Luke Thomas Copeland 08.31.12

It is surreal to sit her this morning and to think about writing the story of my first-born child. The past week has been such a whirlwind of emotions and new experiences. I always imagined having a family and becoming a mom and I guess the 9 months of pregnancy should have been my first indicator that it was coming soon but I just can’t believe that my little boy is already here. Since I am a much faster typist than I am a writer, I’m going to document our journey on this blog so that I can print it for my journal. Feel free to fast forward to the pictures because that is always the best part.

On Wednesday, August 30th, I worked a 12 hour shift in the Operating Room. My long days of work had been getting harder and harder but this day had felt especially painful. By the end of the shift, my body ached so badly that I did not know how I would be able to return to work for the 12 hour shift I was scheduled for the next day. I was excited to leave because I was meeting a good friend (Ms. Tiffany) across the street for dinner. We sat and enjoyed our personal pizzas and English shortbread dessert as we joked that I would probably end up being pregnant for another 5 weeks. I had to shift and change positions frequently during dinner because I just did not feel good. I attributed my cramping, then, to the greasy Pier 39 pizza and figured I’d better get home quick to use the bathroom (TMI, sorry). I also had to stop by Target on my way home to get a wedding gift for a friend who was getting married the next day. As I walked the aisles of Target, I was cramping pretty regularly and I thought, “Man, I’d really better get home quick so that I don’t have an accident in Target.” I made it home around 9pm and made a quick dash to the restroom. When I finished and stood up to get into the shower, my water broke all over the bathroom floor. Turns out those cramps were, in fact, contractions and my little man was ready to head out (no pun intended).

As I stood, shocked, in the bathroom I opened the door to call out to my unbeknownst husband who was innocently working on homework in the living room. I yelled those 3 words that must throw every first-time dad into a state of panic, “James….my water broke!”. And a state of panic was exactly what I got. James could not understand why I was not more panicked myself and why I insisted on showering and getting ready before we headed back to the hospital. “It’s too early for the baby, isn’t it? Is he going to be okay? Isn’t he coming like, right now!? “Should I call my parents?”  Bless his heart.

We arrived back at IMC around 1045 and got me checked in and ready to go in L&D room 9. It was a long night for all of us. Those minor cramps quickly turned into regular full-blown contractions and I had had enough of them around 130am. Dr. Matthews, one of my favorite anesthesiologists from the OR happened to be on call that night and had the honors of placing my epidural. Though the epidural was much more painful than I had anticipated, it was more than worth the heavenly comfort that it instantly brought me. My body and the baby didn’t love it so much, though. Suddenly, my room filled with staff because my BP had dropped and the baby’s heart rate had dropped. We had a scary couple of minutes before things settled down again. After that, my contractions completely stopped and they had to start me on Pitocin to get things moving. Then it was just time to wait.

I was so exhausted from working my long shift and then having a good couple of hours of hard contractions. I wanted so badly to sleep but it seems like every time I got to the point of drifting off, someone else was coming in the room to check something. By about 730 am, I was complete and ready to push. My nurse said she was going to let me hang out for another hour to let the baby descend a little more on his own and then they would be back to deliver around 830. It was closer to 9 when they finally got back to the room and said they were ready to have me start pushing. My epidural had worn off the perfect amount and I could feel everything going on but was in no pain. After pushing through that first contraction, the nurse said that it was normal for first-time moms to push for 2-3 hours. I almost started crying because I did not think I had enough energy to push for even half of that time. Luckily though, after a few more contractions, the nurse said to stop pushing because the baby was crowning and my doctor was not yet at the hospital. We waited through 5 more contractions before Dr. Kaelberer made it to the hospital (he drove in on his day off just to deliver little Luke- he is so great.). Once he was gowned and gloved, I pushed twice and we had a baby. I guess baby Luke was proud to show the world that he was ready to break all the norms for a “first-time mom” delivery. He arrived at exactly 38 weeks and was perfect and perfectly healthy. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. The moment they set him on my chest he reached up and held onto his daddy’s finger and did not want to let go. We were totally in love with him.

We spent the next 2 days in the hospital and had so many friends and family members visit, anxiously awaiting their first meeting with Luke. It is hard to see him and hold him and not have him instantly steal your heart. He was born with a full head of hair, all of his daddy’s features, and my olive skin complexion. He has the longest fingers and toes and is content to just lay with me all day and look around at the world. He latched on after being in the world for less than an hour and has had no problems with eating ever since (he gets that appetite from his mama). He also has his daddy wrapped around his finger. James has never been a baby-person. He has never shown much interest in holding babies of our friends and I don’t think he had ever changed a diaper in his life. I had been worried about what he would be like with our son. I had hoped that he would want to hold him and that he would still think he was interesting even though he doesn’t do much besides eat, poop, and sleep….I had no idea that he would be completely smitten by this baby. He can not get enough of Luke. He constantly wants to hold him and I have witnessed many diaper changes already. A few nights ago as James was doing homework and Luke was laying in his lap watching, James turned to me and said, “I wish Luke was bigger so that I could give him a big hug.” Melted my heart.

Anyway, here are some cute pictures of this little man. I can’t believe that he is actually here and I couldn’t be more grateful at how smoothly pregnancy, labor and his delivery went. We love you, Luke!

38 weeks- on the way to the hospital.

 

Meeting Aunt Erin for the first time

First bath

 

Cutest baby, ever.