A Baby Story

I have some time to fill you in on our little Lucas! It turns out that the baby shower was right on with timing because Sunday night I felt a need to finally get some organization going. Now that I knew what I had and what I needed I could get started, especially because I realized that this would be the last opportunity for a whole week that I'd have real help. We worked for about 6 hours straight getting things organized, cleaned and put away. I was amazed at the progress we made in just a short time. At 8 1/2 months pregnant it's not that easy to move around, but I felt very energized. All that work caused some minor contractions. I lay on the couch the rest of the evening resting. Sadly I was uncomfortable all night and didn't sleep much at all, maybe a few hours at best.

The next morning I had my 38 week appointment. Keira was off at her friend Eve's house for her regular play day (I get Eve on Thursday's) so I was able to go to my appointment alone. I had contractions here and there but not really painful, not regular and when I rested they went away so I wasn't worried at all. I just knew they were going to stop. At my appointment Dr. Downes noticed that I was contracting and told me to rest up. She guessed the baby was currently about 7 1/2 pounds. I had told her I was sure this baby was over eight pounds because I felt this baby from "stem to stern". This baby had already dropped but he was still in my ribs. The first baby to be in my ribs so late in the pregnancy. We joked that we still hadn't picked a name yet and weren't any closer to picking a name. I went home to try to rest.

While waiting at the school to pick up the kids I noticed that the contractions were starting to be more painful. The kids were very disappointed when I wouldn't let them stay and play, we went right home. Still sure these contractions would go away if I just got some sleep, I laid down on my bed for a few hours of rest, sure enough, they calmed down. I think I drifted off for about an hour or so. When John got home from work we started our normal dinner and bedtime routine. After the kids were in bed I had time to try to relax. The contractions had come back and were relatively regular but only 12-15 minutes apart. By 11pm the contractions were coming about 10-12 minutes apart and more painful than not. My brother Shaun and wife Katie were our designated kid watchers, so John and I debated calling them to put them on notice "just in case". We ended up calling. After a call to Kaiser around 12am we made the decision to go in. Shaun was a good sport and rolled out of bed, arriving at our house by 1:00am. We talked about the possibilities: 1) they send me home. In this case Shaun should just sleep on the couch. 2) they keep me. In this case Shaun would sleep on the couch and shuttle Jonah to school (for a science field trip in the bay area) and then take the girls out to Mama's.

Kaiser Roseville is the new hospital we have to go to, and it's much farther than Kaiser Morse, where all our other babies were born. Being the middle of the night the traffic was non-existent and we traveled the distance in about 25 minutes. We had called in advance so they shuttled me right in, but John had to stay back with security until his badge was printed and ID checked. In the car ride up my contractions sped up to about 5 minutes apart, and in the triage room they remained consistent. That meant they were keeping me! Our labor room was nice and big. The nurse took all my information and had me sign all the papers to order my epidural. From here things get a bit fuzzy. I remember that when they gave my my epidural my blood pressure dropped and I almost passed out. They fussed around me for a bit and thought I was doing better when it happened again! My hearing got fuzzy, I felt sick to my stomach and light headed. The anesthesiologist had to stick around for a long time after that for sure! After that things settled down and we were able to discuss names. Now that we were down to the wire we needed to compromise and figure out what our little boy would be called. Since I really liked the name Luke, John came up with a solution: Lucas.

Lucas Gabriel Matthews was born after only a few more hours of labor at 7:55am, 1/11/11. The joking at my baby shower about Tuesday being a good birthday came to pass. John called Shaun a bit before to see how things were going at home and to let him know that for sure we were having the baby. Shaun dropped Jonah off at school and was taking the girls out to Wilton when he got the call that we'd had the baby. Poor Jonah was on a field-trip so he found out later that day from his teacher, who'd found out from the school office, who found out when John called to tell them our girls wouldn't be in school that day. I volunteer at the school every Monday so the secretaries had been watching my belly grow and knew it would be anytime now.

John was amazed at how big Lucas was. Even the nurse midwife who delivered me exclaimed at his size. The final verdict of 8lbs 13oz, 21 1/4 inches was just amazing! I think his cheeks alone added half a pound! Lucas didn't even cry until they finished weighing him and started scrubbing him down. Even then he hardly made any noise. Total exhaustion soon set in from such little sleep that I was quickly drifting off while Lucas slept in his bassinet and John went home to get a bit of sleep before he went to the school to get Jonah at 3:30pm. They both came back later to see the baby and visit a bit. My sister Christina brought our girls later in the evening, they were ecstatic and all wanted to hold the baby. My good friends Tina, Holly and Shavon came to see me about 7:30pm and friend Tiffany came later around 8:30pm. With such a busy day behind me I was very tired and anxious for sleep.
John came mid-morning the next day and watched Lucas while I took a nice hot shower. Packing up was easy and discharge didn't take forever. Before we knew it we were out the door and heading home a little after lunch. If you notice his super cute hospital hat, I picked it out myself. I don't save outfits, I save the hats our babies come home in. I have them all stored away and labeled. I did have some anxiety about having a cute hat to bring him home in. Being unfamiliar with Kaiser Roseville, I didn't know if they had cute handmade hats the way Kaiser Morse did. Thankfully my stress was for nothing. This picture makes him look very small, but he's a big boy! Lucas eats well and so far is sleeping well. We are working on switching his schedule from day to night sleeping. I hope it goes as well as our last two babies. I am thankful to be home with a happy, healthy baby!