thirty...

Yesterday I turned the big 3-0. There's something about reaching a new decade...but I have been very blessed in my thirty years. Just look at my beautiful family. :)

Our first two weeks as a Family of Four

Stu's company offers two weeks of paternity leave, so Stu spent our first week with Luke home with us. He was a tremendous help keeping the house orderly and Eliana entertained. But after a week of playing ponies, Lincoln logs, and healing sick stuffed animals, Stu was ready to go back to work! I'm hoping he'll take the other week sometime soon. :)
This past week, Stu's dad came to visit from Missouri. He was also a lot of help with Eliana. She takes much more energy than Luke! We had a really nice visit with Grandpa and definitely appreciate him making the long trip to see us!

Luke's been a relatively easy baby so far. He cries for specific reasons, and then stops crying when the need is met! That's nice. He had his days and nights flipped for the first week or so, but that's been getting much better. Eliana loves being a big sister and has been very good with him.

Two Weeks Old! (Yesterday)

Luke's Birth

I wanted to post about Luke's birthday, for those of you who are interested. It was such an amazing experience, and so vastly different from my labor and delivery with Eliana.

A contraction woke me up Saturday morning around 7:45 and right away they were about 2-3 minutes apart. I didn't really think much of that, because the same thing happened when I went into labor with Eliana, and that ended up being 6 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing. So this time around, I didn't count on any urgency. I went downstairs with Eliana, who had woken up when she heard me moving around, and made her breakfast and called my doctor. I woke Stu up around 8:30 and told him he should probably get up and take a shower. His sleepy, "why?" quickly changed to wide awake "mission mode" when he saw my face. When he was done and could watch Eliana, call our moms, and finish packing last minute things, I took a shower. Silly me- contractions still 2 minutes apart, but each lasting longer, and I'm taking my time, like I've got all day! I really did think I had all day. :)

My mom arrived around 9:30 to watch Eliana, and we left for the hospital, conveniently two blocks away (I really wanted to walk there, but Stu wouldn't let me. This was a wise choice, in hindsight!). From where we parked our car to getting upstairs to the labor and delivery wing, I had to stop and work through contractions about 5 or 6 times. After checking in (why did I do pre-admission paperwork months earlier if they're still going to have me stand there filling out paperwork with the same questions while having contractions?! Does it matter how tall it am?!), getting settled in the room, hooked up to all the monitors, IV-ed (UGGH!), it was about 10:30. The nurse asked me if I was planning on getting an epidural, which I was hoping to avoid, but wanted to see how things went. I really wanted to be able to labor standing up, which was much more comfortable for me than laying down. So we put off the epidural decision, and they finally checked me, and I was already 9 centimeters! I couldn't believe it! The nurses couldn't believe it either. It was kinda funny. My doctor was on call, so they hurriedly made sure she was on the way. Around 10:45 the doctor came in and after about 4 pushes, Luke Michael made his grand entrance into the world! He was born at 10:59. No time for an epidural, which I am very thankful for because it was so nice to be fully alert and able to experience, and remember, the whole thing. It was truly an amazing experience!

This picture was taken just after he was born, and I think you can read the awe and amazement in my face! I couldn't believe what had just happened! I had never considered that it could all be done and the baby here in just 3 hours! Praise God!

Introducing Luke Michael!

Born after just three hours of labor (it really was quite amazing), Saturday February 21, 2009 at 10:59am, weighing in at 8 lbs 10 oz, 21 inches long...Luke Michael Perkins!

Eliana is one happy big sister!

We're doing well!

More to come later, when I don't have a baby in my arms, making it hard to type. :)

My little Helper

The other day, Eliana insisted I let her vacuum! This vacuum, which my parents got me for Christmas, is much quieter (so Eliana's not afraid of it!) and easier to maneuver than my old upright that hardly sucked up anything. I actually don't mind vacuuming anymore myself, but I'm still happy to relinquish the chore to Eliana! It'll be great when she really can have this responsibility. I'm all for assigning chores as soon as possible! ;) I'm also looking forward to seeing what a big helper she'll be with her baby brother (who's due date is tomorrow!).

No sign of baby yet...

I measured 36 weeks yesterday at my doctor's appointment instead of 39 weeks, which concerned the doctor, so she had me come back later in the afternoon for an ultrasound. The doctor wanted to make sure that the baby hadn't stopped growing or that I was losing fluids. If so, they'd induce. Thankfully, baby's fine and they say he currently weighs 7lbs 13oz. He's already bigger than Eliana was, born 9 days late weighing 6lbs 8oz. He's pretty squished in there, so it was hard to get a good ultra sound picture, but here he is with his hand in front of his face and apparently a full head of hair...