He's Here!!

A bit slow on getting the news out....

LUKE ANDREW SPIVEY  arrived on Tuesday, June 9th at 8:51 pm.  He weighed exactly 8 pounds and was 20 inches long.

Here's a look at our day...

Once things got started, they went FAST!!  At 2:00 that afternoon, we had a friend take some (very last minute) family pictures of Brett, Emma, and I.  I had a couple of contractions during the pics, but nothing that clued us in as to how fast we'd be meeting little Luke.  Emma and I were home by 3:00.  Contractions were intense enough by 3:30 that I called Brett and asked him to come home.  I decided that I wanted to do this epidural-free this time, so I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible.  We left for the birth care center a little after 7:30.  I was in a room at exactly 8:00 p.m.  By this point I was 100% effaced and dilated to an 8.  After about 20 minutes of pushing, Luke was born at 8:51!!!  It all happened so fast!!  

Luke is such a sweet little boy!!  So far, he seems to be extremely laid-back....except when it comes to time to eat--then he means business!!  Unlike Emma, he has had zero problems nursing.  He eats about every 2- 3 hours and then sleeps most of the time in between.  During his awake times, he is so content to just look around at everything.  He has been such a joy!

Here's a few pics: 

Brett, Luke, & I...taken about 20 or 30 minutes after meeting little Luke.

The proud daddy putting on Luke's first diaper.

The proud big sister, Emma, getting to meet Luke for the first time.

Notice the pink horse on the couch...about 3 weeks ago we took Emma to Build a Bear and let her pick something out as a present to open the day baby brother came.  This is what she picked....and she hasn't let it out of her sight since she opened it that day!!

And here's our little Luke getting ready to head home from the hospital.  Such a cutie!!  :o)  We are all so in love!!  Emma too!!  She truly is going to be a great big sister.  Already she has been so helpful and eager to love on him.  Of course, it's definitely been a big adjustment for her (and us too), but overall she really has done great so far!!

I'm doing my best to pull the camera out as often as possible.  I'm certainly not the most consistent person when it comes to updating the blog, but I promise I'll keep trying!!  For now, my time is pretty much consumed with caring for Luke, trying to be intentional in spending time with Emma & Brett, and catching up on sleep.  My goal is to post pics & updates at least once or twice a month.  We'll see!!  :o)  

Thank you all for your love and prayers for us!  

I just have a second...

Quick update: Today is Saturday, June 6th.  My due date is this Friday, the 12th.  Over the last 3 weeks, I've slowly been dilating and effacing.  As of Thursday I was at a 3 and 70%.  Braxton Hicks contractions have been happening for about a month...none of the real intense ones yet.

For all kinds of reasons, we've waited on doing lots of the preparation for baby boy.  Now that we're so close, we've kicked it into high-gear.  Brett says I'm in "Panic-nesting mode."  We finally have the nursery done, car seat installed, everything washed, etc.  There's still lots left to figure out (like where Emma is going to spend the 2 days at while we're in the hospital...I'm group B strep positive, so we'll be staying for 48 hours after delivery for monitoring of baby)....but with each passing day, more and more things are getting marked off my to-do list so that feels good.

I don't know if we'll blog or send out a mass email first, but somehow (first chance we get), we'll let everyone know when baby boy Spivey arrives.  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during this exciting time!! :o)