I'm a mom!

It's 2:20...I'm very curious at what time I will be able to finish and post this.  Times are crazy now!

So let's start from the beginning and I'll throw in a few pictures.

On Thursday, March 21 my doctor said I was not dilated at all so the next day I had to go get a non-stress test (NST) to make sure everything was going ok with the baby since I was officially late.  On Friday, the NST went amazing.  The nurse said everything looked absolutely perfect.  Lucas was moving so much that we were hooked up for the minimal time but during that twenty minutes the nurse saw that I had had two contractions.  What?! I'm having contractions?!  Not the labor ones but I thought that I wasn't having any.  Turns out I had been having these contractions for a few days but I thought they were just Lucas stretching.  The nurse still thought that I may have to be induced though which was scheduled for Tuesday night, March 26.  So off we went planning our weekend.  I had friends in town that I did see and some more I was planning to see.  On Saturday I had lunch with one of my besties and we were hoping to see each other again the next morning.  Since so many of my friends live in San Diego I try my best to see them any chance I get.  Well, that night Kevin and I went to bed about 10 o'clock.  I probably fell asleep about 10:45 and at 11:30 I was awoken to what at first I thought was me missing the chance to go to the bathroom but I quickly figured out my water had broken.  I could not believe.  Kevin was sound asleep so I tried waking him without freaking him out.  The convo went like this:
Me: Honey, my water broke.
Kevin: (taps my leg) ok, it's all right.
Me: (realizing I needed to get him out of dreamland) Kevin, I'm pregnant and my water just broke.
Kevin: I know, it's ok, you're ok. (still laying there eyes closed)
Me: Kevin, the bed is completely soaked.
Kevin: (literally jumps out of bed) OH! OH! Ok! I'll call the hospital.

The hospital asked if I was having any contractions (nope) or if there was any major bleeding (nope) so they said wait until there are contractions about 5 min apart or if there is any bleeding.  Oh, and if you can try and sleep.  Sleep? Yeah, ok...  I quickly felt a real contraction and had three in an hour.  After three hours though the contractions escalated to 5 min apart and there was now some bleeding so the hospital said come on in.  (Sorry if this is TMI).

My sister...not camera shy:)

Our bags were already packed and in the car from a few days before so we got dressed and off we went!  I was doing pretty well with the contractions. Don't get me wrong, they hurt but I was handling it.  While on the freeway at 2:30 in the morning my eyes were closed as I was breathing through one and I hear Kevin cuss and jerk the car.  I open my eyes to a deer walking out onto the freeway and us just feet away from hitting it.  Can you imagine?! It was too much for me to think of then but my paternal grandmother, Prissy, comes to my family via a deer so that was very special to me.  Due to the hour we had to enter the hospital via the emergency room and thirty seconds after we got there another pregnant couple came in. We couldn't figure out how to get out of the ER so us preggo ladies sat while our hubbies ran around trying every door.  The other lady was screaming by the way during her contractions.  It was scaring me...was I headed to that much pain?  We finally made our way to the birthing center and after checking me out to make sure I could be admitted (I found out that other woman had been sent home earlier and was now returning) but thankfully I was ready to be admitted.

Almost time!

I was still unsure about the epidural.  I threw up five times from the pain so at 9 am when the contractions were getting stronger the nurse suggested a dose of something that I can't remember the name of that will help take the edge away for 1-2 hours.  This means that I would be getting my first IV.  Wow, that is painful!!! But they put the meds in and that helped, kind of, for about an hour but then I was in a lot of pain! The nurse came in at 10 am with the anesthesiologist because he was going into a c-section and would be a couple hours so they thought he should talk to me.  After one more very painful contraction I looked at Kevin and we were in immediate agreement.  Let's do this! I did not feel a thing.  He was amazing and I almost immediately felt better.  In no way do I regret getting the epidural.   Lucas wasn't born for another 14 hours.  I could not have dealt with that pain for that amount of time.  I wasn't able to sleep but I was able to visit with people and deal with the labor.  My contractions were irregular so it was hard to tell how I was progressing.  I know I was at 5 cm for a while.  That evening I hit 7 cm but my contractions were anywhere from 2 - 6 minutes apart.  My doctor had three of us go into labor that day and we were all coming down to the wire that evening.  I ended up being last.  My doctor came in to check me at 10:30 pm because my contractions were still irregular.  Well, she gave me a check and said ok, I can see your son shaking his head at the next contraction start pushing.  It literally happened that fast.

