6 weeks!

It has been SIX weeks!? Which sounds pretty crazy, but when I really think about it - yea, that's about right. I go back to working part time next Tuesday. It's been like a cloud over my thoughts this past week, so then I question if I really should go back to work or not. But I have thought it through many times, and the pros outweigh the cons. We'll see how it goes.

The biggest problem we may run into, with me going back to work, is Scarlett's sleep schedule. The girl sleeps in until 10am every morning!! We try to get her into bed about 7:30, it seems to always be 9:00 when we're able to finally turn off the light and say good night. She consistently sleeps at least 13 hours a night. So Wednesday night she didn't get to sleep until 9:45ish since we were visiting family late - She slept in until 11am Thursday!!

I don't mind her sleeping in, it has really helped me get lots of sleep since Lincoln's been waking up every 3-4 hours to eat.

Lincoln is such a great baby. He seemed to have mild reflux and fussy/colic moments after we brought him home from the hospital. But things have gotten better in just this short amount of time. He doesn't cry much unless he is starving. Knock on wood - he hasn't really ever cried for longer than a few moments, he is very easy to soothe.

We usually put him in the bassinet about 10:30-11pm and he'll wake up consistently about 4 and 7am to eat. I can handle that!

He is starting to coo a lot more and we can sometimes get a smile out of him. He still goes cross eyed frequently and puckers his lips - it's adorable!

He likes to be on our chest, and he does pretty good at trying to hold his head up when he wants to. I think he looks so much like Scarlett, but his hair is definitely staying dark! Scarlett's hair was already very light brown and coming in blonde when she was 6 weeks old. Not gonna lie - we're excited we won't have to answer the questions,  "Where does he get hs hair from?",  "Is your husband blonde?", "Is he adopted?"

Lincoln has endured Scarlett's moments where she's actually interested in holding him and trying to play with toys together. She's very good at being patient with us if we're feeding/changing/bathing him. She loves being the big sister and helping us!! I think the timing was just right for spacing these two.

Lincoln has always been kind of a drama boy. In the beginning his coughs and gasps for air would seriously worry me. His cough is this very involved "hack", it's really hard to describe it. He'll sometimes have these gasps for air like he couldn't breathe for minutes at a time. I was always afraid he wasn't breathing, or he couldn't get air. But after weeks of watching him do this many times throughout the day and jumping out of bed at the smallest sound of struggle in the night - we've realized it's just Lincoln! He is just kind of drama about it. He makes me laugh. He is a Grunter! And he snorts and sighs all the time. He lets us know with all his expressions that we seem to be constantly "inconveniencing" him.

This Youtube video has him coughing :38 seconds into it. This time he's actually coughing something up. 

And I posted a video on Youtube that is a bit long, of Scarlett and Lincoln together in the hospital when he was a day old, June 16th. 

We love having Lincoln in our lives! Wish us luck as we try to figure out a routine next week when real life starts up again.

Lincoln's Newborn Shoot

I regret not getting a newborn shoot done with Scarlett, but we got some of Lincoln when he was 5 days old. There are so many photographers here in Utah, it was difficult to find the right deal. I'm very happy with what we ended up with! We went to Camera Shy in Lehi. I wanted photos done in a studio, a place that had their own accessories, and a decent portfolio of specifically newborns. And Camera Shy was the right place to go! We got an hour and a half studio session for $89 and walked out with a CD that had 71 enhanced photos on it! I edited them with Lightroom and Photoshop and I'm very pleased with what we ended up with! When Linc gets a little bigger I want to go in and get a family shoot done.

Here are some of my favorites. He is so handsome!! And has changed soooo much already. 

Lincoln's Birth Story

39 w 4 days Prego....

Thursday, June 14th I went in at 6:30pm to Timpanogos Hospital to start Cytotec, a medication that helps ripen the cervix before induction (pitocin). The process is - they insert the pill, I lay flat for 2 hours, and then hang out for two more hours... then they insert another pill, lay flat for 2 hours, and hang out for 2 more hours, etc. They were to start the pitocin generally around 6am, but I got my first pill inserted at 8:30pm, so with the timing I had a 3rd pill inserted at 4:30am. Therefore, at 8:30am would be when they would have started the pitocin.

At my 38 week appointment I was dilated to a 1, about 50% effaced. This was exciting for me since I never really dilated on my own at all with Scarlett. With her, I went in the night before for a dose of Prepadil - which was a crazy painful process and didn't really help dilate/efface me. They sent me home to come back in the morning for the induction. But this time I liked Cytotec MUCH better, wasn't in pain until the contractions started during my 2nd dose. and you stay in the hospital, they don't send you home.

