Luke is here!

We have our son! Luke Corley Blackburn was born on Saturday November 21st at 11:28 am! My due date came and went, after I was so sure he’d be here early! Poor Joe was so nervous about being at work and not being able to get home in time, he took Thursday and Friday off work. We spent the days getting out so I could walk. Thursday night Virginia stayed home with Cindy so Joe and I could go to Wing Dome for dinner. I thought eating spicy chicken would start something! It didn’t work, but Joe and I got to have a dinner out so it was still nice!

Friday I still felt normal, but by Friday evening I was feeling occasional contractions. I woke up at 5 Saturday morning and heard Cindy and Virginia waking up, but felt a contraction. I stayed in bed for a while and started timing the contractions, and by 6 they were pretty consistent. It felt like it did in the beginning with Virginia, so I knew I was in labor finally! I woke up Joe and told him we should get ready. We took showers, and I ate some toast and called the maternity center to let them know I’d be on my way!

We said goodbye to Virginia, and told her we were going to have baby Luke and that we would see her soon. She didn’t really understand and got a little sad, but Cindy distracted her and we took off. We were on our way to the hospital at 7:45, and I called Callie on the way to spread the news to my parents.

I checked in at the hospital, and the guy at the desk was a little surprised that we had brought all of our stuff in with us. I told him this was my second baby and that I knew it was go time! We went back to a triage room with our nurse, and she got me hooked up to a contraction machine and checked me. I was already 6-7 centimeters! That was reassuring! She said she’d go find us a room and off we went! Luckily it was a short walk, because by this point I was getting uncomfortable.

Our room was pretty big, and our nurse was super nice. She was impressed with how well I was handling the pain, especially considering how far into labor I was. When I was in labor with Virginia, Joe looked a little nervous the whole time, but this time around he was a total pro! He was totally calm, kept reassuring me about how great I was doing, and massaged my back during contractions which helped the pain a ton.  Since I was doing well, my nurse let me just have a hep lock, which meant I wasn’t hooked up to an IV the whole time. She also did intermittent monitoring of the baby, so for most of the time I was contracting I wasn’t hooked up to anything at all. It was nice to be able to roll around to try and stay comfortable.

By 10:30 the contractions were pretty much constant, and I was starting to get really uncomfortable. I got out of bed and leaned over on a yoga ball, which helped a little. The nurse checked me, and I was past 9 centimeters! I’d made it through transition without asking for any drugs! I was definitely feeling the pain but was handling it. Since I was so close to pushing, they called the on call doctor to come break my water. I was a little bummed that Dr. Shockett wasn’t there, but I wasn’t really worried about it. The on call doctor was very nice, and very impressed with how well I was doing when she came to break my water. Once that was done, the contractions were ten times more painful. There was also a bit of meconium in the water, so the doctor told me some people from the NICU would be there when I delivered to make sure the baby hadn’t swallowed any of it. That made me a little nervous, but I knew it was pretty common. I got out of the bed to lean on the yoga ball, but my water kept gushing down my leg and it was grossing me out. I got back in bed and just hoped it would be time to push soon!

I was in so much pain, I couldn’t really feel any need to push. The contractions kept on coming, and the nurse told me to push when I felt contractions to get the baby to move further down. I tried my best, but didn’t really think I was doing anything. Finally at 11 the doctor came back, and got all suited up. I was laying in the bed and they were having me hold my legs and push, but I was so uncomfortable and felt like I wasn’t doing anything. I was holding my breath while I was pushing, which is not what you are supposed to do, and I got so light headed I thought I was going to pass out! They had to give me oxygen for a minute and hooked up my IV to fluids.

I finally caught my breathe and pushed when they told me, and after about three good pushes the doctor asked me if I wanted to feel his head! I kind of yelled no and kept on pushing. All of a sudden he was out and on my chest! I’m pretty sure I just said, “He’s here!” He cried right away, so the NICU people got to leave. The hospital has a policy that if the baby is healthy that mom and baby do an hour of skin to skin, which I was happy to do! Luke just got to lay on my chest, which was a great distraction for me while the doctor finished delivering the placenta. I had a small tear that needed to be stitched, but it wasn’t as bad as with Virginia.

