Lucas Thomas arrived seven weeks early and boy, was it a scene from beginning to end. On August 2nd, I was at Target when I felt a gush. I knew it wasn't something that was good so I called Marty and told him, luckily he was on his way home from work. I called my OB who directly me to head to Labor and Delivery at CBH!! What?!?! I couldn't be in labor, I was only 31 weeks, and this little boy needed to stay in and bake a little longer. Marty and I arrived at the hospital where it was extremely busy. They had to give me a bed in the recovery area for a while. The nurse hooked me up to all the machines, and sure enough I was having contractions. I had been feeling these for a few days but I figured they were just Braxton Hicks. My OB ordered a medicine to stop them which worked for about an hour. After that, he decided it was best to put me on Magnesium to really stop them. This also told me there would be no returning home for a while because of the IV running the meds into me to let him mature more. They also started me on a steroid to help his lungs mature. The steroid needed 48 to get the full effect on his lungs so I had to remain on the mag (as the nurses call it). Did I mention that I was 4 cm dilated which made my doctor decided there was no more getting out of bed. So there I was hooked to an IV, BP cuff on another arm, and cuffs on my legs so there would be no blood clots. Talk about going crazy!!! I was hooked to my bed- it was enough to make me crazy, which it did at times. Another side effect of the mag was that I was sooooo hot!!! I actually froze Marty out of the room because I needed it cool and I was still sweating at some points. Luckily, I made through my 48 hour window for the steroid.
The next morning they took me off the mag to see what would happen. They were going to let me go into labor if it happened because the day before my water broke. If it didn't happen then, I was told that I would just remain in bed and wait and hope that I could make it to 36weeks and deliver then. After they turned it off, nothing happened for a while. That Friday evening I started to have some contractions, but they, for the most part, were not bad. About 11:00, I told Marty that he should go home, just to keep his phone close in case he had to rush back. Rush back was the understatement. About 1:30, contractions really started to hurt and the nurse checked me again- 5 cm. I called Marty and told him to get here FAST! The nurse moved me to a delivery room and gave me a little pain medicine that made me really loopy! Marty got the hospital in 13 minutes- 1:53am. By the time he got there, I was complete and ready to push! What?? Really? How could this go so fast? And how could I have not have an epidural? Oh, my, it was so fast that I only pushed 4 times- I think- and Lucas Thomas arrived at 2:23am. He weighed 5 pounds and 8 ounces. BIG for a preemie that would have technically been 33 weeks and 2 days. A stay in the NICU was in the works, but he did such a great job and was able to come home after 12 days. Lucas is doing great, gaining weight and sleeping all the time. Sophie is taking to the changes better than I expected. She ignores him most the time unless I have Lucas in my arms to feed him. She wants me to read to her when this happens. I imagine as he gets more active, she will get more jealous, but since all he does is sleep she is not too bothered by him.
We are so thankful to have all the Williams' family in the same place.
