Introducing Lincoln Charles

The last pregnancy shot taken at 38 weeks. Becc-23 weeks?

After little Alex's party on Sunday night we headed off to bed about 11pm. Big Alex was feeling a little queasy and assumed he'd eaten too much party food, but eventually fell asleep. I went to sleep quite quickly but then around 12am woke up feeling sick myself. I immediately thought we must of got gastro, and was up for a couple of hours sick unable to sleep. After a couple of hours of feeling so sick, it passed which I was very relieved that I was feeling better as we had the big move the next morning. Around 2am I got into bed feeling exhausted and confused about what I was feeling as the sickness passed so quickly. About five minutes into laying down I started having contractions coming every 15 minutes or so. I thought this would be right just before we are due to move! The sickness all made sense that it was related to going into labour. I tried ignoring that I was in labour and after an hour and a half of contracting I woke Alex up and said I thought I was in labour. I was unable to get back to sleep and both of us got up at 5am and started organising our move for the day. We got stuck into it and Alex told me not to exhaust myself, but I was determined to get as much done before we had to go to hospital. As soon as I got really busy the contractions stopped, and I began to doubt that I was actually in labour.

We had a great team of workers help us move, they were so quick that by lunch time our old house was empty and clean and the new place had furniture already assembled. I kept busy unpacking and organising things. We stopped for a lunch break and then the contractions started again when I was sitting down taking a rest. Throughout the rest of the day I would start contracting everytime I sat down and rested. Mum had helped us all day and I told her to stay the night as I thought that it wouldn't be long now, and it was great to know she was there if we had to make a dash to the hospital in the night. The kids adjusted very well to their new house and new room that night and slept through the night which was great as Little Alex often wakes up during the night and walks around the house, and I assumed that with the big changes we would be in for a bad night with him. I barely slept as I was labouring all night and off to the toilet reguarly. It was Mum's birthday the next day and I felt bad that we couldn't be with her to celebrate it with her and that she was on babysitting duty for the day.

In the morning we did a few last jobs at our old place to get it read for inspection and then headed to the hospital. My midwife Helen that I elected specialises in water births and was already working as she had been delivering a baby since 5.30am. After being examined it was very disheartning as I had already had two nights of lost sleep and the baby wasn't engaging as he was in posterior position. The contractions were quite annoying as they were all in my back and it seemed as though it was pain without purpose. My midwife Helen, said she didn't think it would be long until my waters broke and once that happened it would all happen quite quickly. She advised me to sleep on my left hand side to try to get the baby to turn.

We decided to go home and have an afternoon sleep while I could and come back into the hospital at 4pm to have my waters broken if they hadn't already broken. Alex cooked a nice lunch for us all and we all had a sleep for a couple of hours. I didn't sleep too deeply though as I was woken up by most of the contractions. By about 5pm we left to go to the hospital and I had the towel all ready for gushing waters on the car seat. After an examination the baby was still in posterior position, however I had dialated 4cm which we were relieved about. My waters were broken about 6pm and the contractions got stronger and closer together while we watched tv. At 8.30pm we watched Survivor on Tv and I thought in my mind I want this baby out before midnight and I want it out before this episode is finished. I was very determined to get him out as I was so tired and just wanted a good nights sleep. At about 8.45pm my midwife came in and apologetically told us that she wasn't allowed to work past 12am. In the meantime I was doing all that I could to speed things up. She then came and joked around asking, "did you tell everyone to have their babies tonight?" as two other ladies had come into the labour ward in the last five minutes. Within 15 minutes I had gone into transition and I told Alex that I was ready to get into the bath that was already prepared. I had a water birth with Little Alex and had hoped for the same experience with this baby as I found it a lot better to relax in between contractions in the water and was able to manage the pain drug-free. Not long after being in the bath I had the uncontrollable urge to push and the contractions were so strong that he was out within three pushes, at 9.17pm. We had a healthy boy weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces and after tossing between two names we decided to name him Lincoln Charles. Charles is a family name in Alex's side of the family. I was so relieved it was all over and that I got to have the midwife that I elected. We have been very lucky to have such a dedicated and experienced midwifes at the births of our children that have great reputations. The midwife that we had for Alex's birth was awarded the Midwife of the Year Award the year Alex was born two years ago, and it wouldn't surprise me if Helen received the award in the future.


