Day 2

This hospital stay was a different one for us. We switched insurance plans after Mary was born, knowing that any future babies we had would be born through Kaiser. I have to say that change was more concerning to me than almost anything about the pregnancy. I was worried about delivering with a different doctor at a different hospital. Our beloved doctor and the nurses at CPMC left big shoes to fill. But, Kaiser it was for Luke, and with a doctor I'd never met before. To boot, he was born in Redwood City because the San Francisco labor and delivery floor was full that day. So, Luke is our only baby not born in San Francisco---poor guy. I'm sure he'll recover ;)


Beyond the location change, though, this hospital stay was unique in that I stayed on my own with Luke for much of the time. In the past, Matt has stayed with me and the baby/babies for the entire time, but I really felt like it would benefit everyone more if he was home to help the girls, especially since our hospital stay coincided with three school days, soccer practices and multiple Halloween parades. I know how tricky it is to get everyone where they need to be on a "normal" day, and even though Grandma was there, I didn't want it to be too chaotic for her.

I kind of felt like a single mom without Matt by my side, but I absolutely loved every minute of my time with Luke in the hospital. The nurses brought me everything I needed, and I didn't exactly need help with nursing or taking care of Luke. In fact, they were some of the most relaxing nights I've had in a long time! I stared at him while he slept, took pictures and napped. If a new nurse wandered in and started to feel sorry for me being on my own, I was quick to show them a picture of the gaggle of girls at home that I was escaping ;) Then they felt sorry for Luke instead!

Just look at those little feet! I tried to appreciate the alone time I got with him, knowing chaos would ensue the moment we returned home.

Actually, we didn't need to wait until we got home for that! The girls came by for a visit with Grandma after school on Wednesday, and boy were they excited to get another peek at Luke. I just love these pictures of him surrounded by such adoring sisters.

Of course, they all wanted to hold him. They also all wanted to play with the privacy curtains, use the bathroom, wash their hands, roll around on the ground, play on the furniture, ask the nurses for juice and ice cream...I could go on. We just got pictures of the sweet stuff though :)

I hope they always remember that day. They had all enjoyed Halloween festivities at school (and face painting for Tessa!), and told anyone that would listen about their new baby brother! For them to be able to see him again was just so exciting :) Even Mary was beside herself. She looks a little sad in the picture above, but she just desperately wanted to hold Luke. All was right again in the world after this, though. Grandma was making them tacos for dinner. A new baby brother and tacos on the very same night?! What could be better than that?

When they left that afternoon, I think Luke and I both breathed a little sigh of relief that we had one more night of calm before the storm!

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 :)

Today

This is officially a miracle to be blogging in real time. I am currently in another reality as I sit at home with just one little baby who is very sleepy. I'm home until 3 o'clock in this quiet house while Matt is at work, the big girls are at school and the little girls are on an extended vacation with Mop and Pop. I really don't know what to do with myself!

These three little girls were beyond excited to travel to Arnold with Mop and Pop just two days after Luke came home. They'll be gone for a week, and they are showing no signs of homesickness in this picture, or in the Skype sessions we've had since they left. Even Mary barely looked our direction as the car pulled away from the curb!

They're soaking up extra attention and we're enjoying a quieter, less chaotic house this week while Luke (and I) get used to being home. It's such a luxury to be able to make this transition so peacefully. The running around with this little guy will begin soon enough, but I'm really trying to enjoy these first days as much as possible. Luke is such a lucky sixth baby to still have some semblance of peace in his first few days home. Today reminds me of the days after bringing Megan home from the hospital, and to experience that again is just amazing!! There's nothing better than being able to relive those first time mom feelings, and to appreciate it all that much more knowing how fleeting this time is. Now excuse me while I behave exactly like a first time mom and post a bunch of pictures that are all extremely similar!

Adding to my new mom nostalgia is the fact that little Luke looks a lot like Megan as a newborn!

Enough already with the pictures!

I am just in love with this sweet little guy. He's incredibly mellow during the day, and does okay at night despite wanting to nurse pretty frequently. He also seems to prefer our arms over his bed, which makes for an exhausted daddy who has been walking around the house with him in the wee hours of the morning to keep him asleep. I think Luke might need those sisters of his to come back to town and remind him that he really is the sixth baby in our family ;) He's getting a little spoiled right now!

In other news, there's nothing quite like dealing with a backed up sewage line when you have a four-day-old baby in the house. We experienced our first plumbing issue two nights ago when I pulled back our shower curtain to take a desperately needed shower and found two inches of standing water! Needless to say, I did not get my shower for another 24 hours while we called a plumber, paid for a root rat and learned far more than we wanted to know about our pipes and the tree roots that have invaded them. But, we're thankful to have it fixed for now and to pretend like we don't know there are more problems lurking beneath our garage and driveway for us to deal with at a later date. Life is never dull here!

Little Luke is stirring now, and this first time sixth-time mom is off to forget about plumbing problems, dishes or laundry and just snuggle my itty-bitty baby boy!