Monday was a special day for our family. After months and months and months of praying for our sweet baby followed by a round of hugs and kisses to my belly each night from each child, our tiny son made his grand debut! Welcome little Luke Jamison Jensen! My projections were wrong, though. He was 8lbs. 15 oz. and 20" - born at 4:34 in the afternoon.
That morning, Jeff dropped the kids off at Grandma Gene's around 7am and Tracy came by a little later to take Will and Jess to school. Then Jeff and I drove to Shawano Medical Center, so that I could be admitted by 7:30am to get the party started. Dr. Gillis came up shortly after that to check me out. I was about 2cm. Nurse Tammy started my IV, (she did AWESOME! It only took one time and she was very quick- that counts for lots of points. I remember it took 6 tries and 3 different people to finally get my IV in when I was getting ready to deliver Will. That's how swollen I was!! It was traumatic ☺ )then the pitocin/oxytocin drip could begin working it's magic. They also had me on a drip antibiotic for Group B strep, (not uncommon- I had it with Will, but not with the girls). Tracy made it up by us after taking the kids in to school and hunkered down with some card games and snacks as we had planned to have her spend the day with us. She has been present for the birth of all of our children and the birth of two other nieces. It has been and was once again, very nice to have her there. She's extremely helpful and knows what should be happening, so if something were to seem amiss, I know she would catch it and say something. She also kept my mom frequently updated via texting, which we both appreciated very much. (It feels like I'm typing about an event that took place weeks ago, not 3 1/2 days ago!! It makes me feel sad! Ugh, those stupid hormones! I had a meltdown tonight over a conversation my husband and I had about cooking garlic bread. He started to laugh because he recognized the post delivery hormone rage and through my tears, I laughed too because I knew it was as well. Of course, it doesn't help that my body feels like it's been drop kicked to Texas. The dTap booster shot from yesterday has made my arm crazy sore, in addition to each of my many other lovely postpartum afflictions, of which I will spare you the details. It is such an adjustment period as we try to find our new normal.)
Anyway, back to Monday. So, Jeff, Tracy and I watched some TV, played some card games and talked until a little after 11 when Jeff and Tracy decided to get some lunch before the doctor came in around noon to break my water. (Heehee, little Luke is sitting here next to me as I type this and just filled his tiny diaper quite loudly!) They brought back Subway sub sandwiches while I ate a scrumptious lunch of green jello, green popsicle, (the red popsicle tasted funky), 3 sips of hot broth and some juice. Dr. Gillis came up at 12:30 and broke my water with the crochet hook. It continued to alternate between slow leak and gush for a couple of hours afterward. My contractions continued to increase in strength, but I was still fairly comfortable UNTIL about 2pm when I asked for a good strong dose of pain medication. They checked me before administering the Nubane drug and I measured 7cm! Getting closer! However, I remember feeling discouraged and a little defeated that the contractions were already as hard and painful as they were and knowing that they were only going to get harder. Thank goodness for the Nubane, man, that is nice stuff! I immediately felt what I describe as "fuzzy" and as if I were floating above the ground. Ahhh, it was a needed and extremely welcome relief to have a chance to "relax" in between contractions like that. I told my nurse that I was also strongly considering an epidural, (I'd never had one before, but my pain level was scaring me and I seriously doubted my ability to get through it). She told me that it was not too late for that, so they also started prepping me for a possible epidural by pumping me full of extra fluid. The Nubane started wearing off a little before 4pm and I wasn't shy about asking for more. Because I had progressed significantly, they could only consent to giving me half of a dose. At least they "say" they gave me half a dose. I have my doubts, ;). I started having that horrible tremor after contractions every 5ish minutes driving the urge to push. I knew we were almost at the point of MAXIMUM BUTT-KICKING PAIN!! I remember my doctor sitting down during that time and looking like she was settling in to do some waiting. That was SO discouraging for me at the time. I even said to her, "You're sitting down!" I didn't hear anything after that, but Tracy told me later that she had responded by telling me that she didn't plan on leaving. It took pushing HARD after 3 different contractions to get my little man here. I don't know how many times I cried out in absolute despair that, "I CAN'T!", but it was many. Instead of sympathy and relief all I got from my "audience" was, "Yes, you can!" and before I knew it my legs were pulled back to my head and I was pushing that final, excruciating, mind-splitting push when through the bearing down and holding of my breath I felt him finally come spilling out! It truly is amazing to me the level of IMMEDIATE relief I have felt after each of the actual deliveries of my children. The same was true for my baby Luke. I felt instantly and literally delivered from death myself. I don't say that for any sake of exaggeration, either, I praised the Lord more than once that it had ended and could not stop the tears of gratitude for relief from that suffering. 4:34pm brought me the title of "Mother" once again and our family had officially grown from a family of 5 to a family of 6! The baby could not be consoled in the least after delivery and just cried and cried and cried. Poor little guy. He had a hard first night as well. He wasn't interested in trying to eat, all he could do was sob. He was much, much better Tuesday, having finally figured out how to settle down. I am very grateful that he is a content little baby. He has a good amount of light brown hair, a tiny, slightly turned up little button nose and a sweet, pouty little mouth. I can see a resemblance to Emily, actually.
Grandma Gene and Grandpa Steve brought the kids up Monday evening for a short visit to see me and to meet their new baby brother. They were all so cute! They each had great big smiles and hushed voices as they looked him over in approval. One of Emily's first comments to me was, "Now we can jump on your belly!" This made me laugh. I had no idea she had been waiting so long to finally be able to use me as a trampoline! Such a girl! Since Jeff was able to take the week off, he kept the kids home from school the next day and brought them up after making a pancake breakfast, getting everyone dressed, doing the girls' hair, and having them each complete a couple of chores around the house. This time, they each got to take a few turns holding the baby and asking LOTS of questions. Will took many pictures with his DS,(Oh, not to go unmentioned here- Will got a Nintendo DSi for Christmas a few weeks ago. He had been wanting one for about a year and was beyond thrilled to finally get one. He let me take it to the hospital to play on Monday before the babe was born. How is that for sweet!)and kept saying while he was there, "He's so cute!" I guess I'd have to agree with him on that!
Jeff and I have to go up to the hospital again tomorrow for a return weight and color check as they routinely have all newborns do. I know he's got some jaundice, so we'll have to see if they think that's a problem and even though he had a slow start to the world of pooping, (it took him over 24 hours for his first poop!), he has figured that out and been pooping like a pro since. We are all so thrilled to finally have him here in our arms to hold and kiss. He is such a precious little baby. It is really a blessing to get to adjust to a new "normal".
