The labor and delivery went really well too! I started having contractions Sunday morning early, like around 1 am, and I couldn't sleep through them, so I went to the living room for the night and had a Secret Circle marathon :) We decided to go to church even though the contractions were getting pretty bad, we thought we would at least go to sacrament meeting. My contractions were about every 5-6 min apart during the meeting, but I thought I could keep going. Even though every time I stood up I felt a little trickle of something (I guess when your water breaks, I expected a huge gush, and not a slow leak...whoops..) Well, I could hardly even stand to stay sitting during Sunday school because the contractions were getting so painful, so after it was over, we grabbed Marlee from nursery and headed home to call my midwife. She told me to wait to go to the hospital until my contractions were 4 minutes apart since we live so close. So I waited...at one point they were coming every 4 minutes at a minute long and they were that way for an hour, and we were just about to go and then they started coming at 6-7 minutes apart. SO frustrating. We waited a couple more hours and finally decided that we needed to have our friend come get Marlee for the night, because I didn't want to have to wake her up in the middle of the night. By the time he came and got her, I was SO ready to make my way to the hospital. I seriously don't know how people do natural childbirth. My midwife text me to see how i was doing, and i told her I was going in :) On the way there I was so nervous that they were going to tell me that it was false labor and send me home, but when i got there i was 4-5 cm dilated and the test to see if my water had broken came back positive! I was so excited! I couldn't believe that we were going to be meeting our little boy soon! I then got an epidural at 6 cm and just like when I had Marlee, it only numbed me on my right side, so i got another one a little later and it did the trick! I was SO tired from not sleeping the night before, so i slept a lot after the epidural started working all the way. at about 3 in the morning, I started feeling a lot of pressure, and i knew that it was time to push! The delivery was such a better experience this time around than Marlee's was. It was very calm. I didn't have my feet in stirrups. I just pushed lying there on the bed. For the most part, I could feel when I had to push, and I would just look at my midwife and she would kinda nod her head, and I would push. I was very much in control, and it was so nice. I pushed for about 25 minutes and he was here!! Another thing I liked was that they let him lie on my chest for a long time before they cut his umbilical cord, and before they took him to check him out. After a quick minute of making sure he was all healthy, they handed him back to us and everyone left the room. Alax and I got to love on our sweet boy, and I got to nurse him and it was so nice having just the two of us in the room. All in all, it was a really great experience, and we are so happy to have Luke join our little family :) He is such a sweet baby. He eats a LOT and is gaining weight like a champ. I have a feeling he's gonna be a little chunk! :) He wakes up 2-3 times in the night, and is just so sweet during the day :) He loves being in his car seat and having his hair washed. He smiles a lot in his sleep and he has dimples!! I am so excited to see them better as he gets older. At his 2 week appointment he weighed 8lbs 4oz!! He was discharged from the hospital weighing 7lbs 4oz...seriously, 1 pound in two weeks!! We are just loving him so much, and Marlee loves to help with everything. She's such a great big sister, even if it drives me crazy sometimes :) She gets so concerned every time he cries, and loves to help with diaper changes. I keep saying it, but it's hard to believe that I have two kids!!
brand new
snuggling in the hospital. Trying to get a shot of his hair :)
Coming home
Marlee meeting Luke for the first time
2 weeks old, and has the best smiles :)