Stout Stories: 2016

(As written on February 21st, 2016)

It has taken me a while to write out Lincoln's birth story. There are a few reasons I haven't written it yet:
1. I'm tired.
2. I barely have time to get on the computer without Harrison wanting/needing constant attention.
3. Lincoln's birth wasn't nearly as surprising or "outrageous" as Harrison's birth since his home birth was planned, so I didn't feel the need to tell the world about it. ;) BUT... for posterity's sake, I wanted to write what happened.

I was overdue with Lincoln, which is something I didn't expect since Harrison was 9 days early. I was dilated to a 3 as of his due date (January 14th), but since Lincoln wasn't dropped down like Harrison was, I wasn't progressing further than that. I had heard tell of people getting a million questions leading up to (and beyond) their due date, but hadn't experienced that at all with Harrison since he was early. Well, I've had my fill this time around! I felt like a ticking time bomb just waiting for this baby to come out. I had quite a few people asking if the baby had come yet, which only exacerbated the waiting game. I really didn't feel like I wanted to go anywhere just in case my water broke when I was out and my labor started (and I couldn't make it home fast enough).

After going on a LONG walk with my sisters on Saturday night (the 16th) to try and get the baby to drop down and doing many exercises with the yoga ball, the baby had still not dropped down. Paul (my brother-in-law) was hoping that I'd have the baby no later than Monday so that he could be home to help with Harrison before his business trip. He suggested I call my midwife Ann and see what she could do to help my labor start. It stressed me out as I felt the baby would come when he came. Well, I ended up calling Ann on Monday anyway because I was just feeling so stressed and pressured to have the baby. She had me come in and stretched my cervix to a 4 or 4.5. My membranes were already stripped before she tried to strip them. I was 70% effaced or more and had been for a few weeks.

I asked Evan to stay home that afternoon/evening from work. I was emotionally stressed and just felt like I needed help with Harrison and just wanted a break/relaxing evening. I hadn't slept well on Sunday night (was awake every hour) and didn't go to bed on Saturday night until 3:45am (up working). I just wanted a little bit of a break. Evan and I both stayed up working in the basement after we got Harrison to bed and about midnight we headed upstairs to get ready and go to bed. I laid down right around 1am and was just drifting off to sleep when I was shocked to feel this warm gush of water. Knowing I hadn't peed the bed, I woke Evan up to tell him my water had broken. I called my midwife to let her know that my water had broken and that I was in labor. She counseled me to put on some depends underwear and try to lay down and go to sleep.

I was shaking so badly and suddenly was freezing. My teeth were chattering insanely to the point where I felt like I could barely speak. My whole body was shaking. I tried calling my sisters and was shaking so much I could barely push the right buttons on my phone. It was crazy. I have never experienced something like that before.

I tried to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't going to happen. I started feeling pressure and was uncomfortable, not to mention I was still FREEZING and shaking like crazy. I had Evan call Ann back to let her know to come over and I got in the shower where I was able to warm up and stop the shaking from happening. Ann got here when I was in the shower. When she checked me, I was dilated to a 7. My contractions this time around where completely different than Harrison's labor. With Harrison, I had intense back labor that didn't abate until I started pushing. With this labor, my contractions were in my pelvis/groin and were so uncomfortable as if I could feel my pelvis actually moving. It was so crazy.

(Continued writing on April 24th, 2016)

Before I got into the shower, I tried calling both of my sisters multiple times on all of their families' phones but couldn't get a hold of anyone. I asked Evan to keep trying while I was in the shower and my sisters got here pretty soon after I got out of the shower. I was so grateful because I honestly could not have done it without them.

Once I got out of the shower, everyone was busy trying to get everything ready for me. Harrison ended up waking up at about 2am and looked SO confused because there were 5 extra people here: midwife, her student midwife, her assistant (who is her daughter, Alyssa), and my two sisters. Evan went and put "Frozen" on for him in the basement and we planned on having his mom come get him. I was nervous about that just because I felt like he wouldn't go with her easily or happily. Paul then called and offered to come get Harrison. I was really grateful because I knew that Harrison would go there a lot easier, which ended up being the case. (Harrison ended up staying there until the next evening so I could have a little break with the new baby). Evan's mom still came just to bring us some banana bread she made us, which was really nice of her to do in the middle of the night.

