Luke's Birthday - August 9, 2011

1 Samuel 1:27

I prayed for this child, and the Lord

has granted me what I asked of him.

Wow, it is hard to put into words just how incredible August 9, 2011 was!  It was a day that I had been thinking about for my entire life and it was finally here.  The day that my first child was born!  The day started out bright and early.  I had a scheduled induction at 7:00 am at Ft. Sanders Hospital.  When driving to the hospital, I can remember thinking just how surreal it was that I was going to have a baby that day.  It would be the last time that John and I would drive through Knoxville being a family of 2.  When we arrived at the hospital, we checked in and then got placed in a room.  Lucky for us, we were in a large room with big windows and lots of natural sun light.  It was perfect, minus the fact that the room overlooked Tennessee's football stadium (John's dream and my worst nightmare. ha).  While sitting in the room waiting on the doctor, I can remember just looking around and taking everything in.  I was nervous and excited all at the same time.  It was like Christmas morning x 100 but I knew there was going to be pain along with my big present. ha.  When the first doctor arrived, it was Dr. Hayney Weaver, one of our favorite doctors.  She was on call the previous day and was about to end her shift.  Since my doctor (Erin Saunders) was technically on bed rest, Dr. HW was going to get us started and help out Dr. Saunders.  DR. HW went over the particulars and then told us that she was going to send in some of the nurses to go over paper work as well as get me going on my IV.  Not long after Dr. HW left, the process began.  The nurses came in and put in my IV (OUCH!) and started my Step Antibiotics.  I had to have two rounds of the antibiotics before Luke could make his appearance. After we were done with the nurses, Dr. Moffatt (another one of our favorites) came in to check my progress and break my water.  After realizing I am kind of a wuss, she decided to give me my epidural before breaking my water.  This was the part of the day that I had been terrified of!  THE EPIDURAL! I had always heard horror stories about how bad it hurt to get an epidural and how big the needle was, so to say I was nervous was an understatement! When the anesthesiologist came in, I was so scared.  I definitely wanted an epidural, I was just scared of how bad it was going to hurt.  To my surprise, it was not near as bad as I had expected.  It was not the most comfortable thing ever, but definitely not the worst either.  After getting my epidural in place, Dr. Moffatt came back in and broke my water.  At this point I was about 2 cm dilated having contractions on my own every minute.  While that may sound good, they were not regular and needed to be in more of a regular pattern.  At this point, they went ahead and hooked  me up to the pitocin and tried to regulate my contractions.   After the pitocin drip started, they told me I would have several hours of a "waiting period" in which I was just going to be hanging out watching the monitors and making sure they could get my contractions into a regular pattern.  Durning this time, I was not in any pain so family and friends were coming in and out of the room visitng with us.  It was so weird to see the monitor go off and tell me that I was having a contraction and not be able to feel anything.  It was kind of amazing actually.  Every so often, a doctor or a nurse would come in and check my progress but for the most part, the morning and early afternoon was a waiting game.  After the doctors came in a few times, they informed me that I was not quite progressing as much as they would hope.  Baby Luke was still sitting high up and not making his way into the birth canal or dropping.  It was around 3pm and I still was not dialiated past about 4 cm.  This was super disappointing to me considering I had been there a while and was not making a lot of progess.  I knew that there was the possibility of a C-Section all along due to how big Luke was and how little I was but I still was hoping that it would not come to that.  Dr. Saunders had warned me of that previously (which is also the reason I was being induced a week early) but for some reason I thought my body would work it out on its own.  They decided to turn up the pitocin and see if that would help push things along.  To my surprise it did but after several hours I was still stuck at about 6-7 cm.  Plus I all of a sudden felt a awful pain on my right side.  I informed the nurses and they had the anesthesiologist come in and give me an extra shot of epidural medicine.  While this worked for a little while, It soon became evident that they pain was coming back.  Once again, the anesthesiologist came back and gave me another exta shot.  Thirty minutes later, the pain was back!  At this point, the nurse suggested that we have the epidural replaced and have a new one put in.  At first I was not sure about replacing the epidural in fear that what if this one did not work at all?  What would I do then?  After thinking about it for a minute and feeling the horrible pain once again, I decided to go ahead with it.  A new anesthesiologist came in and replaced the needle and lucky for me did a wonderful job.  I no longer felt any pain on my right side but sadly I was already so sick from all the previous pain and medicine they had been pumping in my body trying to regulate the pain.  I was so nauseous I could barely see straight.  My teeth were chattering uncontrolably and I felt like I had to throw up everywhere.  It was honestly the worst feeling I have ever had.  I would gladly take feeling the contractions over how sick I felt.  The worst part was, it would not go away.  For the remainder of the day, I was sick as a dog.  I could barely think let alone talk to anyone.  At around 8 pm Dr. Saunders came in to check my progress and make the call of what to do (C-Sections or keep trying).  At this point, I  was ready to throw in the towel and just wanted a C-Section.  I wanted to Luke out and stop all the medicine.  I just wanted to feel better.  Dr. Saunders wanted to check me one last time before calling for a C-Section.  As she checked me, we realized that I still had about two centimeters to go if I wanted to try for natural child birth.  This sounded AWFUL to me! 2 MORE CENTIMETERS! UGH NO WAY!  But after a little bit of convincing from Dr. Saunders and John, I decided I would try just a few more things to see if we could get Luke to drop and dilate to 10 centimeters.  Lucky for me, Dr. Saunders is amazing and was able to accomplish both!  With a few pushes, Luke droped down and I was at 10 cm!  Now comes the hard part!  We began pushing and boy was it tiring!  I have honestly never felt more exhausted in my life!  Not only did I feel sick, I was using every bit of energy I had to try and get Luke out!  After 45 minutes of sheer exhaustion and throwing up on the doctor ( yes you read correctly, I threw up on the doctor) Luke made his appearence into the world at 9:29pm on August 9,2011.  He was a healthy baby boy weighing in at alomost 8lbs. 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches long.  The day was the longest day of my life but hands down the best day of my life!  God blessed me with the beautiful baby that I had been praying for my whole life.  It was amazing to see and hold this little boy that I had been carrying around for the past nine months!  I was finally able to see his little features and kiss his little face!  It was amazing!  Below are some pictures of the day and Luke's arrival! Hope you enjoy!

