Luke Blanton (aka Little Brother)

A little piece of Luke's birth story:

Tuesday, September 29th seemed like any other day I had experienced in this pregnancy. I took Zoe to school, but went back home to rest. After picking her up, we went back home and played most all afternoon. Later that night, ZK and I went to Target because I realized that we were out of hand soap and that is MUST have! Matt was on shift that day. After dinner, I put Zoe to bed early. I was tired and wanted to relax a bit.

Around 10:00, I had some contractions. They weren't much to speak of really, just the same ole kind I've been having for a few weeks. I finally went to bed around 12:00.

At 3:40ish, I was awoken by PAIN! Lots and lots of PAINS. They were contractions, but not like any I had experienced with this pregnancy. They started gently in my belly (like the others) but then started burning with pain that wrapped around each side of my belly and met up at my lower back. I thought, hmmm, am I getting a stomach bug or wait.... maybe it's labor, maybe?

I decided to just lay really still thinking they might go away. No such luck. After the first hour containing about 12 or 14 contractions, I thought it was TIME. Remember, Matt wasn't home. He was at work! I decided to go ahead and take a shower because I had a feeling I was going to be going to the hospital. After another hour passed, my mom convinced me to go ahead and call Matt at work. I called the fire department and asked for Matt (who was still sleeping because it was only 5:40). When Matt answered I calmly said, "It's time." Immediately he replied, "I'll be right home. I love you." And, that was about the whole conversation.

Matt called his parents to come over to keep Zoe. I was still a little bit in denial about being in labor! I wasn't fully convinced they would keep me.

We arrived to the hospital around 6:30. By this time, my contractions were coming about every 3-5 mintues and beginning to hurt pretty good.

7:00 am, Calling family to let them know it's BABY TIME!

Contractions=PAIN!

The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and we found out that really the contractions were coming every 2 to 3 minutes-OUCH (this was faster than I thought)! The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 3 cm and 75% effaced. It was at THAT moment that I knew today was baby day!

The nurse called Dr. Beverly (this was about 7:00) to let him know my 'stats' and to see what he wanted to do since I was in active labor at 36 weeks. The nurse quickly came back and said that Dr. Beverly was on his way and that we'd be meeing our baby in about an hour and a half.

WHAT?!?! Everything was happening SO FAST!

I'll spare you the details of my c-section. It went very well! In fact, it was SO MUCH easier than my c-section with Zoe. I was alert and calm-which made all the difference in the world. My pain level was not near as bad and honestly, I felt pretty good by the time I was out of recovery.

This was the last picture we got because our camera decided to quit working IN THE DELIVERY ROOM! UGH! That's another story... we have pics on Matt's cell phone, but I don't know how to load them yet.

At 8:36 am, Luke Blanton entered our family. He weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds, 5 3/4 ounces and 18.5 inches long. He's been melting our hearts ever since that moment.

Zoe meeting getting to hold Luke for the first time.

P.S. More pics and stories to come later. Thanks for all the prayers, calls, visits and love! We are blessed. Also, please excuse any typos, as I've recently taken a pain pill. Feeling a bit groggy right now for sure!