Lincoln's Birth Story

Lincoln’s birth was MUCH different then either of the girls. At this point, I was convinced my body was broken and would never go into labor on its own. I had decided from the beginning that I would be induced and have an epidural again. I was hopeful it would be similar to Sadie’s experience since that was just so perfect! 

Lincoln was due Jan 6^th and around 30 weeks my plans took a 180 degree turn! I saw some ads on FB about natural labor and watched a live class about the benefits of it. I felt crazy for even considering it. There’s no way my body would go into labor on its own. And I wanted to be able to have a scheduled induction that way someone would be there to watch the girls. Well a few days passed and I continued to do research on natural childbirth. I just felt like this is what I needed to be doing. I told Michael my thoughts and he was supportive, but definitely thought I was crazy haha! I figured not only is it better for recovery to do natural, but it’s also much cheaper! I took Corinne Brown’s Love Your Labor class and it was amazing!!! It helped educate me on how labor and delivery worked and what hormones were involved in the process. The class went over how to prepare your body for labor and also pain coping techniques. With my other 2 birth’s I just hoped for the best instead of actually researching anything. This time around I felt so empowered and educated. I knew exactly what my body needed to do and how to help it be prepared for labor. 

At my next doctor’s appointment, I told Dr. Katseanes, I had changed my mind about being induced and wanted to see if I could go into labor naturally. He was onboard and supportive of my decision which I appreciated! We did set an induction date for Jan. 15^th, just in case it was needed. But I was very hopeful that we would have Lincoln before then.

To help prepare my body and mind for birth I drank red raspberry leaf tea 2-4 times a day, tried to sit on my birth ball as much as possible, did yoga every morning, practiced my breathing techniques for labor, listened to positive affirmations every morning, and ate dates.

About a week before Christmas, I was having contractions randomly throughout the week. This was my first pregnancy that I can remember having contractions before being induced. My doctor let me know that at times my contractions could become regular and even down to 5 minutes apart, but would space back out and go away if it wasn’t real labor. One weekend exactly what he had said happened! I was having contractions for several hours and they were about 10-15 minutes apart. Then they just went away. Christmas morning the same thing happened again. I was getting excited and nervous! I felt like my body was ready this time around and all the preparation I had done was working!

The week of New Year’s I hadn’t been having many contraction at all. I was getting nervous that they had stopped when the week before I had been having so many. Well on January 3^rd around 6pm I felt low cramping in my abdomen like period cramps. I couldn’t tell if it was a contraction at this point or not. So I didn’t think anything of it since I had been having them on and off for weeks and went about my day. My mom had arrived on January 1^st so I was relaxed knowing I didn’t have to worry about what we would do with Madi and Sadie when labor happened (that was my main stress since my family is 5.5 hours away). My contractions were very random and anywhere from 8-30 minutes apart. We put our kids to bed around 7 and then my mom and I decided to watch House. I bounced on my birth ball for several hours while we watched. They were not painful at this point, but were becoming more frequent and consistent. I kept track on an app. Michael and both kids had been sick the past few days with a fever, chills, and cough. We were nervous they might have the flu! I let him know I was having contractions, but still wasn’t convinced I was going into labor at this point. He laid down to rest in case it was the real thing. 

At 8:40 my contractions were now 6-8 minutes apart. I had Michael give me a blessing. It said something along the lines of that my body knew what it was doing and would function properly. I then decided to hop in the shower. The hot water felt so good and really helped me relax and ease any pain during contraction. I decided I better shave my legs in case this was the real deal haha! I still wasn’t convinced this was it! I was hoping my body wouldn’t go into labor when my whole family was sick! 

After the shower, my contractions started to get more painful. I was now needing to really focus on each one and breathe through them. I put my birth ball on my bed and leaned on that through contractions while swaying my hips. It helped ease the pain and was a comfortable position for me. I had an app that had positive affirmation on it that I started listening to at this point. It helped me mentally since at this point I knew this was it!

At 10:20 my contractions started to be 5-8 minutes apart and were slowly getting more intense. They were still very doable at this point and I was easily able to breathe through them. My doctor had told me to head to the hospital when contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour. I told Michael we’d leave around 11:30 if contractions continued to be 5 minutes apart. At 11:20 contractions were still consistent, but still doable. I let my mom know we were headed to the hospital. I figured I wasn’t in a ton of pain at this point, but we’d get checked and see how I was progressing. I was hopeful I’d be 4-5 cm dilated!

