The Big Day - Luke Andrew Fisher

Here is the story of one of the most incredible days of my life – the day I finally got to meet my son, Luke.

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I had been suspicious that my water may have broken all Sunday afternoon and evening, but because Jeff and I had been admitted to Labor and Delivery twice before only to be sent home, we were apprehensive about returning too readily. If my water had broken, it was a very, very slow leak and after much consideration and prayer the night before, we felt comfortable staying home for the night. This ended up being a fantastic choice and wonderful blessing as I got plenty of rest before the big day.

I was scheduled for a regular OBGYN appointment at 10am that morning and I thought I would ask my doctor about the possibility of a rupture then, but when we woke up that morning, I decided we didn’t need to wait that long, it was time to make another trip to the hospital. The leak was still very, very slow and my contractions had all but disappeared so Jeff and I took the time to shower and have a quick breakfast before grabbing our things and driving the three minutes to the hospital (it was SO nice having the hospital so close by).

We arrived at the hospital at about 7:45am and got settled into a room in Labor and Delivery, where the nurse, Tina (the same nurse AND same room that we had the first time we visited labor and delivery) conducted a couple of tests to determine whether or not my water had in fact broken. A few minutes later, she returned to tell us that it had! We were so excited to know that this was it! We weren’t going to be sent home disappointed this time. We were having our son today! It was still hard to wrap our heads around and seemed too good to be true, but we were so ready.

Tina checked my cervix and told me that I was still dilated 3 centimeters and 85% effaced. Except for a measly 5% more effacement, I was exactly where I had been at my appointment an entire week earlier. After everything we had done to try and speed up the process, I would have been supremely disappointed to hear that news, but this time I knew it didn’t matter. My water had broken so I was having this baby today!

There wasn’t any rush getting things started. Tina got my contractions and Luke’s heart rate up on the monitor, gave me my iv and hooked me up to a bag of saline, which made me have to pee pretty much every two minutes. I would get up, unplug myself from the monitor, hold the two cords in one hand and pull my iv along with me to the bathroom with the other (all the while looking ridiculous in my haphazard, rather revealing hospital gown), do my business, make my way back to the bed, get plugged in and situated and then think, Wait, did I pee? I’m pretty sure I still have to go. Oh well, not anything I’m not used to after nine months of pregnancy.

My mom arrived just in time to see me awkwardly, and half-nakedly make my way back to my bed from the bathroom for the 5^th time. Good thing she’s my mom and she loves me so she didn’t mind. And she would witness plenty more less-than-appealing sides of me before the end of the day.

After a while, Tina got me hooked up to a bag of pitocin and started it on the slowest flow. She cranked it up a notch every so often for the next hour or two, but when she got it up to 20 (the highest it goes), I still wasn’t feeling much in the way of contractions. I was having them, but they were still very mild. Jeff and I had been comfortably chatting with my mom and watching Friends the entire time. But around noon, I was really starting to feel each contraction. They were strong and close together. The pain still wasn’t unbearable, but I had to concentrate and breathe through each one and since they were only about a minute apart, I didn’t have much time to recover in between. I was trying to tough it out, thinking it would be best to wait as long as possible before getting an epidural, since I had heard that they slow down the labor process. However, when the head nurse, Judy (my cousin Brooke’s husband Ben’s mom) told me that the epidural actually often speeds up the process because the woman isn’t as tense during contractions, allowing them to do their job, I was more than ready for mine. When Jeff and I were first married, I gave plasma twice a week for about nine months and as a result, I am no longer afraid of needles so that wasn’t standing in my way. I had been feeling these strong contractions a minute apart for about an hour (during which time Doug and Tricia had kindly brought a delicious lunch for Mom and Jeff, but unfortunately, in my current condition, I was less than sociable during their visit) and I told the nurse if there was no reason for me to go on suffering, I had had enough. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was in a c-section and would not be available for about an hour. So Tina gave me the next best thing: a narcotic of some kind in my iv. I could still feel my contractions, but the drug made me loopy, drowsy, and fuzzy and significantly dulled the pain. I started slurring my speech a little and maybe drooling just a smidge as I drifted in and out of sleep watching Friends. I was feeling pretty good.

Then, something exciting happened. I got a new nurse – Tricia! Tricia wasn’t scheduled to work that night, but they were so busy that she was given the okay to clock in and be my nurse. This was such great news! Tricia is the best. Really. I don’t care who you are. You would love her. I promise. And she is an incredible nurse and took wonderful care of me. It was so nice having someone I was comfortable with, who I could trust, and who would go out of her way to make me comfortable and happy.

Eventually, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. Tricia had told me that he is very good at what he does and boy was she right! He was SO quick and I hardly felt a thing! Immediately afterward, Dr. Gamette broke the rest of my water, which wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience since my epidural hadn’t taken effect yet and I could feel everything, but it wasn’t too bad.

Over the next hour or so, my contractions continued to come very, very close together and I started feeling them a little more than I wanted to. I had told myself beforehand that I was only going to push the button to up the epidural as much as was necessary to keep myself from being in real pain. I still wanted to be aware of my contractions and I did not want to be numb for hours after Luke was born. With the contractions being so strong and so close together, I had to push the button three or four times over the next couple of hours, but I never lost the ability to move my legs, although after a while, I couldn’t lift them anymore.