 

36 and 37 week doctor's appointments!

36 week Appt:   
  I know I am two weeks late on this post, but I figured better now than never. On July 22nd, we had our 36 week doctors appointment.  It was a big day for us because we had an ultrasound scheduled and we had not seen our little one since our 20 week anatomy scan appointment.  We went 4 whole months without seeing his little face.  Cruel I know!  When we arrived, I was already a little nervous because I was going to be seeing a new doctor for the first time.  Our doctor, whom we absolutely love, happens to be pregnant as well and went into preterm labor at 30 weeks and was put on bed rest.  Needless to say, she was not there for our appointment and we had to reschedule with someone else.  While this was not a big deal, it kind of put a different spin on our appointment.  Dr. Saunders, our original doctor, has become a friend of ours and she had originally told us that she wanted to induce us to make sure that she was our doctor for our delivery.  This was wonderful news to John and I considering how much we love and trust her as our doctor.  So with Dr. Saunders being on bed rest, we did not know what we were going to discuss. 
      As soon as we got to the doctor, we immediately went straight into the ultrasound room.  Dr. Saunders had set up the ultrasound to see if Luke was head down and how big he was.  Turns out, Luke is head down and a big boy! At 36 weeks, he was already 6lbs 11oz.  He was measuring as if he was 38 weeks.  My immediate reaction was, "Oh good, he is not going to be small like me!"  Then I realized the flip side when it came to his birth and got quiet. ha. 
      After our Ultrasound, we met with one of the male doctors in the practice and I won't go into any details there.  We will just say it was interesting and different than from what I was accustomed to.  He was very matter of fact.  Plus he did not have Dr. Saunders beliefs on inducing me.  He didnt care that Luke was measuring big and actually told me that he would be comfortable delivering a 10 lb baby from anyone no matter how little the mom was.  Lets just say that as soon as I heard that, I immediately began to pray that Dr. Saunders would make a speedy recovery and come back to work. ha.  Over all it was a good day because we got to see Luke (sort of) and see that he was doing great!  Below is a side picture of Luke.  He was being stubborn and would not turn his face to us so all we could get was his little smushed face from the side with his hand covering have of it.  Oh well, better than nothing I guess.....

