"Luke, I am your father"

Luke and Mommy cuddling
The classic Daddy/Baby picture. I love it!

Just relaxing!

Well, we survived our first outing today. Allison took Luke and I to the doctor to get weighed (he maintained his weight, 8 lbs 6 oz) and to school to visit Grandma Johnson and the students. It went really well and I think that today was the first time all of my students have followed my directions. I told them not to touch him and none of them did. What wonderful kids! I was debating whether or not to take him up there, but I felt like they deserved to see him. They have put up with me being pregnant the entire year, it was only fair for them to see "the finished product." Plus, I have just missed them. It amazes me how attached I get to my students.

Aunt Jill comes in tonight! Yay! Luke is very excited to meet her and Sean. It is going to be a busy weekend since it is also Aunt Allison's 20th birthday, but we are all looking forward to it. There is nothing better than family.

Things are still going really well here. I could just stare at him all day long! He was a little fussy last night, but it wasn't bad. I don't know what I am going to do when I go back in the fall. I don't even want to think about it! It will be so hard!

As for the title of the post, Justin just realized how funny it is that he can say this. They are so cute together, in fact right now they are sitting in Luke's room watching the Royals game. I just love my boys!!

Have a great day everybody!

Home Sweet Home

Baby Luke just being cute!
Bella and Luke hanging out!

The stork sign in our front yard! So adorable!

Luke on his way home from the hospital. Of course the first place we stopped was Wendys for a spicy chicken sandwich, Dad's favorite.

Mommy and Luke right before leaving the hospital.

Well we have been home for 4 days. Justin started back to work today, but is only working half days. It is a little crazy being home with Luke all by myself. I didn't realize that with an infant you really need at least 4 hands! Our first incident was this morning. I was holding him and he was fussy while waiting for his bottle to warm up. As I stood up, I realized that something warm was running down my leg. For some reason, my first thought was, my water broke. Then I realized that had already happened. Oh, we had a diaper malfunction. Yes, he wet all over himself and me. Mind you he is screaming at this point because he is hungry and now I have to get us both changed before I can do anything else. It was lovely. But, we survived and now he is sleeping peacefully and I am showered!

He is sleeping pretty well through the night. We quit supplementing with bottles today, so my guess is tonight is going to be long. I don't mind though since I don't have to get up and do anything other than care for him right now. It is nice!

We went to the doctor yesterday. He gained weight! He is now 8 lbs 6 oz. That is good. We need to get him back up to birth weight!

Bella loves her new little brother. She is constantly checking on him and giving him kisses. Anytime he makes a noise, she is right there. We have to remind her often that he probably doesn't like having her in his face all of the time. She is learning and staying back a little more.

We are just so in love with this little boy! He is just so sweet and cute, I cannot imagine life without him!

Hope to see you soon! Love you all!!

Day 2 with Luke

Some of Baby Luke's visitors
Justin is a great Dad! Plus, he is excellent at swaddling! Luke is very calm after his Daddy swaddles him!

Baby Luke giving Daddy a hug. They are just so cute!

Our Baby Luke!

Luke and his cousin Alyssa! They were born the same day, May 12th! How fun is that?!

So, here we are, Day 2 with our baby! We love him! He is feeding like a champ, sleeps well and is so cute! He has had lots and lots of visitors, all these people who love him. It has been so much fun. Have I mentioned we love him and think he is so cute! I just cannot get over it!

Justin and I are both doing well. I had another fever last night, but with some antibiotics, it went away. I feel better and better every day and today was monumental, I got to take a shower! Yay! I am not stinky anymore! It was one of the greatest things ever. Justin is also sleeping very well. He can sleep though Luke's cries at night, how convenient :). Right now he is holding Luke and just getting him to go to sleep. It is one of the cutest things ever! (I think everything is pretty cute right now!)

Let me tell you all, Justin is the best husband ever. I just want to brag on him a little bit! He has only left my side to get things for me and throughout the whole labor he was amazing. Said the right things at the right time and helped me through the pain. We laughed so much that day. It was awesome! I am so glad I married this man, he is just wonderful!

I hope you are all doing well! If you haven't come by and live close we are at the hospital until Saturday, so feel free to stop by! Luke wants to meet you!!

Lucas Kauffman Agre

He is here and he is amazing!

We checked in to the hospital and started the cervidil at around 9 o'clock on Monday night. Once they put that in, Ashley had to lay still on her back for 2 hours so we watched Major League. She started having some contraction once the cervidil kicked in, but nothing major until at 1:15am on Tuesday I heard, "Either I just wet the bed or my water just broke." Yep, definitely the water breaking. Once the water broke, she had to be on the monitors the rest of the time to make sure baby was ok. That made the hourly bathroom breaks an event. Contractions started getting a lot stronger at this point as well.

At around 3:45 she received a dose of pain medication to take the edge off. She got some of this medication three times throughout the morning. She claims it didn't do much for the pain, but it sure made for some entertainment for me. She got pretty loopy, deciding to name her towel Zack Greinke, changing the baby's name to Huck and naming the drugs Will after William Shakespeare. Bob, Dena, Allison and Joyce all got to experience a little taste of this while they visited during the morning.

