Luke's Doctor's Appointment

Luke went to his first check-up on Tuesday. Dr. DeLapp wanted to see him to check his weight. Luke lost 10% of his birth weight while in the hospital (the maximum amount they want a baby to lose) so he had to come back early to get weighed. He was 8 lbs. 5 oz., which is good because he was down to less than 8 lb. 1 oz. when he was discharged. So he is gaining back the weight, which was a relief to me. He'll go back for his next check-up on his two week birthday, which is next Monday.

Luke seems to be eating a LOT. Sometimes he wants to eat every hour on the hour. When he nurses for 40 minutes, that gives me about a 20 minute break before he wants to nurse again! It can be tiring, for sure. Jonathan and I have worked out a system at night, though, which seems to be working well. Jonathan usually will nap or relax in the evening and I will have Luke until midnight or 1 am. Then, I pass him off to Jonathan and get some rest. Jonathan will give Luke a bottle of formula at night so I can get the extra sleep, which is great. Then he'll wake me up for Luke's next feeding (usually around 5-6am). I'll then get up and Jonathan will go to bed. The past couple nights Luke has been willing to go to sleep in his crib after the 5am feeding, letting me go back to sleep for a couple more hours. I really appreciate that! :) Jonathan only worked Monday and Tuesday and took off the rest of the week, which has been a huge blessing. I think he's doing the same thing next week, too. We are enjoying our time together with our son.

We Love This Baby Boy!!

Here are some pics of Luke with his mommy and daddy and Grandpa Moore. (More grandparent pics to come hopefully!)

Peyton & Luke

Some of you have been wondering how Peyton has been adjusting to Luke. She is just enamored by him. She loves to be near him and doesn't seem bothered by his crying. The other night, she slept in his room right by his crib. It was so sweet. She really wants to check him out more, but we aren't letting her get too close yet. She seems to know that he is part of the family and takes her job protecting him very seriously. She is such a good dog!

Luke's First Bath

Luke had his first sponge bath at home the other day. It was a little traumatic, but he survived!

Details of Luke's Birth

So, I have a few minutes to fill everyone in on our exciting week so far! I woke up about 4:15am Sunday morning and informed Jonathan that I thought my water had broke. So, away we went (again) to the hospital. We were in triage for a while, as they had to do some tests to make sure my water had broken, since it was just a leak. After a couple hours they determined my water had broke and they moved us into a labor and delivery room. My contractions had started shortly after 4:15am, but they weren't by any means hard yet. My parents came to the hospital around 10am and we just sort of hung out, playing euchre and what not. It took FOREVER for me to make any progress. I was dilating about one centimeter every four to five hours. Around 2pm they decided to start the pitocin. That didn't really speed things up too much, unfortunately. By 5pm, though, I was ready for the epideral! Once they got that all in place, I was good to go for a while. :)
Sometime after the epidural, they kept increasing my pitocin and broke my water the rest of the way to try and speed things up. My contractions just weren't close enough together to do much. Needless to say, it was a LONG day! Sometime early Monday morning my nurse (who was so amazing!) told me I was dilated to nine and that she was calling my doctor. I started pushing at 3:30am. After about a half hour, Dr. Delapp told me I'd have to have my epideral decreased since I wasn't feeling enough to push well. Once they decreased my epideral, I began to think my life was going to end. I was in so much pain and was absolutely exhausted! After nearly three hours of pushing, Luke did finally make his arrival at 6:10am. I was so tired, I could not even keep my eyes open to see what they were doing with him. All in all, I did survive, though at the moment I never want to go through that again!
I was discharged from the hospital late Wednesday night (right before midnight) but Luke had to stay until Thursday. Because my water broke, they were concerned about possible infection and did a routine blood test on Luke right after he was born. It showed his blood was contaminated, so they had to start him on anitbiotics and do another blood test, which wouldn't show results for 48 hours. I spent the night in the waiting room Wednesday night so I could still nurse him through the night. Fortunately, the test came back fine (Dr. Delapp thought all along the test was just a false positive) and Luke was discharged early Thursday afternoon. We were so happy to bring him home!
Wow, that is quite the post, so if you've made it this far, kudos to you! :) We are doing pretty well with Luke at home. My parents are here until tomorrow, which has been a blessing. He is sleeping somewhat at night, but I am going on little to no sleep. Maybe I'll go take a nap right now! :)

More Pics of the Cutest Baby Ever!!

Here are some pictures of Luke....we'll try to get more details on here later about everything.

Baby Luke is Finally Here!!!

After 9 months of cooking, Luke David Athearn is finally done. He was born a boy (as we expected) who weighed 9.0 pounds and was 21.5" long. We went to the hospital Sunday morning at 4:30am because Amanda's water broke. 26 hours later, Luke was finally born. Mother and baby are doing well. Here are some pictures we have so far.

A Long Night

Jonathan and I had a long, if not exhausting, night/early morning. We went to a minor league baseball game last night with my parents and I noticed my contractions getting fairly regular and strong about 8pm. We came home from the game and played some euchre. After the second game, around 11:40pm, I was ready to call the doctor. They wanted me to go ahead to the hospital to get checked out since by now my contractions were 5-10 minutes apart and, I felt, getting stronger. So off to the hospital Jonathan and I went....
Once there they hooked up the fetal monitor and said everything with Luke looked great. We were just in triage on the labor and delivery floor. When the nurse came in to check me, my worst fear came true. She said I was dilated about one centimeter. It took everything I had not to haul off and punch her. Are you freaking kidding me?! What the crap has been going on this past week and espcially in the past five hours??? They kept us at the hospital for a couple more hours to see if I progressed at all. After walking the halls for a half hour and watching some tv, they rechecked me and, of course, I was still at one centimeter. The nurse called the on-call doctor who told her to send us packing.
My contractions at this point were, what I would call, somewhat strong and definitely uncomfortable. They were also two to six minutes apart. But apparently that's not enough. The nurse told me to go home and try to get some rest and to come back in when they were a lot stronger than they were then. I must be a total wuss because I was in enough pain already. After a few tears of frustration and disappointment, we headed back home and finally crawled into bed around 4:30 or so. I was able to sleep, as the contractions eased up and this morning they are pretty much gone. That's all to report for now...

Frustrated

Well, in the past week both a lot and absolutely nothing have happened. Since last Friday evening I have been having contractions. Some are harder than others and a few have been too painful to walk through, but of course as soon as I go to start timing them, they quit. Most of the time they get strong at night but then when I go to bed, they quit. After I take a long walk, they get harder and then....they quit. Are you sensing a pattern here?? My parents came up Tuesday and are staying at least through the weekend, depending on when Luke decides to grace us with his presense. :)
I went back to the doctor this morning but not much news to report. He didn't check to see if I was dilated, though he guesses I probably am since I've been having all these contractions. Luke still hasn't dropped, that I can tell. I start going for nonstress tests twice a week on Monday. So next week I go to the hospital two mornings for these tests and then back to my doctor Thursday for another check-up. He's going on vacation again the 15th or 16th, and he's hoping to have him delivered by then. (Yeah, me too.)
My official due date is this Sunday. He missed my aunt's birthday (July 2nd) and didn't make it for my dad's (the 4th), so we'll see what he decides. Jonathan's holding out for a 07/07/07 baby. In the meantime, I'll just keep hanging out, waiting for something to happen...

Nursery Artwork

Jonathan's amazing older sister, Michelle, offered her artistic talent to us today. She painted a mural on the wall in Luke's room. The picture matches the comforter perfectly and is sooo cute! Thanks so much Michelle! :)

Another Week & No Baby

Yeah, I know it's wishful thinking that Luke will come early, but I can hope at least, right? :) Jonathan was able to come to my doctor's appointment this morning, which was nice. Everything still looks the same...nothing new to report. My doctor reminded me that my due date is just an estimate and assured me that they wouldn't let me go more than 10 days past it. Gee, thanks. Next Thursday I go back and my doc said he'll check to see if I'm dilated. If I am, he said he may be able to rupture the membranes, or something lovely like that, which will induce labor within 24 hours if it works. That's right, IF it works. It doesn't sound very pleasant, so I'm rooting for Luke to come on his own before next week! Who's with me??

Back to the Doc

I headed back to the doctor today for my 37 1/2 week check-up. I saw a different doc (mine's on vacation). It was good to meet him, though, since he'll be the back-up guy to deliver Luke should my doctor be unavailable. He said everything looks great and that Luke can come anytime now. My blood pressure was great and I just have some slight swelling in my feet (no surprise, considering it's been 80-90 degrees most days here lately). I was just super excited because I didn't gain any weight this week! Woohoo!! I head back next Thursday morning...assuming Luke doesn't come before then! :)

Belly Pics

WARNING: The following pictures contain a very pregnant woman's belly. Viewer discretion is advised. :)

Jonathan wanted to compare bellies!

I think my feet are down there somewhere!

Fun with Morphing

So, we discovered this hilarious thing called morphing. We hope you get as big a laugh out of it as we did! (My sister is going to kill me!)

Luke's Room

Here are some pictures of the nursery. All we need now is a baby!

Happy Birthday Peyton!

Yes, we do celebrate our dog's birthday! She is our only child (for a few more weeks anyway!). Peyton turned the big 2 yesterday. She spent much of her day outside running around, so she wasn't exactly in the mood for a celebration. Oh well!

Baby Luke Update

I went back to the doc today for my first weekly visit. I can't believe it's this close! Everything looks good. I've been having some Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing serious yet. I go back next Thursday!

My parents came this past weekend and helped us with the nursery. It is really starting to come together. We can actually keep a baby there now! :) I'll post pictures of the nursery soon. We actually got a new computer with the internet, so now I don't have to wait until we go to Indiana to post pictures anymore! It's amazing, I know. So, look for more pictures down the road....

35 weeks

Here we are at 35 weeks...I don't know how much more I can grow, but I'm sure I'll find out! :) I did want to mention that two days ago Jonathan and I celebrated our fourth anniversary. I can't believe it's been four years. I'm so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. Awwww! Alright, that's as mushy as I'll get. :)

Baby Shower

We made our way to Indiana for one last hurrah before Luke comes. My aunts threw me a baby shower this morning, which was really nice. It was good to see family and also Chris and Tonya, who drove all the way from Cincy. (Adam, too...he had to come to play with Jonathan!)

Julia Elizabeth

She makes grandbaby number eight on Jonathan's side!

Birthday & Graduation

Thought I'd get pictures posted of Jonathan's 27th birthday and my brother's graduation from IWU.

Blessed

Only 5 1/2 more weeks to go! We cannot believe it...Luke will be here before we know it! It's really starting to sink in more because other people who were due shortly before me now have their babies. Jonathan's sister had her baby girl (Julia Elizabeth) about a week ago. It's her third (but first girl!) and grandbaby #8. Poor thing only gets to be the youngest grandkid for a month or so until Luke comes! My old college roommate Erin and her husband had their first this past weekend. Also a girl, Emma Grace. We're so excited for everyone and it makes us even more excited about ours!

Jonathan got to come with me to the doc this morning. He says everything looks great. Luke was extremely active during the appointment. It took the doctor a while to track down his heartbeat long enough to get a reading! It was 160--the highest it's been, but probably because he was so active and that's his awake heartbeat.

We have a huge praise financially! School gets out in about a week, so our extra income from my subbing (although not huge) will be gone. But, Jonathan will be able to pick up extra hours at work that will replace, if not exceed, that loss of income! He's going to be seeing a few extra clients per week (about 5 extra hours). So instead of having every Friday off, he figures he'll have about every other Friday off. And he gets paid a lot more hourly for these clients. Hopefully we'll be getting the internet soon, which will be another praise because he can do a lot of his paperwork online, which would mean working from home some!

I think that's all the updates for now. We are just feeling really blessed. It's awesome to see how God provides!

Mother's Day

Well, my first Mother's Day was pretty good. My parents sent me a card, which was nice. Poor Jonathan wasn't sure if I qualified as a mother yet or not, so only after some berating from his older sister did he realize that he did, in fact, need to acknowledge this day! :) I got a sweet homemade card around 11pm Sunday night telling me what a great mother I will be to Luke. Thanks hon! :)
I went to the doc yesterday and everything is pretty much the same. Nothing too exciting to report except that Luke is healthy and everything looks normal at this point. I go back in two weeks and hopefully Jonathan will be able to come to that one. We have one more week left of our childbirth classes. We got to tour the hospital this past Monday. It was nice to know where we will be at for the big event! Kinda freaky, too, though, knowing that it will really happen....and soon!

Update on Luke

I went to the doctor today and everything is looking good with Luke and I. I didn't gain much weight this past month, so that's good. I feel like I'm back on track now, thankfully. My doctor said my glucose test came back fine and that I am normal sizewise. That's a relief, because Jonathan was convinced we were having twins, I was so big! :) I go back in two weeks now instead of four!! Less than 10 weeks to go!

Busy Weekend

Well, Jonathan and I are recovering from a hectic, but fun, weekend. It started out Thursday night with Jonathan's birthday. He's the big 2-7 and feeling a little old. :) We didn't really get to celebrate his b-day because he had to work a 12 hour day and didn't get home til nearly 9pm. Too late for a party with family, considering that's bedtime for the kids. I did make him dinner, though, and had two fancy chocolate cupcakes I bought at the store with candles for him to blow out. Friday morning, we got up and headed to Indiana. On Saturday we went to IWU to see my brother graduate. That was fun being back on campus, though it's hard to believe it's been four years since we graduated! After graduation, we all went to Outback to celebrate Jacob's graduation, Jonathan's birthday and my sister's 19th birthday (which is today, actually--Happy Birthday, Em!).
Next we headed out for Cincy to visit our good friends Adam and Tonya and the Chrises for the rest of the weekend (Jonathan took Monday off work, so we had a little extra time). We had a great visit with everyone and got to meet the Chris and Chris' new little girl, Linnea, who was born back in February. We all went frisbee golfing on Saturday and I must say, we were quite a sight! We brought Peyton along with us, so we had two strollers, a dog, and a pregnant lady waddling around. What has happened to us?? haha

Visiting Family

I went down to Indiana this weekend to see my sister star in her high school play. She had a lead as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls. Way to go, Emily! :) While there, we got some pictures of Luke with his Aunt Emily and his Grandma and Grandpa. I'm about 29 weeks now. Woo hoo!

His Name Is....

This is the latest ultrasound (sorry about the lousy color) of our son. It's a profile shot and he's sucking his thumb. :) I checked with Jonathan and he was okay with "officially announcing" his name. haha Although we haven't completely decided on the middle name, we are planning to name him Luke.

Nursery

Jonathan got the nursery painted! Isn't it so cute?? (I'm freaking huge, I know.)

Our New Purchases

We're very excited about our new purchases! Jonathan and I were having an issue with what to do about a car seat and stroller. Jonathan's sister gave us her old car seat/stroller combo but told us the car seat was outdated and she recommended getting a new one. Then his other sister offered to give us their newer stroller but they're keeping the car seat (for their new baby due in June). So we were going to register for a car seat, but weren't sure if we could find one that would be compatible with either stroller. We were out with his sister's family and they suggested going to Sears so they could show us what kind of car seat would work with their stroller. While there, we found a stroller/car seat combo that was on clearance! Plus, Jonathan signed up for a Sears card and got an extra $15 off. Jonathan's parents had given us some money to use for the baby and we had just enough left to cover the stroller and car seat! We were so excited! (Okay, maybe excited is a bit too strong of a word for Jonathan, but I was excited at least!)

Our other purchase was a couch, which we desperately needed. People came over to visit us and we never had enough seating! Plus Jonathan and I could never sit together and cuddle to watch tv (it's hard to cuddle in a papasan when one of you is seven months pregnant!). We found the couch at a store in Grand Rapids that sells gently used furniture. It's practically a brand new couch and we got it for just $200! Jonathan was actually excited about this purchase! :)

I Survived!

Well, I had my glucose screening test last Friday and I made it through with no problems! A big thank you to those who recommended the orange flavor over the cola. It tasted like flat orange pop...not too bad but by the end of the glass I was glad it was gone! I'll try to get the latest ultrasound picture on here by the end of the week. It's so cute--he's sucking his thumb! :)

Update on Baby

I had another doctor's appointment this morning. All is well with baby and me. We do have a name picked out that we've been calling him, so I suppose I could just start calling him that on here, but I'd better check with Jonathan first. He's afraid of commitment when it comes to this poor kid's name. :) Anyway, his heartbeat was 138, which is great. I have to get my glucose screening in a week or so. My doctor said he wants to see me in four weeks, and then after that appointment it will go to every two weeks! How exciting!! I am still feeling pretty good, although I am starting to understand what pregnant women always meant when they said they were "uncomfortable". I feel like I weigh 500 pounds and switching sleeping positions is next to impossible. And I'm only at the start of my third trimester! Jonathan keeps reminding me it will only get worse before it gets better. Thanks, hon. Such great support. ;)

Nothing Too New

It's been a couple weeks since our last post, so I thought we'd update it. Only, there's not much to update you on! Jonathan did get the nursery painted yesterday and it is so stinkin' adorable I almost can't stand it. :) It makes it seem that much more real that this little boy really is coming...and soon! I go back to the doctor next week on Wednesday, so we'll see how things go then. I think I have to take the glucose screening test soon. I've heard it's awful from everyone except my sister-in-law. Get this, her doctor lets her eat 18 jelly beans before she comes in for the test instead of drinking that stuff. She's done this with all three pregnancies! Now, has anyone else heard of this?! I want to know if I can get that hook-up.

Jonathan and I are both working. I've been subbing quite a bit (four days last week!). I enjoy it, though it is tiring after four days straight! The kids make fun of me for my Indiana accent. Apparently, I say certain things wierd. I think they don't know how to say things right in Michigan. I want to take a poll. How do you say the word "crayon"? This is the toughest word for me to say (and I use it a LOT when subbing for kindergarten!). They say it "cran" but I say it more like "crown". I had a kindergartener seriously look at me like I was crazy after I told her to pick up her crayons and she sneered and went, "Did you just say crown?!". It was kind of funny actually. So, wow, this update turned out to be longer than I thought. So, let us know what you think: what is the appropriate pronounciation of crayon? :)

IT'S A BOY!!!

Thanks for your patience...I know it took a while to get the post up. Yes, it's true, we are having a boy and Jonathan is SO excited! :) Though we weren't given a percentage by the ultrasound technician, she did point out his, um, boy parts and they were all clear enough for even Jonathan and I to tell what they were. haha It's so much fun now being able to refer to our baby as a "he" and not an "it". We think we have a name picked out, but Jonathan doesn't want to commit yet, just in case he comes up with another great idea (like Arson--ha!). We got to meet my parents on Saturday and share the news with them. They were thrilled, though not all that surprised--my mom has said from the beginning she thought it was a boy. Jonathan is very proud that the Athearn name will carry on. He has done something his brother can't (or at least hasn't yet): produced a boy! ;) Needless to say, we are absolutely thrilled and cannot wait for his arrival. He has been kicking harder and more often lately and Jonathan was able to feel him kick for the first time on Saturday, which was awesome. It's so wierd to see my stomach twitch and move when he kicks! I forgot to mention in the previous post that the technician said she measured me a bit further along than my doctor, so she gave us a range on my due date from July 3-8. So, he may be here sooner than we thought!

Another Ultrasound

I went to the doctor this past Wednesday and everything looks great with baby and I. I really put on the pounds this past month, though. I can't fit into any of my old clothes anymore and my appetite is insane! Jonathan's upset about this part of the pregnancy because instead of getting all of his meal and part of mine, now he's lucky if I don't eat part of his! :) I was scheduled for another ultrasound and luckily didn't have to wait long--we went Thursday night! It was SOOOO amazing--the baby has grown so much! It was cool to be able to see the baby move on the screen and feel it at the same time. Everything looked good on the ultrasound, too. Our baby even had its fingers in its mouth...too cute!! For those of you who are wondering, YES WE DO KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!! We found out, but will have to wait to post it. We're meeting my parents tomorrow to tell them in person. So, until then...
p.s. Thanks SO much for all the great baby advice...it's been very helpful! :)

Looking for Advice

We're probably going to be registering for the baby here in the next month or so. We've been out looking at various things at different stores and one thing is for certain: we have no idea what we're doing! It's kind of overwhelming, trying to figure out what things are a must, what things we can do without, what brands are good, what things you can skimp on and what things you have to go with top-of-the-line on. So, we're asking for help! If you have any advice about baby stuff, let us know. We'd really appreciate it!! :)