A birth story

Lukah Kalani

"Light from the heavens"

Born August 26th at 4:20 am. 

Weighing in at 8 lbs 8 ounces.

21 inches long.

It's amazing how someone so little can impact a family so significantly and in such a wonderful way that it's hard to believe he has only been here just over 2 weeks. 

A birth story (This is long. Really long. If you only have time to read part of it...just read the last paragraph :)):

When I delivered Kai I was told I have (in lamons terms) a "stupid uterus." Basically, my body forgets how to give birth. Just as it did when I was pregnant with Kai, this time around my body started and stopped labor so many times I lost count. I do know that the first time it started was week 28...I was so grateful then that it didn't continue. It started again on 8/10/12...3 weeks early. Since then I basically had contractions off and on every day with some days the contractions getting as close as 3-4 minutes apart. I spent those 3 weeks waking up and wondering each morning if today was going to be the day. Sure enough however, my body kept stopping. In fact, my body, despite all the contractions, never progressed past 1.5 cm, 50% effaced. Emotionally drained from all the past 4 months brought as well as the disappointment of the past 3 weeks induction was scheduled for August 24th (5 days early since Kai was 9.8 lbs and there was concern of this little man being equally as big). The days leading up to August 24th were tough. I went through every emotion in the book...wondering how Kadyn would adjust since he'll be in kindergarten full-time, how will Kai adjust with his whole world being put upside down, how would I adjust as a mommy to 3 little boys, how would Ryan adjust in trying to start up a business and be a hands-on daddy to 3 little boys, etc. Needless to say, I was relieved when I felt a sense of peace on the eve of the 24th. 

We were scheduled for a 7:30am induction. I woke up to feed the dog that morning and instead of getting back in bed for a few more minutes of sleep I was too giddy so I decided to just take a long shower instead. I missed the call saying that the nursing staff was short-handed and I was being postponed. Fortunately, just as we were getting ready to leave, I checked my phone and saw the hospital called. My heart sank. I knew what it meant. When I spoke with the charge nurse she let me know that I was being postponed but to stay ready because I would get a call in the early afternoon to hopefully get me in. However, she couldn't promise I would even be admitted that day. To say I was crushed would be an understatement. I was devastated. I felt like I had no emotion left to give. I wish I could say I spent the day lavishing my other 2 kids with my full attention, but I was too wrapped up in self pity that I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I was spent. The worst part was the waiting. I waited until early afternoon and finally called them at 2pm. The charge nurse said that she was going to try her best to get me in that evening and would call back in a couple of hours. I then waited around until 7:30 pm at which time she finally called back and said that she spoke with my Dr and they agreed that it would be best to have me go in for the induction the following morning...the 25th, at 7:30am. Ugh. 

The morning of the 25th I was hesitant to get excited after the disappointment from the day before. And yet, I forced myself to get out of bed and shower. When 7:00 came and went and I hadn't received a call to cancel I allowed the excitement (which bread nervousness) to settle. This was the day. 

After signing papers, getting settled in to our room (154), and changing in to the hospital gown, I was hooked up to oxytocin. This was roughly 8:15am. We were so excited. And I was sure we would have our little man well before dinner time so his anxious big brothers could meet him. The oxytocin was totally tolerable. I spent the entire morning casually reading magazines, chatting with Ryan, and responding to texts.

They checked for progress after 12 to find I was maybe 2 cm. Maybe. They broke my water roughly around 1:30pm. Though the contractions were still very tolerable the oxytocin was up as far as they felt comfortable for the time being. If I wanted an epidural they would be able to turn it up further and monitor it closely. I had them check me again...still a 2. Despite not wanting an epidural I decided to cave early opposed to waiting until midnight like I did with Kai in order to save what little energy I had left.

Dinner time came and left. I was still barely a 3. They had to put something inside me to more closely monitor to the contractions and oxytocin because they kept turning it up...my body kept doing what it does best...starting contractions and then stalling and spacing out EVEN with Oxytocin. Baby was doing just fine though. At some point my blood pressure started to drop and as a result I physically couldn't keep my eyes open. I remember our moms and my dear friend Taylor were watching The Notebook, one of my favorite movies, and I truly could not keep my eyes open. Around 10 or 11pm they checked me again...still 3 cm. They didn't want to check me again for 5 or 6 hours unless I felt pressure because, since my water was broken, they wanted to keep the risk of infection down. The nurse said she would be back around 4am.

Around 1am I started to feel pain. It was still tolerable and I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want them to tell me I was still only 3cm. I was certainly grateful Taylor was there and willing to sit beside me in the middle of the night because as the hours ticked on the pain got worse and there was no way I was going to be able to get any sleep at that point. Around 2 or 3am the pain really started to get worse. I thought it was because my epidural ran out of meds...which it did. By 3:30am I had tears with each contraction and felt a lot of pressure, but still didn't want to say anything until 4. I couldn't bear the thought of being told I had made no progress. Just before 4am my nurse came back in to check me. I was ready. Finally. We were going to meet our son.

With a flurry of activity everything was ready. The nurse had me do a practice push and immediately called for the Dr. They could see his hair! He had hair! 9 pushes later the head was out. Ouch. And he arrived on the 10th push. The Dr immediately placed him on my chest where I got to cuddle him for awhile. His screaming was beautiful. And he calmed at my voice. Between my joyous tears I was able to inspect his tiny little body. All 10 fingers. All 10 toes. Beautiful, tiny features. His ear was folded over and his eye was bruised from delivery but he was/is perfect. Shortly after delivering him I began to shake so violently that I was afraid I would drop him so I handed him off to be weighed, measured, and cuddled by Daddy and our cheering crew. An hour later the shaking subsided and I truly got to hold our boy. Birth. It is what makes the 9 months of pregnancy worth every minute. Birth. No matter what form it takes, it is amazing. Scary stories? No way. Rather, unique stories. Amazing, wonderful, beautiful, unique stories. And what a better ending? Lukah Kalani, welcome to our family. We have loved you before we conceived you and fell deeper in love the second we saw you. You fit so perfectly in to our family it is hard to imagine life before you were here. Baby boy you are loved. Birth. It's where the miracle truly happens.