Lucas's Birth Story...

This will be long, just like my labor was..

Thursday December 16

We got up for 6 am and headed out the door at 6:10.  I wanted to eat a good breakfast before heading to the hospital because I knew it would be the last time I ate for awhile.  We hit the diner and I got a nice omelet full of protein to hold me off.. :)  We got to the hospital for 7 and I was checked in and in a room by 7:30.  They hooked me up to the monitors and then tried for an IV.  The nurse got it, but it was infiltrated so she had to restart it, missed that vein and had to go for help.  FINALLY, my IV was in, saline started and was just waiting for the doctor to come and give the order to start the pitocin.  She finally arrived about 9 am and we started it.  She then checked me and I was 2 cm and 50% effaced.  That is it!?  I was surprised as I had been told in the office I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced.  Odd..  I was contracting on my own at about 5-6 minute intervals.  I was on the pitocin ALL DAY with them increasing the dosage pretty regularly and the closest we ever got my contractions was about 3 minutes.  They were uncomfy but not really bad, although everything I was feeling was in my back.  I moved from the bed to the glider at about 4 and they got stronger and closer for awhile then to the point where I started to tear up during them.  The doctor came in at 5:30 and I was STILL only 3 cm and 50% effaced..  She made the decision to stop the induction for the night to give me a chance to rest and we would start up the next morning.  I got dinner and walked the halls with Gary for quite awhile trying to get things moving along.  Went to sleep and woke up nice and early at 6 am the next day to get started again.

Friday December 17

Today my doctor was not on call so I was to have Dr. Dohr.  She wasn't my favorite doctor after having seen her in the office because she was so quick.  I always felt like she had one hand on the door handle my whole appt.  Well this time her quickness was to work in my favor.  We started the pitocin at about 9:15 and at 9:30 she broke my water and HOLY COW did it GUSH.  And for AWHILE too, it was an interesting sensation to say the least.  Anyway, this is where things start to go downhill.  My "water" was green, meaning that Lucas had already had his first poop in utereo.  This isn't good as if baby breathes that in, it can cause massive problems. So now we knew the pediatrician would have to be present for his birth.  And of course I started to stress about the possible problems.  I started to contract pretty reguarly but again never any closer than 3 minutes.  But the pain, omg the pain.  It was ALL in my back and was quickly becoming very uncomfortable. By 12 I was shot, I couldn't go any further without an EPI.  I was crying through contractions.  So he came in and while it was unpleasant, it wasn't the worst thing that happened that day.  Finally I was comfortable!  I was feeling the tightening of the contractions but not the pain.

You can tell in that pic cuz I am actually SMILING that the epi was obviously working wel. LOL  They continued to up the pitocin every half hour or so because I was just not progressing.  At 7 pm I was checked and was only 5 cm.  They made the decision to go OVER the normal limit of 20 to try and get me further.  I was told if I didn't make significant progress by my next check we would be doing a c-section because baby's hb was dipping during my contractions and we were all worried about a possible cord issue.  They decided to give me an amnioinfusion.  Meaning, they put saline BACK into my uterus to try and give some cushion during contractions..  Time rolled on and his heart rate was dipping a little more with each contraction.  At 9 I was checked and I was 7 cm so they decided to let me go a BIT longer and it was also discovered I was running a temperature, which means Lucas would be too.  Things got intense quickly after that.  I started to feel huge pressure during my contractions that was painful.  At 9:15 I was 8 cm and my butt felt like he was trying to crawl out of it. LOL  By 9:30 I was 9 cm and now instead of crawling I kept telling the nurses it felt like he was going to fly out of my ass.  By 10 I was pushing and I was told we needed to do this fast because his heart rate was going VERY low during contractions.  Contractions were coming on top of each other so I was almost constantly pushing at that point and I started to get lightheaded from lack of oxygen so they put an oxygen mask on me for that and to help get more oxygen to Lucas. I was determined to get him OUT safely and was pushing as much and as hard as I could.  Finally after one REALLY LONG push that went way past the 10 count his head popped out and they made me stop for a minute.  His cord WAS wrapped around his neck so they had to remove that and then suction him out REALLY good because of the meconium.  One more push and the rest of him was born at 10:14 pm.  They put him on my belly and I heard the doctor say, baby is hot and he WAS.  He had picked up my temperature.. :(  Gary cut the cord and they whisked him away to the warming table to work on him.  He had not yet cried at this point and I was scared.  They cleaned him all out and rubbed him down and finally he started to scream, thank god.  He did have a fever of 101.5 but I know his Agpar scores were 8 and 9 which I believe are good ones.. :)  Gary stood between me and the warmer but most of his attention was on Lucas, rightfully so!  

About this time I knew something wasn't right with ME.  The doctor told me I had a very bad internal tear in my rectum wall.  Basically the wall between the vajajay and the rectum had a 2 cm hole in it that needed repairing.  I was also bleeding alot so I got a shot to help with that and she had to run next door to deliver another baby before coming back to repair me.  Meanwhile, Lucas was weighed and measured and he was 8 pounds 3.9 ounces and we were told 22 1/4 inches long, but turns out it was actually 21 1/4 inches.

It took her well over and hour and FOUR layers of stitches before she was happy it was closed sufficiently.  This particular tear can cause BIG problems later if it doesn't heal correctly.  :(  Finally, 2 hours after he was born, I was FINALLY able to hold Lucas and it was truly the happiest moment of my life..  (even though I look exhausted in these pics, I was still the happiest ever)

Because of the delays I didn't try breastfeeding for the first time until about 3 am.  It was a failure with him not latching on.  He stayed in the nursery that night because he needed extra monitoring because of the conditions he was born in.  We ended up leaving the hospital on time on Sunday and now we are home and trying to get used to the incredible changes our life now has!  It is amazing how much different it is already in just one week but we would NOT have it any other way..