February 9, 2011 Luke Edward Stille enters the world

Wednesday afternoon I called the doctor at about 1pm. I was not feeling quite right. I wasn't contracting but I felt my stitches pulling and I felt some pressure. He said to come in to the hospital. He had checked my cervix the day before and I was doing ok so I thought it was just from him checking me. When Dr. Cardwell got there he checked me and said my cervix was paper thin and I was just hanging on by a string.....literally the fishing wire that has been holding this baby in this entire pregnancy. He looked at me and said 4:00 c-section. I said ok and then began to get very excited about meeting my little Lukie but also was a little nervous about being cut open!! We had to wait until 4:30 because they wanted a pediatrician in the room to access his needs when he came out. Dr. Cardwell had a very hard time getting him out because his head was wedged all the way down the birth canal......who knows how long his poor little head was stuck down there. He pulled and tugged and out he came at 4:52 screaming and crying. I was so happy that he was breathing on his own. That was my main concern with him coming so early. He weighted 4 lbs 10 ounces and was 16 inches long. He had the biggest cone head I had ever seen and he was horribly bruised from being stuck. But had a nice head of dark hair. His apgar score was, I think, an 8 or 9. The doctor said he looked really good. When I was in recovery my body temperature was really low so they had to put heat blankets on me. I did not physically feel cold I was actually really hot and sweating really bad. I started to get feeling back in my legs pretty quickly but still felt really icky and sweaty. I ended up throwing up a lot. I didn't sleep a wink for at least 24 hours after he was born. The pain was manageable at first. I felt more discomfort from my tubes being tied than I did from the incision. I was very emotional afterward too but that passed and I felt much better the next day. I was able to get up and move around pretty good the next day. By day 4 I was hoping to feel a lot better but was still having a lot of pain. Well I, officially, am no good at carrying my babies to term but we do make nice, strong, healthy babies. They may be tiny but they are mighty. Welcome to the world little Lukie.

biggest cone head EVER

His poor little forehead was sooo bruised

Craig and I before surgery.