The birth of Lucas

Once again this was an overdue pregnancy. At 9 days overdue I decided it was time for the natural induction methods. I ate a whole fresh pineapple, started drinking red raspberry leaf tea, and made the induction salad. I did the same thing before Milo was born. Wednesday, February 16 was day 10 and I started feeling things. I woke up in pain. There were many weird shooting pains, paralyzing aches, and contractions. I could barely stand up for most of the morning. By the afternoon I was feeling better but the contractions were steadily 20 minutes apart for the entire day. I had an appointment to go in to the doctor for a check and a non-stress test. All checked out fine and I was barely dilated. The doctor said they would induce me Monday if the baby wasn’t born by then. Ryan, Keely, and Milo picked me up from the doctor and we went home for pizza. By bedtime I was feeling so-so and tired from a long uncomfortable day.

Just as I got to sleep I was awoken at 11:46 to a strange tearing feeling. I jumped out of bed and my water broke all over the floor. Ugh. Another middle of the night labor. Ryan sat up straight in bed and knew what had happened. We called Grandma Debbi to come over. We called the midwife. She said go to the hospital within an hour. I tucked in my sleeping babies 18,000 times and fretted about how Milo would react when he woke up without me. I’ve slept next to him every night for his entire 3 years. Our little family had never been apart before. The contractions started getting closer together and we finally got to the hospital around 1. It was strangely abandoned there.  They hooked me up and monitored things. We watched the contractions rise and fall. We kept making jokes to lighten our stress. They gave me antibiotics for strep B. After the I.V. was done, they said to go walk around and get these contractions moving closer. We paced the halls. There was no one there except nurses. We went back to our room and they suggested using a breast pump to get natural Oxytocin going in my system. I agreed. That was a strange thing to be doing. I was going to try anything though. This labor seemed to be moving so slow. I really thought it would have been faster than Milo’s birth, but it was dragging on and not moving nearly as quickly. The nurses thought I wasn’t progressing fast enough for a third baby. Ryan and I tried to keep joking around, but after a few hours things weren’t funny. We were tired and growing worried.

The nurses seemed to think I wouldn’t be able to deliver this baby without an epidural.  “Your baby is not in the right position.” “This is not going to be like your other births.”  The baby was facing upwards instead of down. Sunny side up.  I was in a lot of pain and still not dilating. I started to doubt that I could do this too. They said, “We need to start Pitocin and increase it throughout the day.”  Ryan and I both felt overwhelmed then..”throughout the DAY.”  I couldn’t imagine still being in labor the next afternoon. By 7 a.m. things hadn’t changed much, but the nurses did switch shifts. I got a nice and encouraging new nurse for the day. Suddenly I started feeling some familiar feelings of a baby being moved through my body. I got my confidence back and started thinking that I could do this.  I was in a lot of pain and I couldn’t really listen to what people were asking or telling me to do. I blocked them all out and started breathing incorrectly (or not breathing) , growling, groaning, shushing people and such. I felt the baby moving and suddenly I knew it was time. I started telling everyone, “Baby! Baby! Help! Help!” in my deep birthing voice.  They checked me and were surprised that I was really ready. The baby really was coming now.  I felt him move through me inch by inch. With each contraction I struggled and tried as hard as I could to get this done. It took forever to get his head out. When his head finally emerged he wasn’t breathing and his shoulders were stuck! He was purple. The midwife got serious and finally got him out. I finished birthing him and they took him away quickly to clear his airways. We finally heard him cry and knew he was o.k.

They gave little naked Lucas to me and he seemed to climb up me looking for milk. He started nursing quickly and easily.  He was so tiny and short. My smallest baby. My roughest birth. My longest labor. He looked like Keely and he looked like Milo. He was beautiful. His fingers were so long and his nails too. His little ears were folded in so the tops looked pointed and elf-like. We loved on him and admired him.  Everyone left us alone with our new one for about an hour. Then the nurses took him for all the testing.  Ryan went with him.  My nurse helped me get cleaned up and took me to a new room.  Not long after Ryan brought Keely and Milo up to visit.

They were so happy to meet Lucas. They ran over to the bed to see him. They both proclaimed their love for him and talked about how cute he was. Bitty hands and feet were cooed over. After about an hour the hospital room was growing small for our energetic littles, so Ryan took them back home to Grandma Debbi. Ryan came back later to eat dinner with me and spend time with Lucas and I. We decided that it would be best if Ryan went home for dinner and the bedtime routine for Keely and Milo.  They called me that night and both of them were so sad that I wasn’t there. It made me cry. My parents came up to visit Lucas and I for a little bit and then Lucas and I were left alone for the night.  He slept so well. He was too kind to me. Both of our other babies screamed for the duration of our hospital stay. I was prepared for that to happen again.  Lucas was mellow and sweet. He nursed and slept. He even agreed to sleep in the silly plastic box so that I could sleep for a couple of hours. It was amazing. I’ve never had a baby like that. Nurses kept coming in throughout the night checking on us and taking blood and at midnight they took Lucas for a bath? and monitoring. So strange.  The night wasn’t as torturous as I had imagined.  It was odd and quiet. It was the first night that Ryan and I had been apart in our 12 years.

The next morning our new pediatrician (who we employed specifically for this birth because we heard he was lenient in letting healthy strep B babies leave before 48 hours) came in and said how great Lucas was and agreed that we could take him home that day. I was so happy to leave. I was quick to pack up all of our things and sign off on all the papers. We waited for our ride outta there. By noon we were home.  A family of five. Welcome sweet Lucas. We are thrilled that you are here.

Lucas “bringer of light”

Thursday- February 17, 2011

9:06 a.m

7 lbs. 6 oz.

20 1/2 inches