I don't have more than a few minutes at a time these days to do anything on the computer, so I will be writing as much down as I can before I have to get back to my kiddos. Here is the story of Lucas entering our little family:)
Some background info. My intention was to try and have Lucas via vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean). It was planned that I go in to be induced on the 25th of February. My doctor was pretty sure that I would make it until then because of my history ( having to be induced at 41 weeks with Cole and my failure to dilate on my own). So, here we go...
Feb 18th- I was telling my sister Sarah how huge I was and even took a picture with my cell phone and sent it to her as proof. She told me I didn't look that big (liar), she's sweet. That night I was up until midnight trying to get comfortable enough to go to bed and I was having a really hard time. I was just sitting there thinking of the days when laying down felt good. When I could stretch out on my back and feel tension leave my body as I drifted to sleep. When you are 38 weeks pregnant, no position is comfortable, least of all on your back. I even got a little weepy at one point and tried to wake up Travis, telling him how totally uncomfortable I was and how badly I wanted to get to sleep. He mumbled something but, of course, didn't fully wake. I finally straddled my body pillow and shut my eyes.
Feb. 19th- I remember Travis leaving for work around 5. He kissed me and I heaved my belly to the other side of the bed to stretch out:) At 5:30am, I woke up again, not realizing what had woken me. I had a tremendous urge to pee, so I pulled myself up and out of bed. Before I could get to the toilet, there was a gush. I was still half asleep, so I wasn't too sure what was happening but I did say to myself, "Am I seriously peeing my pants right now?". I hurried sat on the toilet and tried to stop the stream but I couldn't. Then I peed and tried to stop the stream and I could. I suddenly had the thought that my water may have broke. I sat there for a while trying to get my bearings and wake up a little more. More gushing. My water broke when I was in the hospital laboring with Cole but the sensation is so odd that I wasn't positive that it was the same as last time. I stood up...gush. I went to the phone and called Travis. "Hey honey, I'm pretty sure that my water just broke"
"WHAT?"
"I think my water broke."
"You think? Should I come home?"
"Yeah, we should probably go to the hospital"
I hear him yell to a co-worker "Hey dude, I gotta go!!"
"Is it your wife?"
"Yeah, I'm gonna have a baby!!"
Next I called my sister Sarah, no answer. I called my sister Lou, she answered and I explained what was going on and if she could come over and watch Cole while we went to the hospital. She was on her way:) I called my mom, no answer but I left her a message telling her that we were going to the hospital. My mom was planning on coming to the birth and had been at the ready for over a week, even though I was pretty sure that she would have to wait until the induction (oops). Cole woke up because of all of the hubub. He was still pretty tired but he was in a good mood, which made everything much easier for me. Travis came home and I decided to take a shower and eat a big breakfast because who knew how long it would be before I'd get to do either of those things again. Travis didn't understand why I wanted to shower, he truly thought that we needed to be like in the movies and screech through traffic because my water had broken. He's so funny. He kept telling me that I needed to hurry and kept asking me why I was acting so calm. I finally had to explain to him that there was a possibility that I would be pushing a small bowling ball out of my vagina, so I didn't think it would do me any good to rush around and get all freaked out. I told him that I had been prepping for this for 9 months now , so I was ready for what was going to happen. He didn't quite get it:) I took my shower (with Cole of course) and felt really good when we left for the hospital. I had started having contractions soon after my water broke and I realized that it was a contraction that woke me from my sleep in the first place. We made it to the hospital in record time and went to the labor and delivery floor to check in. I explained that I thought my water had broken and told them about the gush. They were pretty sure that I was right, so they admitted me and got me in a room right away. They were in the middle of a shift change so the nurse in triage, Lisa, was in the room with me having me fill out paper work while I was breathing through my contractions. They got a hold of my doctor and they started me on a very slow drip of Pitocin. At one point, Lisa, the nurse that was getting off and the nurse that was coming on were all in my room. Lisa was filling out stuff on the computer concerning my pregnancy and she asked me how many times I had been pregnant. Two.
Were there any complications with the previous pregnancy?
Well, other than having to have a c-section, no. The room fell silent and all three of the nurses just stared at me for a moment.
THIS IS A VBAC?!
Yes.
You should have told us this when you first got here.
I didn't know I had to.
If you have any more babies, the first thing you tell anyone when you get to a hospital is that you are trying for a vbac.
Good to know.
