Lincoln's Birth Day

On Monday, March 16, at 6:30 a.m. we checked in at Floyd Memorial Hospital to be induced. About an hour later, Dr. Riley put me on a pitocin drip and broke my water. I'd been having regular contractions even before arriving at the hospital and they quickly intensified after getting the pitocin. By late morning the pain from the contractions became so excrutiating that I vomited a few times. It was pain unlike anything I've ever felt before. By early afternoon a nurse gave me some medication to take the edge off the pain but it had little effect. It was like tossing a cup of water on a forest fire. As I contined to vomit, an epidural started to sound better and better. Although it wasn't in our original birth plan, we decided an epidural was the way to go. I immediately felt better--even good enough to visit with some family and friends who'd been in the waiting room.

Everything was going according to plan until late afternoon when the epidural stopped working. The nurses couldn't offer a clear explanation for why this happened. One of them guessed that it could have been that Lincoln was in a position that was blocking the drug from circulating. At any rate, the pain had returned with avengence. What kept me going is believing that Lincoln's arrival was imminent. Based on what the nurses were telling us, I reasoned that it all would soon be over. I was wrong. It wasn't until after midnight that Dr. Riley was called to the room, and around 1:30 a.m. she gave me the OK to start pushing. Again, I believed the end was near. And again I was wrong. The good news was that by 2 a.m. the epidural began working again. The bad news was that an hour later they turned it off so I could push better.

Dr. Riley had left us with two nurses through most of the labor process. They instructed me on when to push and for how long. It was exhausting. At around 3 a.m., a nurse called Dr. Riley back to the room where she coached me through the rest of the labor. She was extremely encouraging and professional. We couldn't have asked for a better doctor.

The best coach by far though was my husband. I couldn't have gone through the labor without him. He stayed by my side the entire time encouraging me, getting me ice chips, counting through my contractions, and so much more. A few people were worried that Chris might pass out during labor but he was amazing! He did tell me later that there were a few moments during the night he thought he was going to pass out. Towards the end of the night one of the nurses asked, "Are you alright?" Chris responded, "Yes. I'm okay." Then he realized that the nurse was actually talking to me :)

Shortly before 4 a.m., the atmosphere in the room became even more intense. Doctor Riley was counting me through contractions ... 1, 2, 3, 4 ... I was sweating, breathing, pushing ... the nurses were holding my legs ... Chris was reminding me to breathe ... Mom was watching and praying. The pain was unbelievable but this time I knew the end was in sight.

At 4:11 a.m., a screaming Lincoln Michael Birke arrived into the world. Seeing him for the first time was everything I heard and believed it would be. He is a beautiful boy who God has given us the privilege to raise.

Our first couple days as parents also have been what others said they would be ... a little scary, sleepless nights, uncertainty about how to calm a crying baby at times ... and wonderful. Chris has been everything a husband and father should be. He has helped me so much with everything--from getting up with Lincoln so that I can rest, to cooking chili. He is the best dad already. Everything we've been through in this journey has been entirely worth the blessing of our little Lincoln.

Before I end this post, I need to admit to something. For several months, Chris and I have been telling everyone that Lincoln's middle name was going to be Everest. We were lying. Actually, we like to think of it as setting our family up for a surprise. We especially wanted to surprise my dad and we knew the only way we could do that was by making up a middle name. We chose Everest partly because we knew it was a name that would be hated by many. We've enjoyed watching the reaction of people when we shared the name Everest with them. I especially enjoyed watching a person search his brain for something polite to say ... "Oh, Everest, now that's different" is usually the best they could come up with.







My Aunt Chrissy was our first visitor. We checked in at 6:30 a.m. She showed up a few hours later with a doggie for Lincoln and a huge balloon. She also brought tons of snacks for the people in the waiting room.








Lincoln was 22 inches long and weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces.



I'm not sure what his head measured but believe me ... it was huge!



Hearing Lincoln cry after he was born was a sweet sound.



Immediately after being born, a nurse took Lincoln's foot print.









Bonding with Lincoln right after his birth was a tender moment.



Lincoln has a tight grip on his Daddy's thumb.



My mom watches her first grandchild.



Daddy Chris holds Lincoln for the first time.



Great-grandma King holds Lincoln. She and Papaw King spent the entire night at the hospital to see Lincoln.



My dad is now a grandfather. Actually, he prefers to be called Poppy King!



After his first feeding, Lincoln shows his eyes. We've come to realize that being burped is his favorite pastime.



My Papaw Jones stopped in to visit with Lincoln a few hours after his was born.






This is one of our favorite pictures of Lincoln.



At dawn, I cuddle with my newest snuggle buddy.



Chris' parents, Denny and Kathy, visit Lincoln the day after he's born. They also had spent most of the night at the hospital.



Chris Morgan was bummed that he was out of town when Lincoln came into the world, but he did visit a few days later. By the way, thanks Chris Morgan for letting us borrow your super nice camera to record these special moments. It took great photos and we are grateful that you were so generous.

I can't sleep

It's after midnight and I'm awake because I'm excited/anxious/nervous/scared about the big day--Lincoln's birth day! After we dropped Rufus off at my parent's house, we came home and cleaned. Chris did the floors for me and I did the rest. My husband is so good to me. There is something so wonderful about coming home to a clean house when you've been gone for awhile.

As I'm typing this post, Lincoln is moving around in my tummy and I can't help but to feel a little emotional. These are the last few times I will ever get to feel him squirm in my belly. Tomorrow we will meet Lincoln!

I'm going to try to get some sleep now. It's been fun ...

