Samuel Wayne Bricker

As most of you have probably heard by now, Samuel decided to enter the world very swiftly which ended up surprising us and giving us absolutely no time to make it to St. Lukes East Hospital. Therefore, we welcomed Samuel at home very early in the morning on March 31st. We couldn't be more thankful that everything went better than we could have hoped for!

We had scheduled induction date for Wednesday 4.2.14, I really didn't want to get induced as I was with Isaiah and it was a terrible experience having my contractions controlled by pitocin, being confined to the bed all day, therefore resulting in back labor which brought on getting an epidural and having labor last as long as 16 hours with and hour and a half of pushing. After that experience I wanted to do everything I could to naturally induce labor and help my body to go into labor without being medically induced! 

On Sunday afternoon March 30th we had decided we were going to start doing everything we could to naturally induce labor. I was at a 4 by 40 weeks and had my membranes stripped twice by this time. I was 75% effaced, head was down very low, my OB even mentioned having to be careful not to rupture my water when she stripped the membranes each time. With all these on my side I was ready to meet this little guy before being medically induced. Matthew wanted to be here for it in case I did go faster than expected and since he works nights Sunday was our best option. I had heard several success stories on castor oil and I was willing to take it if it was the last thing I did. On top of that I ate hot sauce with dinner and walked and walked and walked some more, and I even got an awesome shin and foot rub by my dear sister-in-law. We ended up leaving Isaiah at his Aunt and Uncle's house JUST IN CASE, although by 10:30pm we headed home even though contractions were no stronger or closer together than they had been. At home I did squats, bounced on a ball, and took a warm bath. By midnight I was giving up! I slept on and off as Matthew watched TV and when I had a contraction I would use my app to time it and then go back to sleep. By 1am Matthew bid me goodnight, and told me sarcastically to come get him when my water broke. By this time we both were just ready for sleep. Little did we know within the next hour we would welcome Samuel in our own home by ourselves! 

At 1:35am I came into our room (as I had been sleeping on the sofa for weeks) with contractions about 5 minutes apart.  Me being the good little pregnant girl and not wanting to rush to the hospital for a false alarm wanted to do the 4-1-1 rule I had been told to wait until the contractions were 4 minutes apart, lasting a minute in length, and for an hour before I made any trips to the Hospital. (I had heard some stories about going in when it wasn't time and I wasn't about to do that:) Since I slept on and off in that time it didn't really hit me until I looked at my phone later that little did we know this was the time we should have left as I had already been having them for about an hour 4-5 minutes apart. That being said, Matthew popped up and started timing them for me and then we would rate them on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the worst. I found the best place to work through them in the bathroom and they started getting to be 2 minutes apart being at a 4 or a 5 on the pain scale every time. By the time Mathew was trying to get me to get up and get in the car I started to hit the transition stage of labor with a really hard contraction and ended up starting to push by the end of it, my water then broke/burst and I could feel his head crowning. It is pretty amazing at this point it seems a blur, my body took over, I got on the ground and started pushing without trying it seemed. In this short time Matthew ran in the other room because I wasn't the quietest of pregnant women at this time and called 911 and by the time he came back I had gotten Samuel's head almost all the way out. He was on speaker with a dispatcher telling him what to grab and do. Within minutes and just several pushes Samuel was here, I was thoroughly freaking out that I just had him at home and on my bathroom floor and said so out loud probably a million times. Matthew did a great job, although he was pretty shaken up by the whole thing, he kept his cool and was able to wipe Samuel down and tie the umbilical cord off with one of his brand new shoe strings that was the only thing nearby to grab. Samuel was born at roughly 2:26am (we weren't really watching a clock at this time:) and the paramedics got there shortly after he was born. They made sure we both were doing well, I was shaking pretty bad as I was in a great deal of shock but was stable and we headed to the hospital around 3am. I am so proud of Matthew in this whole experience, although we hope never to find ourselves in this situation again, we couldn't be more blessed that all went well and God provided us with a healthy little boy and I am super pleased to have had such a quick labor compared to Isaiah, and can tell such a difference being only 9 days out and feeling great.

It is quite the story and I am sure it is better heard in person with the both of us telling it, but that is Samuel's very unique birth-story. He was delivered at home by his daddy and we couldn't be more happier that he is here safe and sound and we are now a family of four!!!

Pictures of our newest addition

 His first bath

 Daddy giving comfort while he stayed under the warmer

 Proud parents of baby #2 and a big thanks to Aunt Alyssa for bringing us our things!!! (fingers crossed that you can be a witness to baby #3;)

So in love/on an adrenaline high!!!!

 Isaiah meeting his baby brother for the first time

 He wasn't very impressed the first time

 He did enjoy the view and all his time with QueenE

Love these shots!!!!

 Family of Four!!!!

 Starting to warm up to little brother

 He's sold, and couldn't be a more loving big brother!

 

Doesn't want to let go

 Can't believe he is a big brother

 Melts my heart!!! <3

 

 Proud daddy!!!!

 Going home early was a treat!

BROTHERLY LOVE!!!!!!

LOVE, JOANNA