They all started to hustle and bustle and all three of them left the room.
After about 20 minutes, the head nurse came in and told me that I wouldn't be able to have a vbac because my doctor was going out of town at 4pm and there was no way that I was having the baby before he left and I couldn't have it after he left because he was the only doctor at the hospital that performed vbacs. I burst into tears. I was so ready for a vaginal birth. I was ready to see my baby be born, to have Travis cut the cord, to keep him in the room with us as he is weighed and measured and cleaned up. I wanted that experience so badly with Cole and I had a really hard time dealing with what had happened with his birth. I also did NOT want to have to heal from another c-section while having to take care of an infant AND a toddler. I knew that the transition was going to be tough enough for Cole just bringing a baby into the house but for me not to be able to take care of him, would just make it harder on him and me. I was laid up for almost two months with my previous c-section and I DID NOT want to do that all over again. The nurse left the room and I broke down. Travis tried to console me and told me that we just needed to do what was best for the baby and me. I knew he was right but I was devastated. I just kept saying, "I don't get to have my baby the way I want because my doctor is leaving?!" It just didn't make sense. Almost an hour later, I was having some intense contractions and I had dilated to a 3 ( all on my own, which I never did with Cole). The nurses kept popping in and telling me that they were still waiting for my doctor to come and see me. I just kept hoping that Luke would drop down and keep things going, so that I could try and have him before my doctor left but he was still really high in my pelvis. At one point, a nurse (can't remember her name) came in and told me that she would NEVER have a vbac because of the risks involved. Okay great, thanks. I hate it when people try to push their opinions on me, so I just smiled and nodded and told her that I deserved to have this baby the "right" way. She just shook her head at me. Whatever. My doctor finally made it in and explained that he was leaving on a family trip to Brian Head and he hadn't seen his family in two weeks because he had been so busy delivering babies. Before I had a chance to hate him, he told me that he would do everything in his power to help me get my vbac and that if he had to leave late, he would. I love that man:) I stopped crying immediately and really started to focus on getting my baby to drop and keep my contractions going strong. I got out of bed and rocked back and forth. I breathed through my contractions (which were getting ridiculous) and refused to get an epidural until I was at least 4 cm dilated. They came in to check me over an hour later and I was still at a three. Boo. I kept breathing and suffering:) Finally I had had enough and asked for my epidural. I was still at a three and in the back of my head I was convinced that the epidural was going to stop everything and I was going to have another c-section. By this time, Lou had made it to the hospital to be with me (her fiance Sam was watching Cole). I was happy to have my epidural but soon after, every time I had a contraction, the baby's heat rate would drop. I turned from side to side, to see if it would help but his heart rate decreased with every single contraction. It did pop right back up after the contraction was over but the decrease meant that he wasn't getting enough oxygen and that was scary. They put me on oxygen but nothing seemed to help. The nurse came in to check me and I was still at a 3 and although he had dropped a little, she told me that by the way his head was positioned against my cervix, that it didn't look like he would make it out on his own. Then she said, "Here is the best way to put this, you have a tiny vagina and big babies. Impossible combination." That made me laugh:) She said that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside (basically she was calling me fat, lol), my pelvis was just to narrow to fit a baby through. She then told me that the entire staff was pulling for me and my vbac:) After another hour or so, the nurse came back in and told me that it was up to me but she thought that the baby was in distress and that the best option was to get him out as soon as possible. I told her that I agreed and that they should get my doctor to come and give me another c-section. I felt a little bit better about it this time because it was my decision but it still bothered me to know that I probably could have made it a little farther if Luke's heart rate had been steady. I also, again, blamed my failure to have a vaginal birth on my failure to cope with the pain. I really think that the epidural caused a lot of problems with both of my attempts at labor. So, they stopped my pitocin and prepped me for my c-section. Travis got into his scrubs and we waited for the doctor. The nurse came back in and told me that my doctor was really great at c-sections and that most of his patients had a really speedy recovery time. I thought, "Yeah right". My doctor finally showed up and asked me how I felt about everything. I told him that I wanted to get him out, so that he could have some steady oxygen:) He agreed. I also asked him to do an extra good job on me because I couldn't afford 2 months to recover. He told me that he would do his best job on me:) They rolled me back to the operating