Lincoln Damien's Birth Story

He is finally here....and I am finally getting around to posting his birth story....luckily I knew it was going to take forever to get around to it and jotted down a few notes at the hospital so I wouldn't forget any key details. So here it goes...

Thanksgiving weekend, we sent Olivia to Brooks with Grandma, Grandpa, GG and Pa. I was hoping that her being away for the weekend something might happen. Unfortunately, my due date, Sunday October 11, came and went with no sign of baby. I will admit that at this point I had pretty resigned myself to the fact that he was not coming and I would be booking a c-section at my next appointment later that week. Monday afternoon, GG and Pa brought Olivia home from Brooks for us. That night, Cam and I went to bed not expecting anything. Around 11pm, Cam woke up having coughing fit (thats what happens when you smoke to much, nothing to do with drywall dust like he tries to blame it on) and I turned to him and said "I think I'm going into labour". At this point, I still had not had a contraction but I felt weird. Around 3am, I woke up having contractions that I could no longer sleep through. Apparently, Mom and Danelle both woke up around that time that night and had a feeling something was happening.

So 6am Tuesday morning, Cam's alarm goes off and I told him that he would not be going to work that day. Around 8:30, I called GG in Brooks and let her know that she would have to get that spare she had lined up for curling that day. She got here around 10, so Cam and I went for a walk then headed to the hospital. At this point, I was only about 2-3 cm so they sent me home....of course, I had a shot of morphine so I could rest....kudos to anyone who does it without drugs, I do not have it in me.

Got home from the hospital around 3, so I gave Mom a quick call to let her know what was going on and then headed to bed for a couple hours. Mom got here around 8pm, as the morphine was wearing off and my contractions started to pick up. We headed back to the hospital around midnight, I was 5 cm and very happy to be staying at the hospital. At 5am, I was 7 cm and the dr broke my water. Same as last time, Lincoln was in the wrong position and things got extremely painful at this point. My back muscles completely seized and every contraction required a lot of focus and coaching from the nurses. I thought I was headed in for another c-section, especially when I did progress past 7cm for over an hour. My nurse then suggested an epidural to see if that would allow me to relax enough that he could turn into the right position. I got my epidural just after 7 and was ready to push at 9:30. Pushing was incredibly hard work, especially because I could not really feel what I was doing at the start. Finally after 2 and 1/2 hours, the doctor came in with the vacuum to help get him out. He was definitely stuck.....I had the doctor with the vacuum then his hands pulling him, me pushing and 2 nurses on my stomach pushing to get him out. But finally at 12:18pm, Lincoln Damien Davis was born.

It was probably the greatest, most satisfying moment of my life. So different from when Olivia was born, as I felt completely disconnected from the whole experience. Would I ever have another baby naturally though??? Not a chance!! I am very happy we are done. Having done it both ways I can see advantages and disadvantages to both ways.

Since we've been home, Lincoln has been doing very good. Breastfeeding is going well, we are just working our way through a touch of jaundice. Olivia is being a great big sister. A little jealousy from time to time but overall she has been very patient with him and me. She loves to kiss him and pet him and hold his hands. She has stopped crying everytime he cries, happily for me. Cam is back to work and Monday to Friday I am pretty much a single mommy of 2. It has been stressful but we are slowly figuring out how things are going to work.