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He weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce. Lucas was due July 23, 1998. A pattern can be noticed by the birth story of the other two kids that the chances of him arriving on this date were slim to none and that's exactly what happened. I was not looking forward to enduring being two weeks overdue. The last 4 weeks of the pregnancy my blood pressure had begun to climb and I was prescribed moderate bedrest. By the time I was a week overdue it was felt that because of the slight swelling and high blood pressure that an induction would be the best route to go. The morning of July 30, we arrived at the hospital at 7 am. Things had changed since the birth of Connor and this time instead of having an IV, a gel was applied to the surface of my cervix. We had to hang around for an hour and then were discharged. Nothing happened after the first application so we had to come back for a second one around 3 pm. Again we were discharged and told to call before coming in for a third try at around 8 pm. We went home and I started to feel some mild cramping but didn't think too much about it. We called the hospital about the third try and they were really busy and told us to come back in the next morning. The cramping started to get stronger and more regular after about 8 pm. We timed the contractions and they were 2 minutes apart. Bob and I were living a good 30 minutes from the hospital and our drive involved passing through a tunnel. I didn't feel like going into the hospital but knowing that we had to take such a drive and how fast and easy my second one was, we decided to call the hospital. Since this was my third child and the contractions were coming at 2 minutes apart, we were told to get into the hospital right away. We left around 11 pm and got to the hospital before midnight. Checked in, got hooked up to the monitor and was confirmed that I was in labour. We tried walking the halls, reading, sleeping, anything we could think of. The night passed. Contractions two minutes apart. The nurse came in around 6:30 am, she checked me out and said that I was fully effaced and about 6 cm dilated. Great! I was very tired and bothered by the contractions which remained at two minutes apart. We made some phone calls to family members who had been invited to be present for the birth. My mother, my sister, his mother and his father. We gave them the information that we had and let them decide if they wanted to come in then or wait. They all arrived around 7:30 am. The doctor arrived around 8 am, she checked me and announced that I was fully effaced and only about 3 or 4 cm dilated. What??!! How could this be? Reverse progress? I was getting very tired. Contractions still two minutes apart. Doctor decided to break my waters and see if that would stimulate the cervix to open up more. No difference until about an hour after the water was broken. Something very odd happened. I'd had two children before and although I would have said that contractions were extremely uncomfortable, I would never have used the word 'pain' to describe them. Never before then, that is. These contractions were very painful. We tried some more walking and using the shower. And that's when things got very weird. Suddenly, I began to feel the urge to push and my body was bearing down. I knew it wasn't time but I couldn't seem to stop my body from doing this and it frightened me. The doctor confirmed that I was only 6 cm dilated and that the pushing was causing my cervix to swell and thus making delivery even more difficult [if at all possible]. It was decided that an epidural would be given. That was about 10 am. The anaesthetist was busy with an emergency and we were told would not be able to get to me for quite awhile. We tried everything to get me to relax and stop the pushing that my body seemed so determined to do. First we tried the laughing gas and that didn't do much for what was happening. An IV was inserted and through that some drugs were administered and they would help for about 10 minutes and then it would pass. My oxygen and the fetal heartbeat were constantly monitored through out and we weren't doing that well. Contractions were still two minutes apart and the urge to push was getting stronger and stronger. My cervix was swelling from the pressure and things weren't looking too good. Two and a half hours later, the anaesthetist arrived and I was given an epidural. The relief was almost instant and I could feel my body relax immediately. The next couple of hours, Bob and I spent napping. Sometime around 4:30 pm, I told the nurse that the pressure in my abdomen was getting stronger. She had the doctor check me out and sure enough, I was fully dilated and ready to go. I couldn't believe it! I had slept through most of the transition part and could just barely feel the twinges in my abdomen for each contraction. Since the sensation was not as strong as with the other labours I was concerned that I wouldn't have control or be able to feel myself pushing. They set everything up and at 4:45 I was told to go ahead and push. One push, and I was informed he was down and ready to come out. Wait for next contraction. Second push, out he came. Less than 5 minutes. My handsome third beautiful baby boy. 4:50 pm, 9 pounds and 1 ounce [exact same birth weight as his father]. His breathing was very wet sounding and the doctor noticed a heart murmur so we got to see him for a few minutes and then he was taken away to the neonatal ICU for some tests and observation. Everything turned out fine. It was several hours later before I could attempt to bring him to the breast. he had difficulty the first couple of days but once he got the hang of it he wouldn't do anything else all day. |