Lincoln Dell Saunders

Hello Everyone! After almost 9 months of waiting we finally have our first addition to our family! Lincoln Dell Saunders was born on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 1:14pm. He was 7 lb and 20 in long. The fact that he was born on a Tuesday was especially exciting for us, as Tuesday is our special day. We went dancing on Tuesdays, we became boyfriend & girlfriend on a Tuesday, and we got married on a Tuesday! So now we know that Lincoln is really ours-because he came on a Tuesday :)

Short version: Active labor started at 3 am, water broke at 6am, went to the Baby Place at 8am, delivered Lincoln at 1:14am- 10 hour labor!

Anyway for those who are interested, here is the story of my labor and delivery(sorry it's a little long:) :

We decided to have a natural birth at a birth center in Meridian (about 20 min from our house) called The Baby Place. Rachel, the licensed midwife, delivered Lincoln, and Holly & Sarah (student midwifes) helped. I can't say enough good about them, they did a fantastic job and are so helpful and caring and wonderful!!! It was a great experience to deliver there. In preparation for giving birth Michael and I enrolled in a class called "Confident Birthing" taught by Kyndal May. This was the most AMAZING class ever. It made the biggest difference in my labor and delivery. We learned so much and enjoyed every minute of it! Kyndal is a fantastic teacher! We actually didn't get to finish the 7 week class because Lincoln came early. He came on the day of class 6- the birth rehearsal haha. Ours ended up being the real thing instead of a rehearsal.

Somehow I must have subconsciously known that Lincoln was coming soon because on Saturday the 9th, Michael and I cleaned the whole house and I spent the day with my Mom sewing and finishing things up for Lincoln's room.

Projects I completed:

 Built changing table with Mom in Papa's shop

 Painting finishing touches

 Putting it up

 Gabe (Heather's baby) testing it out :)

 Carseat Cover

 Little sleeper jammy (with my belly in the shot)

Another sleeper (to tie dye) and burp rags!

After a long and fun day I went to sleep and woke up the next morning with a mild sore throat. I tried to take it easy, although singing time in Primary did some damage, and spent the day with family since Heather was in town. I didn't sleep well Sunday night because I had a fever, couldn't breathe, and my throat hurt really bad. Michael gave me a blessing and at 4 am I finally slept really well for the rest of the night. All day Monday I felt feverish. I spent the day at Mom and Dad's with Michael working in the office. I felt really bad and my head was super cloudy. I kept thinking to myself, "I better not go into labor when I feel like this because I don't know if I'll be able to do it". I barely moved off the couch all day long and eventually I decided to go to the doctor to get some medicine so that I could get over this cold/sinus infection quickly before I went into labor. Little did I know that it was coming the next day.... I was talking with my sister Jen and she said it seemed like all of the sisters got sick right before they went into labor. I told her that there was absolutely no way that I would have Lincoln for 3 or 4 more days because I would not have him when I was sick. Those words came back to bite me haha:) 