37 week Appointment:
    Yay! Dr. Saunders was back in the office this week and off of bed rest.  It was such a relief to see her face when we walked into the office.  Something about her is just so calming, plus I knew we would talk about how and when Luke would make his way into the world.  As soon as we got back into the room, Dr. Saunders jumped right into everything.  We had an exam and turns out I was 1 cm dialated. Then she began to talk to us about Luke's arrival.  Turns out, she was still on the same page and thinking that she wanted to deliver him a week early and be there as our primary doctor.  This was a relief to us.  I am a planner and now I could put this on the calendar and begin to get everything in order.  I must admit, at first, I was worried about being induced because of all the random stories I had been told about how the labor was harder and longer but after all is said and done, I decided I was just going to trust my doctor and go with whatever she felt was right for me.  So with that being said, we are scheduled for an induction on August 9th.  That day happens to be my Nana's birthday so I have a feeling it will be a very sweet day.  Cant wait to see my little man!

Update:  Dr. Saunders is back on bed rest for the remaineder of her pregnancy so we are unsure of what will happen to our induction date.  I will know more tomorrow (August 5th) after my doctor's appointment.  Say a prayer that whatever is supposed to be will and that God will reveal his plans to us! Thanks

Prepairing for Luke's arrival!

        Wahoo! This week marks the beginning of the end!  I am 37 weeks along this week which means I am officially Full-term!  This is very exciting news for me because not only does it mean that baby Luke can arrive now any day but it also means that I am just a few short weeks away from not being pregnant anymore!  While I really cant complain much because truthfully I have had a very easy pregnancy, I am just excited to move on to the next stage in life and meet my little buddy!  I am so excited to see what he looks like and what is little personality is going to be like.  Plus I cant lie, I am excited to lose this belly and be a little more comfortable again.
         For those of you that know me, you would probably have guessed that I have everything done and in order by now.  WRONG! ha! For some reason, I have been extremely relaxed about Luke's arrival.  Probably too relaxed if I must admit it.  Lucky for me, I have a husband who is extremely prepared. ha.  John has been absolutely wonderful and on top of everything!  He has taken it upon himself to read not only a new fathers book but also Baby Wise. He has read two books and I haven't even read one. OOPS!  It's kinda bad when your husband is throwing around facts and terms about pregnancy and delivery and I don't have the slightest clue what he is talking about. Guess I need to get reading quickly!  John has also been very sweet in helping with all the little details that need to be done before we bring Luke home, like washing several of his clothes and blankets and cleaning my car so we can put in the car seat.  I am so thankful to have such a hands on husband and am so excited to see what a wonderful hands on father he is going to be.  I love you Johnny! xoxo 

Brody Bear

This past Sunday, we had our sweet little nephew Brody spend the night with us.  His mom and dad (Mark and Lynn) were at a wedding so we got to spend a little extra quality time with him before they got home.  This was Brody's first time spending the night at our house and it was a huge success!  I was so worried that he was going to be nervous spending the night away from home but he did great.  We went to dinner with Matt, Kelly and Hank, who were keeping Hudson for the night and then came home and hung out.  For those of you who dont know, Uncle Johnny, hung the moon when it comes to these boys.  He is so loved by them and from watching him interact with Brody this weekend, I can see why.  He was so sweet and loving with Brody and truly did anything he could think of to make him feel comfortable.  He snuggled up in bed with him and read him books till he fell fast asleep.  This was such a sweet thing to watch.  It truly gave me an opportunity to see what John will be like as a father.  Later that night John went back to Brody's room and slept with him so he would not wake up scared in the middle of the night.  Sweet huh?  I keep telling him that I  owe him big for that considering I am 9 months pregnant and sharing a bed with a little one and getting up 4 times a night to use the restroom didn't seem like the best idea.  Overall, we had a wonderful time spending time with Brody Bear and I was so delighted to see what John will be like with Luke in just a few short weeks.

