I still need to get pictures uploaded. Jaman bought me a new nice camera a week before Lincoln arrived. It is a little high tech for me so I am still learning. I would love to take some classes but that will happen someday. Right now life is busy and full. Wouldn't want to trade it. I wanted to post this so I don't forget it. I went in on Monday morning for a check-up from the mid-wife(yes I had a mid-wife, my wonderful friend Andrea introduced me to midwives in Kansas and I love them. I will say the ones here are nowhere even comparable to the ones is Kansas) I had her strip me. She said probably in the next few days. I was dialated to a 3 and 90%. I went home and worked to get the house all in order. All day I had contractions. In the evening they started coming closer. Around 9:00 I called my mom and had her head my direction. It would take her about an hour and a half and I figured it should be about perfect. My contractions were close 3-5 minutes apart when they arrived and we headed in. It was Monday night at 11:45. I wanted to labor as long as possible without an epidural. Jaman always ask why I try to do this. In his eyes life would be so much easier to just get it. They checked me and I was a 4. I thought I would be a lot farther than that. So we headed for a walk and we walked and walked. Close consistent contractions. After about an hour she checked me. A 4 1/2. I was starting to get frustrated . I headed to the bathroom and then it all began. Oh those darn contractions. They came all of the sudden so hard I couldn't even walk. I finally made it to the bed and said ok I am ready for my epidural. She checked me and I had went from the 4 1/2 to a 7 in the 15 minutes. They said he would be there in 30 minutes to give me my epidural. Thirty minutes never seemed so long in my life. Finally he arrived. Jaman and him hit it off to a good conversation about spines and backs. He was asking for some business cards from Jaman so he could send patients to him. In the meantime under my breath I am like "OK we can talk business later, I need this." I laugh about it today but at the moment believe me there was no laughing. After that Jaman and I snoozed for an hour and she came back in and checked and he was coming. Two pushes and we welcomed Lincoln Reed Brunson into our life. 8 llbs 6 oz and 20 inches long. Childbirth is such a spiritual and amazing thing. Words can't even describe the feeling of holding a precious son from a loving Heavenly Father. This is one of the few times I witness my husband crying and I love it. I wish the moment didn't pass so quickly. Such a sweet and precious moment and then comes the bad. I had hemorrhaged. I had lost triple the amount of blood of a normal delivery. They went to raise my bed to hold Lincoln and there I go. On goes the oxygen mask and there goes the blood pressure machine. They couldn't get my blood pressure to stabilize it. It kept dropping every few seconds. I remember laying there feeling extremely dizzy and out of it looking at Jaman holding Lincoln. Wishing I could wrap him up and feed him. Finally after what seemed forever, we got it stabilized. They kept checking my blood frequently to see if I needed a transfusion. Each time my blood was lower. I was extremely week. I was as pale as pale could be. We had a good day at the hospital. Lots of wonderful visitors. Taylor and Bridger were excited to have a new brother but Bridger was also so excited his cat that had been missing for months returned during that night. At the moment I think that cat got the excitement from the kids. I sent Jaman home for the night to get a good night sleep thinking it would be a good night. As usual I had nurses bugging me at all hours for everything under the sun. The next morning I asked to go home. I just wanted to be home. It was hard to get up and walk around without getting dizzy but I didn't care. There is no place like home. They took my blood and said I was just shy of a blood transfusion. I said I didn't want one and I wanted to go home. So Wednesday evening we headed home.
It was tough the first night. My body went into a little bit of shock and I was so shaky and dizzy. Once at 4 am I thought I better go back to the hospital. We called our amazing neighbor at 4 am and had him help Jaman give me a Priesthood Blessing. I felt so better quickly and the nurse told me to just take it easy and stay in bed. I am so thankful for the Priesthood in my life. I am so thankful for Jaman's worthiness and our dear neighbors worthiness to be able to give me a blessing. We have such wonderful neighbors. They would do anything. My mom stayed for the rest of the week and then Jaman's mom came for the weekend. It was such a blessing to have them here. Jaman went back to work and so I would not have been able to do it without them.
It has been such a hard recovery for me. I would want to do so much and then I would get up to do it and my body just didn't have the strength. I will be honest it was a hard emotional roller coaster. I am so thankful for such wonderful people in my life. I am blessed with such amazing friends and neighbors. I had so many meals and friends come and get the kids. It is moments like this that strengthen my testimony of service. I am not one to sit back and receive it well. It is hard for me. I guess I am prideful. Every time I prayed my answer would be to "Let people help, let people help" Through all of it I am so thankful for my knowledge of the gospel and I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who does love me so much. I am also thankful for a healthy body. I think a lot of times we take it for granted.
It took me about 3 weeks to really start to feel like myself again and gain my color back. Then on to 3 kids. It has had its hard moments and its good moments. The good has way outweighed the bad. My new favorite quote is we have bad days so we appreciate the good ones. I find this so true in motherhood. Going places hasn't really been the hard thing. It has just been hard to find the time to keep everything done. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, and bills. I have had to learn that everything can't be perfect all the time. I have had to close my eyes some days to toy messes in the basement.I have had to let laundry get backed up. Now we are getting on a good routine and I can get it all done when Lincoln takes a good a.m. nap.
Lincoln is such a sweet baby. He is my first spitty baby. He spits up a lot. He is pretty fussy. Nothing like Taylor so it is seeming a lot easier for me. That or I have so much more patience. We all love and adore him so much. I love the spirit they bring into the home. He is a pretty good sleeper. I usually get a 4-5 hour window of sleep before feeding. We have had to adjust to a newborn. I do love sleep so I have had to adjust.
Taylor gradated from pre-school and Bridger has been my little helper. We are busy enjoying our summer and going on weekends. We love our new addition. I will get pictures posted hopefully next week. I have got to get it figured out.
