Lucas Brian Is Here...A Birth Story

Today I would like to share with you a Huge Snippet of Creation (oxymoron, I know), but on Monday, September 23rd at 5:12 PM, my family welcomed a new member...Lucas Brian Gastineau

 

After my water broke Sunday night, we took our time getting to the hospital and were finally checked in at about midnight.  At 6:30 am, I wasn't having many contractions, so they started me on Pitocin.  That really sped things up to the point I was having contractions every 2 minutes (no time to breath), so I said it's epidural time.

Side note, my first baby was breach, so it was a simple scheduled cesarean; therefore, I never experienced labor...I have now!

 

At about 10:30, I got my epidural and laid back for a few hours.  By 3 pm I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing.  The nurse didn't think I would progress that fast, so while she got the room ready, I tried to "labor down and at about 4 pm I started pushing. Lucas didn't like the pushing because his heart rate went down really low, so the nurses brought in the doctor who felt using the vacuum would be the safest way to go and I agreed. So, at about 4:50 pm I started pushing again and after 25 min of that, he came out! 

Here is the cutest picture of Eliana. The nurses kept her busy...

Since he came out so fast, there wasn't a lot of time to clear out his lungs, so the baby nurses thought they heard some respiratory problems, which

meant he was off to the NICU where they did x-rays and blood tests.

 

 One of the blood tests they did took 48 hours to get results so we were stuck in the hospital until then.  Luckily, I was able to stay in 'Postpartum,' but I had to be in the NICU every 3 hours to feed him....talk about a long night!

 

After the 48 hours were up and all the test results came back good, we had one more battle to fight...jaundice.  Although, it's common in infants, the fact that he was in the NICU, they wanted it to improve before discharging him just in case there were any untreated infections.  This meant at least one more night in the NICU!  Ugh!!!  I had been discharged from Postpartum, so I spent the night in the NICU room with Lucas, again, getting barely any sleep since I was in pain, sleeping on a fold-out chair and waking up every 3 hours to feed him, which I didn't mention earlier, takes about an hour.  So I had only 2 hours to go to the bathroom, settle into the chair and fall asleep!

 

The next morning we got good news...we were able to go home!  The doctor felt he would do fine at home with the help of photo therapy, which is basically lights that he has to be exposed to in order to help reduce the bilirubin levels, which causes jaundice. So, we got the photo therapy machine and headed home.  Below is a picture of Lucas getting his photo therapy treatment, which he needs 24 hours. 

 

 

Hopefully in a few days, we will have a good blood test that says his bilirubin level is under control and we can start a normal life/routine with Lucas.  Until then, we are all enjoying his sweet face.  Eliana is wonderful with him.  She loves having a baby brother!

A special thank you to my mom who helped me get through the contractions and put things in perspective when I was having a meltdown from the pain.

Another special thank you to Julie for holding down the fort last week by posting all three days.

And finally, my biggest special thank you to my amazing husband who was there with me every second to encourage, pray with and for and get me whatever I needed.  I have a good man!

 

~ Kerri