Raisin' Bran and Amelia: Introducing Beckett Joseph Lude...Labor Story

My labor story with Beckett is one I don’t think I could ever forget. There was no last bump picture in a hospital gown for this one. Also no going around the room asking everyone what they thought we were having. To be honest, I think I forgot I didn’t know what we were having until they (Joe?) told me. I also am pretty sure I had to remind Joe to get a phone out to take pictures as we were quickly rolling down the hall on the triage bed to the Labor & Delivery room. So here is the story for Baby #3, who gets the award for the wildest, most intense, and quickest labor for me!

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday morning, May 25th. The weekend leading up to it was busy. We had swim lessons, wiffleball, and went to a neighbor’s birthday party on Saturday. We spent Sunday afternoon at another neighbor’s house letting the kids swim in an inflatable pool. We had walked over and were just enjoying the sunshine with no signs of labor, and the full expectation I would be induced on Tuesday. Sunday evening Grandma Lude and Serena arrived in town to be with the kids and dogs “a day early”. (In hindsight thank goodness they were here, the stars really aligned on this one! Scary to think how things could have went had they not been here.) We grilled and enjoyed some time outside. I gave the kids a bath myself and we got them to bed around 9 p.m. with the plan to send the kids to daycare the next morning and have a relaxing Monday pre baby. It was a totally normal evening around here…until it wasn’t.

I remember coming back downstairs after I put the kids to bed and just not feeling super comfortable sitting on the couch. This wasn’t entirely unusual at this point because things were getting crowded. I just kind of sat up talking to everyone on the edge of the couch. Linda and Serena went up to bed. I wasn’t having contractions at this point but I told Joe I was feeling a little different. Laughing to myself that of course I would start feeling like this at night, and you watch I will be up all night not sleeping and laboring like I always do. So Joe headed up to bed and I told him I was going to fold some laundry and watch the rest of an episode of This Is Us that I hadn’t finished. It’s about 11 p.m. at this point. I realized during the show my contractions seemed oddly consistent (contractions generally in the past came on very slow) and I decided I should start timing them at 11:30 p.m. and make sure I had everything in the hospital bag just in case it was go time. I was upstairs at this point basically laboring walking around in our bathroom and closet. The contractions were strong and lasting about a minute. I had it in my head I needed to have contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour and then we could leave. Well in hindsight it had not dawned on me how quickly my contractions had ramped up (probably because of my notoriously slow labors in the past). My contractions were actually coming anywhere from 2.5 to 4 minutes apart according to the app I was timing them on, but once again I think I was oblivious to this. I woke Joe up at 12:15 and said “Hey FYI we’re going to need to head to the hospital soon. Joe’s response: “Should I put clothes on or go back to sleep?”. Joe went back to sleep. (Yes seriously). I somehow talked myself into waiting the additional 15 minutes to hit that hour (oh my was I oblivious to how this labor was actually progressing, but I could manage the contractions and thought I was just killing time at home). At 12:30 I was a little more clear and said hey we need to go to the hospital now! Joe got up and we got ready to head out the door. I was getting a little anxious at this point and it felt like it was taking Joe a long time to get out to the truck. At 12:43 Joe texted Linda to tell her we were heading to the hospital. I always hate having contractions in the vehicle, it is super uncomfortable not being able to move around. Joe asked if I wanted dropped off at the ER entrance and I said no I could walk in, and that I would feel much better once we were parked and I could walk. Of course we went the wrong way trying to park in the new garage, and I was getting very uncomfortable and impatient. I felt like Joe was moving so slow getting into the hospital and I basically took off down the stairs and out of the parking garage without him.

We walked into the ER entrance at 0108. A woman was ahead of us (single file entrance through security), looked at us and my belly and proceeded to walk up to the security guard taking her good old time talking to him and getting in. And she was only there to see someone mind you, and it did not seem that emergent. I had a really strong contraction come on and was very unhappy with this woman at this moment. We finally got through security ourselves and checked in. And so began what felt like the endless ride up to Labor and Delivery in the wheelchair. I was so annoyed having my mask on (thanks Covid) and spent a lot of time just breathing with my eyes closed when I was having a contraction. We got checked in at L&D. I remember Joe trying to push the wheelchair around this tight corner to get to that desk and just standing up because I was feeling so impatient. I got taken back to triage around 1:25/1:30 a.m. and everything from this moment on is quite a blur for me.