room and increased my epidural to go through my entire body. This was the part I truly hated. Last time, the epidural didn't bother me too much. But this time, the numbness was so intense throughout my entire body, that I felt like I couldn't breathe. I seriously felt like I was suffocating. At one point I told the anesthesiologist that I couldn't breathe. He told me that my oxygenation level was 99%, so he was positive that I was breathing well. He told me that I just couldn't feel my chest, so it felt like I couldn't breathe. That didn't make me feel any better. It was horrible but I just kept breathing and waiting to hear my baby cry. After a while, my doctor said, "okay, here he comes". Next thing I knew I heard him cry and he told me to look up. He held my baby boy up right when he came out, so that I could see him (I didn't get to see Cole like that, so it meant so much to me). They also kept Luke in the room while they were sewing me up, so I got to here how much he weighed and how long he was, 8lbs. 4oz. and 19 1/2 inches! My doctor also left the cord long so that Travis could cut it:) After they were done checking Luke out, they gave him to Travis and he got to come sit by me again, so that I had something to focus on, other than the fact that I couldn't breathe:) After they were done putting me back together, they put Luke in bed with me and wheeled us back to my room where my family had already started to gather. Luke was adorable right out of the womb and he was also extremely hungry! He was wagging his tongue around and was turning his head toward everyone that held him, trying to get a nibble:) I was able to get most of the feeling back into my body while everyone was oohing and aahing over him. After a while, we kicked mostly everybody out and I tried to nurse. This kid jumped at my boob and latched on like he had been doing it in the womb. He is seriously the most voracious eater EVER! After I finished feeding him off both sides, he passed out and we were moved to another room. Early the next morning, the nurse came in and told me that I needed to get out of bed and go for a walk. I remembered the last time I had to do this and all I could do was stand up after several minutes of trying, just to sit back down again. It was so painful, I refused to do it again for a while. This time, I got up slowly and I walked with the nurse out of my room and down the hall to the nurses station. I was thrilled that as much as I was hurting, it was a world away from the last time! Every day in the hospital was better than the last and I knew that I would heal so much faster than last time. While we were in the hospital Travis was on high alert! It was hilarious. Normally the guy could sleep through a tornado but he was waking up and darting to Lucas' side every time he made the tiniest noise:) I was kind of doing the same thing for the first few days. I had forgotten how much noise newborns make. Adorable but noisy! Cole tells me that Luke is laughing every time he makes a noise while he is sleeping:) Anyway, we left the hospital on Sunday night and I felt really good. Sore but good. I had my prescription for Percocet and Motrin, so I was set;) Cole was thrilled to finally have me home and he could not keep his hands or his mouth off of his brother! He kisses and hugs him constantly! He asks about him first thing every morning and always wants to give him a kiss goodnight. When Luke wakes up from his naps Cole tells me to GIVE HIM MILK MOMMY! He is quite fascinated that I can feed him from my boobies:) But the novelty is definitely wearing off. The other things he always says to me are, "ohhh, look at him mommy", "wuv you baby Wuke" and "kiss him mommy, right now!". I love how much he loves him:) He is also having tons of patience with me. When I am feeding Luke and Cole wants something, he waits very patiently for me to be done. Luke is a pretty chill baby. I consider myself pretty lucky to have had two such relaxed and low maintenance babies. Luke's only problem seems to be at night (around 8pm) he gets really fussy but only because he either has to fart, poop or burp. As long as we walk around with him and work the gas out, he is golden and will sleep for a 3-5 hour stretch! During the day, he sleeps a lot! He only wakes up to eat and be changed. I can keep him awake for a little while to get some exercise and tummy time but he pretty much just wants to crash. He sleeps best when I am holding him but he is getting used to being in his swing during the day to sleep. He pretty much refuses to sleep in his bassinet, which Cole loved, so at night he sleeps in bed with me. I don't worry about rolling over on him because I sleep like a statue when he is next to me. I just make sure to keep him on the opposite side of Travis because he WOULD totally squish him. That whole waking up at every sound wore off really quick once we got Luke home:) So, that is the story of my little Luke. We love him so much and can't wait to see what he'll be like when he gets his own little personality. We're pretty sure that he will have blue eyes like his brother but I guess we'll see:) He is very skinny compared to his chunka monk brother but that could change too, I guess. Cole had quite the booty when he was born and it is a struggle to keep Luke's diaper on over his nonexistent butt:) I'm sure I will just keep comparing the two of them as Lucas grows but I'll try to keep my observations to myself. Maybe that will help keep the 2nd child syndrome in check, lol.
