Ivy Kathleen Seymore joined our family  on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at  2:09 in the morning  weighing in at  7 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long
Ivy was born exactly on her "due date" (the day before our wedding anniversary)! I had been having contractions months before and still nothing was happening so I just went on thinking I was going to have her past 40 weeks. 
Friday the 13th, was just like any other day. We had just moved to an appt in Oceanside and we were barely getting through boxes to unpack. Chris was having his car shipped from Virginia and it was being delivered to our old location in Riverside that day (about an hour away from Oceanside). So I drove out there to sign off the paper work and pay the guy. To kill some time while we waited, my mom and I, and of course my active toddler duo, went shopping at a few of our favorite places then met up with my sister and her boyfriend for lunch. Time past when I finally heard back from the shipping company saying they are running behind and will be getting here tomorrow morning instead. So rather than driving to Oceanside that night and then back to Riverside again the next morning, I decided to spend the night at my mom's house then drive back home early the next morning. 
We spent the rest of the evening at my grandparents house when I started having some pain with my contractions. I wasn't having very many contractions but they were starting to feel different than the ones I had been previously having. Still so far apart, I wasn't going to get my hopes up and think that it was the night (because truthfully, I had been thinking every night was going to be the night for the past month). I went to the bathroom and noticed I was bleeding, not just spotting but actually bleeding. That was really unusual for me so we decided it would be best to go to the hospital and have things checked out. We got the kids together and dropped them off with my sister so that my mom could stay with me at the hospital. It was about 11 pm when we got to the labor and delivery. I sent Chris a text message about 15 minutes before telling him what was going on and that I would let him know if I think he should drive out from Oceanside (he was in the field the night before and was exhausted so I didn't want him to drive out so late at night if it was nothing serious). This whole time I was barely having any contractions and they were far apart without any pattern and the bleeding wasn't as bad any more so I was feeling kind of bad about setting off a "false alarm".  After filling out all the paper work and finally getting into a room the nurse comes in, asks me a ton of questions, checks the consistency and intensity of my contractions, and checks to see how dilated I am. Turns out I'm only ONE centimeter dilated, the baby is still really high and she says it doesn't even look like I'm having any contractions and apparently the bleeding is just from my cervix thinning and opening. Then Chris walks in the door and said he couldn't sleep so he drove out to be with me. The nurse said they couldn't admit me into the hospital unless I was at least 4 centimeters dilated. She suggested I walk around the hospital for an hour and see if I progressed at all. My mom went home now that Chris was with me and we were all thinking it was going to be a long night of labor...if it even was the real thing. 
As I was trying to get out of bed, I was having such intense pain I couldn't even stand. I've had two babies before and I've never felt this kind of pain before. It literally felt like my insides were going to fall out. None of my previous labor contractions felt like this so I had no idea what was going on. It was a little past midnight when I was finally able to get myself out of bed and start walking around with Chris. We talked and joked around a bit with more of those painful episodes. And like a light switch, I was no longer in a joking mood. With every contraction I thought I was going to die. I really thought my insides were all just going to come out. My contractions didn't have any kind of pattern to them, all I know is that they were long and very intense. I would hold on the Chris and just shake with pain. It got to the point where I just couldn't walk anymore and I all I wanted to do was rush to my bed to lay down. Now it was constant pain, no break in between contractions, and I was just holding onto Chris crying. I don't even remember how I got back into the room and back on the bed. I was greeted by another rude nurse with more rude remarks like "well you didn't get far" and "you're going to have to do better than that" referring to not walking for very long and thinking I'm just exaggerating my pain. Just 30 minutes ago I was only 1 centimeter dilated so I'm sure they thought I was exaggerating. Chris told her I wanted an epidural and she came back with, "we'll she's going to have to wait an hour because the doctor is busy with another patient." That was the worst thinking I'd be in this intense pain for another hour! She repeated herself and said, "you need to walk around more..." Chris told her to just check how far along I was so she did. Thats when she started believing that I was in a lot of pain and quickly admitted me and offered me some other pain medications.  I was ready to push! They told me that there wasn't a doctor available yet but I didn't care. I felt the urge and I was confident that I could deliever my own baby if I had to. Thankfully, the nurse seemed experienced and she didn't try to stop me. She just stood by my side letting me do my thing, and I really appreciated that.
With only a few contractions of pushing, my precious baby was born. The nurse laid her on my chest and I just felt so much joy and relief. The doctor walked in not much later and then I heard faint comments about how blue she was and Chris was asking why she wasn't crying. I didn't think too much of it at the time. Everything felt right to me and just so natural. I was at ease with my baby laying on my bare skin. She brings me so much joy. Words can't express the love I have for my beautiful little Ivy.

