“He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker.” - Dragline, "Cool Hand Luke," 1967.
Please welcome Luke DeLeon Negrete Shipman!
Stats - 02/15/2008 - 03:47 - 7 lbs, 9 oz. - 19.25 in.
He popped out of the womb, grabbed a cell phone, and started closing deals!
Born at 03:47 on 02/15/2008, Luke arrived with lungs blaring and bladder releasing all over the OR.
The Backstory...
Renee went to the doctor's for a routine visit on Wednesday, 02/13/2008. At 15:30, she checked into the Labor and Delivery Triage with extremely high blood pressure due to preeclampsia - the only cure for which is to deliver the baby. By 18:00 on 02/13/2008 she was hooked up to many IVs with one for hydration, one for blood pressure, one for pain, one with anti-biotic, and one for inducing labor. Here spirits were high and we were excited at the possibility of becoming parents...in just a few short hours we (I use the term loosely) would be pushing hard and greeting our new baby boy!
We took all the birthing classes, breathing classes, and were absolutely, positively ready for this moment. So inducing began and we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited...and waited. After 36 hours, Renee has dilated to a whopping 1 cm. For those of you unfamiliar with childbirth, we must reach 10 cm of dilation before ACTIVE labor begins...and we would still have SIX or more hours to go!
We took all the birthing classes, breathing classes, and were absolutely, positively ready for this moment. So inducing began and we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited...and waited. After 36 hours, Renee has dilated to a whopping 1 cm. For those of you unfamiliar with childbirth, we must reach 10 cm of dilation before ACTIVE labor begins...and we would still have SIX or more hours to go! We were a little less enthusiastic at this point, neither of us actually having slept for more than hour or two. We were babbling incoherently and dosing in and out of consciousness at this point. Renee's parents has arrived from Northern California and sat with us diligently, as did our friend Kristin.
So...our doctors, worried that she would never deliver, that her blood pressure would never come under control, and that the baby may be getting a wee bit too much medication, called for the cesarean section...
Born at 03:47, he was cleaned and swaddled and in my arms by 04:10, both Renee and I in tears and unable to speak, overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion. The staff at Cedars Sinai was incredible; every nurse, attending, and resident treated us with kindness and respect, and were unbelievably gentle handling two fragile parents-to-be in a frightening situation.
A short time later, the surgery was completed, the baby was cleaned and examined, and both mommy and baby were sleeping soundly, recovering from a grueling ordeal...I sat in a chair staring in disbelief and awe at my new family...Now, the story of recovery in the hospital, for both baby and mommy, is another chapter I will let Renee tell in her own words...but I will add we could never have survived without the love and support from friend and family...Special love to Kristin, Danielle and Jason, Laurie (and Bert for parting with wife for three weeks), Mike and Leslie - we love you all very much and truly appreciate your being here for us...more than you could possibly imagine.
Our little man and our happy family (the painted nails are Renee's, just FYI).
2 comments:
awwwww what a beautiful story and wonderful pics!! we are so happy for you two and Logan can't wait to meet his cuz! :)
I was seriously tearing up reading this story. something must be wrong with me..maybe its love for your family.
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