Lincoln's Birth Story

About to head to dinner then the hospital!!  This is what 40 weeks pregnant looks like :)

Christian and I checked into the hospital at midnight Monday morning August 2, 2010.  We were both very excited and nervous especially me.  I couldn't wait to meet our little man but I had no idea what to expect when it came to labor.  Nothing or no one could have prepared me for what I was about to do. 

After getting hooked up to the monitors I learned that I was already in labor and was having contractions every 3 mins.  I had no idea and wasn't feeling anything.  The nurse was shocked that I didn't feel the contractions.  Since my contractions were going so well the nurse decided to wait a little while on giving me the pitocin (sp?).  Every was great at that point.  I had several family members at that hospital and we were all cutting up and laughing. About 4am I decided to have everyone leave (except Christian) so I could try and get some rest.  I didn't get to go to sleep because someone was always coming in the room to check something or I would move the wrong way and mess up the monitor on Lincoln.  Finally about 6am my OB came in and broke my water.  That was such a weird experience.  Then I decided it was time to get the epidural.  I was at 5cm and having pretty steady contractions.  The contractions were not unbearable at this point but getting pretty uncomfortable.  Plus I was scared to death that I would wait too long and miss my window of time to get one.  It is a good thing I went ahead because the first epidural didn't work at all!!  I kept waiting and waiting for the pain to stop but it never did so I told the nurse and she ordered another one.  The epidural lady came back in and said that it happens that way sometimes.  There are 3 different spots on your back to get an epidural and some places don't work on some people.  Anyways she gave me another epidural and 15 min later I felt fabulous.  The epi made my blood pressure drop drastically so they made me wear an oxygen mask for a while.  The combination of the oxygen and epi made me feel drunk.  I was making jokes and having a great time until.....IT WORE OFF.  Yes, the epidural wore off about an hour or so later.  My contractions were much stronger at this point and I was not happy.  My OB offered to do a c-section if I wanted to but Christian and I decided not to do it because it wasn't our plan.  If I would have know what was to come I would have jumped at that chance :) They came in and gave me another dose of the epidural medicine and it didn't work.  So I got to get some more medicine.  About 15 or some min. later I was feeling good again until.....IT WORE OFF AGAIN!!  Yes, it wore off again.  At this point I was at about 8.5 cm and contractions were the worst pain I have every felt in my entire life!  They came in to give me another dose of the epidural and of course it didn't work.  The nurse said they couldn't give me anymore of the epi medicine because it would be toxic.  The nurse anes. was dumbfounded and couldn't believe it kept wearing off.  Most people only have the first dose and are fine.  It is about 2:30 pm at this point.  The OB nurse came in to check me and said that if I didn't progress to 9.5 or 10cm in the next 30 min. they were going to have to do a C-section.  This scared me for two reasons.  One, if I did progress I was going to have to have a natural child birth.  I have never ever wanted to do that.  I wanted drugs and as much as I could get.  Child birth scared me to death and knew I wanted some kind of drugs to help.  Two, I knew that a recovery from a C-section was much harder than a regular birth.  Plus because I had had so much of the epidural medicine they thought they would have to put me to sleep to do the c-section.  I was fine with being put to sleep but that meant Christian couldn't be in the room when Lincoln was born.  We both knew that we didn't want this but it didn't look like we have much of a choice.  Thirty min. went by and of course I was still at 8.5 cm.  C-section here I come!!  It is about 3pm and they know they are going to do a c-section but the OR is booked with planned c-sections.  Since nothing was life threatening yet I had to wait.  Waiting while you are in labor with no epidural sucks.  Plus since I was being induced the medicine made my contractions much stronger!  I was in agonizing pain.  My poor husband didn't know what to do.  It is definitely not the way they make it out in the movies.  I wasn't mad or cussing at Christian and telling him I hated him for doing this to me.  I was wanting him there so I could squeeze his hand and he could reassure me that everything was going to be okay.  They took me off the pitocin so my contractions would lighten up and tried to give me some other kind of medicine to help with the pain.  About 4pm the contractions had lightened up a little and the whatever drugs they gave me were starting to work and it was time for surgery.  I remember bits and pieces of the birth.  I remember them wheeling me in the OR and they kept asking me if I could feel anything.  I felt the first cut a little and they gave me more drugs.  Then I felt a lot of pressure for a while then I heard my little man cry at 4:43pm.  After almost 17 hours of labor I finally got to meet my little man.  Christian got them to move the sheet a little so I could see him.  He was beautiful! I didn't get to hold him until I was in the recovery room and it was amazing.  It made all of the pain worth while.

He had a horrible cone head from being in the birth canal for so long.

Lincoln Daniel Barajas

21 inches

7 lbs. 14 oz

The proud Dad!

All in all Lincoln was worth every second of pain.  Knowing what I know now I probably wouldn't have any more children if I had to have a regular birth.  I would do it over a million times to get Lincoln but we def. wouldn't be planning for anymore.  I don't have to worry about that now though because I will have to have a C-section from now on.