just for fun

I am now 38 weeks pregnant and I really didn't think I would even make it this far because I have been having contractions for such a long time! Every night I think, "this is the night..." but it hasn't been yet. As I'm laying on my mom's couch tonight, anxiously waiting for things to progress, I can't help but wonder what my little baby is going to look like.
I picture her with a lot dark, long hair. I've always imagined my kids being born with thick hair because my hair is incredibly thick... and part of me wants to see if that old wives tale is true; if you have heartburn durning pregnancy then that means your baby will be born with lots of hair. I'm pretty sure I had heartburn with my previous pregnancies but definitely not as bad as I have with this one. It is so intense! Sometimes it feels like a sharp pain in the middle of my chest. Both of my little ones weren't born with much hair, so we'll see if this one will be any different. It's really hard for me to picture facial features. I'm sure she'll look something like Lincoln and Ella but I wonder if she'll have Lincoln's fair skin or Ella's tan complexion; Lincoln's super thick dark hair or Ella's golden brown curls... Sometimes imagine her with Chris' bright green eyes, but both of our kids have my eyes so we'll see if my dominate trait wins again. For some reason I keep thinking, "what if she is actually a he!" I don't know if I think that because I've been hearing quite a few stories about women who delivered their baby expecting it to be one thing and it being born the opposite. Or maybe I keep thinking that because Chris really wanted a brother for Lincoln and we were so set on a boy name that we're bummed we won't get to use... I don't know... All I really care about is that our baby is born healthy! I also imagine her to be pretty small (healthy small), maybe in he high 6 pound or low 7 pound birth weight. My little Ella was 6 lbs. 2 oz. for the longest time and I loved how tiny she was (and still is) and I was able to carry her around in my sling for such a long time.
At my last appointment, a little over a week ago, I was dilated one centimeter. My next doctors appointment is early next week so we'll see how things are looking then. I'm pretty sure I'll be delivering at Riverside Medical because of our current living situation (that's where I was born)! I am really disappointed though because I really wanted to have an at home water birth, especially since this is going to be our last baby. (that's what we said the last time I was pregnant haha). At least I know a little better now that this is my third time around, so I'll be making some changes and requests while we're at the hospital. 
So back to the name game... I keep getting asked if the name we chose is for sure. I don't even know how to answer that. Yes, we like the name Ivy and I'm pretty sure we'll be using that name but It's not "for sure" until we sign her birth certificate. Chris and I are still open to other names and we still bounce them around here and  there. Some of our current toss ups are Mila. Cali and Nora(h) but the name Ivy seems to always be the top contender. I just don't like having the pressure of deciding on a name now, I'll decide once I've gotten to spend some time with her. 
In the mean time, I'm working really hard to enjoy these last couple of weeks of pregnancy, even though my aching body needs a little break! Only 2-ish more weeks to go!

belly recap

 

I'm currently 35 weeks along with our little Ivy and time has been flying by.

I am loving feeling this girl move round in my belly. I already feel such a strong bond with her and I love her to pieces! I can't wait to hold her in my arms.

