Birthing Story

Luke Mason Jones
Born May 26th, 2008
7:32 am ~ 8.5 lbs ~ 21.5 inches long

Luke Mason Jones - The True (mostly) Birth Story

Written by Luke's Daddy, Travis Jones
 

Let me start this by saying "Don't ever think you can plan when a delivery is going to go down!" Luke is our third baby, third son to be exact, and Christi had never been early before. Being a few days late was a guaranteed thing! Two for two, that's 100%. Every time! If something is a guarantee, what do you do? You plan around it. So, I decided I would schedule my busiest work week as the last week before the "Due Date". Silly! Well, maybe this baby was going to do his own thing.

So, Christi and I had just crawled into bed at about 11:15pm after a day at the beach. Following church that morning, everyone went down to the 52nd Street area of the beach for a Memorial Day picnic. Caleb and Bryce enjoyed the day in the sun and sand. I enjoyed getting my pants wet because I did not bring my bathing suit, and Christi, well I think she enjoyed herself, but she kept screaming "Travis, you are going to send me into labor if you continue to let the boys almost drown!" Bryce (our 2 yr old) has no fears, loves the sand, and loves water. You add all that up and you get a disaster. I felt like I was constantly pulling him out of the depths of the waves, only to see this big smile on his face. Somehow falling under the water and getting washed up on the sand is fun for him.

So, there we were, just getting settled in bed, talking about the day. I had just rolled over (which normally signals the end of conversation and I was going to sleep), and Christi says something. Again, this is not abnormal, Christi always tries to extend the conversation period even after my obvious signal. So, I do what every loving husband does…act like I had fallen into a deep sleep (in less than 2 minutes). Persistent to get my attention, Christi elbows me in the side, which finally gets the response of "WHAT?!?" "Travis, I think my water just broke". "No, honey you probably just peed on yourself". This would not be uncommon, since bladder control is not really a strong suit for a pregnant Christi. I completely dismissed the idea that labor was beginning (again, because Christi always started labor with contractions and had never had her water break). So, again, I rolled over and tried to go to sleep. The next thing I heard was quite funny – "My water definitely broke, because it does not smell like asparagus, and if it were my pee it would". We had grilled some asparagus for dinner that night. You would think this would spark an excited husband into a furry of action getting dressed, throwing pre-packed bags into car, and every other crazy thing. I responded in denial by rolling back over in hopes that sleep would cure this crazy talk. Christi decided to take a shower and get ready to go, and finally the light went off in my head. I have not packed for this, I have a busy week ahead of me, when was the last time I reviewed the notes on TRANSITION? All these things that should be done ahead of time, but Christi is never early…right? Since Christi was Group Beta Step positive, the midwives wanted us to get to the hospital as soon as possible once her water broke. We had debated for months on how we would do the treatment for GBS. All of the scenarios we had discussed never involved Christi's water breaking first, because that had never happened before. Christi spent countless hours researching treatment options and discussing hospital protocol, and we spent time praying for God's direction. Both of us were still unsettled about what we were going to do, but once Christi's water broke, we lost a lot of our options, and ultimately felt God had orchestrated this and we knew he would continue to do so if we allowed him. So, I start making the phone calls…Christi's mom, Aimee, Sara Beth, and Sheena.

After packing my bags and getting everything ready to go, we hop in the Accord and got to the midwife clinic at about 12:30am. We were met by Nell, the midwife, and Sara, the nurse, who happened to have gone through Claudia's childbirth class with us over 4 years ago before we had Caleb. One thing that I will always remember about the midwife clinic was that it was just so calm and relaxing. When we walked in, there was no panic, no stress, and most importantly, Nell heard what she needed to hear and then showed her utmost patience by going back to her room and catching some zzz's. After getting the first dose of antibiotic for GBS, everyone (Christi, Aimee, Sara Beth, and I) tried to find comfortable spots to get some rest. We all knew what was ahead of us in the coming hours and if there was any chance to get some rest, now was it. I believe we all were able to get about an hour or two of sleep. By about 3:30am, the contractions were beginning to get closer, but the severity was not there yet. We began the normal routine of walking laps around the hospital floor. The system seems to work…walk a lap, stop and have a contraction, continue until further notice.