During my 2nd dose of Cytotec I started having some contractions, They seemed more like Braxton Hicks because they weren't strong at all on the monitor. But when they checked me at 2:30am I was dilated to a 2, so that was excited that the contractions seemed to be progressing my situation. At 4:30 am they gave me a 3rd pill, I was dilated to a 3, and I requested pain meds. I Love Fentanyl. Love It. Best pain med ever.
 the Fentanyl works really well for about 40-45 minutes and then it wears off. They can give Fentanyl once every hour, so that left 20-15 minutes of feeling some pretty good contractions/pain.The contractions were getting stronger, and by 6:15 I had requested an epidural.6:00am was the nurse/doctor shift change so we weren't sure when the anesthesiologist would be able to give me the epidural.  But my new nurse, Erin, for the new shift, checked me and I was dilated to a 4. She gave me another dose of Fentanyl at 6:30 and magically the anesthesia man walked in at 6:35! So I was all doped up and ready to hold still in the fetal position for them to stick the big needle in my back. Such perfect timing! Which was about how it went with Scarlett too - having a fresh dose of pain meds in you makes getting the epidural pretty easy! I definitely recommend it.

It was pretty much PURE CHAOS after that.

 Lincoln became difficult for them to track on the fetal hear rate monitor. Sometimes he would disappear and they wouldn't be able to find him for a bit. Which was scary because his heart rate kept going down drastically during every contraction I had. They had a nurse trying to find him and a nurse keeping me breathing with an oxygen mask to help Lincoln get enough oxygen.

6:45 am My Epidural worked perfectly. I could still feel/move my legs and the pressure of the contractions, but had no pain. They got me laying on my back/side after the epidural was in and I was dilated to a 5.

6:50am Then they put the catheter in (the should have done that before the epi, duh!!) because they thought my water broke - but no... I just pee'd. haha. embarrassing and sorry if TMI. But they cleaned it up, checked me again - I was a 6. all within 5 minutes!! And my water was bulging, about to break any minute.Erin said, "wow, he just really wants to come out right now!"

7:00 water broke, dilated to about a 7. they couldn't find Lincoln's heart rate... Took a few minutes, but they found it - and it just did not sound right. Which completely freaked me out. They pushed the panic button - which got 2 more nurses in there instantly. The supervisor lady was trying to calm me down while finding Lincoln's heart rate. They put the monitors on his head to monitor him that way, so we knew where he was. His heart rate continued to decline during each contraction. But went back up in between, so we were generally okay.

7:15am 8 cm dilated... Progressing so quickly. Called  a few baby nurses in the room. They tried finding the OB doctor to get him to the hospital asap because I as going to be ready soon. But of course he was at Utah Valley delivering a baby. So they called in another doc to come in.

7:30am - complete. Fully dilated and effaced. About 8 nurses in the room now. Seth was holding my hand helping me breath w/ the oxygen in order to keep baby's heart rate up. We were waiting for the doctor to get there! Lincoln was still high, his head wasn't on its way out or anything, just ready to push. I was shivering like crazy, like when you're cold and your body is convulsing to keep warm. It was so annoying. The nurse said I was fine, and that it's normal for the body to do that when it's transitioning into active labor so quickly.

      (**I start yelling at Seth to find the camera. He couldn't find it!! So all these nurses are looking at Seth who with no sleep, was blindly trying to find the camera while I'm yelling at him that baby is coming and we're not even going to get a picture. Oh boy. He found it though! The nurses were all grateful it wasn't going to be Seth's last day on earth after all - b/c they were just waiting for me to end Seth if he didn't find the camera!!!**)

I kept telling the nurse I don't care if my OB is here to deliver or not. I wanted to make sure Lincoln was okay. I didn't care if a nurse or whoever delivered Lincoln, I was just so nervous he wasn't going to be okay b/c his heart rate was decreasing so low each contraction.

7:40am - a random hospital doctor came in to deliver Lincoln... But they didn't want me to push yet. He was feeling for his head, etc. Since his heart rate would increase and go back up after each contraction Lincoln didn't seem to be in distress. My OB was on his way, so the random hospital doctor left and told us to wait for the OB.

7:50ish - OB walks into the room!! Yay! Gets all ready in his gown/mask... I'm ready to push Lincoln out. We're all happy campers. Contraction comes.... I push. 2nd Contraction comes... there is his head. 3rd Contraction... push, head is out, they ask me to stop pushing - suction suction. They ask me to push a little more, out comes the body.

8:02am - He's here!! But I can't hear Lincoln and I'm freaking out that something is wrong. But the cord wasn't cut yet, We were all just fine. Then the OB had Seth cuts the cord. More suctioning... and then I hear the little whimper! And all is right in the world! Sigh. Lincoln was here, and breathing, and has SO much hair!!!

Weighing in at 6lb 12.6 ounces... 19inches long. I'm shocked he is smaller than his sister was. I was so positive he was going to be at least 8 lbs! He didn't really cry at all, which worried me. I would be much more happy to hear a loud, strong, healthy cry. But he scored well on the APGAR scale and was soon on my chest meeting his mama for the first time.

It all happened so fast! I just laid there holding him and looked up at the nurses thinking, "Holy crap! Didn't I just ask for my epidural?" It felt like I just got my epidural 15 minutes ago, but it had been over an hour. He was seriously in my arms!? I don't think my nurses left the room once since walking in at 6:15 am - at the beginning of their shift.  "It's 8:15am... I'm suppose to start pitocin, the induction in 15 minutes!! And he's in my arms already?" It was just insane to wrap my head around. He was here!