As I mentioned before, when I arrived at the hospital, I was dilated 3 centimeters and 85% effaced. It took quite a while to get things moving, but once they did, they moved fast! After Dr. Gamette broke my water, I was at 4+ centimeters and I went from a 4 to a 10 in the next hour and a half. Tricia kept checking my cervix and every time she did, I had gone up a centimeter or two. It was happening so fast and we were all getting very excited. The time had finally come. My little boy was going to be in my arms so soon! My mom had been the source of updates and information for everyone on the outside and she could hardly keep up with the progress I was making. She was sending out text after text, “She’s a 7!” “She’s a 9!”

During the time when I was contracting and dilating like crazy, Luke's heart rate dropped a little bit. Tricia wasn't too worried about it, but she put this very flattering oxygen mask on me to help him out a little bit. Jeff couldn't resist taking a picture of how funny I looked.

In no time, I was dilated 10 centimeters and 100% effaced. Tricia told me it was time to push. “Are you ready?” she asked. My response: “I guess so…I don’t know…” I was so excited to get my little boy here, but the time to push had come so quickly, I hardly had time to prepare for it and now, for the first time, I was scared. I was feeling my contractions. They weren’t too painful, but I was worried that I would really feel a baby coming out of me. I still couldn’t imagine how he was going to fit, but most of all, I was worried that I wouldn't have the energy to get him out. I really don’t do well on an empty stomach. If I don’t eat for several hours, I begin to get weak and my body doesn’t work too well. I had not eaten in over ten hours and normally, I would hardly be able to function after that long without food. Tricia told me that for a first baby, women typically push for 1-2 hours. She explained the way it would work: at the start of each contraction, I would take a breath and then push for ten seconds while holding my breath, take a breath, push for ten more seconds, take a breath and push for ten more seconds. Push three times for ten seconds each during every contraction?? My contractions were still coming a minute apart and I didn’t know if I could keep that up for 1-2 hours. Of course, I was going to give it everything I had, but I wasn’t sure if that would be enough and that scared me. I cried a few silent, scared tears while Jeff held my hand. I’m so glad he could be there by my side. I couldn’t have done it without him. Jeff makes everything okay. My mom and Tricia reassured me that as impossible as it seemed, the baby would fit and I could do this. I was so glad to have these three incredible people at my side to comfort me and give me strength.

My sweet supportive husband

Jeff and Mom took their positions at each side of the bed, ready to help hold my legs up each time I pushed. Then, the first contraction started and I took a breath and pushed, took another breath and pushed, took one more breath and pushed. I gave each push everything I had and guess what? I could do it. My body felt strong and I could tell I was going to be able to do this. After a few pushes, we were already making a ton of progress. Tricia told me I was a champion pusher. I attribute that to my beloved elliptical trainer, which helped keep my muscles strong up to the very end of my pregnancy. Tricia explained that the doctor would be called in when the top of the baby’s head was visible even when I wasn’t pushing. We got to that point really fast. Tricia called Dr. Gamette, but he was busy (delivering another baby, I believe) so she had me only push 40% on the next couple of contractions and then she was afraid she might have to deliver the baby if we weren’t careful so she told me I had to stop pushing until Dr. Gamette arrived. I laid there and tried to breathe through each contraction without pushing. This went on for about five contractions and I was getting impatient. I’m sure Dr. Gamette was busy with something very important, but at that point, I didn’t care. I just wanted him to hurry up! Poor Luke’s little head was getting squished with every contraction and I knew I could get him out in no time if I was just allowed to try.

Finally, Dr. Gamette arrived, but he wasn’t in much of a hurry. He took his time setting everything up and twice, he told me, “We’ll start on the next contraction. Don’t push yet.” It seemed like the moment would never come, but finally, everyone was ready and I was told to push. From that point, it took less than five minutes to get little Luke there (I pushed for only 40 minutes total, including all of that time I was told not to push). Mom and Jeff watched in amazement as he suddenly appeared. My mom told me, “Kira, he’s here!” and then I heard him cry. That was it. Silent tears started streaming down my face. I couldn’t believe that my son was finally here. Dr. Gamette held him up so I could see him. He was perfect.

The nurses went about cleaning Luke (we didn’t know that was his name at the time) up and checking his vitals, while Mom and Jeff took pictures and Dr. Gamette sewed up my “half the size of the average episiotomy.” As the nurses prepared to weigh him, Dr. Gamette declared 6 pounds, 11 ounces as his official guess. Well, he was a little off. Luke weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. I guess he got the dense bones from my side of the family. We all weigh way more than anyone ever guesses.

Luke cried hard whenever the nurses poked and prodded him, but the moment they stopped, he stopped crying almost instantly.

My mom snapped a picture of the overjoyed parents right after Luke arrived

I was dying to hold Luke and after what seemed like forever, they brought him over to me. As I held him against my chest and looked at his sweet, little, slightly beat up face, I cried a few more tears of joy. I still couldn’t believe that he was here and he was mine. Jeff and I get to keep this perfect little boy forever. The love I felt for him was stronger than I ever could have imagined.

I remember Tricia asking me while I was in labor if I wanted to do "skin to skin" with Luke after he was born (hold him skin to skin on my chest to help him warm up and calm down). I told her yes and I remember my heart skipped a beat as I imagined holding my little boy warm against my chest in just a short couple of hours.

Joyful tears

His poor beat up little face

First family photo

With Tricia. We love her!

So glad my mom could be there

Proud Daddy

We could tell right away that Luke looked just like his dad. I love my boys!

My mom is already the best grandma. Luke is a lucky boy.

Holding grandma's finger. Luke was born with the longest fingers, toes, arms, and legs. And he has such big hands! Looks like he's going to grow into a pretty big guy.