Luke arrived on January 24th, 2012

(My Nurse and Midwife Kat)

We are super excited to have our sweet baby Luke join our family. Everything went very well during labor and delivery. We are grateful that Luke arrived so healthy and without any serious complication. We were truly amazed that he came out a 6 pound baby because we were expecting our baby to be a bit smaller. I suppose in the early part of the pregnancy he was growing fast and had plans to be a large baby. Luckily, Luke was in the 58th growth percentile before things got a bit complicated with the placenta.    

I arrived at the hospital and was hooked up with Pitocin to induce labor at 9:00am. We were happy about starting this process first thing in the morning, and hoped that our baby would actually come on that day.

For the 1st few hours things were pretty easy, my contractions were pretty small. To pass the time we set up the computer and watched the G.O.P. primary debates. Also my mom who was invited to join us for this miraculous event showed up at this time. She sat in the corner very quietly while she finished the quilt for Luke that we had been working on. 

Things continued to move pretty slow and steady. At around 12:00 my midwife Kat decided to check my cervical dilation, and I was dilated 6 centimeters. Kat decided to break my water, something she decided not to do in the beginning because of the lack of amniotic fluid. Just like I have experienced before, when my water breaks, my contractions get seriously intense. A few hours of this serious pain and I couldn't help but throw up. In the eyes of the medical professionals this was a really good thing. It was a sign that things were surly moving along.

Kat decided to slap on a glove and check my cervical dilation again. My cervical dilation had not changed, I was still 6 centimeters. I was pretty discouraged by this news. I was thinking how could I not progress any further, while this intense pain that I am feeling is almost un-bearable. Pitocin was a whole new ball game, and as much as I tried to prepare my self for it, I was overwhelmed by it's intensity. I wanted to cry. In my head I was seriously considering the epidural at this point.

Just as Kat was finishing up with the cervical check and about to pull off her glove, the baby slipped right down the birth canal. Hello baby! With one hand Kat held the baby inside while the nurse scrambled to cover the other hand with a glove. "Don't push" were the 2 words I was not expecting! While my brain was processing these words, Kat quickly removed the umbilical cord from around Luke's neck. Once I fully understood what "Don't Push" meant my body was already making an executive decision. With 1 push Luke was here. 

I was not prepared to have baby Luke in my arms after one push. During this push my mind was captivated by the sound of Luke's heart rate dropping dramatically. I was motivated to push long and hard so that this baby could move through very quickly. When the midwife placed the baby up on my chest I was a bit confused, because I wasn't expecting it all to happen so fast. After realizing that baby Luke was in my arms, I did my best to console him.