Lincoln's Birth Story
To start, I just have to say, I have the most perfect baby in the world.
So Monday the 31st of December, I had an appointment with my doctor. He gave me the awesome news that I'd be induced on the 3rd of January, which was 4 days earlier than when I was expecting. I was ecstatic. I was told to come in on the 2nd at 7 PM so they could check my progress and start some meds to get my labor started.
The last week was the slowest I've ever had in my whole life. The days felt like they were getting longer and longer and I thought I might go crazy!
Wednesday finally rolled around and I could hardly contain my excitement. I think I repacked my hospital bag a few times because I was nesting so bad.
Josh came home at 5:30 from work. I made some pizza for dinner and as we were eating (and getting more eager to leave for the hospital) I got a phone call. The nurse said they were too full in labor and delivery to have me come in at 7 and that they would call me later once things opened up. I was so bummed!
I tried distracting myself with some games Josh bought me for Christmas but to no avail. I finally laid down to sleep around 9:30 to try to make the time pass faster.
I got another call at 10 PM, telling us to be there by 11. I have never felt so nervous driving anywhere EVER.
By 11:30 I was in my room, attached to a fetal heart monitor, a contraction monitor and a blood pressure tester. Also I had an I.V. I hate those things! They hurt so bad!
At midnight, my nurse came in and gave me the first pill to ripen my cervix and to start the dilation process. While I waited for her to come back, I turned on the TV while Josh snoozed, trying to distract myself.
Normally, women will need to have at least two doses of those ripening pills to make any kind of significant progress. I, to the nurses surprise, dilated from a 1 to a 2 in just under 4 hours. My Pitocin drip was started at 3:45 in the morning.
At 10 AM, my doctor came in and broke my water. Also, I caved and got an epidural (almost literally) right after my doc left.
Throughout the day, my body was progressing nicely. My mom showed up at about 11 AM to keep us company. At about 4 PM, my nurse noticed that Lincoln was getting a little distressed due to the Pitocin levels and the fact that he didn't like me laying on my back or on my right side. So they stopped the Pitocin all together. That started slowing down my contractions but I was still progressing pretty well.
The rest of my friends and family were there by 6 PM. They helped keep my mind busy for the next few hours (my big brother Cameron, a self taught magician, even brought his magic stuff to entertain me. He's so nice.)
At about 9:00 I could feel more and more pressure in my pelvis. It felt a little bit painful, but I tried my best to ignore it. I got checked at 8 and I was only 7 centimeters dilated, and Lincoln was starting to become distressed so they put an oxygen mask on me to help. I got checked at 9 and I was at 8 and a half centimeters which was good progress, and at that point they removed the oxygen mask. The next half hour was so uncomfortable, but to my surprise, I was checked at 9:30 and I was a full 10 centimeters! It was time to push!
When I started pushing, I was feeling very faint and woozy. The stress on my body was just a little too much so they put me back on the oxygen. My nurse instructed me when to push. About a half hour into the pushing, she brought in a mirror. She showed me the tippy top of Lincoln's head and I was so excited to see a huge head of dark hair!
I'm going to skip a lot of the gory details. The doctor came in and realized that Lincoln was turned upside down, in other words, he was facing up which makes labor a hundred times harder. He decided to use a vacuum on the top of Lincoln's head to try and flip him.
Sadly, he was too far in the birth canal to flip him entirely so I actually pushed him out sideways.
I pushed his head out and the doctor discovered that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck so he cut it instead of Josh. It was actually wrapped around his whole body. The doc pulled Lincoln out the rest of the way and he laid my little boy on my chest for the first time.
I can't even describe the feeling of joy and love that overwhelmed me. I bawled uncontrollably as he looked around the room for the first time and he made his few faint cries. I kissed him and told him I loved him.
They took Lincoln over to the table to be weighed and measured and with each little cry, I sobbed out of pure love.