The hospital is about 15 minutes away. As we drive over, my contractions are now getting to be 2-3 minutes apart and are getting more intense. It was getting much harder to breathe through them at this point. We arrived at 11:50. I told Michael that we should wait in the car for the next contraction then head up. I didn’t want to check in before midnight and have to pay for the full days worth plus didn’t want to be walking during a contraction. We wait for the next contraction and start walking in at 11:53. I tell Michael we need to hurry because they were much more painful at this point. As we walk across the parking lot another contraction hits me. I’m getting nervous that they are coming so fast now. I also was getting extremely nauseous. I get in a wheelchair and we head up to labor and delivery. The entire waiting room was full! We go to check in right at midnight and they send us to triage. I had always hoped we could bypass triage since that would mean you were close to delivering, but I was hopeful that when they checked me that they would admit me. 

I change into the gown in triage and get on the bed. It’s one of the small ER beds that are sooo uncomfortable. Contractions are coming strong at this point. And every 1-2 minutes. Michael sits next to me and I wrap my arms around him and start crying. I tell him I can’t do this and don’t want to do a natural birth anymore. I’m not able to breathe through contractions anymore. The pain was becoming too much for me. I start hyperventilating and can’t control my breath at all. We were probably in triage for about 5 minutes before the secretary comes in sees that I’m in distress. I tell her I feel like I have to push now. The nurse runs in the room to check me. She says I’m a 9 with a bulgy bag! I couldn’t believe it!!! She says she has called my doctor, but that the oncall doctor is here in case he doesn’t make it in. They wheel me in the bed across the hall to the delivery room. They have me transfer to the other bed. It was so hard to move at this point. I crawl over on my hands and knees. The nurse says I can stay on hands and knees if that is comfortable for me. At this point nothing is, so I just stay there not wanting to move anymore. I grip the pillow and immediately my body just starts pushing on its own. I freak out since I hadn’t been fully dilated yet. I yell out that I’m pushing and can’t stop. My water then breaks. The nurse tries to get the monitors hooked up, but runs out of time. My husband yells out, “He’s crowning! Is the doctor here?” The oncall doctor comes over and says she’ll be delivering the baby. 

I feel the head crowning and push with the next contraction. I yell through the contraction until it ends. I stop pushing then push again when the next contraction comes on about a minute later. One more push and he’s out! The immediate relief I felt was incredible! I couldn’t believe I had done it and only had to push 3 or 4 times! Lincoln starts crying right away and I feel so happy and relieved. I’m still on hands and knees, so they slide the baby up to me so I can hold him. It felt weird feeling the cord still attached to him. I flip over onto my back and do skin to skin. Michael cuts the cord. A few minutes later I deliver the placenta with no problem. I ended up with a small second degree tear that needed a few stitches. The doctor says it shouldn’t give me any problems. Unfortunately, I did end up hemorrhaging. They put an IV in and ran a bag of Pitocin to help get the uterus to clamp down. I lost 850 mls, but luckily the Pitocin worked and I didn’t need any other interventions. 

Lincoln was born at 12:14 am, just 14 minutes after walking into the hospital! If we had waited just 15 minutes, we would have had him in the car!!! I couldn’t believe how fast I went from controlled pain to 10/10 “I’m going to die” pain! Looking back I think when we were driving over was when I was in transition. 

Finding the Love Your Labor program was a huge blessing. Looking back, I realized that I would have been induced the next week and would have had a natural labor whether I liked it or not. I definitely see God’s hand in this and know I found that class because I needed to prepare myself for a natural labor that would soon be happening. I still can’t believe how it all happened, but am grateful for how things turned out. I’m so grateful Lincoln is here and that he is doing so well! 

We were discharged the next day. I quarantined myself to the bedroom, so that Lincoln would be away from all the germs. I felt so bad that Michael and the girls were sick. Michael wore a mask the entire time he was at the hospital and only held Lincoln at arms length so he didn’t risk getting him sick. Madi wanted to hold Lincoln so bad and loves him so much. Hopefully in a few days everyone will be better! 

We love Lincoln so much and are excited he’s apart of our family! 

