Wednesday May 23rd was the day our little guy decided to enter the world. He was born at 6:11pm weighing 10 lbs 6 oz and measured 22 inches long. He is so little, but so big at the same time. He is adorable with dark hair, eyes yet to be determined, and a thick chest! I love that like all our kids he was born with very kissable cheeks and came out of the womb with rolls (as you can see in the hospital pictures throughout this post).
Luke is a great baby so far and very content. The plus side of having a 10 lb 6 oz baby is they come out pretty good at sleeping. He smiles in his sleep all the time, and is a great snuggler. What a sweetheart!
I had been feeling pretty much wiped the last few weeks of pregnancy and had been having lots of false contractions. Tuesday night I had a contraction that was undoubtedly the real deal, but went to bed concocting the story and perfecting the angles I was going give my OB at my appointment on Thursday about why they should induce me, and then had a pretty good night's sleep for being 38 weeks pregnant. I woke up Wednesday morning the day of Kate's preschool graduation with those same good contractions and they kept coming. As we were getting the girls ready, curling Kate's hair, eating breakfast, the contractions were getting closer. At 8:30 I told Brian that this might be it, and he should put the bags in the car. I proceeded to clean up breakfast and took Megan to Ace Hardware to purchase hanging baskets for the teacher's gifts as I had previously planned. Easier to do during the early stages of labor I figured than with the newborn. Megan was too cute riding the horsey carousel and chatting up the cashiers. We then went to Kate's beautiful graduation where our little girl sang so well and crossed the bridge to her 4 year old class. What a special morning that I am so happy Luke let me see.
Brian and I then dropped the girls with my Mom, sister, and sister-in-law and decided to head to the hospital where my contractions slowed and I almost thought I was going to get sent home. The Dr. examined me at 12:30 to just check and I was dilated to 5 so she declared me " a keeper". They got my IV going, broke my water, and ordered my epidural right away. They emptied my bladder soon after and told me to just relax and it would probably go around 1 cm an hour from there. I was resting for just a little while and felt a lot of low pressure like I should be pushing so I called the nurse in and it turned out I was dialed to 9 and 3/4 and it was time to push. It wasn't easy work getting Luke out, but he was born at 6:11 and the Dr. declared him a Big Boy! He is amazing and doing well. We all love him to pieces, Kate and Megan included. Kate loves to hold him and Megan shares all her toys with him. I have the three most precious kids in the whole world!
There have been some interesting moments as we have brought Luke home. Like the first afternoon when we brought Luke home, got everything settled, and were lying down for a rest. Kate comes into our room and says, "Excuse me, Mommy, Daddy there is a chipmunk in our house." Brian and I sprang up, thinking, "Really, no way, impossible." She points down to our living room and sure enough there by the love seat is a little chipmunk. Brian goes down stairs and after a bit of chasing successfully gets the chipmunk out the front door. The commotion wakes Megan up from her nap who I notice now has one of her eyes swollen practically shut. So after the chipmunk leaves, Brian and Megan immediately leave for the pediatrician where it turns out she got a mosquito bite on her eyebrow that had a bad reaction. Just a little excitement for one afternoon. Other than that we have had some jaundice issues for our Luke who is now on a billy blanket, and Megan has a pretty good cold that turned into an ear infection that requires upping her breathing treatments. Thankfully my family is nearby and helping TONS! I don't know what I would do without them.
Earlier in the weekend, I had visions of dressing the kids in matching outfits and taking my new family of five to the Memorial day parade in town, but something I've learned by the third time around is that even the best laid plans don't always work with kids. Hopefully, everyone will feel better soon, Luke will be off his billy blanket, and we will all be able to savor the incredibly blessed feeling of being a new little family of 5!
We LOVE you Luke Kendall!
