Lincoln Grey: A Birth Story

Our son, Lincoln Grey, joined our family unexpectedly on October 10th, just six days before my scheduled C-section, at 38 weeks and three days. Today was his due date!

He had been breech for most of my pregnancy and though I was disappointed that my fluid levels weren’t high enough for my OB to attempt an external version, I just wanted him to be safe and healthy.

I was supposed to start working from home the week of my C-section and just like with Harper, God had other plans (I also went into labor with Harper the day before I was scheduled to start working from home— the same thing happened to my boss!)

On Saturday, October 10th, at around 5:30 a.m., my water broke in my sleep. As soon as I felt what was happening, I shot out of bed and ran to the bathroom, thinking “yup, I just peed myself!” (undoubtedly a pregnancy milestone for many!) It was soon apparent that I did not in fact pee myself and I woke Kevin up and we both started to pack-up while I called my OB’s office. The nurse told us to get to the hospital ASAP and to “call 911 if I start to feel the urge to push” (insert wide-eyed emoji here). I started to feel contractions about 20 minutes after my water broke, but they were still about 8-10 minutes apart. I literally felt zero signs I would go into labor the days leading up to it. I had not made any progress at my recent appointments so it was kind of a shock, even though I know every pregnancy is different.

We called my in-laws to let them know we were heading to the hospital and they started to make the 30-minute drive down to care for Harper. In the meantime, I called Candice (she lives two minutes away!) a few times until I realized she was visiting family in Canada that week. So I texted a couple of my co-workers to let them know I was in labor and one of them happened to be running at Memorial Park and she got in her car and drove over to watch Harper while my in-laws made their way down so we could get to the hospital (thanks Linds!)

I was so glad Harper woke up a little earlier than usual that morning because I really wanted to see her and give her a proper hug and kiss before we headed out. We had had plans to go to the pumpkin patch that morning with friends and I remember feeling sad that we wouldn’t be able to take her (while simultaneously excited to meet our son and thankful my water didn’t break while out and about).

On the drive over, I started to have contractions that were closer together and by the time we were checked into the Women’s Assessment Center unit at the hospital, I was having regular, extremely painful contractions. My OB wasn’t on call that Saturday, but thankfully another OB from the practice who has delivered nearly every baby in my department at work was on call so I felt really at ease that it was someone I was familiar with and had met before.

As my contractions grew stronger and closer together, I asked (okay, begged) for an epidural. Only I didn’t realize that they don’t give you a spinal literally until right before your C-section, on the OR table. My appointment to do all of my labs and pre-surgical prep was scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday, so I wasn’t really fully aware of what would happen if I went into labor naturally first.

After getting an IV placed and starting fluids and antibiotics, I was finally admitted into the Labor & Delivery unit where I was checked by the OB and was already 6 cm dilated (you should have seen my face). My labor with both babies was incredibly painful only this time was more difficult because I knew I would not have pain relief until minutes before the surgery.

Though it seemed like an eternity before I finally made it to the OR and I had progressed even more, I was in so much pain at that point with contractions on top of  one another that I don’t really know that I was thinking clearly and able to really process how fast it was all happening.

I remember the moment the anesthesiologist injected the lidocaine into my spine and then the spinal. I started to have a contraction immediately after the spinal was placed and I just prayed the pain would go away. The OB was holding my hands and talking me through the contraction and I felt a surge of tingling down in my toes and felt that sensation rise up through my body. It took a few minutes, but I finally got relief from the contractions and the surgical team started prepping me and testing to make sure the spinal worked.

Kevin came into the OR shortly after the spinal was placed. I think we were both in this place in our heads where everything felt so surreal. Was he really coming now? (Yes!)

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the surgery. I had been in one of our OR’s during a C-section just a month or so prior with a crew for a news story I was working on, but this time, it was me on the table and every experience is so different.

The hospital where I delivered is highly focused on family-centered care, and so they do what is often referred to as “gentle C-sections.” This gave me a lot of peace of mind before going in, though of course I realized every birth is totally different based on how mom and baby are doing.

