One week, 3 days old!

All curled up with Mama, I didn't want to put him in is crib!

Getting ready for bed


With Daddy, crazy hair after a bath

More crazy hair!


OK Mama, let's go!

Big eyes

Luke's first St. Patty's Day!

Lucas is just over a week old and doing great. We're very lucky to have such a content newborn. Most of the time, he'll sleep for 2-3 hours, wake up, eat, get changed, look around for a bit, then back to sleep. Such a good little man! Sometimes he'll get up before 2 hours, but it's not that often. I think Dave and I have figured out a good routine where he take the first night shift around midnight or 1:00, then I'll do the 4:00 shift. That way we both get more sleep. That's one feeding he takes from a bottle, but oh well. Mama needs a break too. :-) And it's good bonding time for Luke and Dave.

We have our two-week check-up next Tuesday. It seems to already be going by fast which makes me kind of sad, but I'm trying not to think about it too much and just enjoy this time watching him grow.

OK, back to it...

XOXO,

Car

Here HE is...Lucas Anthony!

Pround Grandma Jensen

Pround Grandpa Jensen

He loves his nookers and keeps it in. He's a strong sucker!

Look how long I am!


Hi Mama!

Baxter and his new brother

Loving the boppy

My three boys...I'm surrounded by males!

Love him.

Sweepy boy.

Laying in the sun.

Proud Grandpa Conklin

Proud Grandma Conklin

Proud Papa

Just as he arrived, laying on me.

Proud Mama

Enough pics for the first post of Lucas's arrival? I can't help it, I have to show him off. Lucas arrived on March 10th, 2009 at 10:43 PM. He was 8.1 pounds and was 21.75 inches long. I think it was probably a good thing we induced because I'm not sure I'd be able to fit him out if we waited for him to arrive on his own. He's a big boy! His legs are really long and strong, he kicks like crazy when we change his diaper. Anyway, the labor was long and tough. They started me off with the gel at 8:30 AM. That gave me some mild contractions and dilated me to 1 cm. At that point the doctor could break my water (around 1:00ish). They also started the pitocin at that point. Holy moly did that stuff hurt. Strong contractions were coming one right on top of the other, so I ordered the epidural. That came at around 3:30. He had to do it THREE times...the first time it was not in the right spot, the second time he hit a blood vessel. Third time he finally got it in. Yeah that was quite painful to...trying to work through the contractions while getting poked in the back was not easy. But finally after they go it in, things felt great. I couldn't feel a thing...until they cranked up the pitocin at around 7:30 PM. Then the epidural just stopped working for some reason. I felt everything...it was bad. I started pushing at 8:50 and Lucas arrived at 10:43 after two long hours of trying to get him out. It was grueling to say the least. But I only swore once, there were a few "I can't do this anymore", and one "Can we just do a c-section?". :-) According to my mom and Dave, I also tried to get up and "walk out". I sure wouldn't have gotten far! But I was just trying to do anything to make myself more comfortable so I thought standing would help. But they wouldn't let me...obviously. Poor Dave did great through the whole thing, but I snapped at him a couple of times. He tried to get my hair out of my face while I was throwing up (yeah that was fun too), and I snapped at him to not touch me. After a few times of asking me if I wanted water, ice, the oxygen mask, etc. I yelled at him and told him I'd tell him if I wanted something. So between contractions he'd just hold up the cup of ice and oxygen mask, and not say a word. He presented me with the options and I'd just take what I wanted. Haha! Finally, Luke was ready to come out. They called the doctor when he started crowning, expecting him to take another 10-15 minutes. No, he was coming out now. Once you get to that point, holding off the urge to push out the baby is indescribable. I'm sure all of the women who have been pregnant know the feeling. But, they kept telling me to breathe through the contractions until the doctor got there. I kept asking the nurses if they would deliver the baby. I think they almost did. The doctor got there right in time. He didn't change or anything, he just rushed right into the room, got his gloves on and out Luke came in about 5 minutes. What an amazing feeling when he arrived! I didn't care what was happening at that point, I just couldn't stop looking at this little boy on my belly. He is truly a miracle. Everyone was in tears (including my dad who was listening to all of it from out in the hallway :) ). It was the worst and best experience of my life all at the same time. Of course I would do it all over again for him, but it was tough.

So far Luke is a very good little baby. He's kept us up quite a bit, but he's really not very fussy. As long as he has a full belly, he'll just look around checking things out. He has longer sleep periods during the day (go figure), but he's a little doll. My mom and dad just left today, and they were a huge help. I didn't have to do any laundry or cooking since we got home. And my mom made us a bunch of meals and froze them which will really help. I have some great parents, we really appreciate all of their help! I'm feeling pretty good, but the doc had to cut me so I'm still recovering from the stitches. Just a little hard to get around, but hopefully in a week or so I'll feel better.

OK, that's a really long post and Lucas is starting to squirm. Until next time!

Love,

Carley

March 10th (or before) it is!

I just got back from the doctor's office, and he wants to induce me next week! He said he thinks the baby is going to be over 8 lbs (so the measurements either went up quite a bit from last week, or I misunderstood the smaller baby part), and he doesn't want to let me go past the 13th. Anyway, he can't do the 11th or 12th, so Dave and I decided on the 10th! So...unless I got into labor before that, Baby J will be here next Tuesday. WOO-HOO! I can't wait...now I'm getting kind of nervous, but very excited too. All of this build up and now a for-sure date just escalates all of the feelings. I've heard that inductions can cause contractions to be pretty bad...so I'm sure an epidural will be in order. ;-) But, I'm sure I'll live!

Other than that, Dave and I went to a marriage conference over the weekend which was really great. We both loved it. It was Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...so it was a lot, but we both learned a lot too. We were doing well to begin with, but it just helped us learn more tools to not drive each other crazy. Haha! Good timing for having a baby, because that causes some very stressful times. It was a Christian based retreat, so it really focused a lot on keeping God at the center of our lives. I would recommend it to anyone, they go all over the country. If you're interested, it is called "A Weekend To Remember", you can go to www.familylife.com to check it out.

OK, back to work (it's going to be really hard to concentrate now that I know baby will be here a week from today or before!!).

Love you all!