Lincoln will be 7 months old on Tuesday! I have no idea how this is possible, yet here it is. I need to capture his birth story before I forget any of it. It is so unique and special, and needs to be remembered and treasured. I pray I haven't forgotten anything.
Some back story: I was due to have him on July 15th. There had been a few nights when I had had a few contractions, but nothing to get excited about. About 3 days before his due date I got woken up by contractions, and I was so excited. I was awake from about 11 p.m till about 3 a.m with contractions, but they eventually went away. July 15th dawned and I was sad. Super super sad. I swear the due date is the hardest day, and I spend it depressed because I just want my baby here and not inside! And I was HOT! SO SO HOT! Having a baby in the summer was a horrible idea. Too bad it was a good idea for so many other reasons! I was hot and any time I went outside I felt physically ill. The clothes were all washed, the stuff was all ready, and all I had to do was wait. The kids kept busy going to the gym with Stuart and swimming in our above ground pool in the back yard. After feeling sorry for myself all day on the 15th, I decided I would let the kids have friends the next day. We shouldn't all be miserable because I was still pregnant right?
The day Before: July 16th: Stockton had his friend Trevor over to swim. They had a good time, and I was glad we had done it because he had been begging to have a friend. I am pretty sure Emma spent the day with Bailee, and Preston was gone to scout camp. I was glad to keep them occupied so I didn't have to feel like entertaining them. Stuart had gone to see a friend that morning, and I was honestly glad to just have some (somewhat) quiet time to not think about what anyone else wanted. I just vegged out and made sure the kids were safe and getting along. That evening we had dinner, the kids watched a movie, and Stuart and I made sure to spend some time alone together visiting and just trying to enjoy the quiet before the storm. Little did we know how soon the storm would be coming.
And so it begins: We sent the kids to bed at about 9 and were watching So You Think You Can Dance. At about 10 I remember having a few contractions and thinking "if these keep going I might call this labor!" I continued to have them, though they weren't crazy or anything to get excited about. At around 10:30 I decided to download a contraction timer app on my phone and started timing them. Just after 11:00 I let Stuart know that I had been having contractions for over an hour and I was starting to wonder if maybe, just maybe this would be it. I always wait to tell him this because experience has taught me that once I say anything I may as well have said "It's time, right now." He starts to get anxious. We decided that we would get our stuff together and I would go ahead and shower just in case so we would be ready to go. He called his mom at around 11:30 to put her on alert that this could be it. I knew that I wanted to have him without an epidural, and I also know that it is easier to do this if you don't head to the hospital too soon. Just after 12:00 Stuart asked me what we were doing. I was ready to go, the bags were packed, and I had been having contraction about every 4-4 1/2 minutes the entire time we were getting ready but I was nervous that if I sat or laid down to relax the contractions would stop so I told him to get comfortable while we did a little experiment. I laid down and so did he. He quickly fell asleep while I watched the timer. The contractions immediately spread out, like 9-13 minutes apart. I was so sad and worried, but I just kept watching. By about 12:45 I was still contracting, but they were fairly irregular and I remembered that I needed to get some clothes together for the kids in case we did need to drop them at Grandma's in the night. Of course when I went into the girls room Lainey woke up. This was about 1:00 a.m. In hindsight I realize that I should have told Stuart that we were going to head to his mom's to drop off the kids since Lainey was awake anyway, but I was honestly so afraid of jinxing it, so instead I sat down with her in the living room and watched a show. By 1:45 she was back asleep and the show was over so I laid her back down and headed in to try to rest. I had been contracting through this whole thing, but they weren't very intense. I figured this was it but I figured it would be a while. (Keep in mind my water broke with both Stockton and Lainey and with Stockton it took a few hours for labor to start and with Lainey it never did. So it had been 10 1/2 years (Emma's birth) since I had gone into labor first.) I laid down at 2:00 a.m. and was actually able to nod off, contractions and all (which tells you how not intense they were. They were real, just not intense.) At about 2:30 I was woken by a feeling and or a sound of a pop, not quite sure which, but I lunged for the bathroom and managed to get there before I leaked. My water had broken, I believed. So I am sitting on the toilet and I open the door, and tell Stuart "Babe, I am pretty sure my water just broke but we aren't waiting around for me to be sure! It's go time!!" I put on my Depends, (nope not kidding) grabbed a few for the road along with a towel and a trash bag to protect the seat, Stuart loaded the kids and off we went. It was just before 3 in the morning. We told Emma and Stockton on the car ride that we were on our way to have a baby. They were groggy, but excited! I was having to kind of hum through the contractions and I think this made them worry, I made sure they understood that I was fine, and that this was normal. By the time we got to Logandale, Lainey was wide awake and I was starting to panic about how we were going to leave. We were blessed though and Jeff woke up while Stuart was situating the other two kids. In the mean time I was in the bathroom where I had a huge gush of fluids and finally feeling a sense of urgency about the situation. I came out of the bathroom and told Stuart we needed to go, and it needed to be NOW. Jeff jumped right in and took Lainey off our hands. I remember feeling so blessed that Jeff is Lainey's favorite, so I knew she would be okay being left with him in the middle of the night like that. On the way back to the car I had to stop walking to have a contraction, and I remember Stuart saying we really needed to hurry because he didn't want to have this baby before we got to the hospital. I wasn't panicked or worried at all. I remember the clock saying 3:08 as we pulled out of the driveway. So the whole way to Mesquite, Stuart was nervous but I kept reassuring him that we were doing fine. I would have to vocalize through the contractions, but I was doing good, really good. I figured there was no way I was in transition because I was keeping it together so well. We visited between contractions, and I really did feel calm. Stuart was going just about 80 because I kept telling him we were fine, and we had time. I was so connected to what was going on with my body. I was relaxing into the contractions and not fighting them at all. I remember thinking a car is a horrible place to be in labor. Contractions were between 2 and 3 minutes apart the whole way there and were lasting a minimum of 45 seconds but usually just over a minute. I was totally focused on watching that timer and staying focused on the contraction I was in. I was giving Stuart last minute reminders and tips to help me stay in the moment and stay focused on the goal of having this baby without an epidural. As we got close to the exit for Mesquite I remember being so relieved that my hospital was there and I didn't need to drive clear to St. George. I remember thinking it would probably be another hour or so before I would be meeting my new little man. The contractions were real, and intense and I couldn't get through them without vocalizing but I was calm, feeling no panic, and in control. It was awesome. I was doing so well in fact that when we pulled up I told Stuart to drop me at the door, park the car and bring the bag in behind me.
