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May 19th, 2012 around 4am I woke up with some pretty intense contractions. I tried and tried to fall back asleep but they just kept coming. I remember dozing off and getting woken up about 10 minutes later with a new contraction. I thought to myself, "well, today might be the day!" John left for work around 8:30am and I decided to lay down on the couch and just see what was going to happen with my contractions. 9am came around and I felt Lincoln's movement decrease. It was a very slow kinda kick. Not like Lincoln to be so inactive in the morning time so I waited and waited for more movement. I talked to my mom on the phone telling her I just wasn't feeling very well and I would let her know if anything changed but I felt very different. Around 10am I realized I had only felt him move once since I woke up for the day. My contractions were around 8-10 minutes apart but I worried with John being at work that I was too far from a hospital to wait it out so I called Dr. Sargent.
Dr. Sargent thought I should go into the hospital and at least get checked because my contractions were consistent and we needed to make sure the baby was okay because he wasn't moving. I called John who quickly left work and came to get me. For some reason I really felt like I should clean because I didn't know if I would ever be home without a baby again! I tried to clean but contractions kept me laying on my side til John arrived. We loaded me up in the car, our bags and the car seat was already in there waiting for us!
We arrived around 11:45am to the hospital where I got into a room and hooked up to monitors to see if I was in active labor. The nurse got me all set up and found I was actually having contractions about every 4-5 minutes that lasted around a minute each. I was checked for dilation and I was 2cm and about 70% effaced which is about where I was at my last doctor appointment. (I thought for sure that meant I was being sent home) Dr. Sargent had something else in mind. He instructed me to walk for about 2 hours to see if that got anything going. If I returned and I had any cervical change I was going to be admitted to have a baby. :)
John and I decided to take a walk over to the shopping center about 1/2 a mile down the road and grab a bite to eat. The walk was miserable. I felt like I was going to die from the pressure and the contractions I was having. We made it over there and decided to stop at Baja Fresh where I ordered a burrito with hot salsa and jalapenos. ( I thought that it was a good time to test the old wives tale about spicy food kick starting labor)
We walked and walked and walked, even John's legs were tired. I was nearly doubled over in pain with each contraction so we made our way back to the hospital. The nurse took one look at my face and said now that is a labor face! They put me in the jacuzzi tub for about 30 minutes just to help me relax a little while I waited to have my cervix checked again.
The nurse came in to check my cervix and I kept praying for some kind of change because I didn't want to go home feeling contractions every 4-5 minutes! She checked me which caused me to begin screaming and crying during a contraction but I was 3cm dilated and 85% effaced. She looked at me and said I wasn't leaving the hospital til I had a baby! At 3:30pm on May 19th, 2012 I was officially admitted to Portland Adventist to have my baby!
The next few hours were miserable. I was in pain and they kept offering my IV pain medications but I was trying to wait and just get an epidural. My doctor had told me he would let me get the epidural whenever I wanted it but would like me to at least be 4cm dilated! I labored and contracted forever it seemed. We called our families to let them know that Lincoln was on his way. My mom and step dad got ready to drive up from Eugene to meet him. It was a very exciting few hours with anticipation of Lincoln being here any time. It was around 5pm when a nurse told me I was making progress but it looked like Lincoln was going to be born after midnight. John and I settled in for what looked like a long night.
Around 7:30pm I was dilated to 4cm and was ready for my epidural but I was so so scare to get one. All this time I had been telling people I wanted an epidural but when actually faced with having to ask for it I was terrified! I decided to wait it out to see what happens. The doctor came in to the room about 8:30pm and had decided to break my water to speed things up. He did warn me that contractions were about to get a lot worse. He broke the bag of water and honestly I looked at John about 5 minutes later and told him I didn't feel like the contractions got worse. Just then a wave hit me and I felt the most intense and painful contraction I had ever felt. Yes, the doctor was right, my contractions continued to worsen over the next hour and I wanted an epidural but wanted to wait til my mom arrived so I could at least see them before I got it and tried to sleep. My mom and step dad arrived around 9:45pm and by that time I was just in horrible pain. he nurse gave me some IV pain medicine but it wasn't nearly enough to make the pain stop! After saying hi to my mom I told John to call the nurse. He hit my button and as soon as I heard the pleasant voice asking how they could help I yelled, "EPIDURAL!!!!"
John went to eat some food and my mom stayed with me while I got my epidural. The anesthesiologist, Dr.Usher was amazing. He came right in and started placing my epidural. He warned me I was going to feel burning and a little sharp pain but honestly when he was finished I didn't even know he had already poked me. Now I don't know if he is just that good or if my pain was too great to care about a little needle poke but the epidural made me feel all better. I ended up falling asleep and relaxing without feeling any of the contractions I was having. At this time to keep my progress going while I slept the doctor ordered to start me on pitocin.
At 1:30am I woke up to still no baby. The nurse was ready to check me and to both of our surprise I had jumped from 4cm dilated all the way to 8 1/2cm dilated and about 95% effaced. I was so ready and felt the baby would come any minute! I wish I could say that I dilated the extra 2cm and we were good to go but our story doesn't pick back up until around 3:50am when I was finally 100% effaced and 10cm dilated. Dr. Sargent came into my room and asked me if I was ready to start pushing. Words can't even begin to tell you what I felt in this moment but I will try. I was terrified of actually pushing the baby out. I had seen so many episodes of "A Baby Story" on TLC and a lot of times I see a birth turn into a c-section because the baby is too big. I didn't want that to happen but I pushed my fear aside and started my pushing. I only had my husband at my side at this point. This was an intimate moment that I only wanted to share with the person who I had created this beautiful life with. I remember telling him to get the camera ready ASAP so he could catch his first breath on camera. I began to push.
Now pushing is nothing like I saw on TV or even read in any baby book. I would push for 10 second intervals 3 times in a row and then I would stop and breathe waiting for another contraction. in the 3-5 minutes between contractions I found myself falling asleep just from how exhausted I was and the nurse kept having to wake me to push again. I continued this for a while and looked at the clock to find I was already pushing for an hour. Still no baby and I am getting tired. I also noticed at this point that I could move my legs better and my epidural seemed to be running out. I had a button to deliver extra medication into my epidural so I started to use that. I felt an enormous amount of pressure but no pain as I continued. It was about 6:30am when the doctor started to tell me he could see the head and boy does he have a lot of hair! I pushed and pushed and pushed and at 7:05am May 20th, 2012 I saw the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I saw my son being lifted up by Dr. Sargent and handed over to me. Lincoln was born and placed on my chest while he was cleaned up. I have never felt the type of love that washed over me in the moment he was born. I felt like I hadn't been a complete person in my life and Lincoln just filled that part of me to make me whole. John kissed me and we both cried. Lincoln weighed in at 8lbs and 3oz and was 19 inches long.
It has been a week since Lincoln joined our family and well it has been an adjustment. It's amazing to have this little human that needs you 24/7. Lincoln, John and I went home on May 22nd. Lincoln met our dog Wicket and we have been a little family ever since. John has been on paternity leave from work this week and we have decided that next week he will return to work for a week and then take another week off after that. I am going to do my best to update my blog with how Lincoln is doing but since it will be my first time home alone with a newborn I may be a little busy. This post took me a couple of days to write) :)
Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family who have come to meet our newest addition to the family. Also a very special thank you to those of you who have made us meals and brought over food to help us out. I hope you all stay tuned to my blog since I will be keeping it up for Lincoln's first year and then there has been talk about us having a second baby after a year :)
