Welcome to our world, Luca Ryan!

Our sweet boy is almost a week old, how is that even possible? I think that almost daily about each of our children, like OMG how can my first son be almost 2 and OMG when did Bella's legs get SO long? They grow so quickly. I guess I should post his birth story since after all the blog is for my kids, so they can know me, understand me and feel my emotion through this outlet.

I had fallen asleep on the couch around 9 and at 10:05pm Ryan woke me up to come to bed, I sat up and my water broke. Just like that, I said "Oh shit, my water just broke, are you ready to have a baby?" My husband just said "oh shut up" and I said "No really, for real, my water broke". I went to the bathroom and more came out. I told Ryan to pack up and I got in the shower to shave my legs and just try to wake myself up a bit. Ryan came in and did his typical dance on his toes and said "what should I be doing right now?" We both laughed and I told him to pack what he thought he needed and call his dad to let him know that we'd be needing him to watch the kids. He came in and out of the bathroom about 3 times all antsy and very adorable and finally I said "do what you need to do so I can shower" and out he went. He was excited, sweet guy!

At 11pm his dad came over and 11:10 another gush of water came out. I changed quick and we left to get some food on the way. We stopped at McDonald's around 11:40pm. We had to go to 3 different McDonalds before we found one that was opened. Go figure! All the while, I was having contractions in the truck about every 10 minutes. At 12:20 am we arrived at West Allis Memorial and got to the triage room, where we met our nurse for the night, Scottie Lynn. She checked me around 12:50am, I was dilated to a 2.5, baby was at -2 station and the test to see if it was actually my water that broke was positive. My contractions totally stopped at this point.

From 12:50am to about 2:30 am I sat hooked up to a monitor trying to get a tracing on the baby. Every time Scottie would find the baby, baby would flip over. Finally they got the tracing and I was able to walk around from about 2:30 until about 3:30 am. Scottie and I thought that if I walked, the contractions might start up again. Ryan slept on the couch, although he swears he wasn't sleeping. I took multiple pictures of him and he didn't flinch, so I'm still standing my ground that he was asleep. I walked until about 4am when the contractions were really becoming painful, I woke Ryan up to help me through them. Scottie checked me, I was only dilated to a 3.5 and baby was -2 station still. Scottie started my IV and I was crying in pain. I kept trying to breathe through them but I was having a tough time and I asked for the epidural.

Dr Campbell came in at 4:30am. He was quite a jerk to Scottie, go figure. At 4:38 am, they did a test dose and Scottie said my contractions were "Coupling" which meant they were one on top of each other and there was no break between them. The epidural finally started working, only the side effect that I had was itching like a crack head. OMG it was nuts, I felt like I wanted to scratch my skin off!

At 5:20, I was dilated to a 6.5-7cm and baby was at a 0 station. Scottie was shocked that I dilated in about an hour from a 3.5 to a 7! At 6:10 am, there was only a "lip" of the cervix, which means I was almost fully dilated and baby was at 0 station. She had me lay on my right side and sit up to try to bring baby down.

Scottie called the OB, who was Dr Dolan. She had me do a trial push at some point and then had me stop mid push because she said "if you don't stop, I'll be delivering this baby". Dr Dolan came in, gowned up and then I started pushing with the next contraction. Turns out, I pushed once then Dr Dolan told me to look down and see my baby. The baby was out to about his tummy. I could see his dark purple face and his mouth open like he wanted to cry but no noise came out. I said "Oh My GOD!" Then I took one more breath and pushed again and out he came. Dr Dolan lifted him up, we saw that "it" was a BOY and Dr Dolan put him on my bare stomach/chest. I pushed for ONE contraction so about 60-90 seconds. He stayed there for an hour, he nursed and I held him and cried, I cuddled him and enjoyed those moments. It was so serene and peaceful.

Luca Ryan was born on February 7th at 6:59 am, weighing 9lbs 7 oz and 21.5 inches long. I'm thrilled that we have another boy. I can't even explain it. I didn't care initially but once he was here and he was out, this mama was happy the way everything turned out. Bella will have 2 brothers to protect and love her. She will always be Daddy's only girl. Grayson will have a brother so close in age to play sports with and be rough and tumble boys with.

It was by far the easiest labor and the easiest delivery out of all of my babies. Ryan said right away "you were a rockstar, that was amazing"

I've been completely blessed. For the first time in my life, I feel like our family is complete. I feel completely content with our little babies, with my life, my husband, my world, I'm at a very peaceful place. Yes I've cried, yes I'm still emotional, I mean come on, I gave birth a week ago, the hormones are still raging.

Ryan told me tonight that this time I'm a rockstar and that I'm doing better post partum than I have with any of the kids. He commented how happy I was even going on no sleep. I actually feel pretty good. I'm trying to embrace all of the moments a little more. Tonight, I read a book (The Little blue truck) to Grayson over and over again, I think we read it 4 times. He loves that book. I sat on the floor with Bella after Grayson went to bed and we colored, the 3 of us, Ryan, Bella and I. Both times, I wasn't distracted about what I could have or should have been doing. I just enjoyed the moments with my babies.

My heart overflows with joy, with love, with peace. I'm at a good place. I'm in love again. I fell in love with husband, I fell in love with my daughter and I've fallen in love with each of my sons.