Luke’s Birthday

It’s hard to believe that Luke is four weeks old.  Everything still feels very new and yet I feel like we’ve always had him.  Before I get going on Luke’s birth day, let me first back up to when Ford (my first son) was born and share that everything that could go wrong absolutely did – failed induction, complications for baby, c-section for mama, multiple rounds of mastitis, colic,  reflux, horrible postpartum depression and finally a trip via ambulance to the ICU for a double blood transfusion because of a stomach ulcer for yours truly – and that was just the first five weeks!   Needless to say we got off to a rough start as parents but we ended up with a healthy happy baby and I wouldn’t trade any of it.  Now here we are with the greatest little guy we could ever imagine (I’m talking to you Ford Kale) AND we were willing to go through it all again!

I have been senstive about sharing this publically with consideration for folks struggling with fertility or other issues and I would never want to complain about my experience.  I do however think it’s okay to be real once in a while in a glossy world so that if other moms are struggling they can know they aren’t alone!  If you or someone  you know is having a tough time with any of the above then PLEASE reach out because let me tell you, when you start talking to other mama’s you start learning just how common it all is. Plus, I feel it’s important for you to know a little bit about our last experience so I can share openly about this experience!

Okay…now onto Luke’s BIG DAY!

Because Ford was born via c-section, my OB and I decided after weighing all the options that it would be best to go that route again.  The positive side is that it’s planned and you know exactly what’s going to happen, the negative side is that you know exactly what’s going to happen (deep breaths).  We checked in to the hospital about 10:30am on July 9th for a 12:30 c-section and the waiting around was the hardest part.  I couldn’t help but have flashbacks of my last experience and yet I was giddy with excitement to meet this little angel.  Lucky for me I have a fabulous husband who was able to keep my mind off of everything like the fact that I was STARVING since I was not able to eat after midnight the night before!

At about 1:00 the nurse came to get me and I walked myself right into that operating room, hopped up on the table, it took about 3 mins to give me a spinal tap and before I could blink I was draped and Trevor was coming in to be by my side along with my precious Dr. Uribe and his nurse practitioner Kim.  They got started right away and before I knew it they gave my belly a hard push, I heard that first cry and just like that Luke Majors Kale was born!  We got a sneak peek over the drape and we immediately started crying and saying “look at all of that hair”…”he looks just like Ford”….”look at that pout” and then I got to actually hold him.  This was something I was unable to do with Ford because we were both in pretty bad shape last time so I was so happy that we got to bond right away.  They kept him in the room right beside me so I could see him getting cleaned up and then we got to be in recovery together.

After a couple of hours in recovery, the got us settled in our room just in time for big brother and all of our family to show up (I was also finally able to eat!!!).  Other than the surgery, the thing I was most worried about was how would my sweet Ford handle it all (literally cried about it everyday for about a week leading up).  I was anxious for them to meet and I can’t even tell you how big he looked when he walked into the room!  How do they grow like 4 years in a couple of hours?  He wanted to come check on me first and see what all of my “bracelets” were about and then we was ready to go see “Baby Wuke”…still working on our “L’s” at The Kale Patch!

We decided to have Luke in his bassinet so that he and Ford could meet on their own rather than Ford seeing me hold a new baby right away.  He climbed up on a chair and was absolutely beside himself with excitement.  

He immediately needed his “Gigi” and “Jana” to come see him and you could tell he was so proud (and so were the grandma’s of course).  

Uncle Mark arrived and Ford became the host of the hospital as he led each visitor over to meet his new baby brother!

The we decided to try and get a family photo of all four of us so we let Ford (very carefully) climb into bed with me and Dad brought Luke over.  Melissa snapped very quickly which was good because about 2 mins later Ford was saying “put it back” and he was ready for Luke to go back into the bassinet (he still says that a month later).

CHEESE!!!  Our first family photo of all four of us…I still can’t believe it!

It’s crazy how quickly they change.  Just looking at these photos I can see how different he already looks and he’s already outgrowing his newborn clothes.

Melissa was able to sneak a few shots of me and Luke without Ford getting too jealous and I just love that we have these images.

Daddy and Luke are already having fun together and there have been plenty of “Luuuuuke…I am your father” jokes and Trev can never resist a Heisman pose with his little swaddled football! #ohdads

Is this not the sweetest photo you’ve ever seen?  It truly shows how excited these grandmas were to get ANOTHER little grand baby!

What is it about becoming a mother that just makes you totally revisit what a super mom your own mom is?  I don’t know where I’d be without her and her sacrifices and she has shown me how graceful you can do it all.  I am incredibly blessed to have her around to help me and these boys are so lucky to have her has their Gigi!In the interest of full disclosure, at the time of these pictures I still had a pain block and was all “I feel amazing”…”this is so different” etc. so it was easy to to touch up my makeup and hair and pull it together for these pics.  Day 2 was BRUTAL with the pain but we have been recuperating well.  Trevor (as always) has been a super dad managing two kiddos and a healing wife and I don’t know what I’d do without him!  I have been much more relaxed with this second kiddo and so far so good he’s a pretty laid back baby!

I’m slowly getting back to blogging but in the meantime you can follow along on Instagram for the latest as we figure out how to manage life with TWO boys!

CONTRIBUTORS:

PHOTOGRAPHY:  Melissa Glynn has spent the past six year developing a style that aims to show off just how fantastic you are.  This self proclaimed “Texas girl” loves creating images that are classic, timeless, and lovely.  When she’s not behind the camera she loves playing with her pup “Nolte”, riding bicycles, traveling, yoga, and a really great glass of red zinfandel!

Get connected on her website, Twitter and Instagram!