Just a few minutes into the surgery, I started to feel a ton of pressure, pulling and tugging and suddenly, that cry. The cry I’ll never forget. The cry that announced he was here in the world with us, at 9:53 a.m. When I heard his cry, tears welled up in my eyes because I knew he was here and safe.

The surgical team quickly lifted him over the curtain so we could see him and then the nurse cleaned him up a little bit, put a hat and blanket on him and then he was placed on my chest immediately for skin-to-skin and nursing. They take baby’s weight and other stats after the first hour (“the golden hour”) and instead let mom and baby bond and be together, which was a really incredible experience.

When he was placed on my chest, he immediately began to root and lift his head up to try to nurse. I had seen the  popular “breast crawl” video online before, but I never imagined I would get to experience that, especially with having a C-section.

We continued to snuggle and nurse while the surgical team stitched me up and then we were rolled into our recovery room where we stayed until later that evening before being transferred to the Mother/Baby Unit.

I was pretty elated about my experience overall. I remember with Harper, because we both had fevers, she had to go down to the NICU about an hour after she was born. That was an extremely emotional experience for me and it felt so different to just be with our baby and share those first full 24 hours together. Having said that, I obviously wouldn’t change anything about either birth. 


Lincoln loves to nurse and with the help of the amazing lactation consultants, we worked on his latch and overall feeding and it was going pretty smoothly. I have a lot more to share about our experience with nursing and feeding so far, but I’m going to save that for another post.

On Sunday, Harper and my in-laws met Lincoln for the first time and it was such a special moment. Harper was so sweet— a little timid at first but she climbed into my hospital bed and patted her baby brother’s head and said she loved him and that he was “so cute.” When he cried in his bassinet at one point, she pulled up a chair to his bassinet and rocked it back and forth and said “it’s okay baby Lincoln, it’s okay, I protect you.” It took all of my strength not to ugly cry, it was just so sweet.
During our hospital stay, we learned that Lincoln’s jaundice levels were rising and that he had lost 8 percent of his body weight. My milk came in on day three and after some struggles with engorgement pain and plugged ducts (I never had this with Harper so early on), I continued to nurse and also started to pump by the recommendation of our care team so that we could feed pumped milk in addition to nursing to be sure he was eating enough. His jaundice levels continued to rise after we were discharged and we’ve been at the pediatrician nearly daily since then for monitoring, but thankfully all is resolved now.

On day four in the hospital, Lincoln underwent phototherapy for his jaundice and they had me stay an extra day also in order to be there to feed him. Day five is when we were finally discharged and I was so glad to go home. I missed Harper a lot and it’s the longest I had ever been away from her.

My recovery this time around has been night and day compared to Harper’s birth. I’ll admit I was a little bit afraid that a C-section would basically make me unable to do much for weeks and that the pain would be extreme, but I actually found the recovery and pain levels to be significantly lower than what I experienced with Harper’s birth. Each day that goes by I feel more like myself and am able to do more and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

My incredible in-laws had been living in our house since the day I went into labor, caring for Harper. At the same time, Kevin started a new job the Monday after I gave birth (talk about crazy timing!), so things were a bit hectic getting into a new routine.

I knew Kevin’s parents needed a break and I knew Kevin needed to be rested so I called my mom and asked if she would be willing to come stay with me for a week or so while I recovered. She was able to take off of work and flew to Houston on Saturday and has been staying with us through the end of this week. It really takes a village and I’m so grateful that we’ve had such amazing help from both of our families…and Harper has loved all of the grandparents being around so much too!
  Our staff photographer shot some photos of Lincoln a few days after he was born and I couldn’t resist sharing a few before wrapping up this post. Thanks Allen! We are so thankful that sweet Lincoln has completed our family. I can’t wait to watch him grow and to see his and Harper’s relationship develop. Thank you to all of my incredible readers for all of the thoughtful, supportive and kind comments you’ve been sending our way! I appreciate them more than you know!