In triage my contractions hit me hard! I got undressed and Joe helped me into my hospital gown. But I just kept constantly running back and forth to the bathroom in the room. I ripped my mask off at this point because I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was getting so uncomfortable and just wanted the nurse to get in there ASAP. The nurse (Tania) came in and hooked me up to the monitor, called Dr. Turner’s office, and started my IV. The doctor also came in to do an ultrasound and verify baby was head down and ask entirely too many questions I had zero interest in answering. My contractions are coming every 2 minutes or less at this point. Tania humored me and asked if I was going to want an epidural and I said yes!!! Although at this point it was becoming pretty apparent things were moving quickly, she told me they would do everything they could to get me that epidural. I think the nurse already knew there was zero chance of me getting an epidural at this point haha! She checked me (which is always so uncomfortable) and I was at 6-7 cm. Then my water broke and I instantly felt a ton of pressure like I needed to push. She instructed me to start “blowing out the candles” because then I couldn’t push.

We rushed down the hall to the L&D room, and Tania asked Dr. Alex Stiles (2nd year resident) to follow us quickly! We were joined in the room by 3 or 4 other nurses. Dr. Stiles asked if I wanted to move over to the L&D bed with the stirrups but I told her I couldn’t do it. So there I lay in the triage bed with the instructions to go ahead and push. (I am still in disbelief how quickly I dilated!) A couple pushes and baby’s head was out. I got told to stop pushing at this point because the umbilical cord was wrapped around the babies neck (3 times, yikes!), she loosened the cord and I got the okay to continue pushing but now (more than likely due to the position I was in on the triage bed) the baby’s right shoulder was stuck. Shoulder dystocia can be dangerous for Mom and especially baby. A veteran nurse (Lorie) jumped into action and jumped on me and administered a super pubic push while I pushed and we got the baby’s shoulder out. Our baby BOY was here. He rocketed into the world on 5/24/2021 at 1:50 a.m. (just 42 minutes after walking through the ER doors and only about 3 hours after my contractions had started). He was 7 lb. 8 oz. and 21.5 inches long. Dr. Sayat arrived just as Joe was cutting the umbilical cord so we had to pick on her that it was “nice of her to show up”. The resident that delivered the baby said this was the first time she had ever delivered a baby with her hair down. I got introduced to the amazing team that had helped me! I am so thankful for their incredible teamwork and quick thinking. Never in a million years did I think I would experience a natural childbirth. It was such an out of body experience. So much pain, but so much adrenaline. The ability of a woman’s body to do this is unreal. I felt so empowered and tough. The minutes felt endless but it all went so quickly. I was able to walk myself to the bathroom shortly after delivery and clean myself up. I felt amazing! By far my easiest childbirth to recover from.

Baby Boy did not have a name until the following morning. He nursed after delivery, and immediately pooped right on me. Thanks kid!

The following morning after we caught up on a little bit of sleep we talked and decided on your name, Beckett Joseph Lude (if you had been a girl your name probably would have been Elodie). We shared our exciting news with all of our family and friends.

Our hospital stay was quick and uneventful. We spent one more night there, and were on our way home on Wednesday May 26th around lunch time once we got the all clear from the doctors. Beckett was a very easy going baby and barely cried during the hospital stay. I actually woke myself up at night and called the nurse to bring him back from the nursery to eat. They had completely lost track of time because Beckett was sleeping so peacefully. We couldn’t wait to get Beckett home to meet his big brother and sister! (No visitors in the hospital because of COVID). Luckily I packed two boy and two girl outfits, otherwise he would have been riding home in pink! Beckett had immediately peed all over the first take home outfit I changed him into. With 3 car seats all in a row in the back of Dad’s truck, Beckett was the first kid to take a solo ride home in the backseat. And he slept the whole way! It was so great to be home as a family. And Grandma and Serena got to meet Beckett too! (Funny story, Grandma never heard the hospital departure text. Or the middle of the night delivery text. Brannock saw that we were not in our room when he woke up in the morning, and told Grandma we had left to go have the baby. She was like what?! And when she looked at her phone, she realized Bran was right! Although we did have to pick on her she might not have been a very reliable middle of the night call had we needed her to get to our house lol).