 

whenever the kids see a baby they always bring up our baby Ivy. They include her in their payers and even when they play.

 

I  am also feeling the "third trimester discomforts" that come with it. the weather out here on the east coast is brutal! we've been staying in a lot lately because I start having a lot of strong contractions when im out in the heat. lucky, Chris just finished his course and has been taking the kids out a lot... they're at the beach right now!

 

we are planning to fly to CA next week some time (when I'm almost 37 weeks pregnant!!). I've studied up on how to deliver your own baby in case I need do so on the plane ha-ha! and once we land I am more than ready to have this baby!

 

I haven't been to the doctors in over 3 months so I'm kind of worried about that...thankfully she is active, very active, so it makes it easier for me to keep track of.

 

I have so much more I'd like to write about but my computer is make it so difficult for me! It keeps freezing up on me and not typing out words or letters so I'm just going to have to keep it short this time. Hopefully I can go in depth more on my next pregnancy update!

 

 

half way there

 

I am 20 weeks pregnant with baby #3! I can't believe I'm already half way through with this pregnancy...I think the time is going to fly from this point on. We plan on flying out to Virginia Beach in the next week or so. then there's moving in, unpacking, and once we're kind of settled in I plan on potty 'teaching' the kids. So I'll be quit busy. We'll be back in VA for maybe 5 months... we really have no clue yet. So where will I have the baby? I have no clue! yes, the perks of military life.   anyway, back to my pregnancy update... I just started feeling movement not long ago and it's still very subtle. that's because the placement of the placenta is towards the front right up against my abdominal which explains why it's hard for me to feel much and also why I experienced a lot of cramping. besides the constant back aches and sciatica pain, there's really nothing out of the ordinary I'm experiencing. I was EXTREMELY tired and nauseous the first trimester but things have gotten better.   as far as names go...I'm totally set on a name! the only thing is Chris thinks it sounds like a stripper name!! What!? no way does it sound anything like a stripper! but I have a few months to convince him to like it...and he will like it!  

the name game

Lincoln, Ella, &              

names we kind of sort of like:

(in no particular order)

• = Emma's choice
• = Chris' choice
two dots = we both kind of like it // first color likes it more

Lily •

Mila (mee-lah) • •

Ivy •

Nora • •

Aurora .
Leila (lay-lah) •

Naia (ny-uh) •

Cali • •

Lila •
Mia •

there are names on that list I don't like but Chris does and names only I like... but we're just not in love with any of them... yet.

I know sometimes it has to grow on you. Like when Chris brought up the name Lincoln when I was first pregnant, I laughed and said no way! and when I mentioned the name Ella, he didn't like it at first either, and now those names fit our kids perfectly and we love them! so it's a matter of finding something that fits our family and imagining our cute little girl with that name.

it's a...

G I R L!

we were shocked to hear we were having another girl! both Chris and I really thought it was a boy this time. we had a name picked out and everything. I even started saving some of the clothes Linc grew out of and I completely gave away all of Ella's clothes!   I think I was about 19 weeks when I went in for the anatomy scan. Andi, my sister came along with me. I wanted to record the ultra sound or at least Skype with Chris during the procedure because he hasn't seen the baby move or even my growing belly. The technician didn't allow it though because of some law. (lame.) so I just had Chris on the phone so we'd hear the verdict together.    right as the tech was going to tell us what it was, I said I wanted to see for myself and guess. she turned the screen and as I have Chris on the phone, I said, "oh my gosh...oh my gosh... it's a girl!" Chris was silent. I told him to say something and he finally said something along the lines of, "well, that sucks." we really were both just in shock. and we were bummed we couldn't use our boy name we had grown to love.   It took me a few days to readjust my thoughts and reimagine my future, but I am more than happy to be having another girl. I think Chris has recovered too...   Now the name game... we have such a difficult time finding girl names we like. Even with Ella we couldn't find a name until about 3 days after she was born. We like short, sweet, and girly names so if you have any ideas please share!!   

