April 21, 2008.
After a very difficult 13 days (which we can relive in another blog), I was in California after fleeing Utah (thanks to the help of family and friends). I was approximately 8 months pregnant and set to for a due date of May 21st.
But, just like my birth daughter Sierra, my birth son Luke had his own perfect timing.
At 3:00(ish) that Monday morning, I woke up to water everywhere. Having experienced my bags of water breaking before, I knew this was showtime. So, I knocked on my mom and stepdad's door and told them it was time to go to the hospital. (Many thanks to my sister, who cleaned up all the water after I left. Unfortunately, we had a tile floor at the time, so she did not have a fun job).
We checked into St. Bernardine's hospital, got me all signed in, hooked up to an epidural, did an ultrasound to make sure I was really in labor....all this time, I had experienced not ONE contraction. (Yes, Luke's birth was relatively pain-free, thanks to modern medicine.)
The doctor, somewhere between 8 and 9 am, decided to give me Pitocin to speed up the birthing process. My mom went home to get me an Eric Jerome Dickey novel to read. At 10am, she called to check in. I told her to come back. The nurses saw a little head starting to make its way out on his own (I'm still not pushing at this point.)
At 10:30am, my doctor (Betty Daniels, the best OB/GYN there is, FYI) walks in to check me. She said there was a barrier to her fingers- and when she looked, she said, "Oh, there's a head here. Ok Krystle, push now." After two pushes, Luke came out.
Luke was born at 10:41am.
For 2 1/2 years, I had the privilege of watching him grow. I fed him when he was hungry, changed his diaper, woke up to comfort him in the middle of the night, threw him birthday parties, read to him, talked to him, took him to church with me...all the normal joyous mom stuff. I even had him baptized June 19, 2008. I had a LOT of help from a loving church community, family, and friends. So much help that if I started naming names, I am sure I would leave someone out.
But, in my heart, I knew that he should be raised alongside his sister. So, December 8, 2010, I chose the hard road of adoption. Luke now lives with Sierra and their mom and dad (Jeff and Tammy) in Utah.
I want to be clear about something: I have been criticized by so many for this adoption for a couple of reasons. One is choosing adoption after Luke bonded with me and knew me as Mom for so long. Well, it seems he has adjusted to Tammy as his Mom- and that is good and right, which is something I know in my heart.
Another criticism was choosing a LDS (Mormon) family. Listen to me be very clear: I. Don't. Care. About. The. Religion. They. Practice. They did (and continue to do) what I expected when I chose adoption for them both times: they love Luke and Sierra as a part of their family. I don't care if they are Mormon, Atheist, Baptist, Catholics, Methodists...they love Luke and Sierra. That's what's important.
And in that same love, on his 6th birthday, I wish Luke the happiest of birthdays.