Sadie's Birth Story

I had my last doctors appointment on August 6^th (I believe). I had not been having any contractions (that I could tell) or any signs that labor was approaching. My due date was the 8^th. Michael and I had talked about what we wanted to do before the appointment. I had decided I was done being pregnant and wanted to be induced again. I was nervous about this decision since Madi’s birth was so difficult for me. But I was at the stage of pregnancy that I was so uncomfortable and could barely sleep. I decided I’d rather be induced now vs potentially being pregnant for another week and needing to be induced then anyways. My doctor asked when we’d want to be induced and we had decided we wanted to do it on our due date the 8^th. Sadie’s middle name was going to be Elizabeth after Michael’s, grandma Mamaw Libby. Mamaw Libby’s birthday is on the 8^th, so we thought it’d be so cool to have Sadie then too. Plus the birth date was a cool one 8/8/18! 

We checked in on the 8^th at 7 am. We got all situated then the nurse started the Pitocin at 8. Luckily this time no issues when the Pitocin was started. Sadie was doing great! Dr. Denson came and checked on me around 8:30. He broke my water and at that point I was around 2-3 cm dilated. 

Around 10 the nurse came in and said if I wanted an epidural now would be the time. The anesthesiologist was free now, but a surgery coming up and would be available for several hours. Contractions at this point were definitely bearable, but I decided I’d get the epidural now rather then potentially have to wait when contractions got worse. 10:30 the epidural was in with no issues. I was so glad that so far everything was going much smoother than it had with my last delivery! 

At 10:45, the nurse checked me again and I was now 3-4 cm dilated. Moving slowly, but surely. Michael and I just kinda hung out. We watched Netflix and relaxed. It was so nice not having any pain at all! 11:55 the nurse checked me again and I was a 6! 

Around 12:30 I started to feel pressure and like I needed to push. I called the nurse in and she said you were only a 6, 30 minutes ago, but I can check again. She checked me at 12:45 and sure enough I was fully dilated!!! Crazy how fast that last part progressed! She ran and called Dr. Denson. He was in the middle of a c-section. Dr. Denson and his wife both work together, so he said he’d have his wife close and he’d run over. 

At 1:10 I started pushing. I mentally was prepared to be pushing for a while, since with Madi I had to push for 2 hours. With each contraction I pushed as hard as I could. Dr. Denson said after just a few pushes that Sadie was almost here. At 1:24 Sadie was born! I couldn’t believe that I only had to push for 14 minutes!!! Especially since I had an epidural and couldn’t feel anything! Michael was able to cut the cord and I did skin to skin right away. 

My mom brought Madi over shortly after we had Sadie and Madi got to hold her. She was so excited! Madi was 2.5 when Sadie was born. She was so soft and gentle with her. It was so sweet to watch!

Labor and delivery was so amazing! I couldn’t believe the night and day difference it was compared to when I had Madi! There were no complications. I had a second degree tear, but that healed much quicker than the last tear. I was able to be discharged the next day and we went on a walk just a few days later! I was so happy that my recovery was much better this time around. When I had Madi I couldn’t even sit for the longest time let alone go on a walk! 

We are so blessed to have Sadie in our family. Before we were pregnant with Sadie, I always wondered how I would be able to love another child as much as I loved Madi. But the second I held Sadie, I was so in love! She was perfect! It really is crazy the amount of love you can feel for each child!

Something Nobody Talks About: Postpartum Recovery

Throughout my pregnancy I did research and read the book What To Expect When You’re Expecting. I read up on everything I could about pregnancy and going through labor. One thing I never even thought to consider was how I would feel AFTER giving birth. At the time, all I cared about was that my pregnancy was going well and that I would get to meet my baby soon. It never crossed my mind to prepare for what happens after giving birth, so I only had a vague idea of what to expect.

Most people don’t talk about all the postpartum stuff because it’s personal and quite frankly…gross! But I wish I would have known what to expect postpartum, so I decided to open up about what I have been going through and feeling.

Night Sweats

Night sweats is the body’s natural way of getting rid of all that extra fluid that built up during pregnancy. When I say night sweats, it doesn’t mean how you feel after exercising. It means how you feel after getting out of the pool. I would wake up to feed Madi and would literally be drenched! Including the sheets! I didn’t even know it was possible to sweat that much. Night sweats for me has been a win-lose situation. It’s a win because in the first few days every morning I would weigh myself and would be 5 pounds less! It’s a lose because I lost most of that weight sweating in my bed…yep pretty disgusting. Just make sure you have a mattress protector.

