Lincoln Henry Stous

It seems like only yesterday we were writing a post to announce the birth of boy #3, and already here we are welcoming baby # 4! Lincoln Stous (aka “Baby Stous” for his first day of life) was born on Thursday, September 24, weighing in at 8Lbs 10 oz and measuring 21″. For the story of how it went (the condensed version), scroll to the bottom, and enjoy some pictures of our beautiful little guy on the way!

We had actually gone to the hospital Tuesday night, but after determining that we were not progressed (and therefore not in labor), we were sent home. This was mildly embarrassing, since we felt like we should know how this goes by the fourth time around. We felt vindicated the next morning though, after having a night full of strengthening contractions. We once again went to the hospital, where they once again said that we were not progressed. The contractions were bringing tears, however, so they let us stay (thank goodness!). My blood pressure was a bit high (probably the main reason they let us stay), so they gave me an epidural to try to bring it down. The poor anesthesiologist had the hardest time getting it in though; first my veins gave him trouble when he was putting in the IV, then he needed a half hour and three epidural kits to get the epidural set. Some reassuring quotes from him: “I haven’t had one this hard in 10 years!”, “This is fairly humbling!”, and this gem, “I’m going to have to go jump off the Coronado Bridge when I’m done here!”.

Once that process was over, it did manage to bring my blood pressure down, but it also slowed contractions down a lot. After spending all day at the hospital (and then all evening), I still was barely progressing. Then, at 11:30, my water broke, and I quickly went from 3 cm to baby time (in two hours!). He decided to come out facing the wrong direction, which was probably why he was still so far up when labor began. After all of that, he was finally brought into the world at 1:45 a.m. on Thursday morning! Though labor with him was probably the hardest of the four boys, the recovery was so good, and I was walking about later that day, and was even able to bring a three day old baby to church that Sunday! God has been so good to us, and we are so thankful to have our 4 healthy and energetic little men!