 

   

baby #3

...joining us this September!

Our Newest Addition!

Ella Raquel Seymore joined our family on

 Monday, August 15, 2011

 at 4:37 in the morning

weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces 

and 19.5 inches long.

She is the most beautiful baby girl. Ella was born exactly one week "early". I couldn't have had a more different birth experience with her than I did with my first delivery. The experience in a nut shell was like a car crash! ...Very intense, chaotic, and quick! I was only in labor for about 4 hours, only 2 hours were spent in the hospital, and I only pushed for about 15 minutes!! (I could do that again)

Okay, so here's the story. (grab the popcorn, it's kind of long.)...

     I had been doing EVERYTHING to try and get "baby girl" out. My pregnancy was really getting hard towards the end and I was really just over it, considering I had been pregnant for practically two years in a row! Sunday the 14th was just like any other Sunday. I went to church, chased Lincoln around, visited with family... but I was determined to go into labor! So that night my brother-in-law prayed for me to have a good labor and delivery and I had my friends send me "laboring vibes" and I was focused and ready to go into labor. (I know I sound crazy right now, but the mind is a powerful thing!) I did my "pregnancy belly dance" one last time before I went to bed that night.

     I was just starting to dose off when my water broke at 12:55 am! I just felt a big pop and I jumped. I was so tired at that time that all I was thinking was "Ugh, not now..." I laid their a little longer then finally got up to the bathroom. There was no gush just a little tinkle. (TMI ?) Then I whispered to Chris that my water broke. He just mumbled something and rolled over. So, the procrastinator that I am, I started packing my hospital bag. As I was getting things together, I started having really strong, painful contractions. They were coming so strong and so close together I couldn't even time them. I went to wake Chris up again and he wouldn't even move. Ahhh! I was in so much pain. "Chris! Get up! We have to go now!" Okay, he's up now. (Later he said I just didn't sound urgent enough. What's more urgent than 'my water broke!') My contraction were literally on top of each other. I couldn't even walk to the car.

     We got to the hospital at about 2 am, checked in and was wheeled to my room. I couldn't even get up to the bathroom to change. My nurse, Christine, came in and saved my life! (that's what it felt like) I loved her so much! I don't think I could have done it with out her. She was a hustler! Anyway, she was like "forget the bathroom, just drop your pants and I'll check you right now!" She checked how dilated I was and I was only at 2 cm. I was sure I would be farther than that because of how much pain I was in. There weren't any doctor's available to give me an epidural so she gave my some other drugs to "take the edge off." That was fun, but not powerful enough. She checked me again and I was at a 4. Before she even took her hand out, I progressed to a 6! This was happening faster than we thought and still no epidural! Maybe 30 minutes later I was dilated to an 8 and that's when the anesthesiologist finally came in to give me the epidural. She finished up and now I'm 10 cm dilated and It's time to push!

      I did about 3 "practice" pushes with the nurse (that's just because there wasn't a doctor available) and she was stopping me and trying to get the doctor in asap. About 2 pushes with the doctor and our beautiful baby was born! I couldn't believe it! It happened so fast that I couldn't even register what had just happened, yet I was holding my precious new baby in my arms. She was the most beautiful things I had ever laid my eyes on.



She's here! I had no clue she was out until the plopped her on me.

Hello "baby girl!"



My awesome nurse, Christine with baby Ella.



This perfect little human just came out of me!



Proud papa. Chris is so sweet with her. He always says how beautiful she is.





I just can't stop staring at her



She was not happy about the car ride home



NAME GAME:

     "Baby girl" didn't have a set name until 30 minutes before we left the hospital. She was "baby girl Seymore" for almost two days! Chris and I both really liked the names Cali and Ella, so what better way to come to a decision than to flip a coin?! And that's exactly what we did. Heads, it's Ella. Tails, it's Cali. Chris flipped the quarter, and well, Ella it is! (but I still call her "baby girl" most of the time.) Raquel is my mom's name and we wanted our baby to be named after someone great. My mom is such a wonderful person and I'd love for my little Ella to have some of her qualities.

