Luke Emil

I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks and on Friday morning I had an OB appointment. I walked away disappointed. Nothing had changed, still at 2 cm. I took a deep breath and decided I would most likely be pregnant for another week. In the evening, we briefly attended the Valentine's party at church. I felt huge and the baby was stretching, it felt overcrowded in there.

I tried to get Annika to go to sleep, but she wasn't willing. I started to get painful, more frequent contractions and was hoping to get to bed soon so they would go away. Finally, around 9:30 PM, I decided to take Annika downstairs so I could get ready for bed. The contractions kept getting stronger, so I told Nate. I was going to wait a while to see if they would last. They kept getting closer together and I ended up calling Mylene who came right over to stay with the kids. Nate drove me to the hospital around midnight. I was really hurting now and was starting to get the shakes. Surely I couldn't be in transition yet. At the hospital, I couldn't even walk, the contractions were too strong and too frequent. I got checked in and found out I was at 7 cm already! I asked for an epidural and when I got to the delivery room, I got up on the bed somehow and a minute later I felt something pop and then a gush of fluid. I was amazed... I never thought that would actually happen to me, my water breaking without help. Much less that the baby would come before the epidural. I'm so grateful though. What an experience! I actually had a baby come before the due date and a fast (less than 4 hours) delivery. I didn't think that would ever happen to me!

Under the warmer

Little Footprints

Luke Emil was born February 14th at 1:10 AM. He is such a cute little guy, although he's really not that little. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 2 oz (4149 grams) and was 20 1/2 inches (51 cm) long at birth. He's doing great and eating lots. I'm tired, but feeling good.

We finally got to come home from the hospital today and the kids were so excited to hold their new baby brother. They got to go to the rodeo with friends this morning and this afternoon they played with Mylene and her kids. I feel so grateful for how everything went and the love and support of family and many friends. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures.

Thank you Mylene, for being such a great help

Thank you all for your prayers, help with the kids, dinners, etc, etc. I'm so very thankful to be surrounded by many wonderful people.