The Day that Lincoln Came to Us: Liz’s Story

I finally wrote down my story of Lincoln's birth. Read at your own risk.

Early in the morning on 26 February 2014 (about 3 am) I was rolling out of bed to go to the bathroom when my water broke. That in itself was a weird experience. My eyes SHOT open and my brain started freaking out a little. I hurried to the bathroom and sat on the toilet for a while, even after I had finished going, there was liquid coming out for the next few minutes. I had to get up and wake Matt up so I grabbed a towel and woke him up.

I went in and shook his shoulder, said, ’Guess what, my water broke.’

‘WHAT?! Do we need to go to the hospital?!’

‘I don’t know. But I’m not having any contractions yet and I’m not in any pain yet. Let’s wait for a little bit.’ (for future reference, if your water breaks, you are supposed to GO TO THE HOSPITAL.)

We waited about half an hour. Matt took a shower, and made me a peanut butter sandwich. We got my stuff and headed out. By the time we got to the hospital, my contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart and I was in a lot of pain. I had to stop for a minute as I was walking into the hospital from the car because of a contraction. We checked in. I was asked all kinds of questions, most I had answered before. Was asked when I ate last; 3:30. ‘Really?’ YES. I knew I wouldn’t be eating for a long time as soon as I got here. 10 minutes from walking in the door to laying in a bed. Not too bad. About 4 am at this point. The nurse checked me, I was at a 4+.

By 5:15 am I was getting my epidural. The guy had me sit on the edge of the bed and lean forward. He put it in and I felt it go just to the right side- he had to readjust it to make sure it went to both sides. But. As soon as it started working, and after I had thrown up my peanut butter sandwich, I was able to relax. All pain went away and I only felt some pressure with the continuing contractions.

(I was cold and TIRED)

I was checked again and I was at a 5+. We were left to try to get some rest, we didn’t, and I was checked again in another hourish. The next time I was checked I was at a 9 and was told that in about an hour we would start pushing. My Doctor, Erica Smith, came in to check in and see how I was doing before I started pushing. (I had seen her the day before for an appointment. She had told me to come back soon so we could have a baby before she went out of town.) I told her, ‘I came back! Let’s have a baby!’

At 9 am, we started pushing. 2.5 hours later, and another throw up in there somewhere, still pushing. Matthew was a champ. Ice chips, water, kisses, hand holding, back rubbing, foot holding- best guy ever. The nurse asked me if I’d like her to talk to Dr. Smith about some help in getting him out. “YES please.’ Dr. Smith came up; I was given some options of help that could be given. ‘Last choice would be c-section.’ So we kept pushing for another half hour. And then Dr. Smith came up again and was ready for business. She put on a gown and a crazy plastic mask that covered her whole face and a little bit above to cover some hair. I’m pretty sure I thought it was overkill- until later. When she came back in a whole bunch more nurses came in too. Some NICU and some L&D. Dr. Smith told the NICU ladies that she thought the baby would be about 8 and a half. I heard this and asked, ‘POUNDS?! JERK!’ Not that I called Dr. Smith a jerk… Just yelled jerk in general. I guess Lincoln’s head was turned, he was looking sideways, she tried to turn his head and he turned it right back.

Dr. Smith pulled out the vacuum that she would use to assist in pulling out Lincoln as I was pushing. After a few minutes of using the vacuum, the suction broke and made the grossest ‘schluuuuupppppp’-ing sound and I felt a splatter of something on my leg and hand. I had my eyes closed- cause pushing is awful, and when I heard that gross noise I thought, ‘Did my baby’s head just pop off?!’ and decided to keep my eyes closed until he was actually out.

Another few minutes and some serious pushing later (all this while of pushing I just kept hearing [from the nurse, her assistant, Matthew, Dr. Smith, etc…] keep pushing!, push harder!, push one more time!, etc, etc….) I felt a weird sensation- his whole body MOVED DOWN! I felt his legs move across the inside of my belly. Baby boy was half way out!! One more push and there he was! They did a quick check on him-Matthew was in charge of taking a few pictures- and then they  put him in a blanket and put him on my belly.

I started crying. Because I was done. Because I was tired. Because he was finally in my arms. Because he was HUGE. Because I couldn’t believe that he had fit in my belly. Because he had a cone head. Because for a split second I thought I had ruined my baby and that he was ugly (that cone head did a real number on my mind). Because there was my Matthew and there was OUR LINCOLN!

I looked at Dr. Smith for a minute as she was stitching me up and what-not, and saw her mask- gross. There is a reason that she had that!

Lincoln and I had a little bit of time together while daddy Matthew went and told everyone that was waiting for us in the waiting room. And then they got to come meet sweet little Lincoln.

Hospital stay had ups and downs. Lincoln had too many heel pricks to check blood sugar and bilirubin levels. But then we finally got to go home. 

(Attractive...)

And our first night home was awful. Lincoln screamed almost the entire night. And Matthew was sick. The next couple weeks Lincoln and I slept in the family room. Me on the couch, him on his boppy pillow right in front of me. I had to make sure he ate at least every four hours because of the jaundice- so we also had a long couple of weeks. But as soon as we were done with the jaundice we were able to get into a routine and start actually getting sleep. And that is when I decided that I could start to enjoy being a mom. Now I know that I have the best baby ever.