On Saturday, April 8th at 5:33am we welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby boy into the world - Luke James Noble!
Friday night, April 7th after the kids went to bed, Andrew was suuuper excited that I agreed to watch some of "The Force Awakens." Throughout the movie, they are talking about a map that leads to the secret location on Luke Skywalker - foreshadowing much?! We watched about an hour and went to bed around 11.
Right as we were going to bed, I started having a few contractions. Nothing out of the ordinary, because I had been having contractions off and on throughout the day for months. I felt a few, felt the baby doing a ton of moving around, and fell asleep. Around 1am I woke up and the contractions were still there and very consistent. At this point, I am thinking it could be go time. I went downstairs and downloaded a contraction app so that I could time them - which was pretty pointless because they were coming pretty much right on top of each other. They were fairly strong, but the intensity wasn't really picking up - yet. For some reason, I was trying to talk myself out of this being the real deal. Maybe it's because the past 2 times I was told I wasn't contracting when I got to the hospital (though I was) or because it was 2am and I didn't want to wake up my doc it this was a false alarm...I don't know. But just before 2, I decide it's time to wake Andrew and tell him what's going on. I then called Dr. Bush who said that at my exam earlier in the day I was "pretty ripe" and instructed me to head to the hospital. So, called P, calmed her down, and then waited.
By the time P arrived, I was super uncomfortable. I kissed her goodbye and went to wait for Andrew in the car...but he didn't come. apparently he had no idea I was ready to go and was just chatting away with my mom in the kitchen, while I was swearing at him waiting for him in the car. Once we got on the same page and were on our way, I started freaking out. The contractions were super painful and nonstop, so I kept telling him to hurry and instructed him to do a few illegal moves on the road in order to get us there faster.
Once we got checked into the hospital room, a nurse checked me and told me I was at 5cm and said we would be staying (duh). I then had to sit through what felt like 2 hours of questions from the nurse while I tried to get through the contractions. I may have asked about 5 times when I could get the epidural. I was just reeeeally nervous things were happening too fast and I would run out of time to get one. And based on how painful the contractions were, I honestly didn't think I'd make it without one! My sweet nurse, Felicia, sensed my panic and put a rush order on my blood work so that my knight and shining armor could come and administer the goods. Oh, sweet Jesus. I've said it 2 other times and I will say it any chance I get before I die, but epidurals are literally the greatest thing on this Earth.
By the time I got the epidural, it was about 4:15. Thought I'd close my eyes and get a nap in, but right after that Dr. Bush came in the check things out. He said I was complete, but that bc I was getting antibiotics, we needed to wait on things. So he just had me do a practice push...which resulted in a crazy loud "pop" as my water literally exploded over everything, including Dr. Bush's face! So so embarrassing. Thank God Andrew wasn't looking to see that happen either.
Shortly after 5am it was time to start pushing. I thought the pushing process would happen faster than it did, considering that Madelyn took about 3 pushes to come out, but this time was a bit slower. All in all, I think it took about 20-25 mins of pushing and out came our BOY, Luke James at 5:33am, clocking in at 7lb 7oz and 19.5inches long. He looks a lot like his Daddy, especially with his eyes open, and has the SWEETEST baby head I've ever felt. I seriously wish I could make a mold of it...and I just might be crazy enough to do so :)
We are now a family of 5, wow! Lukey is a sweet baby - he loves to be held in order to nap and loves to eat. The big kids are totally in love with him and have adjusted so well. They have both become so much more independent and have yet to get upset that I or Andrew can't do something with them because we have Luke at that given moment. I am really, really proud of them. And, I'm thankful that Andrew got on board with my bananas idea to have another baby. It's not easy, and it will never be easy, but I really feel that we were destined to be a family of 5, and I am so happy we were able to bring Luke into our family. I cannot wait to see his personality develop and see how his relationship with his brother and sister evolves in the months and years to come.
Friday night, April 7th after the kids went to bed, Andrew was suuuper excited that I agreed to watch some of "The Force Awakens." Throughout the movie, they are talking about a map that leads to the secret location on Luke Skywalker - foreshadowing much?! We watched about an hour and went to bed around 11.
Right as we were going to bed, I started having a few contractions. Nothing out of the ordinary, because I had been having contractions off and on throughout the day for months. I felt a few, felt the baby doing a ton of moving around, and fell asleep. Around 1am I woke up and the contractions were still there and very consistent. At this point, I am thinking it could be go time. I went downstairs and downloaded a contraction app so that I could time them - which was pretty pointless because they were coming pretty much right on top of each other. They were fairly strong, but the intensity wasn't really picking up - yet. For some reason, I was trying to talk myself out of this being the real deal. Maybe it's because the past 2 times I was told I wasn't contracting when I got to the hospital (though I was) or because it was 2am and I didn't want to wake up my doc it this was a false alarm...I don't know. But just before 2, I decide it's time to wake Andrew and tell him what's going on. I then called Dr. Bush who said that at my exam earlier in the day I was "pretty ripe" and instructed me to head to the hospital. So, called P, calmed her down, and then waited.
By the time P arrived, I was super uncomfortable. I kissed her goodbye and went to wait for Andrew in the car...but he didn't come. apparently he had no idea I was ready to go and was just chatting away with my mom in the kitchen, while I was swearing at him waiting for him in the car. Once we got on the same page and were on our way, I started freaking out. The contractions were super painful and nonstop, so I kept telling him to hurry and instructed him to do a few illegal moves on the road in order to get us there faster.
Once we got checked into the hospital room, a nurse checked me and told me I was at 5cm and said we would be staying (duh). I then had to sit through what felt like 2 hours of questions from the nurse while I tried to get through the contractions. I may have asked about 5 times when I could get the epidural. I was just reeeeally nervous things were happening too fast and I would run out of time to get one. And based on how painful the contractions were, I honestly didn't think I'd make it without one! My sweet nurse, Felicia, sensed my panic and put a rush order on my blood work so that my knight and shining armor could come and administer the goods. Oh, sweet Jesus. I've said it 2 other times and I will say it any chance I get before I die, but epidurals are literally the greatest thing on this Earth.
By the time I got the epidural, it was about 4:15. Thought I'd close my eyes and get a nap in, but right after that Dr. Bush came in the check things out. He said I was complete, but that bc I was getting antibiotics, we needed to wait on things. So he just had me do a practice push...which resulted in a crazy loud "pop" as my water literally exploded over everything, including Dr. Bush's face! So so embarrassing. Thank God Andrew wasn't looking to see that happen either.
Shortly after 5am it was time to start pushing. I thought the pushing process would happen faster than it did, considering that Madelyn took about 3 pushes to come out, but this time was a bit slower. All in all, I think it took about 20-25 mins of pushing and out came our BOY, Luke James at 5:33am, clocking in at 7lb 7oz and 19.5inches long. He looks a lot like his Daddy, especially with his eyes open, and has the SWEETEST baby head I've ever felt. I seriously wish I could make a mold of it...and I just might be crazy enough to do so :)
We are now a family of 5, wow! Lukey is a sweet baby - he loves to be held in order to nap and loves to eat. The big kids are totally in love with him and have adjusted so well. They have both become so much more independent and have yet to get upset that I or Andrew can't do something with them because we have Luke at that given moment. I am really, really proud of them. And, I'm thankful that Andrew got on board with my bananas idea to have another baby. It's not easy, and it will never be easy, but I really feel that we were destined to be a family of 5, and I am so happy we were able to bring Luke into our family. I cannot wait to see his personality develop and see how his relationship with his brother and sister evolves in the months and years to come.