Tearing

I knew that during birth there is the chance of tearing. Unfortunately, I ended up getting a third degree tear that went all the way from front to back. Sitting down was just about impossible for me because it was just too painful. I’m now about a month out since giving birth and am just starting to be able to sit rather than lay down. Ice packs and sitz baths have become my best friend. And laying in a hot bath is the absolute best!

Bleeding

The first day after giving birth you bleed. A LOT. The nurses give you pads that are the size of adult diapers. It feels weird wearing them, but it’s something that is essential! As the days go by, the bleeding lightens up and luckily it usually lightens up pretty quickly. You usually bleed for a few weeks, but after those first few days it’s just like a light period.

Hemorrhoids

I won’t expound on this much because it speaks for itself. Hemorrhoids are gross, but after pushing a baby out it’s something that happens! I used lots of Tucks pads and hemorrhoid cream and they cleared up pretty quickly. Thank goodness!

Constipation

Now this one was my least favorite. Especially if you did tear and have stitches, constipation is a huge concern. The first few times I was able to go it was so painful! I was bawling the whole time. My doctor prescribed me stool softners to take twice a day. These seemed worthless. I also was eating extra fiber, fruits, and vegetables, but I still didn’t avoid it. But again this also clears up quickly and only lasted the first couple of days for me.

Emotions

After giving birth, your emotions are all over the place. I was so excited and happy that my beautiful baby was finally here and that she was healthy. But I was feeling like crap after giving birth and would cry often those first few days because I was in so much pain from my tear. The first few days I also would worry that I wouldn’t be a good enough mom to Madi or that I wouldn’t know how to take care of her.

I cried about the dumbest things. For example, I like watching The Bachelor. It’s one of my guilty pleasures and I love watching the drama.  I was watching it a few days ago and starting crying during the episode! Who cries about The Bachelor?! Anyways, I would consider myself blessed that I really didn’t have “Baby Blues” for long and I didn’t get postpartum depression, which is common.

Sore Breasts/Nipples

Breastfeeding is a great way to bond with your new baby. It also makes for some sore breasts and nipples. For the first couple of days Madi had a really hard time latching on correctly. Because of that I got huge cracks on my nipples and they would bleed. Lanolin cream has been amazing and I use it pretty much after each feeding. It’s a natural cream that is safe for mom and baby.

When my milk came in, my breasts literally doubled in size! Doubling in size = incredibly tender.

Complete Exhaustion

Babies eat every 2-3 hours, which means you have to wake up every few hours to feed them at night. Madi usually goes to bed at around 8 then wakes up around midnight and 4 to eat. But many times she’ll wake up to eat then won’t want to go back to sleep. Sometimes it will take her hours to go back to sleep and by the time I actually fall back asleep, it’s time for the next feeding! Michael has been great with staying home a little longer before heading to school and taking care of Madi, so I can at least get a few hours of sleep. Now that it’s been about a month my body is getting used to running on little sleep and I can make it through the day without needing a nap. Hopefully this will keep up once I go back to work!

Since every pregnancy is different, you may experience only a few of these things or maybe even more than what I’ve listed. Everyone is different and every body recovers differently. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that the love you have for your baby is unconditional and it sure makes all these terrible things worth it!

Madilyn's Birth

On January 25^th, we had our final doctor’s appointment. Madi was already 5 days overdue and the plan was that I would be induced. When we were at the doctor’s office I told him I would like to be induced as soon as possible since my parents would be here on Wednesday. He called the hospital to see when they had room for me to come in. They said if I wanted to I could come in that night at 5. We were so excited and nervous that the moment had finally come!

We checked in at 5 and I got hooked up to the monitors to monitor the baby’s heart rate and any contractions that I had. The nurse gave me a medication called Cervidil to help soften my cervix up then I would be started on Pitocin in the morning. I had heard that Pitocin caused contractions to be much stronger and more painful, but I was okay with that since the only thing I wanted for my birth plan was an epidural. The nurse also checked how dilated I was and I was still only 1.5 cm and 50% effaced. That night Michael and I got hardly any sleep! I maybe got a full hour. I was so anxious for the next day to get here.

