Birth Story

Here's my birth story on Lincoln Ross Gallagher.

On September 29th, I had maternity appointment at 1230pm. The doctor examined me and I was already 4cm dilated and my membrane was ready to burst anytime. My blood pressure was still a little bit high so the doctor got me to do non-stress test to make sure that the baby was doing okay. I got that done right after the appointment and everything was fine.

After arriving home from the appointment I noticed water leakage with a bit of blood. I guessed that it was the fluid and waited 2 hours to see if I leaked more. I did so we called the hospital to ask what we should do and they told us to come in.

We got Heidi to babysit Connor and we arrived at 530pm at the hospital. I was put on an I.V. with antibodies for my group b strep to help prevent the infection getting to the baby. Unfortunately, all the nurses were busy with three other women who was either in labor or having c-section so they couldn't start inducing me until the morning. I was a bit concerned about the baby getting too much antibodies because I read somewhere that if babies got too much antibodies that they would have lower immune system. I was quite disappointed but there wasn't much I could do and we just had to wait until 6am the next morning. Nurses assured me that the baby would be just fine.

The bed in labor/delivery room wasn't comfortable AT ALL so I didn't get too of a great sleep that night. I woke up several times and then I woke up for good at 4am and just waited for Brendan to wake up at 5am. We just chilled until 6am. Interpreter arrived at 6am and I finally got induced at 630am. My Mom arrived at about 8am.

Not much happened for the first few hours. I had very light contractions so the nurse just kept on increasing the doses every half an hour. My contractions got a bit more stronger and stronger but it was still going slower than we had expected. The doctor was surprised that it was going slower as well. Around early afternoon, the nurse suggested me to walk around so I did but then my contractions completely stopped. It was so weird - it just stopped like that. The nurse examined me and she couldn't find my cervix AT ALL! She called the doctor in. The doctor also had difficulty with finding my cervix and she was a little surprised too. She tried, tried and tried - FINALLY she figured it out. Apparently, my cervix got sealed to the baby's head so the baby was stuck the whole time. The doctor broke my water again and it worked this time.

Everything SPED from then. I started to get strong contractions. It came really fast and stronger and stronger. The contractions were more painful than when I was in labor with Connor. I remember thinking to myself, "When is this going to end?! When is this going to end?!" I asked the doctor, "How much longer?" She told me, you can push if you want - the right cervix is just slightly off from 10cm. So, I did. I pushed a few times. Without realizing it the baby's head was already out and I said, "Now what?" Everyone said, "Push one more time!" I did and Lincoln came out! He came out so fast that his face was quite blue and swollen.

Brendan was just stoked and emotional when he came out. I was just RELIEVED that it was over and SO HAPPY to meet Lincoln. From then, I just felt a lot more relaxed and happy.

Lincoln was born at 2:28pm and weighed 8 pounds and 14 ounces being 22 inches long. He has some similaries to Connor. Lincoln has same shape lips as Connor's but Connor's is more thicker while Lincoln's is more thinner especially the bottom lip. Lincoln has more hair and it's much darker than Connor's. I can't quite tell what color it's going to bed - dark brown/black or just light brown/brown? Maybe it'll change to dark blonde later?

My recovery has been great. Much better than Connor's. Kind of funny because Lincoln was a big baby. Connor finally got to meet his brother the next day. He kept on saying "No, no, no" when we talked about the baby. Aww. He is adjusting and doing well. He touched the baby and is becoming more friendly as each day goes by.

I'll end off for now with a couple of pictures.