the day before it all went down, joel and i were over at my parents house. hanging out, playing spoons, mario kart, and even some basketball. actually, i was not playing basketball, but was joel's good luck charm for the infamous "belly shot."
basically, i felt totally normal. i wasn't expecting lucas for at least another week. in fact, i was counting on it. i had so much more stuff to do! my last official day of work was 12/14, and was really looking forward to being able to get the car seat ready, our bags totally packed and the house completely immaculate.
however, in what was the first of i'm sure to be many "no way mom" maneuvers, lucas decided he was ready to come on 12/17. i had gotten up to pee at 4:45 (by this point, i was peeing ever 2-3 hours during the night) and was getting back into bed. joel was, of course, completely asleep. i laid down, got myself comfy....and felt like i pissed my pants. holy crap! i bolted out of bed, straight to the bathroom.
now, i had reason to think i had peed myself, based on quite a few close calls those last few weeks. but while sitting on th potty, i realized that i hadn't peed - it wasn't a pee sensation, nor was it yellow. i had simply leaked a clear, watery fluid with tiny little red flecks in it. AHH - MY WATER BROKE!
i yelled to joel. "honey, my water just broke." i've never seen him bolt out of bed faster, and he was by my side, checking out the fluid in no time.
"are you sure?"
"yeah."
"well, what do we do?"
i decided that i really wanted to take a shower. plus, i still had to get the car seat ready, and tidy up a bit. i didn't want to come home with towels in the laundry basket or glasses in the sink. so, we called our moms and let them know the status report - water is broken, we're going to chill at home for as long as possible. this was what the awesome nurse on our hospital tour had suggested we do. the longer you can be at home, the better. he also recommended that i eat, because i wouldn't be allowed to do that at the hospital until the baby came. i didn't listen to him on that one, but i should have. i was starving a few hours later!
i had put on some panties and one of 2 random pads that were in the bathroom, and already i was soaking wet again. one thing they don't tell you about your water breaking is that it doesn't just happen all at once. yes, there's the initial surge of water. but that s then followed by a steady water leakage for hours afterwards. so, i joel to the store for more pads. plus some new toothbrushes for while we were at the hospital. the things that i was concerned about...i'm a loon.
i folded the towels, then popped into the shower, and that was where i felt my first, very mild, contraction. it felt like a barely there period cramp. no big deal at all.
joel got home with the goods, then he cleaned the few dishes in the sink while i dressed and tried to make the bed - a difficult feat for a pregnant woman. it's hard to bend and pull the sheets up, but i managed. joel jumped in the shower too while i checked through our bags.
by now it was about 6:20, and i was starting to feel contractions more often. they tell you to wait for the 5-1-1 rule, and that was where i was at. i decided we needed to go. plus, i wanted to beat traffic. joel stuck in traffic is not a pretty sight, and i wanted to minimize stress for both of us. so, joel sat me on some beach towels so i wouldn't leak all over the car (by this time i had already gone through about 4 pads), and we headed out.
as we were driving, the contractions really started to change. they became much more intense on the drive over. plus, i really needed to pee again, so i was very glad when we parked the car.
we got to the hospital right before 7, checked in, and made our way to the l&d room. room 1.
i loved the hospital we were at. really homey feeling, with lots of space and no blank white walls. i changed into my oh-so-fabulous hospital gown, and met my amazing nurse, aubrey. she was there the entire day with me, and was so great.
i got hooked up on all the machines and everything. man. it's so strange to see yourself on all those monitors, watching your contractions rise and fall. she checked me out to see how dilated i was - about 2 centimeters at this point. however, i wasn't very effaced at all. now, i still don't quite know what that term means. but what i do know is that you have to be 100%, and i was not even close.
so, we called our moms again, and they both let us know that they were coming up to the hospital. my dad was in houston - he had to go to a business meeting that morning really early and would hopefully be back before the baby was born.
