Luke's Birth Story

"As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me, your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!..Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!" Psalm 40:11, 13

As I said in my last post, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before I went in to be induced(which is always great, since you know how much sleep you get when you have a newborn!) Anyways, by 4:30 Friday morning I gave up any hope of getting any sleep, and got up. Once I started moving around I felt something weird, and wondered if maybe Luke had flipped back over, but was still feeling pretty anxious about everything.

I took a shower, made some breakfast, read some verses in Psalms, and before I knew it, it was time to go to the hospital. My good friend Laurie arrived to watch my other children, and we were off. I was still feeling anxious, but I was starting to feel more calm.  I knew my other kids were in good hands, and that God knew exactly how this day was going to go and whether or not Luke was suppose to be born that day.

By the time we got admitted, and I was being hooked up to the monitors, there was no talk at all of Luke being transverse. The nurses found the heart beat right away, much to my relief, and we were able to laugh about my standing on my head adventures with them.

Labor moved pretty slow, for most of the day I stayed at a 4. By five that night, the other patient my doctor was inducing had given birth hours ago, and now they were just waiting on me. I had got an epidural so I wasn't in any pain, and I knew that this was typically how my body handled inductions. 

Well a few minutes later, I felt an enormous amount of pressure, and quite a bit of pain. I had Erik get the nurse, and she said I was at an 8, but not to start pushing yet, and left. I guess the epidural wore off or something because I was in the middle of transition, and I could feel everything! Erik was a great coach trying to encourage me(he later told me  that he figured out pretty quick I didn't want him talking to me!) and holding my hand.

It's all kind of a blur now, I remember people talking to me, and me getting annoyed because I couldn't talk I was in too much pain, and being more than ready to push. I remember someone saying I couldn't push until the doctor got in the room because she'd be mad, and me thinking that I really didn't care if the doctor got angry or not this baby was coming!

Finally it was time to push, and within just a few pushes Luke was out. They laid him on my stomach so we were able to do skin to skin right away. I was so relieved to be done with labor, and the joy I felt seeing my sweet little boy for the first time was overwhelming. They cleaned him up, and within 15 minutes Erik and I were left alone with Luke, and he started nursing right away.

So far Luke's been an extremely laid back baby. He's also well loved by his brothers and sisters, which has brought me so much joy. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us this sweet little boy.