First family photo!

We had been watching TV so that just stayed on.  I mention this because in between pushes my doctor would watch it.  It was a show on outrageous houseboats.  It did not bother me at all.  It actually kept the atmosphere casual which I appreciated.  I pushed for an hour and a half and it wasn't that bad.  I had read about women who were upset that they couldn't feel the labor because of the epidural and that they had to be told when to push.  I was able to feel each contraction so I knew when to push and I felt completely in control of my labor.  Then came the real pain!  Lucas was really coming.  At this point you can't stop pushing because once baby is on their way out he needs to keep going.  So I think this lasted 15 min. Not really sure because it hurt!  I may have used a few choice words because I remember my doctor giving me some surprised looks.  First came Lucas's head.  The first thing I say when I see it (no exaggeration) "That's a big head!".  This is when the doctor and nurses agreed, this baby is bigger than we expected.  Once Lucas made his complete debut they immediately put him on my chest and Kevin cut the umbilical cord.  There were lots of tears.  Lucas was blue and not making any noise but I had been told that is normal.

The nurse then took him away to get him crying and this is where things got scary.  All of a sudden there were several nurses and a pediatrician in our room surrounding Lucas.  No one would tell us anything but some of the nurses were arguing.  We had such amazing people up to this point but there was one nurse who just wasn't with it.  We kept being told that everything was ok but we knew it wasn't.  Finally my doctor said that his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck and the vernix was in his nose and throat so he was having issues breathing.  Kevin and I really tried to stay calm.  And even though it had felt like an eternity really this was all happening within minutes. This is when I looked at the clock, 12:09 am.  Wait, when was my son born? The 24th or 25th?!  So I asked my nurse and she asked the not so good nurse.  That nurse responded with I don't know.  What?! My doctor and nurse both looked at me and could tell the terror on my face.  My doctor then repeated...you don't know what time the baby was born?  Bad nurse: The birth time? Oh, I though you were asking about the placenta.  The birth time was 12:01 am.  Why in the world would I care what time the placenta came out?!  Side note: I ended up having two placentas.  Apparently that is rare and it was even weirder that none of the ultrasounds picked it up.

Big Boy!

The nurse gave me back Lucas for a minute while she told us that he had swallowed his vernix and they need to get it out of his lungs so they would be taking him to the NICU to clear him out.  The nurse was very good in telling us what they were going to do which helped ease us some what.  They needed him to really scream and cry to try and shake the vernix loose that was in his lungs so they were going to give him his first booster shots and a bath because that should make him really mad.  I immediately asked if Kevin could go with him and he did.  So they took him from me and off they went.  As they were walking out our family walked in.  My in-laws, mom, grandma and little sister had all been in the waiting room and saw all of the commotion going on in and out of our room but no one would tell them anything.  My sister even went up to the nurse's station because they saw the bad nurse frantically searching for something and not being able to find it so my sister asked them "Do the nurses always run around this frantically or is something wrong?"  My sister can be quite blunt so this took the nurse off guard and she really couldn't answer her.  My family was freaking out so they stood outside the door and when they finally heard Lucas cried my mom and mother-in-law just hugged and cried.  I can't imagine how scared they must've been.  Finally, Kevin and Lucas made it back to our room.  I cried so much.  Kevin said it was so hard to watch them try and get Lucas better.

It was now about 1:30 am so the family left and Kevin and I and Lucas just hugged for awhile.  What felt like the next day but really was just a few hours later...Lucas started spitting up what looked like blood.  It turns out he also swallowed some of the amniotic fluid so he had to be taken away again and they had to flush out his system.  This poor kid had a rough entry into this world.  There are a few more things I would like to remember about the hospital visit and I have a TON of pictures but the last 24 hours have not been easy in our household (Lucas may be colicky) so I need to get to bed while he sleeps in daddy's arms right now so I'll post the rest later.  I started this post on the 8th so that may just give you an idea of how things are going around here.