Our new baby boy

On the morning of Saturday May 21, 2005, I woke as usual at around 6:20am. I had had a cold for almost a week and I felt tired and sick so despite being 6 days overdue I thought "today would not be the day to have a baby, maybe I'll go to the doctor instead and check on my cold" and then I'll be ready.
However, I went to the bathroom and began to think perhaps my plans for the day would be a bit different. It seemed as though I had "lost my mucus plug" (although I never had that happen before and wasn't sure, I was pretty sure.) I called the midwife (Katherin- goddess extraordinary) and she said it could still be quite a while which was fine with me. I tried to go back to bed but Zoe woke up shortly after and then Sophie (my niece) came over early that morning (because Sharon had to take Oskar somewhere.)
Somewhere around 8am I realized that my water broke also. By 8:30 all the girls were up and playing nicely. I started to feel some pains nothing that required too much concentration but they were there. At this point I told Fritz I thought it would be a good idea to fill the tub and I called Katherin again. She said she would be over in about 30minutes. Grace helped Fritz fill the tub and then Sophie and the girls made a wonderful Birthday card while Fritz and I decorated the room with the assorted treasures that we have accumulated over our now three births. There were pictures drawn in our first birthing class, special stones or gifts from friends and family, my birthing necklace from Zoe's birth, things the girls had made, all this filled me with love, support and confidence as I reluctantly came to the conclusion that today was not a day to rest but rather a day to help my new son join the world.
I wanted the girls somewhere safe and out of the way so that I could concentrate on birth. Sharon was still with Oskar but she arranged for a friend (Olivia) that lives up the street to take the girls. We sent Sophie up the street to fetch her. Olivia came back with Sophie and took the girls off to breakfast at a local restaurant.
Now it was just Fritz and I and we timed a few of the contractions. They were about a minute long and 5-6min. apart. At about 9am Katherin arrived. I opened the door and said "this is the real thing" as we had had a" falsche Alarm" the week before. She smiled and came in with her things.
After a few minutes I felt like getting in the tub. Katherin said fine, I think she checked me then and I was about 4cm dilated. The water felt WONDERFUL. I was so happy that we searched out a proper birthtub to rent and had it shipped from Munich in time.
Shortly, I told Katherin that I felt like I might want to push. She said "I'm right behind you" (a phrase that I heard a lot that morning). I said "do you think it's OK?" She checked me again and I guess the cervix was nice and soft so she said I could do as I pleased. Despite the urge to push I also felt a strong urge not to. I remembered how quick Zoe's birth was. It scared me and I wanted to have this phase be slower and more controlled this time. I wanted a little break and to get my nerve up.
A break is just what I got. The contractions basically stopped and when they did come the urge to push didn't. Gradually, I got myself ready. Fritz asked if he should put on the song that we had playing when each of our children were born. I said "OK, it's a long song".
As the song began I began to push out our baby. It happened slowly and after a few minutes the head crowned and I reached to touch it, so soft. Several minutes later I had worked out the greater part of the head. I think at that point I changed position to my side and pushed out the rest of the head. Any progress was slow and took several minutes between. I was having some trouble getting out the shoulders. I tried squatting but that didn't seem to help. Then Katherin suggested that I stand up out of the water and give a few good pushes (at this point the contractions were very few and far between and I was often pushing on my own.) That did it and he came out. Katherin caught him and let him come into the water then into my arms. He cried (loudly) for a little while and had a little bruise on his nose and elbow from the journey. Other than that he was just perfect (Apgar's of 10 and 10).
Katherin later told me that it was unusual, especially for a third birth that after that part of the head came out that it still took so long for the rest to come out. Then again after the head came out for the shoulders and body to take so long. I think in retrospect it was a longer process than even Gracie was and he certainly was a big contrast to Zoe who literally shot out on the second push. Of course he was nearly 2 lbs larger than Zoe and 1 1/2 lbs more than Grace. (Katherin also said when we looked at the video afterwards that she would like a copy to use to train midwives. Because it teaches that sometimes births just are slow. She said that she thought if we were in a the hospital they would have cut me or used suction. Thank God for midwives!!!!)
The placenta was also really big. The midwives used a good trick for this. I wasn't really having any contractions yet and it was time to get the placenta out. I tried pushing but wasn't making very much progress. Katherin had Fritz get a plastic bottle and told me to blow into it- puff- out came the placenta. Apparently, women somehow forget how to push properly after the baby and this trick gets it just right.
A moment later the door rang and it was Olivia checking in after breakfast. Amazing, what seemed to go so slowly was over in the time it took to eat breakfast. Lukas was born at 10:43am.
Sharon was able to take the girls and after a quick introduction to their brother and gathering of clothes they spent the night there too which was nice for us. The girls were super excited to meet their brother. Grace was a real experienced big sister. She was super helpful and attentive to her brother's every need. Zoe, wasn't exactly sure what to do but was very excited by her real, live baby and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.