delivery

Luke Douglas was born at 20:55 on 18 January at Poudre Valley Hopital in Fort Collins, Colorado. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 9 oz and is 20.5 inches long.

three minutes old

long fingers

lightish hair

Like his brother, Luke's due date came and went without any signs that my body was ready to let him come out and meet us. Unlike Timothy, we didn't have to wait the two extra weeks to get induced. Because of the complications I had with my shingles, the doctor recommended inducing sooner rather than later, and we didn't need to be convinced.

The differences in being induced in the UK and the USA were significant. Instead of going in at 21:00, being put in a monk's cell, told my husband/birthing coach had to leave, and getting slammed into labor by the medication with no time to get used to the pain, Paul and I checked into our private en suite room at 09:00. I began a slow and controlled introduction of medication to induce, was asked at regular intervals how my pain was progressing and what I wanted to do about it, watched a movie, took a nap, sipped free juice, surfed the net on our laptops, and enjoyed the attention of our nurse who had no other patients and the occasional quick visit from my doctor.

I had hoped to avoid an epidural, but the pain progressed much faster than my dilation. It took about as long to get the epidural here as it did in the UK. The biggest difference is that I was allowed to control the top ups with one of those thumb trigger devices that you've seen in movies for morphine, and I was allowed to have the medication all the way through the delivery. In the UK, I had to ask my mid-wife for top ups and wait for him to decide if I really needed them. Also, when I dilated 8 cm, I wasn't allowed any more.

So, the delivery was very pleasant. It took about an hour of pushing, but that was because my doctor wasn't there immediately after I reached 10 cm and the nurse was trying to slow things down. Once she arrived, it took only a few pushes. I was able to feel him moving slowly out and she even guided my hand down to feel his head crown. It was fantastic!

Paul was supportive and tender and a great coach. He didn't have to work nearly as hard this time as last time. He cut the umbilical cord and when they moved Luke from my stomach to the cot for weighing, he got to carry him. They took Luke straight from the womb to my tummy where he cried for a few minutes while they wiped him off and cut the cord. This hospital takes cord blood donation and they collected that as well. If one of us should come down with a rare disease, we can have it for free if it hasn't already been used.

I got to hold Luke skin to skin for a little over an hour before they took him for some tests and his first bath. He fumbled around for most of the time but finally nursed after about an hour. Paul got to change Luke's first nappy and assist in the bath.

After a few hours for recovery for me, we were moved down the hall to the Mothering Center to another private en suite room. Luke hasn't left my side. This is standard but it's doubly important to keep him out of the nursery because of my shingles and the chance of spreading it to others. It hasn't interfered with breastfeeding at all.

Luke sleeps for about three hours and then feeds and stays awake for about an hour. He looks like his brother. He's wonderful. We get to go home tomorrow morning.