>>Here is the link to Lincoln's birth story only 11 months ago!

"He's Finally Here!"

Who Does She Look Like?

Once again my friend did the 3D ultrasound for me! Which is so nice considering it cost over $100 to get it done else where. Chris was with me and it was so interesting how clearly we could see [baby girl]. It was so fun getting to see this little baby that really is in my belly.

The tech said that she weighs a little over 4 pounds right now and she's already got chunky cheeks. She also noticed that [baby girl] has got a lot of hair already. (yay for bows in her hair!)

She is such a squirmy little thing! She moves around all the time. Her kicks and punches hurt but at least it's a sign of a strong healthy baby. It was hard getting a still picture of her and one with out the cord in her face, but we managed to get a few good ones.

  

Her foot is right over her eye and nose!



Little pouty face



I think she's going to look like her big brother
...which is just fine with me!

I can't wait to meet her!!

Here is the link to Lincoln's 3D pictures so you can compare :)
http://chrisandemmaseymore.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-post.html

She's Got at Least 9 More Weeks

...technically she's got 12 weeks left in the oven, but in 9 more weeks she's considered full term.

Hospital update:
One miserable night spent in the hospital, hooked up to 3 different monitors, laying on a hard bed, must stay in the same position, and the meds to slow down the contractions are giving me a killer headache. Doc comes in at 8:30 am to do another ultrasound of my cervix. Not much has changed which is good news. I just have to "take it easy" now (which isn't easy since we're in the middle of moving.) but i really have to listen or else they'll have to give [baby girl] steroids to help develop her lungs. We can do it... She'll  be one healthy full term baby!

[baby girl], Be Patient!

Well, i was having intense stomach pain all day and it had been getting progressively worse throughout the day. I finally decided to go in to labor and delivery at 10:30 pm. (I'm actually in the hospital writing this through my phone right now.) The pain is constant and its becoming unbearable. The doc takes a swab test to see if it comes  back positive for preterm  labor. While we wait for the results, they give me an I.V to hydrate me, nausea medication (i still threw up), and pain killers. The results are back and at 1 am, I get the news that it came back positive. Doc isn't too worried but he's keeping me over night to keep an eye on things. So here i am laying in a hard hospital bed blogging rather than getting sleep. [Baby girl] sounds healthy, I'm just praying that she doesn't come too early and that everything will be okay with her.

She's Almost Here!

OFFICIALLY IN THE 3RD TRIMESTER!

I can not believe I am already in the third trimester! It really has gone by so fast for me. (but I guess that's expected when I already have a baby to keep me busy!) I can't complain much about the first two trimesters. I just had a few bad headaches in the beginning and a couple vomiting experiences, but I definitely noticed once I entered my third trimester. All of a sudden I was extremely tired, and dizzy, and always out of breath. Now that Lincoln is crawling around and getting into EVERYTHING it makes things much harder. It's crazy to think soon I'm going to have two babies around!

Besides some anxiety, I'm mostly really excited to have another. I remember after giving birth to Lincoln I said I never wanted to go through that again and I swore I would never forget how painful it was... Well I guess I did forget. It might sound odd, but I'm actually looking forward to giving birth again. I just remember it being a beautiful experience meeting my baby for the first time, and I know what to expect so I feel more prepared, like I'll get the job done faster! ha ha! I'm also excited to have a newborn again, which I wasn't expecting to look forward to considering I just had a newborn a few months ago! Interesting how things work out that way. I really think that's Heavenly Father's way of preparing me. I'm excited for Lincoln to have a little playmate - I can already imagine them together. And of course, I'm really excited about having a GIRL! 

