Lincoln's Grand Entrance

I know it has been a good long while since I have posted on this blog. In fact, I will be amazed if any of my blog followers still bother to even check up on this blog! But, I have the perfect excuse, I swear! The summer was spent being pregnant, finshing up a year of teaching Joy School, juggling kids, finishing my classes which entailed studying and typing papers into the painful wee hours of the morning, taking finals, all as Jordan finished up Internship Year.

We have moved to the next phase. Officially. I'm done with school (for the time being), Jordan has moved on to his Residency, and we now have THREE kids in the house!!!

Lincoln Everett Thomson was born August 30th at 9:06 a.m., weighing in at exactly 8 pounds, 20.5 inches. Although born four days past his due date, he was sure in a hurry to get here! We had just experienced a magnitude 5.8 earthquake earlier that week, followed by Hurricane Irene that swept up the East Coast in her windy, rainy fury. Early the morning of the 30th, around 4 a.m., I was sound asleep dreaming that I was playing pro football, fully pregnant, and I had just tackled the Quarterback at the goal line... he had barely made it, to my team's dismay. As the Quarterback made a big deal over his touchdown, I just stood up and said, "Whatever. I'm having my baby today. I don't have time for this." I awoke at that point. I felt wide awake and alert, but I didn't know why. I considered getting up to work on one of my many projects - cleaning the refrigerator, filing our documents, scrubbing the bathrooms. I laughed at myself for having the sudden urge to get everything done at four o'clock in the morning. Nesting. Ha! I talked myself into staying in bed since I had a full day planned and figured I would need the rest.

I wasn't exactly having contractions at that point, but I just knew that something was under way. Before I knew it, two hours had passed, and I still laid there wide awake as Jordan got up and got ready for work. I considered telling him that I felt like I was going to have a baby that day, but decided against it since I had lost faith in my ability to read my own body. I had called him on several occasions over the past few weeks to tell him that I may or may not be going into labor. All had been false alarms, obviously. So, how could I explain that I felt like something was different about that particular day if I wasn't even having contractions? So, off he went to work, and I still laid there... waiting. It was the strangest thing. It's like I knew what was in store for me, only as soon as I decided I was ready. And, just like that, when I decided to get up for the day, around 6:20 a.m., the contractions started immediately - and they came strong and fast at about three minutes apart.

I called Jordan just as he was walking from the parking garage to his building at work, and let him know that he'd better come home. He got back to the house around 7:15, and we left as soon as the bags were packed at 7:30. The contractions were coming about every two minutes at that point and lasting for about a minute. We had what seemed like the world's longest commute to the hospital. I don't remember every single street having so many potholes before! Or traffic lights taking soooo long! Oh, man, it was agonizing! I kept thinking, "what is taking so long?!" the entire drive. We got to the parking garage around 8:10 and had to find parking, which is always a twenty to thirty minute endeavor at the military hospital. Luckily we got a spot after a few minutes since someone pulled out of their spot just ahead of us. At that point, we took the world's longest walk from the parking garage to the hospital. Every few feet I had to stop and breathe through a contraction. In fact, it seemed like I wasn't having much of a break between contractions at that point. I was terrified that I was going to have the baby right there in the street! We made it into the hospital, but it was still a long journey from building 19 to building 9. People were asking us if we needed a wheelchair and would disappear around the corner to go find one, but I couldn't stop and wait for anything. This baby was coming! I kept walking, and stopping when the pain got too intense, and then walked again.

We finally, finally made it to our building, secured a wheel chair, and then had to wait for an elevator. World's longest wait for an elevator. One elevator opened up and was already at capacity with a janitor and a huge garbage bin. I felt like cursing and crying all at once as I sobbed to Jordan quietly, "we can't fit in there..." as the janitor just stared at us, absolutely dumbfounded. We waited for the next elevator. When it finally came, a whole crowd filed in behind us. And we stopped at every. single. floor. all the way up. Each time that elevator door opened I felt an urge to scream in desperation (which I didn't - I still had some composure at this point, ha ha). I then had a vision of what my new biggest fear was: delivering my baby in an elevator.

We finally made it to our floor... and had to check in at the front desk. They finally let us back into the hallway... where we had to wait for a triage room to become available. I felt like screaming, "triage room?! You've got to be kidding me! I'm IN LABOR!!!" At that point, the contractions were coming one on top of the next with no breaks and I was ready to check myself into a room and deliver the baby myself! I grabbed Jordan's shirt and cried pitifully, "what is taking so long?!" They got us into the triage room, where they determined that, surprise, surprise, "This woman is in active labor and needs to be checked in." I was so annoyed! I was further annoyed with the array of questions that were repeated, verbatim, by three different people as I lay there waiting to deliver a baby. "Do you have any allergies?" "Are you on any medications?" "In the instance that you would need a blood transfusion, do you understand the risks?" "Did you have a strep test performed at your last visit... and what was the result?" and so on, and so forth.

I was hoping for the epidural at that point (gone were my dreams of a peaceful, hypnobirth delivery), but I kind of already knew that it was too late for that. The anesthesiologist, bless his heart, hurried in anyway and started to prep me - just in case he could hurry and alleviate at least some of the pain. As soon as I turned to my side, however, my water broke, and talk about PAINFUL CONTRACTIONS! All of the sudden I felt like I was being beaten from all sides by big men with sticks. Sticks with nails in them. I remember thinking, "So, this is what a 'ten' on the pain scale feels like?" My whole body was shuddering in pain and I couldn't hold it in any longer. With my eyes clenched shut, I cried and cried. (At least I think I cried. If not out loud, I sure was crying to myself.) I don't remember any faces, because my eyes were clenched shut. I do remember one nurse telling me to relax my legs and I just said, "I can't... I really can't..." I had never felt so much at the mercy of other people in my entire life.

And, just like that, Lincoln was born. At 9:06 a.m., after the longest two hours of my life, our little Linc was born, healthy and beautiful and flawless. And everything in my mind went from chaos and unbearable pain to absolute calm. I opened my eyes to see people running in and out of the room (apparently no body had expected such a speedy delivery within minutes of us showing up), but everything seemed silent and peaceful to me. As I laid back onto the bed with a sigh of relief, my whole body shaking uncontrollably from the adrenaline of experiencing so much pain, I watched the nurse clean my baby. I just stared at that sweet baby boy, longing to hold him. I didn't take my eyes off him for a second.

Everything after that was smooth sailing. I got to cuddle with my baby all day and night. Jordan went to pick up Beckham and Ava later that day and they were delighted to meet him. I loved watching their excited faces as they met their brother for the first time! We got to go home after 24 hours, and I had the fortune of having one of my amazing friends, Mica Hale Hauley, here with us to share in the joys (and exhaustion) of having a newborn in the house.

I don't know what I would have done without Mica's help and companionship! I remember feeling so lonely after the birth of my other kids, but this time I felt like somebody was there with me to celebrate and just be there with me! I really am fortunate to have so many amazing people in my life. Mica is like a sister to me. We've known each other since we were about 14 years old. She's been there for every major event in my life. In fact, she was even there the night I met Jordan. And for our first date. And then for our wedding :) It seems more than appropriate that she be here with us for the birth of our baby. I love that girl!

Three weeks has gone by. My baby is getting bigger by the minute (that might have something to do with his current 72-hour growth spurt streak where he has been eating EVERY HOUR like clockwork). As I juggle my three babies, I hope I never forget the quiet peace of being so in love with them and being so grateful to have them here with me, in the midst of the noise and chaos all around.

Today my baby #3 is three weeks old.