Posted 1:31 PM by Mike
Well......again....here we sit...months since my last post. Not making any excuses. Just not up to it lately. I guess Uncle Pat and Grandpa Steve were up to posting about it so I guess me, as the father, should post as well.

My life has changed forever. Cameron Patrick Lemke was born at 10:11AM on January 11th. 8 lbs 12 oz, 22 inches long. I just read Steve's post about how special it was to be there within a couple of hours of the birth of his grandson. Well, I'm about to explain the exhiliration of being there at the moment a new life, a life that you created, enters the world. A nine month odessey that culminated with the birth of the most perfect little boy I've ever seen (ok...I'm a little biased:))

The month of December was a pretty rocky one for Kristin and I. November had been pretty uneventful. I had been frantically working on the basement in order for it to be done by the time the little one came. Things were moving right along. Framing was done, wiring was done, had just installed the drywall on the ceiling. I was making arrangements on the logistics for knotty pine boards that was going to cover the walls. Then Kristin's car breaks down. Not a big deal. Went up north for Thanksgiving only to come home to a freezing cold house. Furnace broke down. Decided to put the basement on temporary hold because I refuse to dip into our savings account or jack up our credit cards in order to finish the basement. Christmas was just around the corner and I didn't want to do into debt. Again, not that big of a deal. Then December hits....

December starts with Kristin in agony with stomach craps/early labor signs. Major freakout session. Kristin makes an appointment and goes in. They give her a shot in order to stop the contractions. They want her to get to 37 weeks. Another trip to the hospital due to contractions, another shot to stop them before the 37 week mark. They decide to put her on medication to keep the contractions at bay. Now I'm really scared. I know babies are born premature all the time, but when it's your child, things are different. Doctors pretty much tell us that she won't make her due date and will stop her medication at 37 weeks. We are thinking that she will immediately go into labor once the pills are gone. In the mean time, we had to cancel Christmas with my parents up in Duluth because she is on bedrest. Kind of bummed me out since I haven't had a good Christmas with my family in quite sometime. I went to my graduation ceremony up in Duluth from St. Scholastica. My dad met me there. He was the only one who could make it. It meant alot to me that he did.

Kristin makes it to 37 weeks and is told to stop her medication and can go back to work half-days if she wants to. Three days after the medication stops, contractions! The doctors were right....wrong. False alarm. Next day, back to work for both of us. A few days after that, when we were deciding on whether or not to go to Rochester for Christmas, more contractions. Midly excited, but not really thinking the baby was coming. We decided to go in to make sure. Again....nothing coming. We head to Rochester for Christmas since Kristin was hell-bent on being home for Christmas.

New Year's eve....Kristin and I stay home and play games and each junk food. Next day....major contractions. The worst they have ever been. This is it....the baby is coming! We call Steve to come and get Madison, which he does. He brings her to Sue and Barry's while we get ready to head to the hospital. The nurse tells us that we should hang out on home as long as we can since it will take awhile because it's our first. Contractions go away.....!@#!@#!!!! We can't handle it anymore. Madison spends the week down in Rochester. Kristin in the meantime officially starts her maternity leave on January 5th. We drive down on the 6th to get Madison because Kristin was missing her something awful.

Official due date of January 6th comes and goes. Doctor doesn't believe in letting her patients go a week over their due dates. A stress test and ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday the 10th and an induction scheduled for Friday the 13th!

January 9th.....major pain. Not really contraction pain......but pain to where Kristin can barely move. Scared big time. Now not only for my child, but for my wife as well. I bring her in again...same routine of monitoring baby's heart-rate and Kristin's contractions. Nope....no baby. I didn't really think so but was still worried about her pain. They prescribe both anti-biotics (for a possible bladder infection) and vicodin for the pain. Head home and go to bed that night not realizing that it was going to be last sleep I got for awhile.

January 10th...Day of the stress test and ultra-sound. Since Kristin is hopped up on vicodin, I took the day off to drive her to these appointments. Stress-test is fine. Ultra-sound shows a possible cyst on her ovaries which could be the cause of the pain she has been having. We have lunch at Olive Garden, head to Wal-Mart, and Pet-Smart. Pretty good day. Both of us have decided that we have our minds set on Friday being the day our baby is coming. It's a load off of our minds. We know the day and now we can just relax.

