with my mother.  Those were probably some of the best times I have had with my mother in years!  Since we knew that it was Alexandra who would be gracing us with her presence it made it much easier buying things.  Mum and I had a blast buying things to decorate the room.  Mum was wonderful and even came along to the prenatal class with me.  Martin was still back in Jakarta doing the surf charters and making a living to support this expanding family (never mind expanding wife) of his.

September '97: My original due date was September 20 but they had changed that in Canada till the 28th....are the doctors ever right with that date?   Martin flew in around the 21st to be there in time.   I was so nervous meeting him at the airport!  I'd put on 22 pounds throughout the pregnancy and he hadn't seen me for the last 2 months.  My first question was "How do I look?"  He gets big points for the answer to that "You look beautiful, you're pregnant!" 

Well for the next week every time I got a twinge we wondered if that was it (needless to say this is my first baby).  On Friday, October 3 we had an appointment with the doctor and it was decided that if I hadn't gone into labor by October 6 we would induce.  Martin couldn't stay away from the business for that much longer and I really wanted him there for the event. 

October 4: Saturday night we sat up and watched a couple of videos and went to bed around 11 or so.  I couldn't sleep though and I guess I was just dozing off around 2:00am when I woke up again.  Was this it?   Nah, well maybe, nah, ok lets just wait a bit before I wake anybody up......YEAH THIS IS IT!  I still didn't wake anybody up right away figuring it would be awhile and they may as well get some sleep.  About 15 minutes later though I woke Martin up and said yes I was sure this was it.  I called the hospital and they said to come on in when the contractions were getting really hard or 10 mins apart.  10 minutes later I woke my mother and  after asking her, oh so politely, if it was really supposed to hurt this much in the beginning we decided to head for the hospital.  Two contractions during the 4 minute drive to the hospital helped to hurry us along.

I had decided to see how things go and if I felt I needed painkillers then I'd use them.  I was 3 centimeters dilated when I arrived at the hospital and was doing all right on gas when all of a sudden my back felt like it was going to snap in a million pieces.  That's when the Demerol shot arrived.  That helped me some and let me relax (as much as possible in the circumstances)

Then at about 8:45am October 5 it was time to push!  28 minutes later at 9:13am Alexandra Jo Daly joined us.  Martin and Mum both hung in there for the duration and I really appreciated it.  I wasn't sure either of them would make it.  At one point the nurse actually asked my mother if she thought it was harder to have given birth to me or to be there while I was giving birth!  What a question!  I do know that at the end when they handed me that little girl it all seemed worth it and the look on Martin's face said the same.