So Monday the 31st of December, I had an appointment with my doctor. He gave me the awesome news that I'd be induced on the 3rd of January, which was 4 days earlier than when I was expecting. I was ecstatic. I was told to come in on the 2nd at 7 PM so they could check my progress and start some meds to get my labor started.
The last week was the slowest I've ever had in my whole life. The days felt like they were getting longer and longer and I thought I might go crazy!
Wednesday finally rolled around and I could hardly contain my excitement. I think I repacked my hospital bag a few times because I was nesting so bad.
Josh came home at 5:30 from work. I made some pizza for dinner and as we were eating (and getting more eager to leave for the hospital) I got a phone call. The nurse said they were too full in labor and delivery to have me come in at 7 and that they would call me later once things opened up. I was so bummed!
I tried distracting myself with some games Josh bought me for Christmas but to no avail. I finally laid down to sleep around 9:30 to try to make the time pass faster.
I got another call at 10 PM, telling us to be there by 11. I have never felt so nervous driving anywhere EVER.
By 11:30 I was in my room, attached to a fetal heart monitor, a contraction monitor and a blood pressure tester. Also I had an I.V. I hate those things! They hurt so bad!
At midnight, my nurse came in and gave me the first pill to ripen my cervix and to start the dilation process. While I waited for her to come back, I turned on the TV while Josh snoozed, trying to distract myself.
Normally, women will need to have at least two doses of those ripening pills to make any kind of significant progress. I, to the nurses surprise, dilated from a 1 to a 2 in just under 4 hours. My Pitocin drip was started at 3:45 in the morning.
At 10 AM, my doctor came in and broke my water. Also, I caved and got an epidural (almost literally) right after my doc left.
Throughout the day, my body was progressing nicely. My mom showed up at about 11 AM to keep us company. At about 4 PM, my nurse noticed that Lincoln was getting a little distressed due to the Pitocin levels and the fact that he didn't like me laying on my back or on my right side. So they stopped the Pitocin all together. That started slowing down my contractions but I was still progressing pretty well.
The rest of my friends and family were there by 6 PM. They helped keep my mind busy for the next few hours (my big brother Cameron, a self taught magician, even brought his magic stuff to entertain me. He's so nice.)
At about 9:00 I could feel more and more pressure in my pelvis. It felt a little bit painful, but I tried my best to ignore it. I got checked at 8 and I was only 7 centimeters dilated, and Lincoln was starting to become distressed so they put an oxygen mask on me to help. I got checked at 9 and I was at 8 and a half centimeters which was good progress, and at that point they removed the oxygen mask. The next half hour was so uncomfortable, but to my surprise, I was checked at 9:30 and I was a full 10 centimeters! It was time to push!
When I started pushing, I was feeling very faint and woozy. The stress on my body was just a little too much so they put me back on the oxygen. My nurse instructed me when to push. About a half hour into the pushing, she brought in a mirror. She showed me the tippy top of Lincoln's head and I was so excited to see a huge head of dark hair!
I'm going to skip a lot of the gory details. The doctor came in and realized that Lincoln was turned upside down, in other words, he was facing up which makes labor a hundred times harder. He decided to use a vacuum on the top of Lincoln's head to try and flip him.
Sadly, he was too far in the birth canal to flip him entirely so I actually pushed him out sideways.
I pushed his head out and the doctor discovered that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck so he cut it instead of Josh. It was actually wrapped around his whole body. The doc pulled Lincoln out the rest of the way and he laid my little boy on my chest for the first time.
I can't even describe the feeling of joy and love that overwhelmed me. I bawled uncontrollably as he looked around the room for the first time and he made his few faint cries. I kissed him and told him I loved him.
They took Lincoln over to the table to be weighed and measured and with each little cry, I sobbed out of pure love.
LINCOLN JOSHUA PACKER
Born January 3rd at 11:23 PM
Height: 21 inches
Weight: 8 pounds, 15 oz.
Lincoln in the nursery
His first bath!
Lincoln with mama!
Daddy and Lincoln
His cute little face!
Going home!
I couldn't be happier with my little one. :)
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