Here's the full story....
On Thursday, February 6th, I had a nice day going out to breakfast with Adam and my mom, and doing a little shopping. That night I had some signs of labor (I will spare you the details), so I called my doctor and he advised us to go to the hospital. When I got there, I was checked and the nurse said I was only one centimeter dilated so it would be awhile. For the next few hours I was hooked onto the fetal monitor for about 45 minutes, then taken off the monitor so I could walk in the hallway (I was told walking can help labor progress). A few hours later I was at one and a half centimeters, so my doctor had me stay the night to see if things were further along in the morning. I had to be put on the fetal monitor for 20 minutes every two hours, so Adam and I didn't get much sleep that night. By the morning, labor hadn't progressed enough for me to stay at the hospital so I went home to wait it out. I was offered the option of induction, but I really wanted labor to happen naturally so I decided to head home and play the waiting game.
On Sunday morning, I woke up around 6:00 a.m. with some cramping and thought maybe that was a sign we would have the baby soon. The cramps were coming about 15 minutes apart, and they were really mild. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon keeping track of how long and how far apart I had the contractions. By 3:00 p.m., they were five minutes apart, lasting about a minute and a half and a lot more intense than they had started. We called the doctor and he said to head over to the hospital. Once I arrived, the nurse checked me and said I was about three to four centimeters dilated, but then 20 minutes later my doctor checked me and said I was already at six centimeters! He then broke my water (which I thought would really hurt, but I didn't feel it at all!) and a bunch of nurses came in to get my IV hooked up and raise my bed. It really felt overwhelming that I was over halfway through dilation and everything was happening so fast that I started crying! I was so excited to meet our son and nervous at the same time about what the rest of labor would be like for me. The contractions continued and once I got to eight centimeters, the contractions were so close together it was hard to recover from one before the next one hit me. I really was hoping to get through labor without an epidural but at that point I was so exhausted from being in labor for 13 hours that I decided to go ahead and get one. Once I had the epidural I felt like I could rest for a bit, but then within two hours my doctor arrived and said it was time to push. I only had to go through three series of pushes and in less than 10 minutes, our baby was born!
I was so overcome with emotion at that point. Once I saw our son being born, I looked at Adam and we both had tears in our eyes. I will never forget that special moment! I was able to do the skin-to-skin contact with Lucas right away, which was one of my goals for the birth. Lucas was a very healthy newborn and scored very well on his initial assessments. He was 21 inches long and 8 lbs., 2 oz.
My parents were able to be at the hospital when he was born and my brother, Kyle, and his wife, Michaela, arrived shortly after Lucas was born. Michaela and Kyle brought a onesie and wrote Lucas's name and birthday on the onesie and everyone who came to visit him at the hospital (as well as the nurses who helped us) were able to sign it. I thought that was such a cute idea as a keepsake from the birth. We stayed in the hospital for two days and then were released home.
The first few days home went pretty well. We first had him in his crib in the nursery, but eventually set up the pack 'n play which has a bassinet and he has been sleeping in there ever since. The first few weeks were a big adjustment, but now Lucas is sleeping almost completely through the night and seems to be on a more regular schedule. He is a great baby and very happy most of the time! Adam and I feel very blessed to have a healthy and happy little guy. Below are some photos from the hospital and his first and second month photos.
