Welcome, Baby Luke!

Welcome to the world, baby Luke Patrick!

October 29, 2013

8 pounds, 10 ounces

20 inches

Luke's birth story began when I woke up that Tuesday morning. I just felt a bit more crampy than usual, and just...off. As Matt left for the day, I told him to be on high alert, and that today was probably the day. I was probably more lax than most women going into labor, but I feel like I know my body pretty well, and I knew I had time before we were even close to heading to the hospital. I felt contractions all day long, but they were 5-10 minutes apart, so I just decided to keep busy. I dropped off the girls at school, and took Mary to Target to grab a few things. I was very slow-moving through the Target aisles! The girls were all done with school at noon that day, so I picked them up (and told everyone who asked that I was feeling okay, but probably delivering that night...I got some crazy, horrified looks when I said that!) and headed home to watch friends' kids for an hour and feed everyone lunch. By the time the other two kids left, Matt had arrived home, and my contractions were more like 3 minutes apart. We decided to head to the hospital after calling Grandma to take over at home. 

Matt took this picture of me between contractions, and before they got so intense that I had my eyes closed the entire time. I think I was 5cm dilated here, so it wasn't too bad yet.

But, about an hour after arriving at the hospital, my contractions were getting much stronger and the nurse had ordered an epidural for me. Everything was shaping up to go perfectly! The anesthesiologist came in...with a resident. As it happened, the resident performed the epidural amidst strong contractions, turned on the medication, and they both told me to expect it to be working in 5-10 minutes. Oh boy. 5-10 minutes seemed so, so long at that point. All I could think about was how many contractions that would equal, and the fact that I was going to be lying down on my back through those contractions since the epidural was already placed. I'm pretty sure I didn't open my eyes for the next 10 minutes since the contractions were strong and right on top of each other at that point. Ten minutes passed, and then another ten minutes passed. Getting through each contraction was agony, and I was completely unprepared to know how to breathe through them. I tried to recall every TLC natural delivery I'd ever seen on television, and attempted to breathe the correct way, but it wasn't really helping. By then, I was feeling the contractions wrapping around to my back, but only on one side. We eventually figured out that the epidural was only working on my right side, and not at all on the left :( With minutes to spare, at 9cm dilation, and only because my water bag had not broken, the anesthesiologist agreed to place a new line. Thank god! The thought of enduring the remainder of the delivery without medication was so overwhelming to me! So, we went through the whole process of placing the epidural again, and ten minutes later, I was happy!! The doctor came in to check me, and my water bag broke in the process. We agreed to start trying to push, and four contractions later, in which I didn't feel a thing -- thank you, second epidural -- this little guy was born!

At 8 pounds, 10 ounces, Luke weighed exactly the same as Megan and Bridget at birth. Mary was pretty close at 8 pounds, 7 ounces. We'll cut Tessa and Annie some slack. They weren't in the 8 pound club, but they did okay in the 6 pound club as twins!

He definitely had the wrinkly old man look down immediately after delivery!

Soon after his very first bath, Luke had his first visitors. Aunt Sara came, and then Grandma and Grandpa came with all of the girls. They were all in their pajamas and jackets and robes, and really should have been in bed. But, how could we have denied them the opportunity to meet their new baby brother?! So what of it was a school night? :) They were so, so excited!

Mary was amazed that the baby was "Out!"

 Admittedly, the hospital room did feel very small when everyone was in there!

As did the hospital bed!

Luke needed a little rest after that activity! He does need to get used to lots of ladies making noise around him, though :)