Lucas Xavier is here!

On Friday, 12/28/07 at midnight, my water broke as I was getting ready to climb into bed. At first, I wasn't sure if it was amniotic fluid so while I sat on the toilet, I made my husband google ruptured membranes and amniotic fluid. After about 30 minutes, we called our doctor and he said come to the hospital.

We arrived at around 1:30am. The nurse tried to check my cervix. But just like a few days earlier, like my doctor had said, she too couldn't get to it without making it painful for me. She could feel his head and my cervix was too far behind his head. By this point, I was having contractions. Unfortunately, it was all back labor. The nurse said, the baby was probably sunny side up since it was all in my back. It hurt, but it was tolerable since it didn't last too long.

At around 3:30am, the nurse asked if I wanted Stadol to take the edge off and so I could get some rest. I agreed. It took 3 seconds for it to kick in. Boy was that a trip. Literally. I have never done acid or shrooms, but I have a feeling I know now. I was seriously tripping out of my mind. I saw thousands of rats in purple band uniforms and gold shoes marching throughout my mind. And I saw a whole lot of other crazy things.

My mom and brother arrived at around 4:00am. And my husband took them somewhere, leaving me alone. An hour or so after they left me, the drug wore off. I literally saw these insane images disappear pixel by pixel. The room was dark and I got scared. So I started calling my husband's name repeatedly. After several attempts, a nurse came in. I asked her if the drug was supposed to wear off. She said yes. So then I was back to dealing with the pain by myself.

At around 6:00am, the nurse tried to check my cervix again. No luck! So I just kept dealing with the back labor, which was getting more intense.

At around 7:30am, my doctor and a new nurse named Teresa came in and again, she had trouble reaching my cervix. She suggested getting an epidural. I knew I wanted one, but felt lame that I had to get one just so they could find out how far I was dilated.

At around 9:00am, the anesthesiologist came. I remained as still as possible. I was so scared. It felt weird. But on a scale of 1 to 10, it was probably a 2 or 3.

As soon as it kicked in, they finally checked my cervix. I was 5 cm dilated. The nurse then said she wanted to give me pitocin, because my contractions went from 5 minutes apart to 8. I agreed. Within 30 minutes, I had gone from 5 to 8 cm dilated. And soon, it was time to push.

At 10:30am, I began pushing. The nurse had one leg and my mom held my other leg. They coached me through every push. The epidural worked so good, I didn't feel a thing. So I was totally calm during the whole pushing. In fact, I chatted with the doctor and nurse about Brittany Spears and her little sister getting pregnant. I concentrated with every push and every time, it seemed I was getting closer. The baby's head was crowning and he said 2 inches of black hair. The nurse grabbed my hand so I could feel. It freaked me out. It was so soft.

After almost an hour and 25 minutes of pushing, the heart rate dropped from 130 to 61. The doctor said we should use a vacuum and get him out. We agreed. So at the count of three, I pushed and out he came at 12:00pm--exactly 12 hours after my water broke. Thankfully, we agreed to the vacuum. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and his skin was pale. They quickly ran him over and cut the cord and he began crying.

Lucas Xavier was born on 12/29/07 at noon. He weighed 6lbs and 6 oz and was 20 inches long.

He is so amazing and my husband has turned into super dad. He has practically changed every diaper and is helping me breastfeed.

What most surprises me about this experience is how little pain I felt. I have always been so afraid of childbirth. And on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the pain I felt as a 3. My recovery has been great. I haven't taken any pain relief after the first day. In fact, I have no pain and can move around freely. I can't believe I waited so long to have children.