I'm trying to enjoy ever single second I have with my little Lincoln. They're only babies for such a short amount of time. It's amazing how fast they grow up.

Let's compare belly shots...

almost 7 months with [baby girl]

 6.5 months pregnant with Lincoln

Well one things the same... I still like my floral tops!

THE NAME GAME...

I am having such a hard time finding a name for her!! I always had names picked out for my kids when I was younger (like I'm sure most girls do), but now that it's for real I can't come up with anything. In middle school we read and watched a book called The Outsiders and I loved it so much.

 Especially Soda Pop, one of the characters I had a crush on. So... I was going to name my son Soda Pop and my daughter Lolly Pop! And then I thought it would be awesome to have triplet girls and name them Lolly, Lilly, and Laily! HA HA HA! I guess it's a good thing I'm not having triplets!

Another name I liked for a while was Victoria... I always wanted my girls to have a very feminine and strong name... but I'm not feeling it so much any more. Now with having Lincoln, we could easily stick with a presidential theme for the rest of our kids. I just don't want to be limited and I don't want any cheesy themes, plus Lincoln was such a great president that I'd hate to name another child after a so-so one. I'm not really a fan of miss spelled names or something completely made up either. I can't believe I'm having such a hard time finding a name!

ANY IDEAS???

We do however, have ONE name in mind and I doubt it's anything you would guess... but I don't think I'm ready to share it yet, I'm just not ready to hear people's opinion on it. Once I'm in love with it then I'll share it with all of you!

Oh boy!

Here's the proof...

...they better be right this time!

Quadruplets?!

Last night I had a dream that I gave birth to 5 babies! I was so glad this was a dream, even though labor and delivery in a dream is much easier than in real life. Then I remembered that this dream was almost a reality for me!

The first prenatal care appointment we went to was on January 3rd. Chris and Lincoln were both in the room when the Mid-Wife was doing the ultrasound. She wasn't saying much, just looked at the monitor for a while. Every now and then she would let out a "hmmm" or "uhhh". She finally asked, "do twins run in your family?" Chris and I quickly looked at each other and I started laughing, I was so shocked I didn't know what else to do. (Keep in mind I'm still trying to adapt to the idea that we're even going to have another baby this soon). The Mid-Wife left the room to get a doctor. Chris was freaking out more than I was. I was starting to think that it could be a good thing because I would be getting it over with and be done with having kids in one shot. (I guess it would technically be in two shots). SO many thoughts were going through our minds in just these few minutes while we were waiting. The doctor comes in and is staring at the monitor for a while. She finally says "there's four!" Then she asked if I was on any fertility medications because this is very rare to be happening. They kept inspecting the four sacks on the monitor. They said that it looks like these four eggs all got fertilized but they only saw one that was definitely developed into a fetus. I was to come back in about two weeks and in the mean time there were three possibilities that could happen: 

-The other eggs could also be developing so there would be more than one baby.

-The undeveloped sacks would resolve and there would just be the one baby. 

-My body would flush out the extra sacks and I could miscarry altogether.

We left the hospital more confused than ever. I tried not to think about it for those two weeks. It felt like the longest two weeks ever!

This is the clearest picture we got with all four sacks.

We had two more ultrasounds done and everything looks great. There is only one baby and it seems to be growing strong and healthy.

Pregnancy update:
I started feeling movement around week 15 and at 17 weeks it was a lot more noticeable.
We find out the baby's gender on April 6th. I'm really thinking like its a girl... This pregnancy has been so different from the first. I have sweets cravings all day long, I constantly have migraines, I've been getting some blemishes, and I haven't thrown up at all with this one like I did with the first.

We'll see... 12 more days!!

Couldn't Wait to Join Us!