For about a month, Ashley had only been dilated to a fingertip and for most of the morning we didn't think it was ever going to progress. But when the nurse checked at 10:25am, she was dilated to 6. At this point we started thinking, oh wow, this is going to happen soon. Things were starting to move along. Ashley did a great job through all of the contractions lasting through 10 hours of labor, but at 11:00am decided she was ready for the epidural. The pain quickly went away and things continued to progress.

At 12:00pm she was dilated to 8 and at 12:10pm she had progressed to 9. She nurse told me I should make sure everyone was in the waiting room because this was going to happen soon. She turned of the pitocin (the drug that induces the contractions) assuming that Ashley's body would take over. It didn't. Contractions slowed down and so did the progress. At 1:05pm the pitocin was restarted. At 2:05pm she was completely dilated. At 2:10 she attempted to push a couple of times, but the nurse decided that we should wait and let the baby drop a little bit more.

Ashley started coming down with a fever around this time. They used Tylenol and an antibiotic to try to break it. They also put "ice packs" (ice in giant maxi pads) under her arms and ice cold wash cloths on her head.

At 4:55 we tried pushing again. She pushed for about an hour with a little bit of progress, but once the baby got to a certain point, it wasn't going to go any further. At 6:25pm the doctor came in to assess and we decided on a C-Section. It was time to get the baby out.

Ashley was taken in to get prepped as I got all dressed in the funny looking jump suit and hair net. At 7:08pm Lucas Kauffman Agre was born. He weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces and 20.25 inches long. I went out to the waiting room to make the announcement. All four grandparents were there along with Aunt Allison and Aunt Julie. Our friends Molly and Breanna were there as well. They were all very excited. Lots of smiles and hugs.

Everybody got their chance to come back and see Ashley and hold Luke. Benny and Kristin made it as well. Ash didn't feel too great after the C-Section, but is doing wonderful now. Luke is healthy and perfect and beautiful. He is feeding well and loves to be held by his Mommy and Daddy.

We're Off!

Today is the big day! We check into the hospital to begin the induction process. The bags are packed, the car seat is installed and we are ready!!! We are both pretty giddy right now!

This has just been a day of waiting! The morning was spent with me watching Christmas Vacation. One of the funniest movies ever! Dad took me out to lunch, we went to Starkers for a nice leisurely lunch, which was nice since I know that won't be happening for a while. I then came home and packed. Bella and I spent the rest of the afternoon reading outside and chasing squirrels. You know we can't bring home a new baby to a yard full of squirrels. (In case you are concerned, I was not the one running around the backyard, I was reading, Bella was chasing).

So we are off now! Going to eat dinner and then to the hospital!! We are taking the laptop so we will update when the baby is here!

Love you all!!!

This baby is coming!!

Heart rate was 130 today and the baby is measuring at 40 weeks. Big baby. Therefore, the doctor decided it was best to induce!! I am so excited that the waiting game will be over! I get to hold our baby! Yay! Monday night at 7 we go in and they will begin the Cervidil. On Tuesday morning they will begin the Pitocin and break my water! I haven't dilated anymore, so this is looking like our best option or the baby will be 25 pounds when it is born (okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.) We are pretty excited!

Also, tomorrow is my last day of work! And, I have the cleanest house ever right now!!! Woo! Off to eat Mexican food! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Natural Labor Inducers

So, as much as I love being pregnant at this point, Justin and I have tried multiple ways to get this baby to come into the world! We just want to hold it and know what it is! We are ready for the next stage of our lives! Here are some of the things we have done: Spicy food (multiple times, nothing happens), pineapple (tasty, but nothing), Pizza Shoppe Pink Stuff (a delicious salad dressing, but once again, nothing), Hummus (nope), walking (the mall, the neighborhood, Kauffman Stadium, fun exercise, but, alas, nothing), yelling at it to get out (we both tried, that probably just made it want to stay in there longer), and Castor oil. Yes, I tried the Castor oil, which did absolutely nothing! But, that leads me into my funny story.

So, Justin, Mom, Dad and I went to the new Japanese Steak House called Happy Banzai, very enjoyable dinner and a nice new experience, so on the way home we stopped at CVS to pick up the Castor oil. Now, I was a little nervous about this because it is supposed to give you diarrhea and possibly make you vomit, which starts your uterus contracting. The thought of sitting on the pot all night and then going into labor really isn't appealing, but at this point I am willing to try anything. After we get in the car, Dad asks to see the bottle because he wants to check it out. Well, I don't know how many of you have heard of this old wives tale, but when you search it, many recipes come up to make "Castor oil cocktails" because the stuff is so nasty. I mixed it into a chocolate malt. So Dad opens the bottle and takes a big swig. GROSS. He starts yelling about how it is the worst thing he has ever had in his mouth and does anybody have anything to get rid of the taste, etc. etc. I mean he is yelling. The rest of us are laughing so hard, I am crying and I can't believe Mom didn't wreak the car. So lesson learned, don't take a big swig of Castor oil. It is disgusting.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and the next time I am posting is because there is a little baby here. We have an appt. on Tuesday (Happy Early Birthday Jill!), so I will post after that!

38 Weeks!!!

Not a lot changes at this point!

Have a great day everyone!

It's May

No matter what, we are having a baby this month!! Crazy!!!! Let's just hope it is sooner and not later, I am READY!!!!!