We had so many visitors in the hospital. Luke was highly anticipated and Tommy and I are so blessed with lots of friends and family, people couldn't wait to get their hands on him! My Mom (who will be called Grandma), Aunt Bonnie, and Sarah were there waiting when he was born.

She's in love :)

My other sister, Carrie

My Grandma

Tommy's best friend Jason

me with my naked baby in my shirt... a suggestion from the lactation consultant. We haven't tried this one again since.

~*Luke*~

Brand new

Baby Feet!

Our First Family Photo

Proud Daddy

11 days into Luke's life and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it! The days since he was born have all blurred together, flown, and dragged all at the same time. So much has changed in less than two weeks, it's absolutely unbelievable! So, here's the story of Luke's first day:
After spending Tuesday night in the hospital on cervidil, I woke up Wednesday morning still 2 cm dilated and ready to be induced. At 9:00 they started the Pitocin and contractions started coming on very soon after that. Because I was only 2 cm dilated everyone was anticipating a long labor. We were all shocked when my water broke around 10:00 and contractions became very intense. I was fully dilated very quickly and Luke was on his way! After I started pushing Dr. Davis became very concerned because every time I pushed Luke's heartbeat dropped dramatically. He let me push through a few contractions, but after it consistently dropped he finally decided Luke needed to come out immediately and I was wheeled in for a c-section. Dr. Davis had him out in the same minute he made the incision (Luke threw his arm up in the air as soon as the cut was made to let them know where he was :) ) and the cord was wrapped around his neck, explaining the drop in heart rate. Luckily Dr. Davis had made the right decision when it needed to be made, and he was perfectly fine and cried to let us know he was okay. He was 6 lbs, 12.6 oz and 21" long. He's a miniature Tommy. The resemblance is especially clear when his eyes are open. I think he might have my lips and chin, but from the top of the head to the nose he's his daddy all the way.

Here We Go!

Just got back from the doctors. I'm heading into the hospital in about an hour for Cervidil overnight. Tomorrow morning they're going to start me on Pitocin and hopefully sometime tomorrow there will be a new member of our family. I'm pretty nervous, I was really hoping to avoid being induced but they think it's best to get him out as soon as possible with the excess fluid around him and my blood pressure which was up today. Stay tuned for Luke's debut into the blog world very soon!

*Sigh*

Well, due date has come and gone. Obviously not all babies are born on or before their due date, but after answering the question "when are you due??" 1,000 times during pregnancy, that date just starts to stick out in your head as THE day. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon where they may or may not strip my membranes depending on what's going on down there. If not, she said we'll schedule a date for induction. I would really rather wait and go naturally than be induced, but I'm starting to worry about my boy being a big chunker, plus I watched the show "Babies: Special Delivery" on the Discovery Channel yesterday and this doctor got me really freaked out about going over my due date and the complications that can come along with it. I had two horrendous nightmares last night, both having to do with Luke. I very rarely have scary dreams, so I'm really hoping he comes out soon because I think this is definitely starting to affect me psychologically! I'm planning to run to Best Buy this morning to exchange the new camcorder we got because another brand got much better reviews for the same price and I don't want to be stuck with a piece of junk. Tommy advised against it, he's convinced I'm going to end up delivering our child in some public restroom or something if I leave the house :) So wish me luck and say a little prayer please!

I'm Back!

I had an ultrasound Monday night to check my fluid levels because the doctor's concerned about me having some extra fluid. Then, I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and my blood pressure was very normal for the second week in a row, and the results from the ultrasound looked good, so she told me I could come off bed rest! Hopefully a little bit of exercise will speed Luke's arrival up. I'm not doing too much because I get tired really easily. But, I did come into work today.... I haven't done much, just catching up on the blogs and e-mail and bills and stuff. Nine days until my due date and Luke shows no signs of coming. I'm glad to be out of the house, but I wish I was in my pool right now! It's such a beautiful day.

Picture from my sonogram on Monday. Isn't our boy a cutie already??

me last week- 37 weeks

Update

Thanks for all your concern!! I don't have internet at my house, so when I last updated I had gone down the street to my cousin's and when I got back I didn't feel well and my blood pressure had gone up really high, so I decided to not do that anymore. I've been checking my email on my cell and saw that people had left comments and emails wanting updates, so I dragged out my dusty six year old laptop that I thought was pretty much dead, hooked it up to my phone line, and am currently blogging away on dial up. Shew! Do you guys remember dial up days? Sooooo slow! Unfortunately my connection is too slow to read everyone's blogs, so I'm so far behind!! Okay, so as for bedrest and blood pressure: Everything is going well. The bedrest seems to be working keeping my blood pressure down to a reasonable level. My bottom number lingers around 90 most of the time, which is high but definitely nothing to be too concerned about. As long as I stay on bedrest, hopefully my blood pressure will stay in that region, and I'll get ostay out of the hospital and Luke will come naturally. My doctor says that they won't induce unless things get really bad. I've been doing alot of reading and have some "tv on dvd" seasons to keep me occupied, plus I can float in my pool so that keeps my spirits up- getting out in the sun and getting some fresh air and a little color on my skin. I've also been kind of mapping out how I want to do Luke's scrapbook, and coming up with page ideas. So, I'm 36 1/2 weeks now, 3 1/2 more weeks at the most to go! My mom has been so wonderful. She comes and cooks a couple days a week and keeps me company. Tommy has been awesome, too. I just can't wait to meet this litle trouble maker!! His heartbeat sounds good, he's still moving all the time, and I believe he's perfectly healthy. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get faster internet installed ASAP, so hopefully by next week I'll be fully connected.
Oh! One more crazy thing! I know I blogged before about the three baby girls on my street... turns out there's one more!! Another house across the street from me is getting ready to have a baby girl!! 5 out of 7 houses all within maybe 200-300 yards of each other either pregnant or with brand new infants. I can't get over it! I'm thinking about dropping notes in their mailboxes just sharing my information, asking for theirs, and asking if they mind if I share it with everyone else so that if anyone needs anything or wants to take a walk or get together to play we can hook up. Everyone around here is pretty private, but I just can't imagine 5 new mommies so close together being complete strangers.
Hope you're all having a great summer! Have a good weekend!

Minor Setback

At my doctor's appointment last Thursday my blood pressure was up again, for the second week in a row, so the nurse practitioner who I was seeing decided to send me over to the hospital for what was supposed to be 4-5 hours of blood pressure monitoring. 48 hours later, I was released from the hospital on strict bedrest until the end of my pregnancy! So, the past week has been an interesting one. My blood pressure went down while in the hospital and has stayed at a reasonable number since I've been on bedrest. My discharge orders from my doctor at the hospital were bathroom and shower only. The rest of the time I should be laying down. But, at my follow up appointment this past Tuesday, the nurse practitioner gave me slightly more lenient rules. So, I'm confused now and trying to stay somewhere in the middle of the two instructions, but definitely more on the safe side, because I want to keep Luke in here and safe as long as possible. I've had lots of visitors and lots of good meals cooked for me and Tommy, and Tommy has been absolutely wonderful. So, everyone, please keep Luke in your prayers and hope that he stays cooking at least until 37 weeks! My next appointment is Wednesday the 15th, so I'll try to get on and update again.