Thursday, December 30, 2010

Introducing: Lucas Emmanuel Arthur

* October 12, 2010 * 7:53pm * 6 lbs. 11 oz. *
* Between 15 & 25 inches (we'll check on that!) * 39 wks + 2 days *

Here's the story:

We had finally come to terms with being admitted to the hospital on the morning of the 13th (this morning) to coax our little one into the world. After much anxiety and prayer, we decided to have a slightly early induction so that Josh would be here for the delivery rather than on his way to Pennsylvania. Thankfully, God (and Lucas) had other plans!

By about 1 pm yesterday (the 12th), Rebecca suspected that she might be having contractions; they were fairly mild and coming every 10 minutes. Around 3 hours later, her contractions started to become more painful and frequent (~4 min apart). Knowing that Rebecca generally delivers within 12 hours of starting contractions, she and Josh packed their bags (which they hadn't really planned to do until later in the evening) and headed to the hospital around 5:30 pm. At 6 pm, Rebecca was 8 cm dilated, complete and 0 station (up from 3 cm/75/high that morning at her OB appt - just that morning, the OB said that he thought she could go until next week before delivering!

Our friends Adam and Lucia came by to pick up Elise and Caleb around 6:30 to spend the night at their house (sleepover party with their kids Noah (7) and Camille (4) - Caleb and Elise's best friends in Italy!). We were hoping that Rebecca would be able to hold off for a few hours to avoid a 48 hour hospital stay (you can ask Dr. Google about "GBS protocol" if you want an explanation), but unfortunately (or fortunately) there was no stopping the relentless uterus. Rebecca was grateful that she had her epidural in by 7 pm and thought it was even better than her last one (which she also liked). By 7:45, she was 10 cm/complete/complete with a bulging bag and was ready to deliver. The OB broke Rebecca's water and about 3 minutes later, Lucas entered the world with a wail and decent head of hair. He got some blood drawn and vitals taken about 40 times and Rebecca had the normal post-partum procedures done; by midnight, we had settled down for the night. He was quite awake until around 3 am and fed about hourly; now he's asleep and we're awake - great.

Anyway, everything has gone smoothly. We are so grateful for your support and prayers - especially with all of the angst of deciding whether to induce and Josh leaving the country for 5 days on Saturday. Rebecca's mom will be here on Friday (perfect timing, we will just have gotten home) - about 12 hours before Josh leaves.

We liked Lucas because we were looking for a name that meant "healer" and the Apostle Luke was a physician - Lucas is the Latin form of Luke (as you may remember Elise and Caleb have middle names that mean "peace" and "blessing or joyful"). Emmanuel means "God with us" and is of course the title of our favorite Christmas carol - although Lucas isn't quite a Christmas baby. Arthur is just an awesome name. By the way, thanks for all of the name suggestions; special kudos to people who picked some variation of Lucas (Joy, Ben/Libby, Sam A, Robin/Ola). No one picked the middle name though - including us until about 24 hours before he was born!

Give us 48 hours and then you are welcome to come visit - our door is open!

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