Lucas' Birth Story

Since I had my first baby two weeks early, I assumed my second would come well before his due date of March 29. That didn’t happen, and when March 23 came and went, I was feeling like I was overdue! My doctor asked if I wanted my membranes stripped and I agreed because I was so ready for my baby! After my membranes were stripped, I did a lot of walking. Nothing happened except a few contractions that were not painful or consistent. I woke up the next morning and was bummed to see no progress. That night, my husband and I went to his work party and while we were having dinner, I had three contractions right in a row, about 15 minutes apart, and they were stronger than what I had previously. I called my mom, who was watching my other son, and told her to stay by the phone because it could be soon. I knew I shouldn’t have called though because nothing happened! We got home from the party around 11 PM, and I went to bed. At 1:30 AM, I woke up with cramps and I thought it was something I ate. I went to the bathroom and then went back to bed. The contractions were coming every 15 minutes but were not really strong. I woke my husband at 2:30 AM and called my doctor. She told me to wait until they were seven to eight minutes apart. I wasn’t too keen on that because with my first son, I only labored for an hour and pushed for an hour.

I decided to call my parents to come watch my son anyway, and they arrived around 3 AM. However, my contractions were still only 15 minutes apart and not painful. But I knew it wouldn’t take long so we loaded up everything and started for the hospital. When we were on the way, my contractions started coming five minutes apart and I had to really concentrate on breathing through them.

We got to the hospital at 4:10 AM. They put me on a monitor for 20 minutes even though I didn’t want to lie down. When they took me off the monitor, I went to the bathroom and then planned on getting into the tub for a little pain relief. But on the way back from the bathroom, I felt I had to push. They checked me and said I was complete and it was time to push! I pushed for 20 minutes and Lucas was born at 5:29 AM, on March 25, 2007. He was eight pounds, 13 ounces, and 21 inches long. I didn’t get to hold him right away because he was rushed to the nursery. He had fluid in his lungs because of the fast delivery. I didn’t get to see him for an hour! They wheeled me to the nursery later where I saw my baby on oxygen. It was so sad to see him like that. I was only able to stay a few minutes because I felt like I was going to pass out. Finally, I held Lucas at 10:15 AM when he was taken off oxygen. There was a nurse trainee during my labor and the other nurse told her she would not see a labor and delivery like mine very often. They usually don’t go that quick and easy. I’m so glad I didn’t listen about waiting until my contractions were closer because if I had waited, I would have been pushing on the way to the hospital!