At 7 AM the nurse took the Cervidil out and rechecked me. I was the exact same, 1.5 cm. She then said we would be starting Pitocin after breakfast. We got moved over to our delivery room and ended up starting the Pitocin at 8 AM. About 15 minutes later, Dr. Minudri came in to let us know the plan for the day. He explained all that would happen and said he would be checking in with us later on in the day. Before he left, Madi’s heart rate dropped significantly and was not coming back up. My nurse came running in to check the monitor and see what was going on. She had me lay on my side, gave me a bolus of fluids, and put oxygen on me. The heart rate stayed low and the doctor said to shut off the Pitocin and wait a while before restarting it. Of course, at this point I was getting a little nervous that her heart rate had stayed low for so long! But after a few minutes she was back up to the 110’s. Which was low for her since she had been in the 130-140s. The nurse said she would continue to watch the heart rate and once it got back up to Madi’s baseline we could restart the Pitocin.

Around 9:30 AM we were able to restart the Pitocin. At this point, I was already having contractions every 3-5 minutes that lasted a minute. So far they were not too painful, but the Pitocin was also only going at 2 ml/hr. About every 30 minutes the nurse would come in and bump the Pitocin up and at around 11 AM my contractions were becoming much more painful. At this point, I could breath through them, but I let the nurse know that I wanted an epidural sooner rather than later. She checked how dilated I was and she said I was barely 2 cm! I couldn’t believe that I was still about the same after all the contractions I had been having all morning! She said she would still call the doctor and let him know I wanted an epidural soon. She came back in after talking with Dr. Minudri and said that the doctor wanted to wait until I started to dilate before letting me have an epidural. I understood the reasoning for this and even though the contractions were becoming more and more painful, I was hopeful that I would dilate soon.

Shortly after this time, my contractions were becoming incredibly painful to the point that I was starting to hyperventilate during contractions. At one point, the nurse said my oxygen saturations got down to 70%. But who knows how accurate that was since during each contractions I would move around a lot in bed to try to ease the pain. Michael was amazing during all of this and would massage my lower back during each contraction which helped ease the pain. I asked the nurse to recheck me because I needed that epidural! She rechecked and I was praying that I dilated even just a little! She said I was now 4 cm and 100% effaced! She ran to call the doctor and I was so relieved that I would be able to get an epidural soon! She shortly came back in and said that in the last few hours the baby had been having several late decelerations meaning the baby’s heart rate would drop in the middle of a contraction. She said the doctor was very nervous that if I had an epidural it would cause my blood pressure to drop which would in turn effect the baby’s heart rate even more. He was afraid I would need an emergency C-section if I did get an epidural. She said I could always still get the epidural and that it was up to me. After hearing the risk that this could cause me and my baby, I knew I would have to wait. The nurse said that she could give my a few IV pain meds to help take the edge off though, which I was all for!

I was now having contractions every 3 minutes and there was a period of time that I was actually having 4 or 5 contractions in a row with only 30 seconds of time in between each one. I don’t remember a lot that happened during this time. Michael said I was getting pretty delusional and was very out of it. All I remember was crying each time a contraction started and just trying to breath my way through it. The nurse said if we could the get the baby in a different position that maybe her heart rate would stop dropping during contractions. She put a peanut shaped ball in between my legs and said that this could help get the baby to turn. Around 3 PM, the nurse said I could try getting in the Jacuzzi tub and seeing if this helped ease the pain. I was all for anything that would help decrease my pain! I got in and it the warm water felt great! But once a contraction hit there was no relief. I stayed in for only a short time then got back in bed.

After getting back in bed, I still was struggling with hyperventilating during contractions. I became extremely light headed and my ears started to ring. I knew that if I didn’t get my breathing under control, I was going to cause myself to pass out. At this point, I remembered a part of the blessing that Michael had given me about a week before. The blessing said to listen to the signs my body was giving me. I knew at this point if I continued this same pattern that I would pass out which would be just as bad for me and the baby. I told the nurse I either needed an epidural or that I wanted a C-section. She let the doctor know and he said that I could now have the epidural. It was now 4 PM. She rechecked me to see where I was at and I was now 7 cm dilated! I was proud of myself that for not wanting a natural labor I had made it to 7 cm on Pitocin! When the anesthesiologist came in I could not be more relieved! He had me sit on the side of the bed and lean over. Of course right when he was going to place the epidural I had another contraction! It was so hard trying to sit still during the contraction and I’m pretty sure I almost squeezed Michael’s hand right off!

