Lincoln’s Birth Story
Hey guys! I am finally sharing my birth story. I have to admit, going from 2 to 3 kids has been the hardest transition so far and I am struggling a little to find my stride, but we are getting there - slowly but surely.
Well, they say all your deliveries are different and this one was for sure. Let’s start with the night before. I was 39 weeks pregnant and not expecting to deliver any time soon. With my first two I went over my due date and had to be induced for both. So, when I went in to my doctors appointment and she said I was 3 cm dilated I was pleasantly surprised, but still not too hopeful. She swept my membranes (which I had done with both girls with nothing to show for it) and I left. On the way home I was picking up dinner and had a little time to kill, so I popped in to the health food store next door and grabbed some raspberry leaf tea - what the heck, why not try? Once I got home, I had a couple cups of tea and headed to bed. The next morning I was up at 6:30, jumped in the shower and started my morning routine. I was blow-drying my hair when I got my first contraction - not really sure if it was a real contraction or not, though. I have never had a contraction when not on Pitocin, so it was hard to believe my body was doing it on its own this time around. I started timing the contractions, which were not consistent, but I should have not been going off of that, because during my last delivery with Millie I never had consistent contractions. I texted my doctor who said try to labor at home for another hour or so. Well, about 30 minutes later, I am on the floor in my bedroom with pretty intense contractions. It was time to go to the hospital. It was during the drive that we realized we let it go a little too far. That drive was so painful, with every little bump I wanted to punch Carey in the face, but he was speeding down the highway trying to make sure we got there in time.
We pulled up to emergency and I could hardly get out of the car, so the security guard rushed out with a wheel chair. They took me up to delivery, which is still kind of a blur. I am hunched over in the wheel chair having what seemed like the longest contraction of my life, probably putting on quite the show for everyone we passed along the way.
They took me right in to a room to check how far along I am - 7 cm. They asked if I wanted an epidural, which I declined - more on that later. They called the doctor to let her know, no one seems very rushed at this point. Insert the next contraction, which the entire delivery floor probably heard, and everyone knew it was go time. Nurses flooded the room getting everything ready for delivery. The doctor was coming from the clinic next door, so we were trying to hold off until she got there. She came running into the room and it was go time, only a few pushes and baby was born! From pulling into the parking lot of the hospital to the birth we were there a total of 24 minutes.
When Carey said it was a boy I was in disbelief, I had to see it for myself, haha! They placed the baby on my tummy and I wasn’t able to really hold him - it all happened so fast and I was exhausted, so I needed a minute to collect myself. This was also different from the first two deliveries, this one took it out of me!
After that, it was business as usual. There were quite a few differences giving birth in the US compared to Canada, but nothing major. They did make us stay at the hospital longer, which we didn’t love. Carey and I are always ready to get the heck out of there ASAP. We had actually never stayed more than 12 hours with the girls and with Lincoln they made as stay over 24 hours.
A note about the epidural: I had gotten one with Liv and with Millie I waited too long. I actually got the epidural, but gave birth about 4 minutes later before it had time to take effect. So, I knew I could do it drug free and wanted to give it a try this time around. During my research, I had read how much better it was to do it drug free and how much better the recovery is. Well, that was not the case for me. This was my first delivery completely drug free (no Pitocin or epidural) but it has been my hardest recovery. A lot of things could factor in to that, but still I don’t think doing it drug free is really worth all the hype!
I gave birth at Kadlec in Richland, the same hospital I was born in. It is so ironic that we are finally close to family for the birth, but no one could be there with us. We did do a lot of FaceTiming and the doctor was nice enough to take a couple photos for us. Covid didn’t really play a huge role in things. Carey and I both had masks on - well Carey did. I found it nearly impossible during the end of labor to keep it on, but I tried my best. I did get a Covid test done after the fact which, of course, came back negative.
Bringing Lincoln home was exciting, but also nerve racking. I’ve definitely been playing on the side of caution when it comes to Covid, so I didn’t know how comfortable I felt about letting people hold him and what not. I was super protective over Millie when she was born (it was in December, so the heart of cold and flu season) but this time, it was definitely taken up a notch. So far just my parents (who we live with) and my sister (who helps with the kids a lot) have held him. Now that he is getting older though, I will start easing up (a little bit!).
I have mentioned a few times that my recovery has been harder this time around. Maybe it just seems that way, maybe it is because I am a little older, maybe it is because I didn’t work out as much and didn’t take care of myself as well this time around - who knows! They do say that with each baby the pain of the uterus retracting gets worse, which was definitely the case with me! With the girls I remember it hurting for a day, but it was manageable, this time around it lasted for a little over a week and was only manageable with pain relievers. I was not expecting that, so the first day we got home from the hospital I didn’t bother taking the Tylenol and ibuprofen they give you. Fast forward to 2 am, early in the morning, I am in bed crying while nursing Lincoln, literally kicking poor Carey to wake up to go upstairs to get me some meds. After that, I definitely stayed on top of it with the pain meds, which helped a ton.
I have talked a bit on Instagram that while trying to get pregnant we used the method in the book “How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby” to try to get a boy. I continue to get asked about it so wanted to link it HERE for you guys.
Now, we’re a couple of months in and so happy that our little Lincoln is here! His birth story is definitely one for the books, but I would do it all over again to have him here! Let me know what your births stories were like, were they similar or completely different? Any dramatic stories? I’m sure there’s some really great ones!
Much Love,