so, we hung out and waited. i really wanted to do the birth all natural - no drugs whatsoever. my doctor came and checked on me. he wasn't able to actually deliver the baby, as he had a surgery scheduled for later that day. i didn't mind though. as long as joel (and super nurse aubrey) were there, i knew i'd be ok.
when he checked on me, around 9:30, i was still only 2 cm and not very effaced. he wanted to give me petosin, a medicine that induces labor. basically, it just gets the ball rolling and helps to dilate you and get you fully effaced.
i really wasn't excited about doing that. aubrey said we could wait an hour, see if i could do it naturally, and then they would give me the petosin. once your water is broken, it's important to have everything move quickly so that you don't get an infection. so i understood why they wanted to give it to me, i was still just hoping that i could do it all on my own.
mom and sue showed up shortly after. they hung out in the room with me, and were really sweet. checking on how i was doing, but not being overbearing or anything like that.
joel was the best. he was absolutely what i needed all day long. i never had to ask him for anything - he just knew what i wanted and needed, and was there for me, holding my hand.
at 10:30, i got checked out again and had barely changed. so i got the petosin, and things started moving along.
the real bad thing about the petosin is what it does to your contractions. they intensify dramatically. at around noon, i was having a minute long contraction every 2 minutes. they were so intense, i was almost crying. i cannot describe how bad contractions feel. joel was holding my hand through all of it, and i know i was squeezing hard.
i got checked out again, and i was kind of at a cross roads. if i was about 6cm, i was going to continue sticking it out. i really wanted to continue doing it as naturally as possible. however, when i got checked at noon, i was only at 4cm. they were projecting that i wouldn't give birth until at least 10pm that night. i knew i couldn't handle it until then, so i decided to get an epidural.
epidurals are magical. seriously. it feels super weird getting one, but 10 minutes after the shot, i felt nothing. i could watch the contractions on the monitor, but i couldn't feel them anymore. i had been near tears with how painful they were, but all of a sudden i was totally fine. it was so awesome.
i think everyone was relieved that i got the epidural. i know mom, sue and joel didn't like seeing me in pain. it was a much more relaxed process after that.
well, for me at least. little baby wasn't too happy. it turns out that the umbilical cord was crimped around an arm or leg. i had to lay all sorts of different ways to try and figure out what was best for him. i also was put on oxygen.
i was still progressing slowly, but at least i was progressing. around 3pm, it was just joel and i in the room. he started to take a nap, since we'd been up for a long time. at around 4, i even fell asleep. that's how good the epidural is - you can fall asleep during labor!
i woke up at 5pm, and could tell things were different. there was a lot of pressure, and i felt like my epidural had worn off. i called aubrey, and she informed me that the pressure was due to the fact that i was finally dilated and ready to go!
at 5:30 we got into pushing position, and she and joel each grabbed a leg. i started to push. the pushing part came really easy to me. within about 10 minutes, i had pushed lucas down into the perfect position for the doctor to take over. he got into the room, along with 2 other nurses. one nurse was for lucas, and the other nurse was assisting the doctor. at about 5:50, it was time to push again!
first though, i had to take care of something. joel had turned on the tv in the room, which was directly across from me. they were running a marathon of 'little people big world.' i needed to make sure that it wasn't playing while i was giving birth though. i didn't want my first glimpse of my new child to include matt roloff.
with that fixed, it was time to push for real. after a couple of minutes, we could see the top of the head - and tons of hair! the doctor kept asking me if this really was my first child - apparently, i was pushing well. and then, before i knew it, at 6:03pm, out came my baby! joel and i didn't know the sex of the baby ahead of time, and i still get tears in my eyes when i think of joel telling me "it's a boy!" they put him on my chest, and i got to officially meet my new son, lucas edward.
the nurses grabbed lucas and joel went with too, taking pictures of his weigh in (7lbs 11oz) and measurements (19.5in). i was cleaned up, and then ready to hold lucas for real. they got him all wrapped up, and joel and i got to love on him.
until you become a parent, i cannot explain this feeling of pure joy and love. when i think back to 12/17/07 and how much my life changed, i am so happy and thankful.
