Luke's Birth Story

Well, I wrote out the events of Luke's birth as I remember them, and I was about to copy and paste it into this post, but realized it was waaaaay too long.  Instead, I will post an abbreviated version here, and for those who are interested/ fascinated with childbirth like me, I will post the link to the whole thing at the bottom of the post.

So Tuesday night I was feeling very anxious to go into labor since Wednesday was my actual due date and I wanted to have the baby before Marissa and Richard left on Thursday, and my mom came to help on Friday.  We tried all sorts of things to get my labor started, but nothing seemed to be working, so we laid down to go to sleep, and finally the contractions started coming.  We timed them for an hour and when they were 4-5 minutes apart, we called Marissa and Richard over to stay with Gabriel while we went to the hospital.  They monitored me for an hour or so then admitted me around 3:00am-ish.  We waited for things to start picking up, but instead my labor seemed to stall.  We were kind of disappointed but looking back, I think it was a blessing because it allowed us both to get a few hours of sleep that night.  I was able to be put on intermittent monitoring so I could walk the halls and try to get things going, and it probably helped a little bit, but in the mid morning I hadn't progressed past 4+ or 5 centimeters (I was 4 cm when I was admitted) so we decided to allow the doctor to break my water.  I felt no change for the next hour, and then BJ and I decided to use some of the childbirth hypnosis techniques we had been practicing, and BJ helped me visualize my labor starting up again, and allowing the contractions to become strong and do their work.  It worked; almost immediately after we started doing that, my contractions picked up, and things got intense fairly quickly.  Things continued to intensify and progress for the next 4 hours or so, during which time BJ was my main support, talking me through each contraction and helping me visualize being relaxed and calm.  I also listened to a few hypnosis tracks on my iPod, but mostly I preferred having BJ help me- he had a very calming influence on me, and he was so helpful in keeping me comfortable and relaxed.  It seemed like every time the nurse or doctor checked me, I had hardly made any progress, and I was feeling a little discouraged, thinking that I couldn't go on much longer, and I would have to have an epidural.  I was also fighting the "urge" to push (eventually not just an "urge"- but a sensation that my body was taking over and overriding what my mind was wanting to do) for about an hour since I wasn't fully dilated.  Then, it seemed like all of the sudden the doctor was telling me I could go ahead and push, which was so much more comfortable than trying not to.  I pushed for nearly 15 minutes, and Luke was born at 3:42pm, being 9 lb. and 19 inches- quite a chubby baby!  It was such an amazing feeling to look at him and know that he was finally here and that I was able to avoid having an epidural and forceps and many other interventions that we had when Gabriel was born and which I had wanted to avoid so badly.  The doctor actually said that she didn't think I would have been able to push such as big baby our on my own if I had gotten an epidural, so I was glad that it worked out the way it did.  Unfortunately, Luke was not breathing well at first so he was taken to the NICU to be put on a CPAP machine and have surfactant put in his lungs to help them stay inflated better.  After a while, I joined BJ and Luke in the NICU for a while, then we headed downstairs and got settled in our new room.  Luke finally came down to the well- baby nursery about 8 hours after he was born, and we went and saw him get checked by the nurses and took pictures of his first bath.  It was after midnight by the time we were able to bring him in our room with us, but it was sweet to have him to ourselves finally.  I was able to get up and walk around on my own, albeit a bit slowly, and I really felt like I was already healing much faster this time.  Luke nursed like a champ, and had no further issues with breathing.  We feel very blessed to finally have him with us and doing so well.

Gabe came to see his new baby brother the next morning, and he was fascinated for about 1 minute, then was more interested in the balloons and toy tractor in the room.  BJ stayed with me in the hospital until Friday, and we were so grateful to Marissa and Richard, and BJ's parents who watched Gabriel so that BJ could be with me and the baby.  BJ picked my mom up at the airport on Friday, then came back and took me home from the hospital.  It was good to come home and be able to wear normal clothes, and sit in our much more comfortable chairs and bed, and start figuring out a new routine.  It was nice to have my mom here to help for nearly a week.  We have mostly stayed close to home since Luke was born, and I am getting into a new rhythm of taking  care of two kids.  So far, although I am definitely busier and more tired, it hasn't been hard.  Luke is a really good baby, sleeping quite a bit during the day, eating well, and usually sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at night.  Most nights I only have to get up to nurse him twice after going to bed (refreshing! Gabe woke up every 2 hours all night for quite a while).   Hopefully that continues!  He is also growing well.  After loosing 10 ounces in the hospital, he has gained it all back and then some- at his 2 week appointment yesterday he weighed 9 lb. 7.5 oz., and was 20 1/4 inches- wow, over an inch growth in 2 weeks!  He is so mellow and easy going.  I guess Heavenly Father knows what each of us need individually- I figure he must want me to have more children in the future!

Anyway, that is the story of Luke joining our family.  Click here if you would like to read the much LONGER version of the story.