his birth story. a love letter.

Dear Lincoln Wayne,

You are here. You graced my arms just yesterday and your body conformed to mine just like you were still inside me. You were work buddy, hard laborious work, but well worth it. Right when I wanted to give up, I kept saying out loud "my baby is coming, my baby is coming." You were my motivation, I wanted to lock eyes with yours. And we did.

Only moments after you were born. 

You have already taught me so much. From the day we found out we were pregnant with you to these last 24 hours. See, I'm a planner. I like to know what my future holds and have control of it. You were a surprise pregnancy {which I'm so incredibly grateful for}. From that moment of seeing those two pink lines, I had to let go of how I thought things should go and embrace the beauty that was to come. You reminded me that faith will get us through. My pregnancy wasn't perfect, we had ups and downs and lots of extra monitoring. In fact, that's why you came two weeks early, because the uncertainty of things. Your fluid dropped very low and it was highly recommended to induce the next day. That night as we prepared for you to arrive, knowing that it wasn't what I was planning or hoping for, I held onto faith. Because I knew God had a plan for you to come just the way He wanted. I repeated to myself 'hold me Jesus.' I had no idea what to expect with induction, but I was told that certain things would probably take place and it could possibly end in a c-section because of your low fluid could cause distress on you. I did accept that fact, but I also was confident that you would come the exact way you should, I was trusting my body to God.

My son, you did so wonderful during labor. Not once did you become distressed. When I arrived at the hospital I was already 4cm and contracting pretty consistently. Boy, you were already coming on your own! "Induction" started at 9:15am on Saturday, April 28, when my water was broke. And that was it. It was you, me, and God the rest of the way. {Along with the help of your daddy who cheered us on the entire way, and your Great Aunt Steph and Aunt Hannie also helped.} We didn't even need Pitocin, and miraculously I made it through the entire labor med-free, no epidural! The only thing we needed, or should I say, I  needed was a fountain coke. And Doc gave me approval to have one just minutes before I pushed! One of my best sodas I have ever tasted. You let me know you were ready to come out and I was sure to let everyone in the room know, ahem. And in 4 minutes of pushing, I was holding you in my arms, at 1:14pm. The doctor was thoroughly impressed with how well labor went. We knew we had our King to thank for that.

Your daddy can hardly believe he has a son. I'm just going to warn you now, that he has lots of plans for you to play sports. You were born with really long skinny feet and big hands, I'm looking forward to seeing where they take you. Your sisters are already smitten for you. Okay, well your biggest sister, Audrey is. She dotes on you and holds you so gently. She made sure you had your bear blanket to sleep with before bed. Your other sister, Naomi, just a mere 18 months older than you, is pretty much ready to play tackle. You may have already been accidentally kicked in the head with her rain boot too. But your a boy, you can handle it, right? I think she will be a good match, watch out. And me? Well, I'm taking every single moment in with you. You are most likely my last pregnancy, my last squishy newborn. I've already closely traced all around your sweet little ears, wrinkly long fingers, soft pink lips, and etched them in my forever memory.

 In your "going home" outfit. Pretty darn cute. 

Thank you for joining our family. And making us a family of five.

Our first family picture as five. Buddy, let me remind you, this wasn't even 24 hours after birth, so your mama is still slightly tired in this pic. Ahem. 

I love you to the moon and back. 

Your Mama, xoxo