Little Luke Thomas

OK, here it is - the post you have all been waiting for... Luke Thomas VanDeGrift was born on New Year's Eve at 8:27 PM. He weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces and was 19 and 3/4 inches long. He is a handsome little guy (we are biased and sleep-deprived, but you might agree with us). I guess he wanted to be a December baby and surprised us two weeks early. So, we had an eventful new year's eve celebration!

For those who want more details, here is my labor story. I'll describe my thoughts "in the moment" and provide a retrospective as to what was actually happening at the end.

I woke up around 2 AM on Dec. 31 for my normal bathroom break. I had some low cramps (nothing painful), so I just thought my bladder was full and emptying it would make me feel better. I kept having these low cramps about every 15 to 30 minutes, and, each time, I emptied my bladder. I also drank some water and walked around a bit, but I was not uncomfortable, so I did not wake up Tom. Around 6:30 AM, I woke him up and said I was either starting some practice contractions or I had food poisoning. I rested for another hour or so in bed, took a shower, and once I was up and walking around, the low cramps were starting to go away. I was also emptying my bowels in the morning, which led me to believe it was more likely to be food poisoning than labor (I have had food poisoning two times in the past and the cramps I was having felt just like food poisoning). Since it was new year's eve, Tom and I watched some football and basketball games in the morning and early afternoon. We watched the Oregon-Southern Florida football game and I was impressed with Oregon's red-shirt freshman quarterback. Since I did not sleep with all the bathroom breaks, we re-scheduled our new year's eve plans (poker game) with my cousin, cousin-in-law, aunt and uncle to start around 4 or 5 PM instead of later in the evening. Just in case, we packed our hospital bags in the trunk (Tom had just finished packing his bag that morning, too). We picked up my mom from my brother's house and took her to my aunt and uncle's for the poker game. I managed to win a few hands while the lower stomach cramps started to get more painful and more frequent. Everyone at the table noticed that I was not as talkative as usual and I kept reassuring them that I thought I had food poisoning. I took a bathroom break and came back to the poker table and said I would sit on the couch for a few poker hands. The pain was not yet unbearable, but after some encouragement (my mom), I called the doctor to ask for her advice. We talked around 6:15 PM and she asked about my symptoms and suggested I put my feet up, rest, and take a bath. She said cramps two weeks before labor are common for first babies. Since I was not at home, I rested on my aunt and uncle's couch and, at this point, Tom gave up his poker playing, too. The pains were starting to be frequent (about every 4 to 6 minutes), but they were not lasting over a minute, and I could talk to Tom through the pain. Just after 7 PM (with my mom's encouragement), Tom and I left the poker party. When we got into the car, he asked if I wanted to go home or to the hospital. I said we better go to the hospital - either I was in labor or I needed some pain relief from food poisoning. I had 4 or 5 painful cramps en route to the hospital, but Tom continued to drive safely and not too fast. We checked into the birth center around 7:30 PM. I remember the admitting nurse asked me several questions, but I cannot remember the questions or my answers right now. I was escorted to one of the birthing rooms at Emanuel Hospital, changed into the hospital gown, and provided a urine sample for the nurse. Around 7:40 PM, the nurse helped me get situated in the bed and started taking my vitals (blood pressure, pulse, temperature). She then said she would check my cervix for dilation and, much to everyone's surprise, she said I was at 10 centimeters. I remember everything started happening very quickly at that point - the staff OB/GYN doctor came into my room and said if I felt so much pressure that I needed to push, that he would be just outside the door and would help me deliver the baby. The nurse said my doctor was on the way and tried to keep me relaxed until she arrived. My doctor came around 8 PM, checked my cervix, and changed into her scrubs very quickly. She was shocked that I was at 10 centimeters already and said I had everyone's dream labor. I asked about the epidural (that I was planning to have) and it turns out that I was too close to pushing for it to make any sense. Besides, the nurses and anesthesiologist had trouble poking my veins for the IV and never even got the IV started. (My ugliest war wounds from delivery are the bruises I have from the 4 IV attempts.) After the doctor broke my water, I started pushing with each contraction. Now, this was the part I was fearing the most about delivery - the pushing. But, I have to say that the pushing felt so much better than the stomach cramps. So, about 20 minutes and 4 or 5 contractions later, our baby was born. I was thrilled and shocked that everything happened so fast. Tom was also in shock with the process and remained sitting near my head during the pushing phase. The baby was placed on my chest immediately after delivery and Tom cut the umbilical cord. I thought the baby had red hair, but it turns out that his hair is blonde (another surprise) and it was just bloody at the time. I guess the placenta came out at this point (but I did not feel this at all) and the baby nurse cleaned up our little guy, weighed him, and measured him. Because everything happened so fast, our camera was in the car and we have no pictures of the birth! (Perhaps that was for the better...). The doctor stitched me up since I tore a little bit (I decided to push hard at the end instead of listening to her about waiting until the next contraction). So - that was it. We had our son in less than an hour after we arrived to the hospital.

Retrospective: OK, I was having early labor all morning and thought it was food poisoning. The contractions were not making my belly hard (like the Braxton Hicks contractions I had during the past two months), so I did not think they were contractions. Also, they were not lasting a long time during each cramping pain, so I did not think they were the "real deal". I could always talk through the contractions during the poker party, so I did not think it was true labor. My birth class instructor said that toward the end, I would have an unhappy face and not be able to talk through the pain. I never got to the point of not being able to talk. We are lucky my mom knew that I was in labor and kept encouraging us to get to the hospital (at the time, we tried to reassure her that I was not yet close to delivery since the pain was not painful enough). My doctor was also shocked that I could talk with her on the phone at 6:15 PM and have a baby two hours later. She said I have a very high tolerance for pain - something I did not know before this event. So, I am quite thankful that everything went smoothly with the labor and delivery.

You might be wondering why I do not refer to the baby as "Luke" in the prose above. We did not have a name for him when we went to the hospital, but we had a short list of 4 names. We finally named him about 12 hours after he was born. Luke means "bringer of light", which is appropriate for a December birth. Before we had a name, we referred to him as "Little Man VanDeGrift" and "Little Mister". Now, he is "Little Luke". We are surprised that he has blonde hair (with both of us having brown hair), but Tom had blonde hair as a baby and my dad had blonde hair as a baby. Luke looks a lot like Tom and very little like Tammy.

Here's Tammy and Luke about 2 hours after delivery.






We'll try to post more pictures as we have time. If you want to see pictures that Tammy's brother posted, visit this URL:
Walgreen Photos