Welcome to the world, Lucca Wesley Berry!! (Our son)

Birth story time:

Contractions began around 5am on Saturday, 8/3 (the day I was scheduled to be induced) and got so consistent and painful that I was tracking by 6. It didn’t take long to feel the difference of labor contractions and Braxton Hicks ones, but we knew it would still be some time before we got to meet our boy. We got a call around noon that they needed to move the induction to Sunday evening, but I had a contraction while on the phone with the nurse and she heard the shaky moan/hum thing I was doing and laughed saying that I would definitely be in before my induction because she recognized that sound and knew I was in early labor. 

We got to Kaiser at 6pm (Saturday) and, because Lucca was having some heart rate variabilities, were admitted at 9:15 (the ORIGINAL induction time 😂). I got some IV pain meds and started Pitocin pretty quickly while we worked through all the laboring positions to try and flip him from OP (“sunny side up”) to OA (baby facing down- ideal position). I opted for an epidural and got that beautiful thing around 1:30am (even though they had to do it twice, if we ever have more kids, I’m 100% getting an epidural again!). They decided to break my water around 3am to see if that would help get Lucca into a better position and speed things along and by 5:30am I was 8cms and SO close (or so we thought)! I started pushing around 8am on Sunday and we just prayed Lucca would find himself in the ideal position after some pushing. Shortly after we began, Lucca was struggling with those heart rate variabilities again and they talked us through our options of assisted delivery vs. a c section. The nurses and midwives were AMAZING and had me in every pushing position possible to help relieve, the pain (from Lucca’s shoulder being in a painful spot in my pelvis, him being OP, and the epidural wearing off) and speed up the process to get this guy out of me! Around 11:30am the doctor said we can take you right now for a c-section, or give you another 30 mins to get him lower so I can use the vacuum and assist the rest of the way, but this was it. Everyone was so encouraging and had me believing I could get him out in that 30 mins. Turns out, they were right…despite my wanting to quit multiple times in the timeframe. Lucca was born at 11:57am with the help from the doctor using a fancy plunger thingy to help pull him out. From there, it was a blur! After reviewing the footage (because that’s who Jason is…he filmed and photographed the whole process and was right by my side when I needed him most😍😘) we could see Lucca was wrapped up in the cord and having a hard time breathing. Because I had an infection that they determined a few hours prior, the NICU team was in the room on standby. They whisked him off to the side of the room very quickly to begin evaluating him where they determined he needed to go to NICU right away. Jason stayed with Lucca while I was taken care of by the amazing L&D team. Lucca did a number on my vajayjay and I needed several stitches and will need quite a bit of time to recover so I can sit 😂 

Lucca’s breathing fixed itself and he and I have been treated for this infection, both of us doing well (ish…I’m still having some complications) and we’re hoping we’ll all be home as a family by tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. 

Life with Lucca has already been one hell of an adventure! The journey to get to meet our son hasn’t been easy, but it’s proving to be worth every hard time! This kid completes us. He’s the perfect little buddy and we can’t wait to watch him grow into an awesome human! 

Our greatest adventure has officially begun!! 

Lucca’s Birth Stats

Birthday: 8/4/24

Birth time: 11:57 am

Weight: 7lbs 12.9 oz

Length: 20.5”