Happy Birthday, Luke

Seven years ago when we had Jacob, my delivery was less than ideal. Without going into too much detail, I was induced for no good reason, had a terribly long labor, pushed for hours and hours and ended up having a c-section. My epidural wasn't completely effective and they ended up putting me out during the c-section, so I completely missed Jacob's birth and I didn't even wake up to meet him until he was about two hours old. For that reason, I was determined to try to avoid a c-section this time, if at all possible. My doctors were willing to allow me to wait until my due date to see if I would go into labor spontaneously, but if I didn't, I would have to have a c-section. They ended up letting me go several days beyond my due date, but Luke showed absolutely no signs of budging, so they scheduled the c-section.

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The day before we went in, I cried most of the day. I was so terrified of the c-section and so disappointed that I couldn't even focus on being excited. I felt actually kind of bitter about it, and I was really worried about whether I could even get in the right state of mind before the birth.

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We went to bed still trying to finalize the name. Alan and I had been going back and forth about it for a while, and, as I stated in my previous post, he really wanted to name this baby Gary after his dad. I wasn't as enthustiastic about the name, but Alan didn't try to force it on me. Alan's dad is Gary Lynn, and Alan is Gary Alan. Alan just said that growing up, when people realized he was being called his middle name they would often ask him if he was named after someone, and he was always proud to say that he was named after his dad. He said it would be really special to him if this baby could tell people that he was named for his dad and granddad. We had been playing around with names that sounded good with Gary for a while, and we went to bed thinking about Gary Mason and Gary Lucas.

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The next morning, my attitude had changed at least some. I was still pretty terrified, but I was also so excited. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. We had planned on leaving Jacob at the house with Alan's parents until 7:30 a.m. when the baby was supposed to be born, since he wouldn't even be able to be with us prior to the surgery, but Jacob was insistent on going in with us. It didn't really make sense to have him there that early, but the last thing we wanted to do was have him feel excluded, so at 5:00 a.m. that morning, Alan, Jacob, Maw, Paw and I headed to the hospital.

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While they were asking me questions, putting in my IV, etc., Alan and I decided that our second son's name would be Gary Lucas, and that we would call him Luke. It is the perfect name for him.

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In the operating room, I was shaking so badly that my teeth were chattering. I can't even explain the relief I felt when the doctor told me that she had started the surgery, and I didn't feel any pain. At that point, Alan and I started laughing and joking around--it was absolutely wonderful! And before we knew it, there he was...

I am so sad I missed these moments with Jacob, because I felt like I was in heaven. It makes me teary thinking about it again. It was so amazing seeing him for the first time.

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Since Alan's sister, Ashley, is a doctor at the hospital where we delivered, they let her be in the operating room, and she took these pictures. The doctor that delivered Luke also delivered Ashley's daughter, Avery, back in February.

Maw, Paw and Jacob seeing Luke for the first time--that's Ashley in the scrubs.

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Precious big brother.
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Proud Maw.

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Proud Paw and Maw.
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It was really special to get to have Ashley in the operating room with us. I wanted Cathy (Maw) to be there too, but since I had a c-section that wasn't allowed.
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Avery came to visit, too.

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Luke after his first bath.

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Sweet daddy.
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Jacob holding Luke for the first time, with Paw.
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Maw and Luke. (Don't be too jealous, Granny Honey, we'll be there in just a couple of weeks!)

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I have so many more pictures to post--I really need to do it just a couple of pictures at a time, so I'm more likely to do it! Then maybe I can fit it in during naptime.