Luca's Birth Story (Part II)

My induction was started at 7 am on November 21, 2011.  I was hooked up to Pitocin and my OB showed up to break my water when I was about four cm dialated.  It actually turned out that at some point, my placenta had developed a slow leak anyways, probably due to all the contractions I had experienced all weekend!

I can say with absolute certainty that Pitocin is the devil.  The contractions were long and dramatic.  And painful.  Oh so painful.  Because of my sensitivity to epidurals that became evident during my labor with Jude, I declined an epidural and just dealt with the pain.  I really wasn't prepared for it.  The contractions I experienced with Jude before the epidural were nothing compared to these.  By the time I was dialated to 7 cm, I was in complete agony and taking it all out on my poor husband.  At one point, he started to sit down in a chair.  I directed a slew of insults at him that basically surmounted to "You don't get to sit even for one second until this baby is out!"

After what felt like an eternity, I went from 7 centimeters to 10 centimeters fairly quickly and then was told that the baby was posterior.  Meaning, he was sunnyside up and this was going to make pushing him out a bit more challenging.  I attempted several different positions to push in an effort to get him to turn.  Nothing worked.  After two and a half hours of pushing, I was so tired and in tears.  I just wanted him out.  At one point, I remember one of the nurses asking if I wanted to consider having a csection.  All I could think was HELL NO- I am NOT pushing for this long and enduring Pitocin contractions for 8 hours just to end up in a csection.  I finally got my baby boy out twenty minutes later!  Luca Blaise entered the world at 3:20 pm, 22 inches long, 8 lbs 8 oz.  (NOT 10 lbs).

Unfortunately, due to him being posterior and his size, I suffered a fourth degree tear that required quite a bit of aftercare to get everything stitched back up.  I also lost quite a bit of blood from it.  But, I was able to hold my baby in my arms and look at his sweet little face (that looked a lot like Jude's!) and every single second of the labor was so worth it.

Luca latched on and started nursing almost immediately.  He received a 7 for his Apgar score (he had some slow reflexes initially, probably as a result of spending almost three hours in the birth canal getting squished), but was alert and taking it all in.

I did deal with some bitter feelings about being forced to make a decision to induce a week before my due date because of 10 lb baby fears, when he turned out to be not even 9 lbs.  Because he was so long and lean, the measurements were off because ultrasounds cannot take body fat into consideration and thus, overestimated.  I can't help but think that my labor would have been cake if everything had happened when my body and Luca were ready.  If we are ever blessed with a third baby, my mind is made up that I will absolutely do a midwife and birth center.

But, here he is- moments after his birth.  Beautiful and perfect.  I'm a mommy to two boys- the luckiest gal in the world. 

My beautiful boy.  Look at his conehead from being pushed for so long!

First photo with daddy.

My amazing mother, who is an awesome labor buddy.

My sleepy sweetie.