I went to bed Monday night around 9:30 and slept really good until about midnight. I kept waking up because my back was hurting and I couldn't get comfortable. At 3am I woke up and was laying there when I felt a little trickle of water run out. I hurried to the bathroom and figured that my water had broken. Then I realized the pain in my back was coming and going and that I was having contractions. I woke Michael up and told him I thought my water had broken. He jumped out of bed and we started packing and getting our stuff together just in case. The contractions started coming 5 min apart by 3:30 and I couldn't sleep, talk, or walk through them (which is the criteria for being in active labor). The thing that helped the most was getting on my hands and knees and breathing slowly rocking back and forth on my knees. I did this in between packing and moving from the couch to the bed and back again. Around 4 am we called my Mom to give her a heads up since she was taking care of William and Gabe and would have to make arrangements for them. We continued laboring at home with Michael gathering everything and comforting me in between contractions. He was right in his guess that I wouldn't like to be touched while I was having a contraction. At about 6am after I had a shower I was sitting on my bed and then my water really broke. All over the side of the bed. Luckily I had a towel and a plastic sheet under the sheets just in case that did happen. Talk about a lot of water! Or I guess amniotic fluid. Anyway at that point we decided to call my mom and have her head over and we also called Rachel at the Baby Place. My contractions weren't lasting 60-90 sec long yet, they were about 30sec, so they asked that we wait a little longer at home before coming in. I decided I wanted to labor in the tub so we filled it up and I got in to see if it would help relieve the pain in my back. It was wonderful for in between contractions, it really helped me to relax and rest. I had a hard time finding a rhythm for during the contractions so that was a little difficult. After laying in there for about 45 min my contractions were 3 min apart lasting 60 sec. We decided to head into the Baby Place. So Michael packed me up in the car with a bunch of pillows and blankets in the backseat. I listened to music and tried to focus on relaxing. I didn't wear a seat belt so I could get on my hands and knees. The car ride actually went surprisingly quick (Michael may have been speeding a little:). The whole time in the car I was telling myself that I was probably only dilated to a 4. I didn't want to get my hopes up for anything higher. When we got there we found that the big room (there are 3 different birthing rooms) was already taken, but we got the fireplace room, which was my second favorite. We pulled up and to our surprise and pleasure we saw that Kyndal, our Confident Birthing teacher, was there! She and Rachel came outside to bring us in (where Sarah and Holly were waiting to welcome us) and take us to our room. I laughingly told Kyndal that I guessed we weren't going to make it to the birth rehearsal that night, she smiled and said we didn't need it and we would do great. It was really reassuring for both Michael and I to see her there and be reminded of everything we had learned from her class. Standing during contractions was really difficult for me so it was a little touch and go getting me inside. We almost made it to the door when one came so I wrapped my arms around Michael's neck and breathed and Kyndal did double hip squeeze for me (which is amazing at relieving back pressure).

Once in our room, Rachel came in and checked me. I was dilated to a 6! Woohoo! That was really exciting for us! I continued to labor on my knees. My dad arrived about a half hour later to assist Michael in giving me a blessing. I was reminded that the Lord was with me & would strengthen and help me through this experience. And He did. After Dad left I decided to labor in the tub again. After that I sat on the birthing ball (like a yoga ball) and kind of just hung off of it. Michael sat behind me and held onto my back and put rags on me and Mom stood in front of me & held the rag on my head while I leaned against her to keep my balance. I just tried to focus on relaxing my whole body and going limp. I don't know how long I labored like this but around 12:30 I felt like I needed to push so Rachel checked me again and I was dilated to a 9.5. She told me to let my body push if it did but to not push with it because I needed to be dilated a little more. After about 45 min of laboring and trying not to push I was dilated to a 10 and moved to the birthing stool. Sitting on that thing makes you push whether you have to or not haha! I sat on that and Rachel said she could feel the baby's head. When the next contraction came my whole body just pushed down and Lincoln's head crowned! That was a painful experience. There's really no way to describe it. I got pretty loud at that point :) But then the next contraction came and I pushed and out popped Lincoln, peeing all over the midwives! Pushing time=2min. Pretty awesome & pretty intense.   They immediately handed him to me & I held him in my arms for the first time. It was like everything in the room stopped and I couldn't feel the pain in my body. I just stared at him as he cried & cried, showing off his good lungs :) He was so beautiful and such a miracle. I was full of wonder as I finally met the little guy who'd been with me for 9 months. Then I was moved to the bed and cleaned up. Mom went to get Taco Bell for Michael & I. I was starving and my legs were shaking but he was here!

 Measuring head- 13 cm!

 Rachel giving him his first bath

 Weight- 7 lb even

 The next morning we caught him picking his nose ;)

The fireplace room! Where our sweet little Lincoln was born:)

Michael, Lincoln & I got to enjoy our first hour alone as a family, getting to know each other and just enjoying and marveling at our sweet little baby boy. Birth is a miraculous experience and I was honored to be able to take part in it. It's an empowering experience as well and through the days that came I was able to reflect and draw on the strength that I learned that I had. Having a baby has brought such joy into our lives and helped us learn so much! I have never sacrificed so much or loved more. It's incredible and I know that I am so blessed each day as I see the Lord's hand in my life. I am so grateful for my two sweet boys, Michael & Lincoln.