Shower Gifts!

This past weekend, I had my final shower for baby Luke which was thrown by several of my mother-in-laws friends.  It was so sweet and I was so honored to be given such a nice shower.  The shower took place on Friday at 4:30pm and was held at Anna Fords house.  Her house was decorated so cute and I am so thankful for everything Sheryl's friends did to make the afternoon so special.  When sitting down to write this blog I realized that I had forgot to post pictures of all the wonderful gifts I have received throughout my pregnancy so I figured I would post a few for everyone to see.  By no means are these all the presents but to be honest, these are the ones that were easily accessible when I walked into his room. ha.  I have received way to many wonderful presents to list them all so here are a few for you to see!  

 Sweet little outfits

 Restoration Hardware floor pillow and laundry basket

 Kate Spade Diaper Bag

 Auburn National Championship onesie

 Monogrammed Bubbies (Lucy's name for them...I think it is going to stick)

 Lovies

 Auburn Colored Beach Towel

 Flip Camera

 The Pump

 Sweet little Kissy Kissy outfits

 Beach Pale

 Giraffe Floor Pillow

More Outfits

So as you can see, I have been truly blessed with everything that I have received for baby Luke.  I truly have the most wonderful friends and family that anyone could ever ask for!  I cant wait for baby Luke to come and meet all the sweet people in our lives.
xoxo, Meg

Jack and Lucy Lu!

So with only a few days left till my maternity leave, I have become quite sentimental about my little babies that I spend my days with! I have truly fallen in love with both of these adorable children, as well as their older sister, and am going to be so sad to leave them for a couple of months. They are honestly the sweetest, most well behaved children ever! I can only hope that my children will turn out like these kiddos! Here are a few recent pics of my little buddies!

Sprinkler Fun!

Swinging away....

More Sprinkler fun.....

Moo Cow day at Chick Fil A!

My Sweet girl!

Loving the big chalk board at Menchies!

Thinking towards the future!

OK, so with only 35 days till my actual due date, I have really been thinking towards the future lately. One of the things that I think about constantly besides what my baby will look like, act like, etc, is HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO GET BACK IN SHAPE AFTER I GET THIS BABY OUT?!? Ha. With that in mind, last night I was brainstorming about different ways I could motivate myself to get back in shape after Luke is born. Then it hit me, I realized that if I set a goal and made it public, I would have a far better chance of reaching it than if I just worked out by myself. So with that being said, I researched different races in the Knoxville area and decided to pick one. I knew I had to give myself some recovery time and also time to "train" so I decided to go with Autumnfest, which is an 8k race on Thanksgiving morning. It is a goal that will make me stick to a schedule but also not too big of a goal that I might not be able to reach in the amount of time I have allotted myself. I think an 8k is just the right distance for my first race. Its not as wimpy as a 5k but not as ambitious as a 10k. John being the sweet husband that he is (or the husband that wants his wife back in shape- ha) offered to run it with me for support. For those of you that don't know John, this is extremely sweet of him due to the fact he can run 15+ miles cold turkey so he will basically be skipping next to me the whole time. Oh well, at least he will keep me motivated. Hey, he may even be able to push Luke in his Bob Stroller if it isn't too cold outside. Ok, so now that I have gotten this out there, I think its safe to say that I am locked in! If I try to get out of it, feel free to call me out! I need all the motivation I can get! Hope everyone is having a good week! xoxo!