38 weeks- Welcome Lucas

So, it has taken me a little while to get back to blogging after the birth of our son Lucas. It just has been a little hectic around here.
So first things, first. His birth story. On Monday September 17, I was scheduled for an OB appointment to check my blood pressure. Jenn & my mother went with me. I knew that when I got up and got dressed for the day, I would not be returning home for a while. I was right. My bp was too high, and the midwife said "today's a good day to have a baby". Mom was on shock, not prepared to be going to the hospital so soon. She thought shed have more time to get ready, and my dad was at home with no clue. Jenn was as ready as I was to meet our son, so she was excited. I was calm, actually. Like I said, I knew I would not be returning home.
We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 AM, checked in and we were escorted to the birthing suite. Within 30 minutes, I was on a pitocin drip of 2. This would increase by 2 each half hour until it was time to push (was the plan) a few hours later, the contractions were getting really strong, but I just wasn't dialating fast enough. The midwife on call (Jesse) was very nice, and so were our L&D nurses. They gave me an epidural, which was wonderful! I was more scared of that pain, than birth, but it should have been the other way around. The epidural was a breeze, and it made the pain go away. At about 6:00 PM, the gave me a catheter and they also tried to manually get me to dialate a bit more. That got me to 6 cm. that's as far as I got. The contractions were getting faster, but with each one, Lucas's heart rate was getting too fast. He would spike after the contraction, which was not normal. It's ok for his HR to spike during a contraction, but after is not good. So, Jesse decided to take me off the Pitocin to see if Lucas's HR evened out. For 30 minutes we waited, and it seemed that he was ok. So at about midnight, we started Pitocin again at 1 mll drip. Within 20 minutes Lucas was reacting badly again, so that was that. Something was wrong, and Jesse said that she was not going to continue playing with this baby. A c-section was ordered. I was just glad that something was happening. After 11 + hours of laboring, we were going to get to meet our son. I was immediately prepped for the c-section, my parents were ushered out, Jenn was taken to get scrubs on, and things were rolling along. I was taken to the OR, where a larger team that I imagined was needed for this type of thing was waiting, including my surgeon, (OB) Dr. Grana and 3 anesthesiologists, plus several nurses. They moved me to a narrow table, and started introducing a host of medicines that would make me completely numb from the waste down. At one point I was shaking so violently, I thought that I would cause Dr. Grana to slip with her scalpel. I had them use extra medicine because I felt the metal tool that they tested on me before cutting. I apparently have a high tolerance for pain meds. Jenn was now by my side, and they were ready to start. The surgery took no more than 20 minutes, I think. I was a little out of it, and honestly don't remember too much. I just know that at 1:51AM I heard our son cry. That's the sound I was waiting for on pins as needles. I knew that as long as I heard that sound, that he was okay. He was thrust in front of me for a moment, all covered in stuff, then I was vaguely aware that they were weighing him, poking him and testing him, and Jenn had cut the cord and was taking pictures. I'm not sure how long this went on, but eventually he was all bundled up in Jenn's arms and I was stroking his face. He was here, I was out, and Jenn had already texted pictures to her parents and mine. He was then placed in a cart, and Jenn went with him while they finished up with me and wheeled me back to my room to recover for a bit. That was when I was finally able to hold him. He was so little (still is).. And was completely content in my arms. A surge of love, fear and protection hot me all at once. Wow! That is what motherhood feels like. He weighed 6 lbs 11 ounces and was 19 & 1/4" long. This was our story.