The Hospital: He dropped me off, and on my way in (it was a 12 foot walk) I had to stop for a contraction that hit me hard. I had to grab a post I was walking past to kind of hold me up. When it passed I finished walking in and up to the check in window at Emergency. It was 3:40 when I got in there. The lady at the window asked why I was there. This completely baffles me to this day as huge as I was. I told her I was in labor. She asked how far along I was, I told her 40 weeks 2 days. She asked how far apart contractions were, I told her between 2 and 3 minutes. She asked what number of birth this would be for me, I told her 5. And finally she asked if my water had broken, I answered yes. Each question came quicker than the last with more urgency. When she found out this was baby #5 and my water had already broken she stopped asking questions and grabbed the phone to page for a wheelchair and said we would finish check in later. At this moment a huge contraction hit and luckily Stuart had walked up behind me because I turned around, put my hands on his shoulders, and gave him all my weight to support me through it. During the contraction the wheel chair showed up and they pushed it beneath me and kinda forced me in and off we went. As soon as I sat down I knew it was SERIOUS. I said to Stuart "We waited too long" and I'm pretty sure he said "I knew it!" :) They raced me through the lobby and to the elevators. I couldn't really see or focus on anything, but I could feel that baby, and in the elevator on the way up to L&D I could feel him crowning. They had been warned that I was on the way up, and Dr. Ofori had been called. When the L & D nurses got to me they knew it was serious. One of them told me not to push and my response was "I can't stop!" As they wheeled me into a room I was ripping my bottoms off and kicking my flip flops away from me. Within a few seconds that contraction subsided and I stood from the wheel chair. The nurses were asking me to get into the bed and I was just asking for a second to catch my breath before I laid back down. I waited till I felt ready, then got in the bed on my side. Stuart was on the other side of the bed up by my head. The next contraction hit, and I couldn't do anything but push. My body took over and knew exactly what it needed to do. I was on my side and grabbing my top knee. The nurse was in position and two quick pushes on that one contraction and he was here. It was an entire 8 minutes since Stuart had dropped me out front. My Dr. hadn't gotten there yet. I wasn't even checked into the hospital and they hadn't put an IV in. But he was here and he was perfect. 3:48 am on July 17th, 8 lbs 5 oz, and 21 1/2 inches.
Dr. Ofori walked in about 5 minutes later with his arms out and asked me "What the heck?" All I could do was laugh and tell him I guess I didn't need him after all! :) He stitched me up since baby came out with his hand up by his face and so fast. When he was born they put him right up on me. I pulled off my shirt to put on the hospital gown, and also so he could be right on my skin. I almost immediately got to nurse him. It was awesome! I was crying and happy and shocked and he was beautiful and I felt so blessed! I kept looking at Stuart and we both couldn't believe what had just happened! We just kept laughing. I don't think either one of us could believe it had all unfolded like it did. As I look back, I honestly think that when I stood up to walk myself in he dropped and it got real, really really real as soon as I stood up. I really did believe that it would be another good hour or so before he would be born, instead it was a grand total of 8 minutes.
It took us several hours to finally decide that his name would be Lincoln Stuart. It fit him perfectly. I loved that he was born in the wee hours of the morning. We spent those hours holding our new and perfect little baby. It was quiet and calm and it felt like time slowed down while heaven was so near. Those were some of the most beautiful and treasured hours of my life. The nurses left us alone and we just enjoyed the stillness for a minute. This was the experience I had hoped and prayed for. I had spent so much time praying to my Father in Heaven that I could have this type of experience and he allowed that to happen. Giving birth is truly a spiritual experience for me. It is such a reminder of who I am, and why I am here and the divinity of my nature. I love my Father in Heaven and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to give birth and to be a mother!