{pure randomness}

Here's what's happened since the last time we blogged:

Thursday: I was asked to be a bridesmaid in my friend Sara Hutchinson's wedding. Chris and I were on the interstate, making our way to her wedding rehearsal when we blew a tire. We couldn't change the tire because it was right in the line of oncoming traffic. So we called Hoosier Helpers--the people who are supposed to come change your tire if you need help. They told us the were off duty and couldn't help us. So we called a towing service. Some interesting things happened during the 40 minutes we were waiting for the tow service to arrive. Hoosier Helpers drove by...and didn't stop. A cop stopped and we thought "Yes! He is going to help us!" Instead he let us know that someone had called him and reported that we were fighting on the side of the road! Let me just add that we had been completely at peace with each other the entire time...hugging, smiling, laughing, taking pictures of our broken down car...you get the picture! I don't what the lunatic who called was thinking?!


Anyways- we ended up having to put my car in the shop because a piece of my car was bent from where we came down so hard when the tire blew. Two cars in the shop in two weeks...wow. Needless to say, we were late to the rehearsal.


Friday: Halloween and date night :)


Saturday: We went to Bryce and Sara's wedding. Sara looked beautiful. We are very happy for them!


Mom and Chrissy walked in the 5k Ohio River Greenway 2008 race. Chrissy came in first and Mom came in second! Way to go Mom and Chrissy!!


Sunday: Chris felt Lincoln kick for the first time!!! Lincoln is always really active in the mornings. We were still in bed and he was moving like crazy so Chris put his hand on my belly. Sure enough, as soon as he did, Lincoln gave me a nice kick. We were so excited! I know we've been slacking on the belly pictures. I promise we will put one up soon with an update on Lincoln!


Tonight: We are going to watch the election with my parents at our friend's house. Go McCain!!!!

my sweet husband and baby :)

We had our doctor's appointment yesterday and everything was great with Lincoln! We didn't get any good pictures from our ultrasound because the little stinker kept his back to us the whole time. The good news is that we get to go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound because they couldn't get a good look at his face (to check for cleft lip and palate). Yea! We love ultrasounds. A lot of women only have 1 or 2 ultrasounds their entire pregnancy and we've had 5 so far!


The doctor said that everything was great with me too. My placenta has moved away from the cervix and she thinks it will continue to move away as the pregnancy progresses :) She also told me that I was right on track with my weight gain! Yea!


An update about our car: We figured out what was wrong with it...the starter, the front axil, and it's sparkplugs. We decided it wouldn't be too smart to put a lot of money into repairing it, since it may not last that much longer. We had to repair the starter so it would at least run. We are going to trade it in when we are ready to buy a new car. Until then, we are going to limp on one car and save like crazy.


On a happier note--Chris and I had a wonderful evening at home. We ate spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. We took Rufus for a walk and then we went to Coffee Crossing. When we got home, Chris lit the candles and we danced to The Way You Look Tonight--the first song we ever danced to at our wedding. It doesn't get much sweeter than that :) I'm so blessed. I have a healthy baby and the sweetest husband in the world! Love you, Chris!

It's a BOY!!!

Yesterday was my 16 week appointment. Chris decided he wasn't going to go because they would only be checking for my weight, blood pressure, urine, and the baby's heartbeat. We thought we'd give someone else the opportunity to hear the baby's heartbeat...Chrissy! I felt great. They said the baby's heartbeat sounded great. It was a great doctor's visit.

But then last night, I woke up around midnight with severe abdominal cramps. After an hour of relentless pain, I woke Chris. After a few minutes of discussion, we decided to call the on-call doctor. He suggested tylenol and a heating pad. Of course, we didn't have a heating pad. So, my sweet wonderful husband went to Walgreens to get one. It was closed. He went to Kroger, and it was closed. So he went to Meijer. It was open! Around 2 a.m. he arrived home with a heating pad.

The next morning I was still in pain when my doctor's office called, urging me to make an appointment for that day. The earliest appointment was 2 p.m. so Chris picked me up and we went together. We were both nervous during the drive there but nothing compared to what was about to happen. The nurse practitioner put the gel on my belly and began searching for the baby's heartbeat. She couldn't find it ... and we could tell she was nervous. At one point she even said, "I think I heard it. Did you hear it?" We hadn't. But after what felt like an eternity, we heard the sweetest sound that has ever filled our ears--a strong, steady beat.

The nurse practitioner tested me for all sorts of infections but I had none. She then decided to do an ultrasound to check on the location of my placenta. After looking at the ultrasound, she found that my placenta was covering my cervix. Apparently that had something to do with my cramping. They believe my placenta will move back to its appropriate spot before delivery. The worst case scenario is that it won't and I will have to have a C-section. Until then, they asked me to take it easy.

Chris thought, as long as we were there, he should ask whether it was a boy or a girl (although we weren't supposed to find out for another few weeks). The ultrasound was conclusive. We are having a BOY! He was beautiful, healthy, and moving. Please say hello to Lincoln Everest Birke.

These are a little hard to make out.

It may help to know that the head is on the left. You can see his eyes, nose and mouth.

The image on the left is one of Lincoln's feet. On the right, is both of his feet.

This is the image that shows Lincoln is most certainly a boy. Imagine the baby as if you

are holding him over your head ;)

fruit of the womb :)

Chris met me at my appointment today for our second ultrasound. It was so amazing. You probably can't tell from the picture, but the light color in the middle is our baby! The babies' head is on the right and if you enlarge the picture you can see it's little arm and leg! We were able to see the heartbeat, too. The doctor said we're about 8 weeks and two days pregnant. March 14 is the projected delivery date. We couldn't be happier!

The Best Surprise Ever!

We visited my aunt Chrissy the other day and asked if we could take her and her husband's picture. Instead we videotaped them, and here's what happened...

our wedding pictures!!!

We got our wedding pictures back and we had 420 to go through! These are some of our favorites...

I will probably end up putting a bunch more on later :)