Birth of Lucas Ambrose (5/5/12)

[BCsMom]

Lucas Ambrose arrived at 4pm on Saturday, May 5th after a total labor of 11 hours. He was 8lb, 3oz and 21.5" long. He was originally due April 26th, so was at 41+2 – and I was getting worried I would not get my desired natural, non-medicated labor!

Luke is my first LO, so I had no idea what to expect. My doctor and my doula had both expected me to give birth early, and I had been dilating and effacing nicely starting at week 36. I lost my mucus plug at 39 weeks and expected things to start moving soon. But other than one night of mild contractions a couple days before my due date, nothing else was happening. My doctor was willing to let me go until 42 weeks, as long as I passed NSTs every couple of days. I had two NSTs during week 40, and everything was fine. I did not get my membranes stripped because I was GBS+ and my doula didn’t want my water to break prematurely. So I was getting to be pretty sure I would have to be induced….

Friday night (the 4th) I had pretty much lost my appetite for no good reason and I was feeling a little funny. I don’t know how else to describe it, but I did think it was possible that something was going to happen soon. I had a bunch of BH that evening. 5am Saturday morning, I woke up to real, though mild, contractions that were about every 10-15 minutes. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up. The contractions got a little closer together. I took a short bath, which seemed to ease them a little. I called my doula just in case, and she suggested I take an hour long bath. The contractions now were 6-7 minutes apart. In the bath they were maybe 10 minutes apart, but as soon as I got out of the tub they were coming every 5 minutes and the intensity shot up. They were short – under a minute – but because of the intensity I asked my doula to meet me at the hospital and my DH and I headed off!

I actually made my DH park the car in the lot and walk with me to the hospital rather than dropping me at the ER because I was worried I wasn’t far along in labor – it had only been about 6 hours at this point. But I had two serious contractions on the walk in (I worried a few people, I think!) and when I got to triage I found out I was already at 8cm! They got me upstairs pretty quickly. I had wanted to be in my hospital’s alternative birthing center, but it was already full (this was the day of the super moon). I labored in a regular room, but without medication so I still got the birth I wanted.

Labor lasted 4 more hours from when we got to the hospital. The actual pushing was just over an hour, and my LO was born at 4pm on the dot. Everyone said I was surprisingly calm during the whole thing, but I don’t remember much – just that the pushing felt like it took FOREVER and I was so excited to be able to finally see my son. We did skin-to-skin right away, and I don’t think I will ever forget the feeling of seeing my son come out and then the weight of his slippery little body on my chest. It made every minute of pain worthwhile.

Because my labor was so short by the time I got to the hospital, they only got one round of antibiotics in, so we did have to stay at the hospital for an extra day to make sure Luke was healthy. He’s so far been in great shape, and is a big sleeper – sometimes too much so, since breastfeeding has gotten off to a slightly slow start. But he is amazing!

[rosenfried2]

Congratulations! What a great first birth mama!

[lovebabies]

Congratulations!!!! He is perfect and beautiful. I'm so happy you got the birth you wanted!

[mommieofpees]

Congrats! What an awesome labor and delivery

[blueone]

Yay!!!

[Anna0623]

This was a great birth story thank you for sharing, and I love the picture of your little boy!

[TPLmommy]

Congratulations!!! What a fantastic first birth! He is adorable!!! I the dimple in his chin...all my DC have one too, so stinkin' cute!

[Ready2Bmommy]

congrats mama! What an awesome birth story!

[nikkibreeze]

What an adorable boy!

[Almacham]

Congratulations!