Hospital Memories

Lots of people have been asking me questions about our hospital stay, and about Luke's birth story, so I thought I would post a little bit about that here. After Luke was 2 weeks late, we were scheduled for induction on June 11. We had to wake up and call in around 5am to find out if they could fit us in, and then we went in for the induction at 7am. My parents met us in the lobby around 7:15, and Mom joked that I was late for my own induction :-)

Everything got started pretty quickly, and Dave and my Mom were in the room with me. The first couple of hours weren't too painful, and we had a DVD player in the room so we watched Indiana Jones, a DVD that happened to be in our car. We put in a call for the Elgas' to bring some additional DVD's as it was obvious that I wasn't progressing very fast. After they broke my water, the contractions were getting more painful, but we were worried that things were still very slow. Luke, as always was on the move, and the nursing staff was having a hard time keeping him on the monitor. Somewhere during Finding Nemo, they decided that I would have to lie on the bed, and they would try to monitor him that way. I eventually got an epidural, but the nursing staff was still worried that Luke wouldn't stay put for the monitors. We eventually decided to do internal monitoring to make sure he was handling the induction ok. Luke was such a trooper, and didn't seem fazed at all by this process. Of course, he wasn't really coming along either, so that made things very slow. We did have 1 scare where the monitors spiked in a weird way, and folks came rushing in and turned off the pitocin. As soon as everything settled back down and it was determined that Luke was fine, we started back up on the pitocin. However, we would have to start the dosage back at the beginning. Since I was only about 5-6 cm, and it had been about 16 hours, we were worried that things weren't looking good.

During the night, Dave and Mom were able to get a little sleep, and I think I watched Finding Nemo again. In the lobby, my Dad, as well as Dee and Janet were bedded down for the night trying to get some sleep as well. The chairs they were sleeping on looked extremely uncomfortable! Around 20 hours into the process, we learned that we would have to have a C-Section. Luke was coming down a little bit sideways, and he just wasn't able to progress any further. Although this was a scary proposition, Dave and I just wanted Luke to be healthy and this seemed like a good solution. However, the doctors were busy, and since we weren't an emergency case, we were left to wait until they had time to deal with us. This would have been kind of ok if they had turned off the pitocin - which they didn't. So, after another 3 hours or so, I had maxed out on my epidural, and was getting really cranky. Dave and Mom made a plea to the nurses to get a Doctor to order the pitocin turned off while we waited. They finally turned it off, and then all of the sudden, everyone was ready for the C-Section! Next thing we know, Dave is in scrubs, and I am being wheeled down to surgery.

Once I got down there, Dave had to wait outside until they got everything ready, and then they brought him in. He was able to sit and pray outside for a minute, and was really thankful to have so much family all here supporting us. Throughout the C-Section, I just wanted to look at him. I was shaking really hard (which is apparently normal), and Dave was keeping me calm through the whole thing. As the doctors worked, we could suddenly hear a baby cry! One of the doctors said, "Wow, who is the football player in your family?" I immediately thought of my dad, and sure enough, Luke was born with really broad shoulders and a football player's build. Dave and I could hear Luke crying, and as soon as Dave was sure that I was ok, he went straight over to Luke. As soon as Dave spoke, Luke stopped crying. It was so amazing, and I was so happy to know that they were together. When I finally got to see Luke, I was so excited, and couldn't wait to hold him.

After we got to the recovery room, I was still shaking so hard that I couldn't hold Luke, but I watched as Dave held him and they gazed at each other. Dave would also hold him up so that he could look at me and it was so wonderful! That time together was really great. Luke seemed so alert and interested, and we really loved getting to know him. The best part for me was seeing how naturally Dave took to being a father. It seemed like this had always meant to be, and Dave was ready for anything. This continued over the next days as Dave had to do all the care, and just bring Luke to me for nursing and holding. Dave got to read Luke his first books, and attached a lion toy to the bassinet that Luke just loved to look at. He is an absolute natural at being a father.

Once we were moved to our room for our stay, we met up with all the grandparents, and got to enjoy seeing them meet Luke. Very soon, we got some time to rest, and spent the next days recovering and getting to know Luke. We had great nursing staff, and learned a lot from them. Dave stayed in the hospital with me the whole time.

When we got home that Friday, we enjoyed a great weekend showing Luke our house, and having friends and family over. However, just a few days later, I woke up and part of my incision had opened up. We went to the doctor's and learned that I had an infection that had caused this. Within another day, the infection had worsened and it was clear that I would have to go back to the hospital for IV antibiotics. I was really worried that this would mean I would be separated from Luke, but by the grace of God, we ended up with a Doctor who really advocated for us. She made it so that all 3 of us could check back in together. We also got the big room at St. Joe's which made the second stay much better! The antibiotics worked and we got the infection under control. Although it was a tough way to start out, being able to be all together, and having so much support from family made the second stay manageable. Throughout it all, Luke never seemed fazed at all! He was always a healthy and alert baby, who seemed content to just be rocked and held. He is definitely well loved, and we are so happy he is here.