The Birth Story...welcoming Lucas!

Ross and I were supposed to be at the hospital at 6:45 am to check in.  As typical Kooiker fashion we arrived almost 15 minutes late.  We got checked in and were in the room by 7:10.  The doctor on call was supposed to come visit with me right away but she ended up having to deliver a baby in the next room so she didn't come to my room until about 9:30 or so.  The doctor was really  nice and I really liked her a lot.  She told me for induction she had 3 recommendations.  I knew how each one worked but wasn't sure which way to go.  She recommended having my water broke to start since this was my second baby and since I was already dilated to 3 cm.  So at 9:45 my water was broken.  I had already been contracting when I got there but they weren't real painful.  I started to feel the contractions a little more after my water was broken but they weren't very close together and not super painful.  The doctor came in around 12:30 and checked me again.  I was dilated to 5 cm so she wanted to wait and see if I kept on progressing.  At 3:30 she came back and I was dilated to 6 cm.  My contractions were still pretty far apart but they were getting quite intense so I asked for my epidural.  Then they started the pitocin after I received my epidural so I didn't feel anything after I got my epidural which was really  nice.  Around 5:30 I started to feel some pressure so the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 9 cm.  It went pretty fast after that.  I started pushing at 6:05 and Lucas Harrison was born at 6:18 pm.  I only had to push for 13 minutes which was amazing to me because with Caleb I pushed for an hour and a half.  My Mom was able to watch Lucas being born and I think she enjoyed the experience  I was glad to have her and Ross there with me as we welcomed Lucas.  This 9-10 lb baby everyone expected only ended up weighing 7 lbs 15 oz.  He was smaller than Caleb!  He was 21.5 inches long so I think his length is what made everyone thing he was so big.  I had another 2nd degree tear but I didn't care.  Lucas was here, he was beautiful and I finally felt like my family was complete.  We love you Lucas!