I've been meaning to write down Luke's birth story for a while now, especially since some of the details are really getting fuzzy. It's amazing how a baby grows in the first year. I can barely remember when Luke was a newborn. I remember bits and pieces of things, like his first bath at home and how he always loved his baths and the way he beat his little fists in the air when he was mad, like an angry little bumblebee, as my mom would say. I can't remember what his newborn cry sounded like anymore. I do remember his skin sagging on his arms and legs, but that didn't last for long. He filled out quite nicely in very little time at all.
He was born on his due date, and I'm told that only 4-5% of babies come on their predicted due date. I started feeling some cramping after dinner, which consisted of a mediterranean chicken dish I had made, on the night of March 17th. It was about 6:00 p.m., and I wasn't sure if I was really feeling anything. We went for a walk around the block, because I heard that would help bring on contractions if they had already started. There was snow piled about 2 feet high from the storm the night before. We got home, and around 8:00 p.m. I started feeling more crampiness. Now I could feel it right down to my toes. We called my parents in Lancaster and told them we thought this might be it. We were living in State College, PA at the time, so it would be a 2 1/2 hour drive for them. We wanted them to make it in time for the birth, but I still wasn't sure I was having contractions. I started timing them and decided to take a bath. It was around 10:00 p.m. that I started feeling uncomfortable. I called my midwife and my parents, and told them we thought this was really it. My contractions were about 5 or 6 minutes apart by then. Zach and I laid down on the sofa bed and watched Mad TV. I couldn't sleep. Zach dozed off for a little bit. My parents and sister arrived with Zoe, our late and beloved family dog, around 1:00 a.m. I was sitting in a chair at that point and doubling over every time a contraction came. I ate a chocolate chip cookie that my father had made. We all tried to get some rest, and by 3:00 a.m. I decided it was time to go to the hospital. The car didn't turn over right away, because it was so cold outside. It was a 2 mile ride to the hospital, and so I managed to get there without any painful contractions. I was able to walk up to the maternity ward and changed and laid down in bed while the nurses asked me questions and hooked my up to the fetal monitoring device. At 3:30 my midwife checked me and told me I was at 2 cm. My contractions were about 2 minutes apart, and I was effaced and the baby was coming down nicely. She said I was ready to go at any time. So even though I was only 2 cm, they kept me. I walked the halls for a little bit with Zach and my mom. Things were speeding up quickly, and I really had to focus on breathing and moaning to make the pain bearable. I was doing very well until about 7:00 a.m. When the midwife checked my again I was about 5-6 cm. I kept thinking that I was almost past what they call the transition, and that if I could make it to 8 cm, I'd be almost there. It seemed like hours later that I was only at 7 cm. At this point, I was exhausted and in pain. I got into the shower for a little bit, but that didn't do much more than make me cold and wet. I was experiencing a sharp, lingering pain in my left side. I almost threw up a few times, and as the contractions came and went, I was still left with that searing pain in my side. The midwife feared the placenta had detached from the wall, but in the end that wasn't the case at all. There is still no explanation, except that perhaps the baby was hitting a nerve or maybe it was sheer exhaustion. I kept thinking if I could just have some ibuprofen, it might help me, but that's not what they use when you're in labor. I ended up getting an IV pain medication around 9:00 a.m. That helped for about 17 minutes. About half an hour later, I requested an epidural. I was 7 cm dilated. I felt like I wasn't managing the pain anymore, and it was getting the best of me. I wanted to be able to have enough energy to push this baby out when the time came, and I didn't foresee that happening with the amount of pain I was experiencing. I got the epidural and then slept for about 2 1/2 hours. It was so peaceful. The sun was up, and the pain was gone. Around noon the midwife said I was at 10 cm. She broke my water, and then we waited until I felt pressure and the urge to push. I started pushing. I was sitting up in bed holding onto my thighs. After about 8 pushes, the midwife said we needed to help this baby out, and she gave me an episiotomy. I didn't feel the incision being made. We kept seeing his head crowning, and Zach was so afraid that he was going to be too small. With a few more pushes, our baby emerged, big and healthy. They placed him right on my stomach, and he looked up at me. He cried out a minute later. I remember saying "Hi". Zach was crying, and I would have been too had I not been so exhausted.
He scored a 9 on his Apgar, but they couldn't get his temperature up. Eventually the nurses took him to the nursery to warm him up, and it didn't take long before his temperature rose. Luke Everett Newell arrived at 12:06 p.m. on Sunday, March 18 2007. He was 7 lbs 6 1/2 oz and 20.75 inches long.
He hasn't been out of my sight or heart since then.
