Our second son and Thanksgiving baby, Lucas Bradley, was born on November 19, and I’m just now finding time to post again. Been a little busy…and sleep deprived. He started sleeping through the night (5 or 6 hours at a time) when he was 6 weeks old. Last night, it was from 9 pm to 7 am. That makes for one happier mother!
Lucas was due on 11/20, and I had an appointment with the OB/GYN on Friday the 19th at 4 pm. She said I had dilated a centimeter but didn’t think I’d “do anything” soon and scheduled an induction for that Tuesday. We wanted to schedule it on Monday, so that I’d be out before Thanksgiving, but they were booked. So, we went home and just figured I’d be there over Thanksgiving and someone would have to pick up my sister, Sarah, who was flying in from Indiana on Wednesday. My mom had flown in a couple days before.
So, we were eating dinner, and I thought I was having mild contractions fairly regularly. I called the doctor, and she thought it was just from being examined a couple hours before. She thought I should wait an hour if I came to the hospital, but she said I could go ahead and go if I wanted to. So, by 7 pm, I thought I was having contractions every 5 minutes, and Nelson and I headed for the hospital. Thankfully, Mom was there to watch Jacob.
When we got to the hospital 45 minutes later, the nurse said they’d monitor me for an hour, and if nothing had happened they’d send me home. Still, nobody thought I was in labor, but I was 2 centimeters by then, so she said that was a good sign. Half an hour into the “monitoring”, I started having painful contractions and pushed my call button and asked if she could check me. Sure enough, I was 5 centimeters. The nurse finally confirmed she thought I was in labor, and I immediately asked for was an epidural—something I didn’t get with the first birth because it went so quickly. She said she’d have to run fluids for 15 minutes, and then we could do the epidural. Right then, fear struck that it would be a repeat of last time. I really wanted an epidural this time around.
Well, the next thing I knew, the doctor showed up. She checked me, and sure enough, I was 9 centimeters. I’m not even sure if all the “fluids” were run. I was just in excruciating pain, and the doctor broke my water so I could start pushing. After I’d pushed for a while, Lucas’s heart rate went down, and the doctor said we’d have to do a c-section if it didn’t go up. Then, I heard the nurse say to the other nurse, “Can you help him?”, and looked over to where my dear husband, Nelson, had been standing. He’d fainted. Eventually, I pushed Lucas out, and Nelson had awoken in time to take pictures of him getting a bath and weighed.
He was born at 10:59 pm, almost 3 hours after we arrived at the hospital. He was 21.75 inches and almost 7 lbs. He’s absolutely beautiful! Jacob loves being a big brother. These first 6 weeks have been rough, but I am blessed.
2 comments:
Can you imagine going back into the past and telling women that one day they would able to schedule childbirth?!!! They'd never believe it!
You know, I didn't want a C-Section. I was able to get an epidural, though. We tried for several hours to do it 'naturally', but I never got past 6cm. I was so disappointed. I wanted the whole experience. But repeatedly, women who underwent drug-free childbirth have looked at me like I was crazy! They all say, "Trust me, you didn't miss ANYTHING!!!" ;-P
Aw, poor Nelson! Tommy got to see him before I did because there was a large drape hiding me from what they were doing to me. Unfortunately, I was in distress, so they knocked me out. All I heard was the time, 10:11 and my baby's first cry. Then I was out. Tommy brought him over to my head, but I was already gone. I was asleep for the first two hours of his life!!! By the time I woke up, Tommy had already bathed him and my mom had held him.
The cool thing is that my mom started really hounding me for the name when we got to the hospital. But I made Tommy promise that unless I died, I got to say my baby's name first. So for two hours, Tommy was the only one who knew! He said that even the nurses were trying to get it out of him.
They brought him to me and laid him in my arms. I looked down and said, "Hi, baby! I'm your Mama. And you are Christian Jonathan Asher Gott." You could actually hear my mom and the nurses sigh!!! It was so funny.
I am so thankful that you, baby, and Daddy are all ok! God bless you all!!!
Wow, that's funny about the name. I love it, though. I'm glad I didn't end up with a c-section, since they say it's a much harder recovery. I sure would have liked that epidural, though!
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