Lucas' Birth Story

Two major events were foretold for Saturday, May 21, 2011 - the apocalypse and the birth of our second child. As the day came, the world held its breath in anticipation. Yet, neither happened on the foretold date...

Apparently, Lucas wanted to get an early start on his life. I woke up feeling great on Friday the 13th, which suprised me since I had been dragging for the last week. Who knew I would be ending the day puking my brains out and headed for the hospital?

That morning, my neighbor and I packed our kids up into strollers and went for a walk around the block. There is a dog that always goes CRAZY whenever I walk Leo by his house. He is always chained up outside and will bark and pull as hard as he can while we are on his street. Ever since I moved here, I've been afraid of that dog getting loose and chasing Leo. So guess what? It happened.

I remember hearing the "ping" of the breaking chain, turning my head slowly, and feeling my heart skip a beat as this big, gray dog raced towards us. Knowing it would be better to calmly let the dogs greet, I stopped. The dog sniffed Leo and then started barking and trying to nip his back legs, at which point I turned into Mama Bear, completely forgetting that I'm nine months pregnant. Yanking Leo behind me, I stomped in front of the dog and commanded him to "GO HOME!" He started to retreat, but then came after Leo again.

"GO HOME!" I yelled repeatedly, still forgetting that I was pregnant and had no way of protecting myself if this dog turned on me. Luckily, he was a big baby and ran back to his yard.

The adrenaline rush was crazy - especially after I realized how stupid I was - but what else was I supposed to do?

I didn't connect this incident with what followed until later, but I am pretty sure the adrenaline rush started my labor. My stomach felt like it had stopped processing food. My thinking was "I'm pregnant, so I still need to eat," and I kept cramming food in. I even went to the park with my friend Jamie and her daughter Ellie. Then I came home and felt awful. I had the WORST heartburn EVER - Tums and Pepcid AC made no dent. Soren and Scott both took naps, but I couldn't lay down without facing the consequenses of heart burn.

Around 5 p.m., I started throwing up... and throwing up..... and throwing up. At this point, I still didn't think it was labor since it was so different from my experience with Soren. However, I called my babysitters on a hunch. I felt foolish, but I let them know what was going on and would they be able to watch Soren if I ended up in the hospital.

Then I called my midwife. She didn't seem to concerned - just the stomach flu. About 30 minutes later, she called back and mentioned I might want to go to the hospital, just to be safe. At this point (9 p.m.), I had stopped throwing up, so I declined. About 90 minutes later, I climbed into bed to try and rest with a million pillows propping me up. I felt - what I thought - was a strong kick and then actually heard a "pop" before feeling water break.

"Ummm, Scott? My water just broke," I said. He didn't believe me. We were expecting I would be late, just like I had been with Soren. So it was shocking to have my labor kick in early. We raced around the house and grabbed a few things. My brother and his wife came over. Luckily, Soren was sound asleep in his room.

The hospital is only a 5 minute drive from our house. Once we got admitted, it was like we were the only people there that night. I was 90 percent effaced and dilated to a 2. I was planning on an un-medicated birth (no epidural or pain killers), because I knew my labor would be fast and I'm kind of scared of needles in my back. (With Soren, I progressed so quickly that I was fully dialated by the time I got an epidural, so I was going into this knowing what it would feel like - except for the pushing). But because I tested Group B Strep Positive, I need an I.V. and fetal monitoring.

I hate I.V.s!

My already small veins were nearly invisible due to dehydration. I needed at least 4 hours of antibiotics flowing through my body for the baby. With as long as it took for them to jam that needle into one of my invisible veins, I knew it wasn't going to happen. (Which was a little scary for me, because I didn't get my full antibiotic with Soren and he ended up back in the hospital for 48 additional hours).

In less than three hours, I was fully dilated and ready to push. My I.V. had flooded and so they agreed to take it out, since I wasn't going to get the full GBS antibiotics anyway. It is really hard to try and have an un-medicated birth with an I.V. stuck in your arm. Oh - and did I mention I still had that horrible heartburn from earlier? It had grown so painful - it bothered me more than contractions.

Without trying to sound snobby, let me say that I am really good at dealing with contractions - at least my own contractions. I've got the calm breathing thing down. But once it was time to push, I was terrified. There was no turning back and I had no idea how to deal with that type of pain. Luckily, your body takes over. And doubly lucky for me - Lucas was a little guy and popped out in 2 or 3 pushes. However, it felt like eternity to me. The whole time, I was trying to block out how nice pushing with Soren had been, because of the epidural. I knew that kind of thinking would sabotage me focus.

In this goofy picture, I am thinking - "Oh my gosh, I just had a baby! There was actually a baby in me and it is now in my arms." Seriously - that is exactly what I was thinking. Silly that you can be pregnant for 9 months, almost a full year, yet not comprehend what you are doing until you hear that first little cry.

And he sure did cry! And I instantly forgot all my pain - at least for a few minutes while I got to snuggle and meet Lucas. He was so tiny - 6 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long. He had dark hair, but light eyebrows and lashes. His eyes were a dark charcoal - which are now blue, but I'm sure they will eventually change to hazel like the rest of his family's eyes.

 

I remember feeling surprised that he looked so different from Soren and felt impressed that Lucas is his own little person.

Then they had to stitch me up and I was back to missing my epidural. However, I recovered so much faster than I had the first time. Within 20 minutes of giving birth, I was walking around and showering without the aid of my nurse.

** On a side note (and I wouldn't read this if blood/body stuff freaks you out), but my midwife and nurses gave me the oddest compliment. In unanimous agreement, they said I had the most beautiful placenta - perfectly shaped and red. Then my midwife held it up for me to see and explained how it had worked inside of me. Kind of weird, but also very cool at the time. I was very proud of that placenta and the beautiful baby boy it supported. **

 Back to Lucas - we were originally going to name him Marek or Elliot, but neither name seemed to fit. We stayed in the hospital for 3 days instead of 2, because I didn't get the full GBS antibiotic. And during that time we couldn't agree on a name. Scott had brought up Lucas, but I just wasn't sure. Half of the problem was that I was stuck on Marek - but he just didn't seem like a Marek.

After we brought him home, we agreed on Lucas. And since then I can't imagine him going by any other name. It just fits him. He is such a sweet, handsome and easy-going guy. We love him so much.

And that is the story of his birth. He will be three months old next week.