7:30PM....Contractions. This time they feel different. But considering all that we have been through, we don't really think anything of them. They get worse as the night progresses. Again to the point to where she can't move. At around 1:00, Kristin gets into the tub..one of the few things that made her comfortable before. Didn't work. Pain still coming. Call the hospital. We get the same runaround that we should wait it out! My wife is in the worse pain she has ever been in and they are telling us we should stay home! Hell no!

January 11th......2:00AM. We leave for the hospital. Madison looks at us like we are retarded as we put her in the kennel at this time of night. We arrive at the hospital at 2:30AM. Same routine of being hooked up to the monitors. Pain is so severe that Kristin is shaking at this point. The nurse comes in and asks about a million questions. Then she examines her.....she's dialated to 4 cm! This is it......she is officially in labor. Pretty amazing considering not more than 12 hours ago she was at a very tight 2cm.

We had decided that Kristin was going to get an epidural for the pain. Not much risk to baby. However....it was C-section city that night and the anethisilogist was busy attending to them and couldn't get to Kristin right away. Reluctantly she asks for some pain medication to help her in the mean time. They give her the medication at around 3:30AM and she is instantly high. Kind of funny looking at her expression as the medication took effect (think Spicoli on Fast Times!) Whoa!

I figured that since she was stable that I would run to my office real quick to shore up some things and leave notes for people who would be doing my stuff while I was gone. I got back around 4:15AM and she had the epidural and was feeling pretty good. I took the opportunity to try and sleep....it didn't work.

6:15AM they break her water. Things progress very fast. I had called Steve at 3:00AM to arrange for him to get Madison in the morning and bring her to Rochester. Knowing that she was going to be taken care off was a huge load off of my mind.

8:30AM...she is dialated all the way! The time has come. The nurses prep the room for delivery. I couldn't believe that after all this time it was finally going to happen.

9:00AM...pushing starts. Kristin did just a good job. I'm so proud of her. I coached her as best I could. Had her slow her breathing down so she didn't hyperventilate, held her legs while she pushed, held a cold-wash cloth on her head to cool her down...whatever I could do to help. I didn't want her to think she was going through this by herself.

10:00...after a good hour of pushing, her doctor comes in. I thought we were still awhile away. I could see the top of my baby's head but it wasn't out yet. The doctor come in and took over. A couple of big pushes and it's head was out. I was kind of freaked out because of the shape, but nobody else was worried so I knew everything was fine. I though we still had a ways to go in order to get past the shoulders....wrong. One more big push and the doctors pulled my baby boy out! He was so beautiful. I immediately leaned over to Kristin to tell her she did a great job and that I loved her as a few tears trickled down my cheeks. Our baby was here! The most exhilerating feeling came over me.....I'm a dad! I had many people tell me its the most life-changing experience I was ever going to go through....they were 100% right. I've never felt this kind of joy before. Seeing how beautiful he was made all the crap we went through melt away. We both looked at each other and said "Cameron". Cameron Patrick Lemke. My son......

I called my parents and Steve. Kristin called her mom. They were grandparents again. Luckily Steve was still at our house with Madison. He mentioned that he was getting ready to leave to bring her down to Rochester. I told him that he should come and see his new grandson. I'm glad he did since he said it was something he will never forget.

We brought him home on Friday the 13th. I've enjoyed every bit of him being home with us. Every time he opens his little eyes and makes eye contact with me, I get a little flutter in my heart and a huge smile comes across my face. I feel like I've been put on this earth to raise this little boy. I have jumped head first into parenthood and love every minute of it. I look forward to seeing this little man grow up. How my dad will beam at him because his only son has had a son to carry on the name, just as he did. I hope that my son adores me the way I adore my dad. Even if it's half as much, I'm a lucky dad. I miss my grandparents terribly and wish they could here. My Grandpa Lemke would be proud knowing that his branch of the Lemke name is continuing.

More to come....