lincoln is 1!

Today is Lincoln's first birthday. I have been thinking a lot about his birth day and the feelings of that day. I don't remember how much I shared on here last year, but thought I would share the story.
M called us that afternoon around 5. She had gone to the doctor that day and was dilated to a 2 ½ and was 70% effaced. Her blood pressure was a little high, so the doctor told her she needed to not work anymore and just take it easy. He also told her that he wouldn’t be surprised if Lincoln was born within the next couple of days. M told us she didn’t want us to get our hopes up, but she wanted to let us know. Shortly after we got off the phone with her, I went to the grocery store to get some Diet Coke and rent a movie for us to watch that night. While I was there, I thought to myself, “I should get a card to go with M’s quilt. And I should go to Joann’s to get the ribbon to tie around the quilt.” I think I figured I had everything else done and since the baby might be coming soon, I might as well get the rest of the stuff I needed while I was out. So, I picked up a card at Macey’s. While I was in the check-out line, my phone rang. It was about 7:30 p.m. and it was M again. She sounded a little panicked and told me she’d been having contractions for a little while. I asked her if we needed to be on our way down and she was hesitant to tell me yes. She wasn’t sure if she was really in labor or if she was just feeling stressed. I told her we were ready to do whatever she wanted us to. She said she was going to lie down for a little while and she would call me back. I went to Joann’s to get ribbon for the quilt and then hurried home. I told Dan that M had called and asked him what he thought we should do. He said he thought we should start getting our stuff packed. We started packing and M called back at 8. This time she sounded terrified. She said it was going to happen and that we needed to come. I told her we would be on the road within a half an hour and that we would meet her at the hospital. I called Alecia (my sister) to have her come help me with some stuff. We also called most of the rest of our families to let them know we were on our way. Dan and I scurried around our house making sure we had everything packed. I know I was totally shaking and couldn’t think straight. Alecia thought we were pretty funny. We were in the car and on the road by 8:30. The drive wasn’t too bad. We both thought it was going to seem incredibly long, but time went by pretty fast. We were just outside of Cedar City at 11:00 when M called again. I didn’t really understand the first thing she said, but I asked her how she was doing and she said great. She sounded so calm. I wondered if she had decided to get an epidural instead of doing a natural birth as she had been planning. Then she said to me, “Tell Dan!” I said, “What?” And she said, “I had him!” I told Dan and we both started kind of freaking out. She told us that he was born at 10:24 and that he was healthy and she was good. We could hear Lincoln crying in the background. I asked her if she still wanted us to come to the hospital. She said that was a silly question and of course she wanted us to come. The last hour and a half of the drive dragged on forever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dan so antsy to be somewhere. I kept saying, “We have a baby boy!” and he would reply, “No, the people at the hospital have a baby boy and I’m not there!” We pulled into the parking lot at midnight. We grabbed our camera and headed up to the maternity floor. When we got up there, we picked up the phone and told them who we were there to see. They replied with, "Visitor hours are over." Dan said, "No, she had our baby. We are the adoptive parents" very urgently. They let us right in. We went to the room where we were greeted by a smiling M and a beautiful baby boy.


I don't know the feeling of seeing your baby right after giving birth to him, but I know I was so overwhelmed when M handed me my son. I have a hard time believing that was all a year ago. It seems like it was just yesterday, but at the same time, it seems as if Lincoln has always been with us.


We haven't done much today to celebrate, but the rest of the week will be spent partying! I'll be back in a couple days with pictures and a report!