After my shower, I was just overall very uncomfortable and exhausted. I thought that I might go in my bathroom and try standing up and swaying my hips like I did with Harrison, but I was just SO uncomfortable and tired that standing and swaying only felt worse. I wanted to sit down so I ended up sitting down on the toilet and having Nicole kneel so I could lean on her. Zandy switched out at the end so Nicole could have a little break. After a while, though, I just felt like I couldn't even sit or stand because I was so tired and it was in the middle of the night. They suggested I go lay down, so I did. My contractions slowed down a little bit after that and it was nice to be able to lay down and rest as much as you can while you are in labor.

Still, the contractions did keep coming and I just kept thinking that I couldn't do it. I was just too tired to go through labor after nights of VERY little sleep. My sisters both held my hands and rubbed my back. Evan was there, but there wasn't much for him to do with my sisters taking charge and helping me. He did help where/when he could and did everything I asked him, but my sisters just took over to help me. Every time a contraction came, I kept feeling/saying that I couldn't do it. I kept praying that I could. I didn't feel the same spiritual strength I had had with Harrison and I think part of that was that I was just too exhausted to really think/feel anything other than that I wanted the pain to stop. I remember at one point my sisters saying that my mom was there and I truly did feel like she and my dad were there to help buoy me up and give me strength.

I guess I kept cracking my sisters up when I was laying down because I kept telling them what to do and saying things that they thought were funny... mostly about being quiet or to hold my hand a certain way, etc. Ann made me put this funny pillow thing in between my legs for a minute to help my finish dilating and I kept saying that I didn't want to do it. It did the trick she was going for to help me finish dilating, but man, that thing hurt because it opened my pelvis up a completely different way.

Once I was complete, they told me I could start pushing. I knew this time around was going to be completely different than with Harrison because Lincoln was NOT dropped down in my pelvis. When I started pushing, I could still feel him up in my ribs! Little stinker! ;) I had to push for quite some time to get him down. I felt like I did a much better job at pushing this time around than I did with Harrison, mostly because I knew what I should do in order to push. The irony of that is that with Harrison, I only pushed for 15-20 minutes total. With Lincoln, I started pushing an hour before he was born and really pushed for about 40 minutes to get that guy out! AND... that is with Ann pulling apart my pelvis to help him come out! Yeah, it sounds kind of crazy (and probably is), but it all worked out. Lincoln was born at 4:18am on January 19th, 2016. Some poop came out with him, but thankfully he had not aspirated it. He also pooped and peed as he came out (so they said) and had the cord around his neck. Thankfully, he and I were both okay. He weighed 8 lbs. 12.5 oz and was 22 inches long. (Funny because at his first doctor's appointment, he was 20.5 inches long instead. Ha!) We are so grateful for our beautiful, sweet little boy!

We had a pretty low key week this week. I honestly didn't really feel much like going anywhere the past few weeks because I've been so tired and just waiting to have this baby. I also do have a slight worry about being out, going into labor, and then not being able to make it home before the baby is born. I'm assuming my labor this time will be just as fast as with Harrison, if not faster.

Since Harrison was born early, I never really had the chance to feel like I was ready to be done. I feel ready to be done and I'm sick of getting asked when I'm going to have the baby, as if I know the answer to that question.

I'm honestly ready to just stop feeling all the pregnancy pains and just start to recover already! My hips and back have been so achy and I'm just ready to be done. At my midwife appointment on my due date this week I weighed 155. That means I gained 40 lbs. with this pregnancy. Wow. That is DOUBLE what I gained with Harrison! The baby is still pretty high. I'm dilated to a 3 now and still 70% effaced. I'm assuming I would be more dilated or even have this baby if I could get him to drop. I've went walking on Saturday night with my sisters to try to get him to drop. We'll see if it helps! ;) Ultimately, this baby is going to come when he is ready no matter how much pressure everyone else is giving me.

This boy loves reading.