Looks like baby #2 was so eager to join our family! Once again around Christmas time (December 18th to be exact) we found out we were expecting another bundle of joy. Chris and I were definitely surprised/shocked to see my positive pregnancy test. I was pretty over whelmed. So many things were going through my mind; I wasn't ready to have another baby because I still wanted to only enjoy Lincoln as my baby, and I didn't think it would be fair for Lincoln, and when am I ever going to get any sleep! Once I saw it's little heart beat all my worries went away and I fell in love all over again. I really didn't "feel" pregnant at all but after talking to many of my friends about "after baby body" stuff, I started having second thoughts. And well, here we are once again. It just seems way too soon for me to be going through this pregnant thing again! ha ha. We're really excited about this new baby and I think it's going to be great for Lincoln to have a sibling so close in age, they'll be great friends. This baby is due on August 22, 2011 meaning my BABIES will be 11 months apart! I'm definitely nervous but excited at the same time. Now I'm anxious to find out what we're having!
Here is baby #2 at 11 weeks

I've been so tired with this pregnancy, and dizzy, and nauseous, but no vomiting! With Lincoln I threw up every day, so I wonder if that means it'll be a girl. I'm kind of wanting another boy... they'll just be so close in age that they'd be great buds plus they could share a room! I'd be happy either way though. I can't wait to find out what we're having.

He's Finally Here!

Lincoln Curtis Seymore joined us on

Saturday, September 4, 2010

at 10:15 in the morning

weighing in at 7 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long.

It was 7 pm on Friday the 3rd, my contractions are becoming more and more intense. Chris and I are keeping track of how far apart they are, on average 7 minutes. Doc wants me to come in when they are 3 to 5 minutes apart. At 8 I decide to go to bed (I'm just in so much pain and very uncomfortable). They're coming closer and harder. Chris joins me in bed at 9 but can't sleep 'cause he's too excited. My contractions are now 5 minutes apart but I don't want it to be false labor so I endure the pain a little longer. 10 pm and I can't take the pain any more. We get some things ready, say a prayer, and head to the hospital.

It felt like the longest drive of my life. I'm hoping I'm dilated to at least 4 cm so that I can get an epidural. It's 11 pm when I get hooked up to the monitors and get an IV. My contractions are so strong that they are literally off the chart. The doctor checks me and I'm dilated to 7 cm. I can get my epidural and I make sure I get it right away. My doctor says by the way things are going, it looks like I'll have my baby by 2 or 3 am! Great, it'll be a dream labor and delivery!

I got the epidural and for a moment felt relief... but with that came a much longer labor. The epidural completely stopped my contractions. Hours later, and with no progression, the doctor told me that I'd probably need to get a c-section. That really scared me and I started stressing out more. Thankfully the nurse that was helping me made it seem like the doctor was really rushing and she told me they'd give me more time to labor. The epidural started making me incredibly itchy to the point where I just wanted to rip my skin off. About 8 hours from the time I got the epidural, the nurse checked me again and she said I was about 8 centimeters dilated, all I have to do is relax. Relax. It clicked right when she said relax. I completely relaxed my body and instantly felt like it was time to push. the nurse just walked out the door when I had Chris bring her back in. She checked me again and I was at a 10! I was so happy to finally start pushing. I was just that much closer to meeting my baby boy!

I pushed for the longest hour and a half. Chris was amazing through the whole process. Seeing the glowing smile on his face was all the encouragement I needed. One last push and I heard my baby's cry. I remember thinking it was the cutest sound I had ever heard. And the moment they laid his little body on my chest he stopped crying. I started talking to him and he looked up at me. I couldn't believe how much love I already had for him. And my love for him is growing stronger by the second.

The process has begun and Chris is so anxious to meet his little buddy. I really couldn't have done it without Chris. He was so great and supportive the whole time.



Daddy cut the cord!

Love at first sight

Chris was so happy to meet our little man, he wouldn't even leave his side. Lincoln is so aware, he still always has his eyes wide open and looking around.

I can't even explain how much I love my little man. I feel so blessed to have this little angel sent to us.