“Published” Birth Stories

Recently The Bump.com was asking for birth stories and I submitted links to all three of mine from the blog.  They wrote me back and said they wanted to use Kellen’s birth story and asked if I would fill out this huge questionnaire and write up 5 “Pregnancy Diary” journal entries.  Oh and I needed to do it within a day.

Panic.

And then I said no.  I didn’t have anything written down that I could just copy from and I didn’t have time to make anything up.  But she wrote me back and said “It doesn’t have to be pretty, we can pretty it up”.  So I sent her a bunch of links to funny things from the blog and I figured she could just take that material and go with it.

And go with it she did.  Here is my pregnancy diary.  I seriously cannot stop laughing because it just doesn’t “sound” like me at all.  But its cute and a FUN memory nonetheless.  Oh and one that will also be published in The Bump Magazine.  Gah!  They don’t actually sell the magazine, so I have to go confiscate one from my doctors office.

Pasted the story here since the link won’t be live forever:

July 12
We got our BFP the day after my oldest son Finn’s third birthday. Our family was in town for the party, and they were getting ready to leave when we revealed the news. Before our second son, Riley, was born, my husband and I had put Finn in a shirt that read: “I’m going to be a big brother!” This time, we put the shirt on Riley. It didn’t take my mother-in-law very long to see Riley’s shirt and understand what was going on!

September 13
When I was 12 weeks pregnant, we made the announcement to our friends. I decided to post a funny picture of myself on Facebook to reveal the big news. In the picture, I had a protruding belly, my thumbs were up, and the caption said: “What has two thumbs and a baby in its belly? This girl!” It felt good to have the secret out!

October 29
When I showed my sons the ultrasound pictures, Finn was convinced that the baby was a girl. When I pointed out the baby’s different features, he asked, “Where’s her arm, Momma? Where’s her face?” He wanted to know why the picture was so dark, so I explained that the doctors used a machine to look inside my belly. “The baby is inside a machine?” Finn asked.

March 6
Since we were having our third baby, to say we didn’t need anything is an understatement! So instead of a shower, one of my girlfriends threw me a “Pamperpalooza” at a neighborhood restaurant. All the guests brought diapers for the new baby. The invitations were so cute and said: “Will she need pink? Will she need blue? No one is certain, but this much is true: She’s gonna need a lot of diapers for all of the poo!”

March 23
Todd and I arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. on the morning of my scheduled c-section, and once we were there, everything moved at warp speed! I was given an epidural, and within seconds, my lower half was numb. Unlike my other births, I wasn’t sick and I didn’t have the shakes—it was bliss! Todd was enthusiastically snapping pictures and narrating to me what was going on when, all of the sudden—was that crying? “Uh, sorry, that’s my phone,” said our doctor, who apparently had a giggling baby ringtone!

Before I knew it, the baby was out. Todd exclaimed, “We’ve got a Kellen!” They brought him over to me wrapped up so I could kiss his little face. Once he was on my chest, he immediately lifted his head and looked up at me. Kellen Lincoln Lakes was 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and 21 inches long. We are so in love with our new little man!