Luke had a ton of dark hair, more than I was expecting, and dark blue eyes. He was totally alert, and looked completely perfect! Even the doctor said he had a very nice round head. Haha. Joe and I just stared at him, and I was so thankful that he was okay and that he got to stay with me! After a few minutes, the nurse suggested I try and get him to nurse, and he took to it right away! He also pooped right on me, but I wasn’t too worried about that considering I was covered in sweat and already felt pretty gross. After the hour was up, the nurse weighed him and we found out he was 7 pounds 5 ounces (which was exactly what I had guessed!) and 19.5 inches long. Joe got to help wash his hair a bit and put on his diaper, and then he got to hold him.

We started making all the phone calls, and taking pictures. I felt really good as soon as Luke was out, and ordered some food because it happened to be lunch time. The nurse helped me take a quick shower, and I got dressed in normal clothes. Joe went to go pick up Cindy and Virginia, and I got to hang out with Luke in our room. I was so excited for Virginia to meet Luke, but a little nervous about how she would react. I had Luke bundled up in the bassinet, and I was sitting up in bed when I heard them coming to the room. Virginia came in with a balloon attached to her big sister sweatshirt, and she ran right up to me. Luckily Cindy recorded the whole thing, so we can watch it when the kids are older! She was so excited, and Joe put her up on the bed with me so she could stand up and see Luke. She knew exactly who he was, and was very happy!

She wanted to give me some hugs, and we opened her big sister presents that I had ready for her. Then we let her sit on the couch and Joe helped her hold Luke. She was so sweet and gentle, saying that he was so cute, and kissing his head! I wanted to cry, I was so proud of her! They stayed for an hour or so, and then Joe took them home. Virginia did not want to leave me, but we told her we’d be home in the morning with her brother.

When Joe got back we ordered Jimmy Johns for dinner (the hospital food was pretty bland) and just hung out with our new baby! The hospital didn’t offer a nursery, and I don’t think we would have sent him away even if they had one! He was such a calm baby, he didn’t really cry and only fussed when he was hungry! Our night nurse was really good about coming in to check on us at the same time that I would be up to nurse Luke, so I got a little bit of sleep. In the morning we had breakfast delivered, and the pediatrician came by to check out Luke around 9. I got checked out by the on call doctor, and someone came to give Luke a hearing test that he passed right away. We were all doing great, so we were allowed to leave around 10:30! Joe and I were really happy with how efficient and friendly everyone we met at the hospital was! The hospital Virginia was born at was nice, but Evergreen was really awesome.

We packed up and were on our way home before we knew it! We stopped for donuts and got home to a very happy little girl! She had really missed us, but Cindy took great care of her. I’ll do another post about our first week home, because this is crazy long and took me a few days to write! Having two babies is a full time job! Ha.

 

 

 

It’s my due date!

I am 40 weeks today, and still very pregnant! Virginia was an early bird like me, it looks like baby boy is going to take after his dad and be more relaxed! Cindy flew in on Saturday, Virginia has been so happy to have her here! We spent Saturday afternoon hanging out at the house, Virginia was way too excited to nap. Sunday we went out and did some shopping, and found Virginia a little plastic tea party set. She had been asking to have a tea party with Mimi for weeks, so she had to have one! We had lunch in Bellevue by Joe’s office, and had a lazy afternoon.

On Monday we went to the Seattle Aquarium with Amy, Heather, Denae, and Monica (and their kids of course!) I wanted to walk as much as possible, and keep Virginia on a typical routine of getting to see her friends! She had a blast seeing all the fishies!  We had lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf before heading home. On Tuesday we went to our usual bouncy house play date, and then met one of Cindy’s friends from high school who lives in Redmond for lunch. Virginia was so sweet at lunch, I was so proud of how well behaved she was!

