Introducing........... Luke Andrew!

Sorry it has taken me a few days to update. I will try to recap the birth story here and share with you all as much as possible- although I am sure it will be difficult to put into words what an amazing experience we went through this weekend. I am still pretty much in a state of shock that this actually happened and that we helped bring a perfect little boy into the world. So here goes..........

On Friday, we arrived at the hospital at 11am for a scheduled induction. (Thank you Dr. L!!). By 12:30pm I was hooked up to an IV, had the monitors on and started a little bit of pitocin. I was already having contractions every 3-5 minutes when we got to the hospital and was 4cm dilated. R & S came to the hospital shortly after and we just hung out in the delivery room waiting for more to happen. At 2pm, I was up to 5cm dilated. I was not suffering at all yet but the nurse suggested I get the epidural right then because the sooner I did that, the sooner they would break my water which would speed everything up. So I went ahead and got the epidural at 2:15pm. It was not nearly as bad this time going in as it was with my daughter Morgan. This guy was good!! By 3pm, I was between 5-6cm dilated. Unfortunately, the dr. was not able to come and break my water until 4:40pm so things moved a little slower than expected. At 6:30pm, I was 7cm dilated, 90% effaced and the baby was at 0 station. The dr. said he will come back in an hour or so to check on me and I said "It is not going to take an hour- this part will go by fast!". I was right, because a half hour later, the contractions started seriously hurting in my back and I felt like I needed to push NOW!! By 7pm, I was complete and ready to go. I was so nervous at this point and suffering a bit with the contractions but I was so excited at the same time. The room was packed with medical staff- I think there were like 7 of them in the room. The Dr. said everyone wanted to be there because of our special circumstance with the surrogacy that they wanted to be part of the experience. Speaking of the medical team, I was absolutely spoiled with the best nurses possible! I still can not believe how wonderful they were and how well they took care of me and supported me. I really wasn't sure how the staff would treat me as a surrogate but they were AMAZING! Every single nurse told me what a gift I was giving and they actually said I was the talk of the floor! I joked at one point with the nurses that they were all just coming in the room to see if I had my teeth! (Surrogates have a bad reputation to be white trash!)

Back to the delivery.......... So we started pushing just after 7pm. At first (just like my own 3 kids) the baby was OP- face up. Dr. L helped turn him while I was pushing. Unfortunately at one point, the baby stopped turning and I was pushing his head out sideways- transverse. Then Dr. L gave me an episiotomy to make more room. When I finally pushed his head out, Dr. L had to unwrap the cord around his neck. Al was great as always coaching me and supporting me during the pushing. Then I had half of his body out and Dr. L stopped me from pushing because one of his arms was stuck. I actually felt his arm being pulled up and out of me. Very strange sensation for sure! Then, at 7:27pm, Luke Andrew was born! He was 20 3/4 inches and weighed 8lbs, 1 oz, which is almost a full pound bigger than our largest baby who was 7.2. Luke had a full head of dark hair and long fingers and toes! His daddy cut the cord right when he came out. I didn't really get a good look at Luke at that point due to all the commotion and also because the Dr. was still working on "fixing" me back up. Once Luke had all his tests done, his Mommy and Daddy got to hold him and then it was my turn. I couldn't believe how cute he was. And- couldn't believe how BIG! He looked absolutely perfect. No cone head at all! Seeing the look on R & S's faces and the tears in their eyes is something I will never forget. It was all worth it for that.

After the delivery, Luke and R & S stayed in my room with me for a couple hours talking about the experience of it all. Luke never made a peep the whole time. R & S brought champagne and gave me a beautiful silver bracelet from Tiffany's. WOW! That was so amazing of them. I love it and will cherish it forever!

By 10pm, Al and I were moved to a recovery room and we finally got to eat! I was starving!!!! I also ordered a glass of wine from the hospital but it tasted horrible so I only had a couple sips. Bummer! On Saturday morning, I spent some time in R & S's room visiting with them and Luke. Again, he never made a peep. What a little angel baby! Zara from Family Source came to visit us all too and she brought me flowers and a beautiful musical photo box. That was so sweet of her!
Al brought our kids to the hospital in the afternoon to see me and to meet Luke. It was so cute seeing their faces look at Luke through the nursery windows. I think they were very proud too! Grandma and Grandpa took the kids home so Al and I could have our celebration dinner at the hospital before checking out- 23 hours after delivery. I was ready to get home!

I talked to R on Sunday and they were able to bring Luke home in the morning on Mother's day. What a special gift on her very first Mother's Day. I felt blessed as well to already be home with my kids too. (Plus, it was my baby's 2nd birthday!) Happy Birthday Princess Morgan! It is hard to believe only 2 years ago, we were at the same hospital delivering Morgan and had no idea what was yet to come 2 years later.

I started pumping a few hours after delivery and have done so every 3-5 hours since. It is going well but of course if very painful right now. I know it will take a couple of weeks to get past that so it will be worth it in the end. So far, I think I have 4 bottles frozen which isn't bad. My milk hasn't officially come in yet, but I feel it coming!

I am feeling amazing emotionally. I have not cried at all. I never felt like Luke was mine so holding him just made me proud- not sad. I feel lucky to have done something so amazing in my life that I will always be proud of. I completed a family. How many people can say that? Thank you R & S for trusting me with your son for 9 short months. It went by so quickly and even in the end with being uncomfortable and with the pain of labor- I can say- IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! Your son is beautiful and is such a gift to us all! He will always hold a special place in our hearts.

See the video montage below with some pictures of the birth day!

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