Luke Jay Peterson

Let the blogging world know: I have a son. His name is Luke Jay Peterson, born 12-27-11 at 7 pounds 3 oz and 20 inches long. We just liked the name Luke (and it seemed appropriate for Christmas-time) and Jay is for his paternal grandfather.

Fun anecdote. Some possible middle names thrown around (in jest): Skywalker, Warm, Mom-no-hands, Harder, Two (because it was Christmas time), and Emia (my personal favorite).

He's adorable, if I do say so myself

Family picture. I promise I am dressed, even though it doesn't really look like it. See that black-ish, yellow-ish pattern next to Jason's shirt? That's my sleeve.

If you get squeamish by medical terms, stop reading.

We went in to the hospital at 3:30 am for me to be induced. My doctor was kind enough to induce me at just over 39 weeks, partially because I was already dilated to 3 cm, partially because she was quitting delivering babies on January 1 (just before mine was due), and partially because I'm a greedy miser and didn't want to pay my insurance deductible twice. They started the actual induction at 5:00 am and by 7:30, I had an epidural. I had already decided beforehand that I wanted an epidural so after 45 minutes of labor pains I decided I didn't need to be hero and endure any more labor pains. "Save my energy for pushing this baby out," thought I.

Around 9:30 am, the OB resident checked me and I was dilated to 5 cm. I was all prepared to just hang out the rest of the day because I was induced and had an epidural and those typically progress slowly. In the meantime, I played puzzles on my computer and pushed my little epidural-administering button whenever I felt some pain. At 11:00 am, my nurse rushed in and asked if I had been feeling consistent pressure in my nether regions. Honestly, I hadn't been paying that much attention. I just pushed the epidural button whenever I felt discomfort. The reason the nurse rushed in though was because Luke's heart rate had dropped, often a sign of being ready to deliver. The OB resident checked me and I was complete! My doctor was finishing up a c-section on another patient, I wasn't uncomfortable, I didn't feel the need to push, and Luke's heart rate had come back up, so we decided to just hang out and let my body "labor down" on its own until my doctor was ready.

My doctor got there at noon. By the time she checked me, she could already see Luke's head. I started pushing at 12:05 and he arrived at 12:25. I was so astounded. I couldn't believe I had a baby already and with so (relatively) little effort on my part. I was mostly just tired because I had woken up at 3:00 that morning and not because I had just had a baby. I did tear a bit, but not too badly. I'm starting to feel better, although I run out of energy surprisingly quickly.

We feel incredibly lucky/blessed. I had an easy pregnancy and an easy delivery and have an easy baby (so far anyway). He sleeps 20 hours a day, eats for 3 hours (not all at the same time), and sits and stares for the other hour. He rarely cries and only grunts when he's getting hungry. Plus, he's pretty cute.