Today is my actual due date, and I am so ready to meet this little boy! I am nervous about how Virginia will react to having to share the attention, but she is so sweet that I think she will really love being a big sister. Virginia and I went to Amy’s house to play with a few other moms and kids this morning, while Cindy had some time to herself at the house. I had my 40 week check up (something I didn’t have with Virginia!) and found out I am 4 centimeters and could go into labor at any time. I am so happy that I am already almost halfway dilated, but I haven’t felt any contractions so far! I ate a ton of pineapple earlier, and have been staying active to try and bring on labor! Joe is at work texting me for updates. We are all ready for this baby to be born!

Since Cindy has arrived, I feel like Virginia has grown up so much! She just looks like such a big kid, and she is so clever! Cindy seems to be impressed with how well she speaks, and how independent she is! I can’t wait to see how baby boy’s personality/looks compare to Virginia!

Final countdown to D-day!

Halloween flew by! For Virginia’s third Halloween, she was a UT cheerleader!  She was adorable. We went to a retirement home in Kirkland the morning of the 30th with the mom’s club. All the kids looked so cute, and the elderly people were so happy to see them! Virginia got a good bit of candy, and was really good at only taking one piece and saying thank you! That night Bungie had a Halloween party for families. They had a bouncy house, a face painter, balloon animals, lots of candy, pizza. We were waiting in line for something, and there was a family in front of us with three kids. Joe didn’t know the guy, but his wife asked how far along I was. When I told her I was due in about 19 days she was so surprised, she thought I was about six months along! That was pretty flattering!

At my 38 week appointment last Monday we had an ultrasound, so Joe and Virginia came along. It was so neat to see the baby on the ultrasound, we could see him blinking, moving his hands, and rolling around. The tech was able to tell us that he is definitely still a boy, and that he has hair! Dr. Schockett said I look great, and that baby boy is head down and ready to go at any time! Luckily I was only dilated to about two centimeters, not too alarming. Joe had the day off work because they were reorganizing the office, so we had a nice lazy day. I’m trying to enjoy our time as a family of three before we become four!

This past weekend we took Virginia to the Seattle Children’s Museum on Saturday. The place was kind of packed, but we had a good time! Virginia is so sweet around other kids, she waits her turn and doesn’t take things from other kids! Sunday night we had a nanny come watch Virginia. Joe and I went to an Italian restaurant (not kid friendly) for dinner and saw Spectre, the new James Bond movie. It was pretty nice to have a night off together! Virginia has become very verbal, and very opinionated, which can be frustrating but also super cute. Getting a little break with Joe was much needed!

Aside from all that, we’ve had some health things to deal with! Joe had some patchy irritated skin on one of his sideburns that he finally went to a dermatologist to get checked out (after way too much time ignoring it), and it turned out to be skin cancer. Luckily it wasn’t melanoma, it was a basal cell carcinoma that he had to put a cream on for four weeks to treat. He just finished the cream last week and his skin is healing now. About two weeks ago Virginia and I were at a play date and one of her friends (a little girl that is almost a year older than Virginia, and notoriously rough) pulled her elbow out of the socket! At first I wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, because she didn’t have any marks on her arm and couldn’t tell me what happened. She was just crying and holding her arm funny. After we got home and she still wasn’t moving her arm well, I took her to her pediatrician. She had what is called a nursemaid’s elbow, and the doctor had to pop her elbow back in place! It took three different tries, and I had to hold Virginia while she did it. It was horrible, and we both cried. Apparently it is a common injury in toddlers, but it is usually caused when a parent picks a toddler up by their arm too hard. Pretty crazy that an almost three year old was able to do it, she must have pulled Virginia so hard! Now when we are around that girl I watch them like a hawk! I won’t let Virginia get hurt like that again.

Tomorrow I have my 39 week check up! Hopefully I haven’t made too much progress dilating, baby boy has to stay put until at least Saturday! I am so excited to see what he looks like, and to see how Virginia is as a big sister! It will be fun having Cindy here to help entertain Virginia, I can’t wait for her to see how smart Virginia is! I can’t believe we are so close to meeting our son! He could be here in less than ten days!