Introducing....

Lucas Wayne Goetsch

Born @ 9:40am

Weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz.

Measuring 19 inches long

My water broke at 2:45 am.  Within minutes I began contracting for 30-45 seconds every 2 1/2 minutes.  I woke Tim up at 3:20 and told him my water broke.  He didn't believe me & had a hard time waking up!  Because I had worked hard the day before & we had DTD @ midnight, I wasn't immediately SURE that my water broke.  BUT, within 30 minutes I was STILL leaking & then had a few drops of blood when I wiped.  I knew then that my water was broken!

We spent the next hour & a half getting the last minute things taken care of & ready to go.  I folded laundry, showered, ate some eggs, and finished packing my hospital bag.  (We used contraction master.com to time the contractions...or "the ows" while we were doing this stuff.)  I couldn't tell the contractions were coming other than the pain got worse...it never really went away.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:15 am.

We got into the ER & did a quickie triage...then I had to be wheeled to L&D. I tried to walk but they wouldn't let me.

We got put right into a triage room up here.  I warned them about my flu-symptoms & was promptly given a mask to wear.  The nurse did all the usual stuff & then did an internal exam sometime around 6:00.

She said I was measuring about 2-3 cm. dialated.

She then hooked me up to the monitors & left for a while.  Luke's heart rate was around 140-160, peaking during the contractions.  The monitor did not pick up the contrax. well, because I kept sitting up & leaning forward during them.

I had INTENSE incredibly painful back labor.  DH or his mother had to apply STRONG counter pressure on my lower back or I was in an unimaginable amount of pain!!

Around 7, they finally said I could get off the monitor & start walking the halls.  Yay!  More than anything I wanted out of the stinking bed!!

So, I walked to the bathroom & went potty.  I lost my "mucous plug" then.  It was about the size of a 1/2 dollar & red blood w/ a snot mixture.

Then we did 1/2 a lap of the halls before the nurse stopped me. She came rushing up...saying that b/c I was breech at 36 weeks I wouldn't be allowed to "labor down" until I was checked.

Well, the doctor wasn't going to be in until "around 8" and it was only a little after 7.  I begged & pleaded...but lost.  I had to return to bed...and monitors...and was NOT to try to progress things on my own.

ARGH.

So, I got into bed.  I managed to avoid the monitor for a while.  The contractions were getting a lot stronger & closer together.  I sat in the bed indian style & DH & his mom took turns rubbing my back through the contractions.

As I got more & more in pain, and the nurse did more & more stuff requiring me to lay down, I started to lose control during the contractions.  After 8 am, I started to get really upset.  The nurse could tell things were moving along & decided to check me herself w/o the doctor.  She did an internal, said, "that's his butt" and then threw me on the ultrasound machine.

I cried during the US.  I knew I was headed for a c-section & it hurt like the dickens to be flat on my back.

As soon as she & another nurse (who was already in the room) confirmed that he was still breech, my awesome nurse (Rebecca) started making the arrangements for my c-section.

(Tim and I had already discussed that a version performed by a doctor who didn't want to do one, was a bad idea & that the section was our best option.)

The doctor showed up around 8:30 and did his own quickie ultrasound.  He made the official call that we'd be doing a section & things really started picking up.

I was upset & crying over the section/loss of control by that point.  I forgot to focus through the contractions, which made the pain quite unbearable.  I was crying a lot & making a lot of noise through contractions that were 2 minutes or less apart.

I got my IV in and they started prepping me for surgery. The nurse shaved me & really upset me b/c she was rough & went REALLY low.  Lower than I think was needed.   I was shaking & really scared.

At 9:15 am I was rolled into the OR.  Tim couldn't come in until after I had my spinal.  I was a shaky whine-y mess.

After the spinal (with tears a rolling down my face) I was laid down & they got the room ready.  Though I couldn't see & was numb past my breasts, I could tell that I was spread eagle & naked on the table except for my boobs.  It was not pleasant.

After they got started I was silently crying & holding Tim's hands.  I kept saying "I don't like it." because I didn't like the way the tugging & pulling felt.  It was not fun, but not miserable or painful in any way.

Well, there's more to the story, but I can't keep my eyes open.  I'll leave you with a few pictures & then I'll finish later.