It only took a few minutes for him to get the epidural in. I layed back down and he asked how my pain was. I said I wasn’t having any now, but said to see how I felt during a contraction. The nurse told me I had had several contractions already. I was so relieved to know that I could no longer even feel the contractions! The nurse also turned off the Pitocin since I was now contracting on my own. A little while later the nurse came in and said that the baby was doing great. She said that since I received the epidural her heart rate had not dropped down at all! After dinner, the doctor came in and checked on me. He told me that we were getting close! At around 8 PM, the nurse rechecked me and I was a 9! She told me to let her know once I felt pressure. There were a few times I called her in because I thought I was feeling pressure, but when she rechecked me I was still 9 cm dilated so I couldn’t start pushing yet. By this point, my water had still not broken yet! But when the nurse rechecked me, it caused my water to break. I heard a huge gush of fluid when it did. The nurse told me that there was some meconium in the water. I knew this was not a good thing and usually meant the baby was under stress. But the nurse told me that this was normal for baby’s that were overdue. She said that because there was meconium, she would have the respiratory therapist here for delivery just in case she needed to have Madi suctioned. She also said that the pediatrician would be called in as well.

Around 8:30 or 9 PM, I was able to start feeling contractions again on my right side.  At this point, it wasn’t even close to the pain I had experienced earlier, but was becoming more painful with each contraction. I let the nurse know and she called the anesthesiologist. He came and made sure the epidural was working okay and gave me a bolus of pain mediation. This did nothing and the pain continued to increase in my right lower back. He gave me another bolus to see if that would help. This time it did help a little, but I still was pretty uncomfortable. The anesthesiologist said he could give me one more bolus, but that if he did it would probably make my legs go completely numb which would make pushing extremely difficult. So we held off on the bolus. Shortly after that the nurse rechecked me and I was now fully dilated! She said I could start pushing now, or I could wait and let my body do the work to get Madi’s head lower so I wouldn’t have to push as long. I said I would rather start pushing since the epidural was wearing off and I would rather have at least some pain control now, rather than none later on.

I started pushing at 11:30 PM. The nurse told me to lift my legs up to push during contractions. I realized that I could hardly even wiggle my toes and definitely could not move my legs on my own. It was a good thing I didn’t get that last bolus of pain meds or I would have been completely numb from the waist down! So the nurse held up my left leg and Michael held up my right. Pushing definitely felt weird since I was so numb I had no idea if I was actually pushing or not! Dr. Minudri got to the hospital around midnight and was in and out of my room checking on how things were going. Michael said he could see the baby’s head and I was hopeful that meant I was close to being done pushing, but the nurse said I still had a while. She said some people push 2-3 hours! At 1 AM on the 27^th, they called in the pediatrician since I was now close to delivering the baby. Dr. Minudri could tell I was getting tired from pushing and said that we could use a vacuum to help get the baby out. He said that he would attach the vacuum to the baby’s head and that when I was pushing, he would pull. I was all for anything that would help speed the process along! I had only had 2 or 3 contractions since the doctor had started using the vacuum and he said one more push and I would be done. He said I just needed to get one of the shoulders out then he could do the rest! Our precious baby was born at 1:36 AM and I was relieved to hear her cry right when she came out! They let Michael cut the cord then had the pediatrician take her right away and make sure she was doing all right. He looked her over and said everything was perfect! They put Madi on my chest and I could not believe that this was my baby! Michael and I were both crying! It was an amazing moment! Madilyn was absolutely perfect and was beautiful! The doctor said that when Madi came out, the cord was around her neck. He said this was probably why the baby’s heart rate was dropping earlier.

It sure did take a long time for Madilyn to get her, but we are so glad that she finally decided to come! We love her so much! The labor and delivery was rough, but all the pain was worth it! Madilyn Lois was 7 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. She’s not even a week old and already has blessed our lives more than we ever would have guessed. Watching Michael care for Madi makes me love him even more. He is already the best daddy and he is so good with her. Becoming parents has been one of the best things that has happened to us. We are excited to see what the future holds and to raise Madi together.

Happy Birthday Michael! :)

Happy Birthday to my best friend, fiancé, and love of my life! I’ve known Michael for a little over a year now and each day I am amazed by how incredible he is! Michael has so many standout traits that made me fall in love with him. He is the most sincere man I know. He is always aware of other people and any needs they may have. He has a fun personality and is friendly with everyone. He always makes others laugh and smile. He is so diligent and dedicated to anything he puts his mind to. And most importantly he is a huge example to me. He helps me want to improve and become better each day. I love him so much and can’t imagine my life without him by my side. I cannot wait to be sealed to him for eternity. Happy Birthday Michael! I love you so much! :)