Luke Douglas is here...the birth story.

Luke Douglas Sass

8lbs, 4oz.

20.5 inches long

March 16, 2009 @ 6:14pm

Well...since I am adjusting to life with 2 kiddos, hopefully you'll give me some slack for not posting on here in awhile. As most of you know, little Luke is here! We decided to go with another "L" name. We just seem to love them after having Logan. Logan's middle name is Charles, after his dad and grandpa. So, we decided to name Luke after my dad, with his middle name Douglas. My brother also is named Daniel Douglas, after my dad. My dad is an awesome husband, father and man of God....so Luke has big shoes to fill!

Luke's arrival was by no means uneventful. We arrived at the hospital at 11:45pm on Sunday, March 15th. We officially checked in at midnight on 3/16. I was only dilated to a 1 and my cervix was still not "ready" so I started out on the anti-partum floor so they could give me some medication to prime my cervix and get things ready for the official induction that would start in Labor & Delivery sometime between 6am-8am. So, most of you would dread the whole labor part of having a baby...but you know what my worst part is that I dread more than anything? Starting the IV...want to know why? Because I have the worst veins...apparently they are really deep and move, so I am classified as a "hard stick." So, I tell the nurse that I am a hard stick and that with Logan, they went through like 4 nurses on the floor...even called in "Mama" who apparently has a great record at getting IV's going and she even failed...so finally they call in the anesthesiologist who was successful. But, does this stop her from trying...oh, no...to make a long story short, she pokes me twice, tries to draw blood from one of the "sticks" and then blows my vein and says she'll have to find another "good" vein...NO...why don't you find a "GOOD" nurse who can get the job done without rolling the stinking needle all over my arm! So, after I tell her that's enough, go get someone who does this all day long for a living and she gets a labor & delivery nurse, who gets the job done first time, very quickly and without inducing too much pain. Well, a couple of hours past, it's now 2am and I am starting to have contractions. Some intense..which is a good sign, because our last attempt at inducing labor, we failed twice before getting to this point. The nurse comes in around 4am and asks me if I have been feeling the contractions. I tell her I was. She let me know that the medicine they gave me seems to be working and I will not be staying for the second round and will move to L&D as soon as a bed opens up. So...we sit and wait and wait...apparently an emergency is going on in L&D so we wait some more. The nurse comes in with an "assistant" and tells me she (the assistant) is going to check and see if I have progressed any further. After I am violated, Charles & I come to the conclusion this was a trainee...gotta love that. She says I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. The nurse says she's going to call L&D one more time to tell them I really need to be moved (and I am agreeing because by this point I am really starting to feel the contractions and would love the epidural.) Finally about 9:30am we get to move to Labor & Delivery. The doctor comes by to check me and tells me that I am more like a 2-3 in dilation and only 60% effaced (again, trainee...didn't know what she was doing). So, at this point we realize we may still fail the induction at this point and may not be having a baby today. They put me on pitocin to try and get things moving. Around 10am the Anesthesologist's assistant comes in to ask some questions about if I would like the epidural and if so he needs some history. While we are talking, I somehow get nervous and nauseated and end up throwing up a few times. The assistant tells me they have nausea medicine if I need it and I say "Okay." Me saying "Okay" meant I understand and I'll let you know if I need it...I guess he thought "Okay" meant Give it to me! So...next thing I know he's pumping Phenegran down my IV and I am knocked into loopy world. It was one of the worst feelings ever! I couldn't talk in complete sentences, feel my tongue, or stay awake for more than a minute at a time. I ask my nurse how long it will take to wear off and she says about 2 hours. Well, I guess I am super sensitive because it took 4. So for 4 hours, I am totally not myself and feel like I have been captured and drugged by the enemy. In between this time, I get checked again by the doctor and now I am a 3-4 but the baby's head is still not down in position...so more waiting and no epidural for the mean contractions yet, because they will not administer the epidural until you are officially staying to have the baby. Finally at 3:30pm the doctor comes by and checks again and now I am still a 3-4 dilated, but the baby's head is down in the pelvic cavity and now the doc can break my water to get things moving. We were now committed...they only allow you to go 24 hours after the water breaks. So, we knew at that point the clock had started and we were at least 24 hours away from meeting our precious baby boy. The doctor said I could now have the epidural and it could be a long night with the way things were progressing. Around 6pm I start to feel really queasy again and lots of pressure down below and mention that to my nurse when she comes in to see me. She said she already paged the doctor because she was watching my monitors and noticed a contraction pattern that she was concerned about and said the baby's heartbeat wasn't reacting well to it. All of the sudden, I feel LOTS of pressure and tell her again... I really feel like I need to push..she is thinking I am crazy because just 2.5 hours ago I was checked and looked to be going no where fast. So, she decides she'll go ahead and check me and see what's going on..."Oh, MY!! You're complete! You're a 10 and ready to push now!", she exclaims. "Let's page the doctor again." So, everyone starts moving around like crazy the nurse is telling Charles to hurry and get the cameras ready, and the doctor shows up. He's getting ready and walks over to me and says, "Alright, let's have a baby!" He says that he wants me to try a practice push on my next contraction and as he says that he pulls back the sheet to take a look and says, "Don't sneeze! Don't push or the baby will be on the floor!" Charles takes a look and says, "Oh my gosh, his head is right there!" So, I am trying to breathe through my nose and not push, which is incredibly hard because when you feel the pressure that's all you want to do. The doctor finally gets ready and gives me the go ahead. So, I push one time and the head is out and one more and He's HERE!! 6:14pm...can't believe it happened so fast. I pushed for 1.5 hours with Logan. I heard him cry, which was a little relief to tell me he's okay, but his breathing sounded very gurgly. I guess he flew through the canal so fast, he had a lot of fluid in his throat and lungs. I was a little worried but after the nurse worked with him and used a suction hose for a few minutes, he was all better. We were surprised that he wasn't bigger....the doctor's had us thinking this was a pretty big baby. Which, he wasn't a small one by any means, but smaller than Logan..which is why we were surprised. My heart immediately filled with incredible love the minute i saw his sweet little face. When I first looked at Luke, he reminded me of Logan the day he was born. Even though I am sure we will see some similarities of the boys along the way, I know God has fashioned them in their own unique way and they will bring joy to our lives each in their own way. We are so blessed and are so grateful to the Lord that he has given us another son to love.

Daddy comforting Luke, minutes after he was born.

Logan "Big Brother" meeting Luke for the first time.

Proud Grandmommy with Luke

Uncle Daniel, Aunt GiGi, and Granddady meeting Luke

Love to all!! Can't wait for you to all meet Luke!