Levi Douglas Lindner arrived December 5th at 11:09 in the morning. He weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 22 1/2 inches long. I won't go into extreme detail but part of this blog serves as memories for our little family, and I'd like to record some of the birth day events for safekeeping :).
I'll post pictures throughout so feel free to skip the story and just look at pictures :).
Friday November 30th was my last day at work before starting my maternity leave. My official due date was Saturday December 8th so I wanted to give myself a week beforehand to rest and do some stuff around the house. On Saturday December 1st, I had big plans: attend a women's Christmas breakfast and then later get a peppermint mocha to drink while getting a pedicure. After I checked those three items off my list, I was ready for Baby Lindner to make his appearance! It would have been a little frustrating to not have any time off from work but of course I would welcome my little baby whenever he was ready!
Sunday evening Clay and I were out running some errands and my back wouldn't stop hurting off and on. Having now been through labor, I think Sunday (two days before real labor) was about the only time throughout my pregnancy that I experienced Braxton Hicks contractions. I wasn't in very much pain, but I figured I should give the doctor a call because let's be honest, I knew nothing about what to expect with labor - this girl read her BabyCenter emails and that was about it. Well, those contractions let up and eventually went away.
Monday and Tuesday were fairly normal days - Clay had given me strict instructions that the whole house, except the kitchen, was his office and I was not to speak to him. HA! Maybe his instructions weren't quite that strict but I think he was pleasantly surprised when not only did I cook for him, but I also cleaned up his dishes. He started getting used to the whole stay at home wife thing (although he did ask if it was going to take me until 2:00PM to get dressed every day). I was feeling rather energetic and was ready to make my first quilt prior to le petit bebe arriving. Another HA! I think that was some unrealistic nesting instinct.
Anyway..onto the big day! Wednesday morning I woke up with back pain at 4:27AM. I decided I would try to go back to sleep because if this was the real deal, I wanted to sleep another couple of hours. So from 4:30 to 5:30, I dozed on and off and tossed and turned to try to relieve the pain..which was pretty much just cramps in my back. However from 5:30 to 6:30, these "cramps" intensified. Clay was awake with me by now..partly being the supportive husband and partly because I was slightly vocal regarding the increase in intensity :). We were attempting to time the contractions but it just wasn't that easy. Sometimes they were really close together and lasted longer and other times they were farther apart and didn't last as long. I called the on-call doctor at 6:30 and was told to come into the office at 9. Oh dear.
I decided to try a shower. I stayed in there for a while - little did I know Clay was running around like a mad man during this. I had told him earlier that the dust bunnies under the couch needed vacuumed before we had to leave. Not only did he take care of these dust bunnies, but he also went to work caulking our bathtub that had lost some of its caulk the prior week (we had been using the guest shower). He also finished packing his bag. Around 7:30 I decided there was no way I was going to wait around the house until 9. After getting out of the shower, I had wanted to be one of those cute girls that has a baby with her hair done and a full face of make up. Well, when you spend most of your time on your hands and knees dealing with contractions, makeup and hair become not only difficult to do, but also unimportant. Clay called the doctor and we got the go ahead to head to the hospital!
We still had some last minute things to grab and I was making it very difficult for Clay to get anything done. I'm not sure why I clung to this one piece of advice, but I had read (probably in a BabyCenter email - obviously the trusted source for pregnancy help) that being down on your hands and knees and having someone press really hard on your back helps with the pain. Clay! Claaaaayyyy!!! Every time a contaction hit, Clay got the honor of pushing really hard on my back.
We headed out the door and I am so thankful I grabbed a pillow..the pillow would serve to muffle my moaning as we drove to the hospital. Notice I say we 'drove' to the hospital - we did not 'speed' to the hospital. I'm not sure why, but my dear husband decided that this morning he would obey the 55 mph speed limit on the interstate. I will give him credit that it was rush hour but come on! I kindly let him know that I would appreciate if he could drive a little faster.
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We arrived at the hospital around 8:30 and would later find out we'd have a baby in our arms in less than 3 hours!!! Because we never made a practice run to the hospital, we of course entered in the wrong doors. Check in at the hospital wasn't too bad, but I remember feeling like the elevator took SO LONG to arrive and take us upstairs. Eventually we got up to the 8th floor and as soon as we turned the corner I saw my doctor sitting at the nurses' station. Instant relief knowing she was there!
I was placed in a room right by the nurses' station and things moved quickly from there. Later I was told my doctor was going to head back to the office to get in some appointments before coming back to deliver..first babies generally take a while. However, one of the nurses encouraged her to check me and we found out I was 8 centimeters along. This was exciting and scary - I went into the whole thing not knowing if I wanted an epidural or not. It was about this time I decided I definitely wanted one, and I didn't think you could have one past 7 centimeters. Not true (lack of reading?). I was 9 centimeters along by the time the epidural came along. Looking back I wonder if I should have just done without but in the moment, I think I would have thought I was crazy!
Clay was so great through all of this. Things were moving so quickly and he was trying to keep family updated. I don't think either of us knew what to do with ourselves knowing we would meet our little baby soon. He very kindly fed me ice chips and water and texted some family in between. The doctor came back in and asked me if I was ready to start pushing - I had no idea if I was ready or not but pushing meant the baby would come so sure..pushing it is!
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Well, we all know how this story ends. I started pushing around 10:00AM and little Levi arrived at 11:09AM. I loved his warm little body being placed on my belly. It was bizarre knowing that literally minutes earlier he had been inside and was now out where we could see him. He may have looked a little strange - grayish blue with a slight conehead, but of course we thought he was absolutely beautiful. The nurse cleaned him up and did the official weigh in and such and then the three of us were left to ourselves. We were amazed at how alert and content Levi was. Hopefully that meant he felt safe and secure :).
Our first family picture:
Because of where we live in comparison to our families, no one was there at the hospital with us; it was kind of sad but it was also a very special time for just the three of us. I liked not having to share Levi with anyone but Clay of course. We were able to get a private room for the follow-up recovery days and had a window view of the city. It snowed off and on all day on his actual birth date and it made it feel all the more cozy on the inside.
Levi in his going home outfit:
We stayed at the hospital until Friday late morning. Mom (Grandma) arrived into Syracuse Friday afternoon:
Dad (Grandpa) got in the following Friday:
Mom and Dad left on Sunday and then Patty and Stu came up on Monday evening:
Well, I'll leave you with a few more pictures and then be done for now. We sure are in love with our sweet little boy:
Family of Stripes:
