Our Little Boy Arrives

Very early the morning of Wednesday, December 7, we headed over to WakeMed excited and ready to meet our son. It was finally time!

My C-section was scheduled for 8 a.m., but unfortunately we got bumped by an emergency that came in. So we waited, we napped, we watched Sports Center, and I got more anxious by the minute. I worry with too much time on my hands!

Finally, about 9:30 a.m., they said Dr. Rush and the OR were ready for me so off we went...

The surgery took longer than the last two times because apparently there was lots of scar tissue from my previous surgeries. Dr. Rush had told me in pre-op that she would talk to me while she was performing the surgery so I would know what was happening, but she really didn't do that. I started worrying that something was wrong, but then I heard that glorious sound of a baby crying. What an emotional moment that is...to know the precious child that you have dreamed about and carried for so long is finally part of your world!

Luke William Fork was born at 10:30 a.m., weighing 7 pounds and 15 oz, and measuring 21" long. 

As many of you know, we did not come by Luke's name easily. You would think 9 months would be enough time to decide on a name, but we literally decided in the hospital THAT MORNING. No joke as we were driving to the hospital, Brian was like, "I guess we should decide on a name...". Well it's no surprise to me that our little boy ended up with the name I liked from the beginning. :)

The nurses took Luke to the side of the room to be cleaned, and Brian confirmed that he had lots of hair and looked like he was supposed to (I always worry). And that he was really cute!

 

 

Then finally I got to hold him while Dr. Rush finished my surgery...what a surreal moment that is to lay eyes on your child for the first time!

I thought he looked like Addie did when she was born...

We were in recovery for awhile where I was able to lay skin-to-skin with Luke, and then he got to meet his family. I had envisioned the moment where Collins and Addie met their brother for the first time as being very emotional for all of us, but honestly it wasn't. I think they were just nervous about the strange circumstances and I felt really crummy. I was pretty drugged, very woozy, and eventually nauseous so I was just trying to not get sick in front of them and scare them.

But once I pulled it together, the whole family came in so we could celebrate Luke with blue cupcakes (thanks Dad and Heather) and lots of snuggles! 

After we celebrated our newest family member, everybody headed home and Brian and I were left alone with our tiny new person. And isn't it funny timing that Luke was born on the day of the Carolina/Davidson basketball game?? Brian got to watch his first game with his new son hours after he was born! And although that would have been cool if Davidson had won, luckily the Tar Heels pulled out the win. :)

The next three days were a blur of nurses, breast feeding lessons, weight checks, attempts to sleep, and a chance to get to know our new son. I wondered how we were going to occupy our time while at the hospital, but we were strangely busy throughout the whole day. Luke surprised me, and quickly took to breast feeding. Both of the girls had issues with it so we supplemented with formula. I was expecting to do the same with Luke, but from day one he seemed to get it. He latched right on and started getting the milk that he needed thank goodness.

Footprints and first bath!

We are so grateful to Donna and Marty for keeping the girls while we were at the hospital. They had to get them off to school, keep them occupied, feed them, and keep them happy for over three days which is a lot of work! They also brought them to the hospital to see us each day which was needed but perhaps added to everyone's stress. I think it was really hard on them being out of their normal routine, seeing me in a hospital bed, and adjusting to a new brother. Collins had a few big meltdowns at school and Addie got sick (of course at the worst possible time) so I worried about them. But I also knew that they were happy staying with Gigi and Pop Pop which allowed me to concentrate on Luke.

We had a couple of interesting meals in the cafeteria (including one with a piano player serenading us with Christmas songs!)... 

The girls seemed to instantly adore their brother. Collins, the "double big sister", was particularly interested in him and suggested that she and Addie put on a show in honor of Luke using the retractable curtain in the hospital room. :) Addie gave him his first set of nicknames calling him "Lukey" and "Lukey-duck" which made us all laugh.

I was in pretty much pain in the hospital. I think my body took more time to recover from this third surgery, but luckily we had a couple of phenomenal nurses while we were there. My favorites were Keisha- the all-knowledgeable one with six kids at home- who came to check on us after we were no longer in her care...and sweet Caitlyn who took such good care of us and who was having her first baby girl soon. The girls were very interested to find out she was naming her Lyra (like their mermaid at home!).

Luke was a bit tongue-tied when he was born so we had that fixed while in the hospital, and he was also circumcised. He slept a lot that day because thankfully they gave him medicine so he wouldn't be in too much pain.

Not much else to report from the hospital stay except a lot of HGTV and some incredible cinnamon buns that Brian would get me each morning. I'm so thankful for how he took care of me and Luke while we were there.

And I was very thankful for lots of time to snuggle with my newest man...

There wasn't lots of sleeping happening for anyone at the hospital except for Luke so after three days, we were ready to get out of there. But that almost didn't happen because Luke dropped 10% of his body weight. I had to convince the pediatrician that we would supplement his feedings with pumped breast milk at home. So finally on Saturday morning we said goodbye to WakeMed and headed home third child in tow.

Were we ready to operate as a family of five? Probably not...but so happy to try. Welcome to the world, Luke! We could not love you more.