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    Stay With Me
    Stay With Me
    Stay With Me
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Stay With Me

    By Lou Sicoli

    ()

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    About this ebook

    June 19th, 2009

    It was supposed to be a happy day for me and my wife. The day we welcomed our second child into the world and into our family.

    But along with the birth of our second son, there were complications.

    Having been through it once before, we thought we were prepared for what child labour entailed. You always wish for your baby to be healthy, above all and no matter what. You do what is necessary to make that happen.

    With unforeseen circumstances forcing us to make a decision regarding the health of our baby, we were pushed into a series of events that we never considered possible.

    This is the story of that day, as well as the back story of two people building their life together and holding onto that with everything they've got...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLou Sicoli
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781466033429
    Stay With Me
    Author

    Lou Sicoli

    Married in 2003 to my highschool sweetheart Father of 2 crazy boys Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Currently employed at RIM, maker of the BlackBerry

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      Book preview

      Stay With Me - Lou Sicoli

      Stay With Me

      Lou Sicoli

      Published by Lou Sicoli at Smashwords

      Copyright 2010 Lou Sicoli

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      This book is dedicated to the strongest woman I know; a best friend, a wife, a mother, the love of my life and so much more. I love you Jenn, and I'm thankful every day that you chose to fight to stay with us.

      This book is also for the two boys that helped carry her through that day, and continue to amaze and delight and frustrate and drive me to have a drink every once and awhile...

      And I wouldn't change a thing about them, as I couldn't imagine my life without them. I love you Max and Nico, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for you both...

      *note - some names have been changed throughout the book*

      ...she doesn't seem to be clotting...we need more blood...fresh, frozen plasma...her blood pressure is too low...but we need to go back in...

      ..blood pressure keeps dropping...this isn't working...

      Lou, don't leave my side...I'm so scared...

      Chapter ONE

      ...we've got nothing to worry about...we're old pros, remember?

      …this time, things are going to be different...everything’s under control, we can handle anything....

      Thursday, June 18th, 2009

      8pm

      Anticipation had been building within us for the past couple of days. My wife, Jenn, and I had been eagerly awaiting the birth of our second child. We'd had our first, Max, almost three years earlier. At that time, we didn't find out whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl, and we didn't this time either. I thought of it as one of life's last great surprises, and didn't want to ruin it. Jenn was on the fence - she liked the idea of preparing ahead of time since she knew how busy it would be once we brought a second child into the house. But she relented, and the secret was kept.

      The baby was already overdue, but we were handling it in stride. We'd been through this before, and in our 12 years together (6 of which as husband and wife) we managed to handle things as a true partnership. We felt like we could handle anything that was thrown at us.

      We had been to the hospital earlier that day, so the fact that my wife's water broke wasn’t too much of a surprise. In fact, compared to the scene the morning of our first son’s birth, we seemed to be handling this situation like professionals. Jenn went upstairs to confirm that indeed, her water had broken – and I had gone to calling the midwife to come by and check her out as well. I also started gathering things such as the hospital bag, some items from the refrigerator…all the while starting to time the contractions. We remained calm, ran through checklists in our minds to ensure we didn’t miss anything and continued trying to chart any patterns which were emerging.

      Where the contractions with Max came with escalating consistency and increasing pain, these were different. There wasn’t a real pattern, but after a quick visit from Evangeline, the midwife, it was deemed in our best interest to head to the hospital.

      Evangeline reflected the same demeanor that we were currently projecting. Cool, calm and under control. Evangeline was a veteran midwife from St. Jacobs Midwives – and if there is such a thing for this field, she was famous in the area. She also came highly recommended to us from close friends. In our dealings with her there was never any doubt as to her immense expertise. I enjoyed Evangeline's matter-of-factness, but my wife sometimes worried that her concerns may have been dismissed too easily or not heard.

      Those fears would be dissuaded when we met our backup, Stella.

      Stella was different. Where Evangeline was the technical and by-the-books guide, Stella was the emotional and empathetic counterpart.

      It was that balance Stella provided was what appealed more to my wife.

      They seemed to be the perfect duo for us. Our circle of friends had joked many times in the past that I was dead inside with my emotions rivaling that of a robot, while my wife was considered one of the most empathetic people we knew. It appeared that this dynamic was reflected in our midwifery team.

      Thursday, June 18th, 2011

      8:45pm

      We hopped into our van, but before I did, I happened to look around and take note of the night sky surrounding us. Not something I’m always known for doing – appreciating the little things that life sometimes has to offer – but nonetheless, today seemed like the day to be taking stock.

      It was an amazing summer night – cool but not cold, with the sun just about to start setting; you could tell it had been a great day, and the next day would be nice as well. There were few clouds in the sky, most tinged with deep blues and pinks. I even surprised myself in noticing the oncoming night with the craziness usually surrounding a birth about to encompass us. We left our oldest son, the almost-three-year-old Max, in the care of Jenn's sister Marcie, who had been living with us for the past couple of years. We figured that if this birth went as the first had gone, we may even be home by tomorrow without Max having to enter the hospital. But we didn't want to get ahead of ourselves, and promised to keep Marcie updated via BlackBerry messages.

      As we pulled away towards the hospital, Jenn popped in some music for the drive - Bon Iver; and it seemed like a very suiting choice. In my head, I felt like this could have been a soundtrack for a movie – young couple, heading the hospital for the birth of their baby. To be fair, this is something I do seem to think about often – store away a bank of songs that would be the right fit for certain cinematic scenes.

      I had always wondered what it would be like to be a music supervisor for a movie or television show. They're the people that choose songs for soundtracks – the songs for the opening scene where the movie title splashes onto the screen, the songs that play over the credits, the songs playing during that pivotal dramatic scene where the hero and heroine are driving cross-country to find whatever life-defining moment is waiting for them. I had read features in Rolling Stone and Spin magazines about people who made this a career, and I thought no job would be cooler than that. I still remember the picture of the guy - in his apartment

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