Just an hour and a half old

Meeting their baby brother for the first time. Little Alex was quite tickled by this new little person. Maddi was fascinated by his little feet and hands.

Family of five





Born on the 12th of January sharing Grandma's birthday.

Taking him home the next day. We have since rethought about the car seat arrangements. Big brother liked touching Little brother all the way home!


Maddi is a proud and helpful big sister that loves to cuddle and kiss her baby brother and loves to sing him lullabys when he is in bed.


'Little Alex' isn't so little anymore, and to me seems to of had a growth spurt in the last few weeks. He is very affectionate to his little brother and calls him "Linc". We have to constantly supervise him as he likes to pick his little brother up like he is a cuddly teddy bear.

Little Alex's birthday

On Sunday the 10th of January, it was little Alex's 2nd birthday. We had a small party with some family to celebrate. Most of our house was packed up in boxes so we went to Moppy and Poppy's hotel room and had party food and lasagne for lunch.

Moppy and Poppy had an apartment room that had a fenced yard with a sandpit that the kids loved playing in.



Alex has become very good at opening presents since Christmas time.


Alex had an ice cream cake for his birthday, which was very enjoyable as it was a hot day. He had to be quick to blow out the candles before it melted. He wasn't quite sure how to blow out the candles and made a failed attempt and Uncle Jared and Daddy helped him.



We thought the top that reads "security" from Auntie Ness was quite funny, as he is the one that needs security as he is so hands on and into everything. He could be a child security guard though with all the strength that he has. He is so strong and is such a bruiser.

Maddi loves being silly with the teeth out of the party mix.

That evening we went for a long walk along the beach. It was such a beautiful night that people were still in the water swimming as it was so hot. Little Alex had a great 2nd birthday.

Holidays

After Christmas we came home for a couple of nights and then headed back to Hobart leading into the new year. On our first day there it was such a beautiful day and it was the Boxing Day holiday, so all of us, except Ness (as she's away on YSA convention) headed to the local beach, just a couple of minutes drive away called Hinsby Beach. We got one of those blow up boats just the week before and were keen to test it out.



There were lots of boats and yachts out in the water that day as I think they were hoping to meet up with the winner of the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race. Only it was behind schedule.


On Tuesday morning I went to take Maddi to to see the 3D movie of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The last time we had taken Maddi to the movies was about 12 months ago, and she wasn't quite ready back then to sit in a movie for that long, but since then she has grown up a lot and will sit and watch a whole movie if she enjoys it. I thought it would be a great opportunity to have some one on one time with her before life gets a bit more busy. Unfortunately just as we were heading off I discovered my wallet was missing and we sent out a search party for it, retracing everywhere we had visited including the beach. The kids thought it was fun looking for my wallet but then when Maddi realised that she was missing out on the movie because my wallet was missing she suggested "It's alright Mum, maybe my Dad can pay for the movies" and even starting accusations that maybe the neighbours had stolen my wallet! After a few hours of having no luck I cancelled all the important cards and headed to The Taste with Becc and Brise.

We were lucky to get there just at the right time as it is usually hard to get a table. The kids enjoyed their fish and chips from Mures. We later moved to Parliament Park which was a lot more child friendly as they had activities for kids. We watched some kids use the flying trapeze and watched some performers. I had a delicious scallop souvlaki from a stall called the Wild Things.
After the Taste I took the kids to the movies, as Maddi was so dissapointed about missing out earlier. There was only one early morning session of the movie we planned to see, and we had missed it. So instead we saw the Chipmunks movie. Little Alex was very active in the movie and even made friends with the teenagers behind us. He would watch a bit and go "Oh no" and "oh aww" at the appropriate times and would dance along to the music. I learnt that he's still a little young to watch a whole movie attentively and Maddi as much as she enjoyed the movie is still a wriggle worm and very concerned with the snacks you have at the movies!

On Tuesday night the winner (Alpha Romeo) of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race was due to come in and we listened out for it. Alex heard helicopters outside a little past 9pm and we raced out to watch it come up the river. It looks quite light in the photo, but it was quite dark and you could really only see the lights from the boats in the river. You could see so many flashes going off, as people were taking photos. We had a look with the binoculars and counted a flotilla of at least 25 boats.