By about 5:00am, the contractions were getting close and harder. But even at this point, Christi was doing a great job and we were able to walk and talk for a few minutes and then work through a contraction. She was never out of control and actually made it look easy. Christi was experiencing a lot of back labor throughout most of the birth, so we were constantly trying to put hot presses on her back to alleviate pressure while she was either squatting or on her hands and knees. This helped and Christi even helped by telling us exactly where she need the pressure. Around 6:00am, Christi decided she wanted to take a shower to help take away some of the pressure and relax a little more. So, after I had helped her get into the shower, I thought I would lie down and get some rest myself. This gave Aimee and Sara Beth quite a chuckle. This was short-lived though because the contractions were picking up and Christi started to feel alone in the shower. We decided it was time to get into the in-room hot tub. Prior to getting in, Nell checked how far along Christi had gotten. Since she was measuring at 5cm, Nell gave the go ahead to get into the tub. Once she got into the tub, things were picking up, but it was clear that the heat and water helped take away a good deal of the pain. Sometime around then was when she felt baby Luke change positions, Christi was very excited and it relieved much of the back labor. What was so amazing about Nell was that she was there, but really just watching Christi labor. Nell knew that labor was a natural process and the best thing to do is just let it take its course. For the last hour and half of labor, Nell and the nurse sat on the bed and watched from a distance as Christi labored through the contractions and continued conversations between them.

Christi labored for about an hour in the hot tub before she felt the need to push. Another memory of this labor is how much control Christi had throughout labor. Starting with getting her sleeping husband out of bed and finishing with holding baby Luke in her arms, she always seemed like she was in control. It was almost surreal, like we were going through the motions of labor, but not as much drama. Like a dress rehearsal. We were at the hospital, everyone was doing their part, but there was no panic, no stress, and not much screaming (just some serious moaning!). There was a laughter and constant conversation in-between contraction. Everything was going so smoothly. Aimee and Sara Beth kept laughing at me for how relaxed I was. Part of it was just my personality but a large part was the fact that Christi was just laboring through this delivery like she wanted to – patiently and with a purpose.

By about 7:15am, Christi began to push. With the previous two deliveries this always seems to be the time when everyone else had left the room, and somehow it has always been just Christi and I, which has created some panic. I always talk like I would want to deliver my own baby, but everyone knows that I am all talk and just bluffing! However, for this delivery, Nell simply stood up from the bed and came beside Christi and myself. I was never really sure if I wanted to do the whole water birth thing. I was fine with laboring in the tub, but an actual water birth was different. But at this point, negative thoughts never entered into my head. Christi was in the tub, starting to push, and she was going to have this baby in the tub. After about 5 minutes of pushing, Sara Beth screams out "I can see his head!" And you could see a full head of hair. Little Luke was born with a lot of hair. Christi was still squatting in the tub at this point, and leaning forward. Nell simply stated to Christi, "lay back into your labor and have your baby." I always learn so much about my wife during labor. How tough she is, how patient she is, how responsive she is to prayer, and how beautiful she is. I always get overwhelmed by emotion at the point of delivery, I am so proud of my wife. When people announce the arrival, all I can muster is a simple "Yes". I would hate for my tough and strong boys to enter this world seeing their daddy (hero for life!) in tears.

Travis and Christi Jones saying "Hello" to Luke

When baby Luke joined us, the cord was wrapped around his neck, but that did not really send anyone into panic, Nell calmly untwisted the cord and placed this little (by Bryce standards) boy on Christi's chest. Water-birth babies don't scream immediately like normal babies do. It normally takes them a few seconds later. Everyone was waiting to hear something. Christi, the nurse, and myself started to rub his feet and chest trying to get him to scream for us (trust me, this is the only time in this child's life that I will ever ask it to scream for me). There was a little concern in the nurse's face, and then Christi said, "Jesus, make this baby cry", and right then Luke made his voice out. "Whatever works", the nurse said in reference to Christi's calling on the Lord to have Luke cry. It was not a loud cry, but it was enough. Luke was just content to sit there in his mommy's arms. After a quick clamp of the cord, and a few pictures with the proud daddy, baby Luke was returned to mommy for his first breakfast.

Christi embracing sweet little Luke

Christi, Caleb, Bryce and Daddy Travis adoring their  new blessing.

Welcome Little Luke!