Mr. Lucas Charles Nace was born at 9:38 this morning via a C-section. Both Lucas and Holly are doing great now. He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and is 19 inches long. Holly is thrilled because he was born on the day she guessed - five days late - Saturday the 15th! Below are some pictures of the little guy as well as a short run down on the birth.
Holly went into labor around 2:00 am, woke me up about 4:00 for showers, and we arrived at the hospital a little after 5:00 for check-in. When I woke him up to take him to Grandma, Diego had been really excited to learn his little brother was coming and said "I would LOVE to go!" Thankfully he settled for sleeping more with Grandma and visiting later in the day.
Things were progressing well, although from Holly's back pain the nurses suspected Lucas was sunny side up. (Diego had also been in this position.) Her water broke around 6:40 with meconium and the anesthesiologist strongly recommended an epidural in case we had to go to a C-section. We got that arranged and Holly was able to relax enough to get a little sleep. She woke back up around 8:30 and things started progressing faster again, although Lucas' heart rate dropped with every contraction. Then about 9:00 his heart rate started dropping pretty dramatically during a contraction and we got about 10 people rushing into the room. They put Holly on oxygen, and flipped her into a different position which somewhat stabilized things, but it was time to go for a C-section.
They got Holly in pretty fast, and since she already had the epidural I was able to come back (although they did not let me watch the actual cutting/removing like they did in Costa Rica with Diego. I was much more tired/starving this time though, so maybe that was good). When they got Lucas out he was not breathing, which initially was OK as they wanted to clear the meconium out, but he did not start afterwards and his heart rate was low (they had about four people working on him). It was rather nerve wracking to watch, especially since we could not see Lucas through the crowd. They used a respirator on him and stimulated him a little to get the heart rate up, and in just over a minute he started breathing on his own. Turns out he WAS sunny side up and the cord was slightly below him to where it was compressed with every contraction.
They got Holly in pretty fast, and since she already had the epidural I was able to come back (although they did not let me watch the actual cutting/removing like they did in Costa Rica with Diego. I was much more tired/starving this time though, so maybe that was good). When they got Lucas out he was not breathing, which initially was OK as they wanted to clear the meconium out, but he did not start afterwards and his heart rate was low (they had about four people working on him). It was rather nerve wracking to watch, especially since we could not see Lucas through the crowd. They used a respirator on him and stimulated him a little to get the heart rate up, and in just over a minute he started breathing on his own. Turns out he WAS sunny side up and the cord was slightly below him to where it was compressed with every contraction.
He and I went the the nursery where they monitored him for a couple hours while they sewed Holly up. A little while after recovery Diego came to visit and meet his little brother. Diego was pumped to meet Lucas and give him a present he had picked. Then he was REALLY excited to get a present "from Lucas" - a Planes 2 Fire and Rescue BLADE RANGER! (That is how he would explain it). As Lucas slept all the way through the meeting, who can blame Diego for being more spellbound with the helicopter than the baby? There were also visits from Grandma (my mom), Uncle Jody and Grandma Great.
Thank you for all your prayers! Praise the Lord for a healthy little guy to hold and love on.