We had such beautiful week weather wise that we took another trip to Hinsby Beach again on the Wednesday. Liz came along too as work ended up giving her the day off as it was quiet, and she looked after the kids for us so we could have a sleep in. I spent so much time in the water that day and got in the boat with the kids we were almost tossed out into the water as we going through the break water. Brise's Mum Manny, came along and brought her kayak and each of us, except myself had a paddle. That eveining I was looking out the window that evening and saw this massive cruise ship heading out the river. Maddi and Liz saw it arrive that morning.



The next day which was New Year's Eve Brise, Becc, Alex and I all planned to go to Clifton Beach for the day which is a surf Beach. Becc and I were unsure about how we would both go on body boards since our tummies are sticking out so far, as Becc is in the second trimester of her pregnancy now. Liz and Kevin had the day off and so kindly took the kids to the local beach and park for us. It was a scorcher of a day and got to 38 degrees. We ended up joining Kevin and Liz and the kids at Hinsby Beach as the swells at Clifton were low and it would mean an hours drive and Brise was called in to come into work after lunch. We thought it would be much more convenient to stay close to home again. After tea it was still very hot, and Becc and Brise had fun with the kids running through the sprinkler. It was so hot that no one seemed to mind that the kids were spraying us with water pistols after tea.



Maddi was a real party goer on New Year's Eve. At 9pm she was still awake and got scared as she could hear fireworks going off from the wharf and at the same time there was a huge thunderstorm going on with forks of lighting. We sat out on the deck and all watched the storm and then played a game of cards up until midnight. I learnt that Liz is a bit of a card shark. After the storm settled down Maddi settled into bed and fell asleep close to 11pm.

We had a lovely breakfast on New Year's Day and it was another perfect day. We had such a good time at Moppy and Poppy's that time seemed to fly by. Becc and Brise took Maddi to Brise's Parent's property for a couple of hours, and Maddi loved sitting on Shadow the horse and collecting the eggs.




We felt like we had a fantastic holiday with lots of rest. I especially was well rested, thanks to everyone who looked after the kids. If the kids weren't around at Moppy and Poppy's we knew that they must of visited the next door neighbours which are Becc and Brise. It was hard to stop the kids from following Becc and Brise home sometimes, and when they would go missing we would automatically assume that's where they were. It was great that we didn't get sunburnt at all after all the time we had spent outside, except for big Alex who looked very tanned the next day after his sunburn.

When we got home that night there was a message from someone who had found my wallet. It was such a relief that it had been found.

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning the first thing we heard was Little Alex's footsteps at 6am. Maddi didn't wake until 7am and both the kids took a look outside to see if Rudolph had drank the bucket of water and eaten the carrot. Santa had taken the picture that Maddi drew and left a little note behind.

The kids were very excited to open the stockings to see what Santa had left them. The highlight for Little Alex was getting some more Thomas trains in his stocking. When Maddi got a girl train in her stocking Little Alex went and had a sticky beak and took it off her thinking it belonged to him.

We then had fruit salad and yoghurt for breakfast followed by opening gifts. Little Alex reminded us of a vampire.

Maddi had a chat on the phone to Auntie Gina.

Before we left Moppy and Poppy's we had some nibblies and said a quick goodbye to Moppy who was called into work for an emergency. At about 11am we headed out the door and off to Mum and Dad's for lunch. The kids slept most of the way up and were still sleepy when we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's. Unfortunately Alex wasn't feeling too crash hot and came down with a virus on Christmas Eve and it continue on Christmas Day and was happy to sit back in the car and relax while I drove. Harri was very excited when we arrived not for our presence, but it meant it was time to open the presents!


The kids admired the gingerbread house that Grandma had made and Alex was the first one to have a pick at it.

It was a warm day perfect for eating lunch outside. Grandpa turned the slide into a waterslide for the kids and they had a great time going down.


I don't think Little Alex expected to come down the slide so quickly, and got scared off from going down again.

We ate so much food during the course of the day. For lunch we had seafood, lots of salads, ham and fruit and for dinner we had the traditional Christmas meal of hot turkey and vegetables. At the end of the night the kids all had a bath and got in their pjs ready for bed.

We had a great day, apart from Alex being unwell. The best thing was that we got to spend time with both families. It was just us and the Kings this year at Mum and Dad's house, but I wouldn't really say it was a "quiet" Christmas. The thing I love about Christmas is spending time with the family and seeing the kids excitement. Christmas takes on a whole new meaning when you have kids to enjoy it with.