The Lucas Family: Luke Matthew Lucas

I'm so excited to introduce our SON, Luke Matthew Lucas. Luke was born on Wednesday, February 17 at 11:49AM. He was 9lbs, 1oz and 21.5 inches long. We are so in love with our little guy.

Last Tuesday morning, I had a doctors appointment. My doctor had been saying for a week that I was very, very close to having the baby. Based on the ultrasound the week before, they knew that the baby was on the bigger side. I went home and continued to work throughout the day. I had been feeling contractions on and off for about 5-6 days and that was the case throughout the day on Tuesday too. Around 2PM, the contractions started becoming more frequent and more painful. Around 4PM, I called George and told him that I thought that I was showing signs of labor and asked him to come home from work. I had my mom pick up Madeline from the babysitter's house. Once George got home at 4:30, we got everything in the car. At that point, the contractions were 6-7 minutes apart. The rest of the family went out to dinner with my Aunt Lesley, Sarah, and DJ who were visiting from Syracuse. I really wanted to join them, but we decided against it because the contractions were getting more frequent and more painful. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then headed to the hospital.

When we arrived, they started to monitor the contractions and admitted me right away. It was about 7PM or so when we got to the Labor and Delivery room. After a little bit more monitoring, we got up and did some walking around the hospital. I wasn't progressing very quickly so after 2-3 hours of being there, we decided that it would be wise to get some sleep before the labor picked up more. Around 7-8AM my water broke. Shortly afterward, I got an epidural and my doctor put me on pitocin to help things progress. After a couple of hours on pitocin, my doctor came back in and said that I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes (much less pushing than Madeline) and at 11:49AM, Luke was born! George got to announce to me, "it's a boy!" since we didn't find out the gender during my pregnancy. It was the best surprise ever.

As soon as he was born, they handed him to me. It is so surreal to hold your baby for the first time. I don't have words to express that feeling. We immediately noticed that he has the same mouth, lips, and chin as Madeline and George. He has dark hair, but not a ton of hair like Madeline did. He also has big hands, long fingers, and big feet. He is a big guy, but he still feels so little! After a few minutes of snuggling with him, they took him to get weighed, measured, and checked out. He was having some difficulty breathing so pretty immediately they had to take him to the nursery for some further monitoring. George went with Luke, but I had to wait in the Labor and Delivery room since I was still numb and on an IV. After a couple of hours, he was doing just fine and got to join us back in the recovery room.

Just like with Madeline, I had a great experience delivering Luke. I'm so thankful for great nurses, my doctor, and of course George, who was right there with the nurse and doctor instructing and encouraging me during the pushing! They all helped me feel comfortable and calm through the process.

I know that a lot of people are anxious to get out of the hospital after delivering a baby, but I actually enjoy that time. I mean, what's not to like? They take care of you, feed you, help with your baby... :) It's also fun to have all of the visitors come to meet the baby.

Madeline came to the hospital immediately after Luke was born, but she wasn't able to see him right away because he was still in the nursery. My mom and grandma brought her back later that night again. The first thing she said when she came into the room was "I want to pet the baby!" When George brought her over to Luke, she sort of got scared and decided that she wanted to keep her distance. I think the strange environment and newness of everything, freaked her out a little bit. She came back again on Thursday and seemed interested in "baby Luke" but again wanted to keep her distance. On Thursday night, George slept at home with Madeline to get her back into her normal surroundings before Luke and I came home. After Luke and I got home on Friday, George picked up Madeline from the babysitter's house and brought her home. We had Luke sitting in his bouncer and just let her kind of warm up to him. After a couple of hours, she asked to hold Luke. After that, she was all about him. It was so sweet to see her cuddle with him, pat his back, and give him a kiss.

We have been home for about a week now and things are going surprisingly very smooth. Luke is a very good baby. He eats, sleeps, and eats some more. There are definitely some challenging moments, like when Madeline wants me to do something with her while I am feeding Luke, but overall we are all adjusting well to the changes.

OK, now it's time to bombard you all with pictures!

Here are a couple of pictures from the first hour after he was born...

Luke shortly after he got back to our room...

Attempting to take our first family picture :)

Aunt Marie, Luke, and I...

Madeline gave Luke a baby bunny (a miniature version of her bunny)...

Mommy and Luke (he loves to snuggle!)...

Madeline as a newborn on top, Luke and a newborn on bottom....

My dad with his second grandson...

Ready to go home....

Our first picture after getting home...

Madeline holding Luke for the first time :) :)

Now she asks to hold Luke all the time :)

While George was off for the week, we tried to do a few fun activities with Madeline. On Monday after Luke's doctors appointment, we went to McCormick Train Park in Scottsdale. She was beyond excited to ride the carousel and train with daddy!!