We had pushed the epidural button just a few times throughout the hour, I am soooo grateful I got the epidural when I did! So happy it wasn't too late.


I tore/ripped more than with Scarlett, smaller baby - faster delivery, but more damage. I got super swollen in the hospital too. I lost over 15 lbs of water weight over my first week at home. I was always trying to keep my feet elevated! It was sooo uncomfortable to have such swollen feet/ankles/legs. I'm so glad that is back to normal.

We're so glad Lincoln is here! He is such a great baby. With such a mild temperament, he whimpers for a long time before crying for food or attention. He has big eyes that make every expression so fun to watch. His lips pucker up (like Zoolander) and sometimes pout when he's getting upset. We are a pretty happy Burke family that is feeling a bit more complete these days.

Postpartum Joy

**Warning!! this is a TMI post.... meaning - Too Much Information.... you probably don't want to read it. But I still thought I'd post my wonderful postpartum happenings while I'm catching up the blog.**

We've been watching Grey's Anatomy on netflix for the last few months. Which is really bad because I'm generally a paranoid person and not good at distinguishing TV and real life! I seriously thought I was going to die from bleeding last week!

On Tuesday, 11 days postpartum, we went out to run 2 errands... I hadn't been outside all day long, I needed to just get out and do something! It was the first time we were all in the car together as a family of 4! Seth stayed in the car with the kids at Deseret book while I ran in. As I was walking through the store looking for a CD, I knew I was bleeding some. But it just kept going after a few minutes and I looked down... and I had bled through my jeans... Yikes! I left straight for the car and we went home... called the on-call doc. There was a huge gush when I got out of the car to go in the apartment - where I filled the toilet with awesomeness. I told Seth to take Scarlett to a neighbors right away b/c I definitely needed his full attention with whatever was going on.

Waited for the doc to call back... he was taking forever, I thought I was dying. Called Labor & Delivery, and was told to go to ER right away. Got to the E  (I am so happy we live not even a mile away from two hospitals!) Major gushes... it was SO gross!! Who knows how much of the fun stuff I passed, I was (am) traumatized by it all.

The ER nurse was wheeling me in while Seth parked with Lincoln. I was so distraught, but luckilynot in any pain. It was all just soooo gross!! They got me in a room... IV started, labs drawn, etc. Then I got a shot in the butt of meds that were to stop the bleeding and help my uterus contract. Which was awesome because it worked well. I soon stopped bleeding and they took me to get an ultrasound.

It was my first time being pushed around a hospital in a bed, I couldn't believe this all was going on. The ultrasound showed there was still something in my uterus to pass, but it could have been retained placenta and/or clots. An OB there discussed the options - meds or D&C - before my OB got there. I was hoping we'd just do a D&C to get it over with and I would nothing more to worry about. But after delivering a baby - the uterus is only so thick. The risks of puncturing through it are higher, as well as other risks, and I'm already recovering from a delivery anyway. So we weren't sure what to do.

My OB came. We decided to try the medication, which work 75% of the time. Just a little pill to take every 8 hours for 3 days that make you cramp/contract to get everything out of the uterus. They checked my cervix, and it was closed, so that wasn't an issue. Also, because the shot of the medicine worked well already, the chances were good that the medication would take care of the problem. So I went home that night about 10:30pm and medication was to be our fix. What a day!

I really wasn't excited to take medicine that was to give me cramps 24/7 for 3 days! But they really weren't that bad to deal with. Saturday I took my last pill of the series at 11am... took a nap a few hours later. Woke up about 2pm and realized I was bleeding. UGH! Wasn't as bad as Tuesday, but plenty to know it was back to the ER for me.

My body was still trying to get rid of something in my uterus that just didn't belong. I'm seriously surprised I didn't get rid of it considering how much I had passed since the ER Tuesday... and I may have passed it with this new episode on Saturday. But my OB and we just decided a D&C was preferred over trying another kind of medicine.

So my OB booked the OR and we headed to the ER. I got all checked in, hooked up to another IV, and waited for them to come get me. Talk about Surreal! I was wheeled through the hospital again on my bed, into the Operating Room - wow! Grey's Anatomy was coming to life. Hahaha, The surgical nurse and anesthesiologist assured me I had nothing to worry about and this routine procedure would be a piece of cake compared to Grey's Anatomy.

 The anesthesiologist who gave me my awesome epidural was the same who knocked me out for the operation. He did so well! I was in the OR one minute and woke up in the recovery the next minute. Piece of cake. It actually only took about 20 minutes total in the OR. My OB, Broberg, got it all out - he told Seth there was a lot more clots, just a little tissue. That will all go to get tested. It took about 45 minutes for me to wake up and get back up to my room. I went home about an hour later after some crackers and ice chips. What a day! It's a huge relief to know I won't (better not) start bleeding out again and this postpartum recovery stuff just might be in the tail end about now.

 Good thing this little guy is so freaking handsome!!  :)   We are So Blessed! I'm so grateful for modern medicine, It has saved my life once again.