Come and meet Luke!

First things first, this is Talmage writing. I dedicate this post to Johanna, doctors, nurses, and epidurals. I admit, I was scared for today. Johanna has filled my mind with all sorts of threats about how scary she planned be on the delivery table. My vision of childbirth was one of a wife screaming in pain, and at the key moment of delivery I imagined what the repercussions would be for me as a husband who passed out.
My fears were far from realized and have been replaced,for the moment, with a feeling of peace and pure joy. This is a photo-journalistic trip through the events that occurred over the past 24 hours.

Johanna got an epidural after progressing to 4.5 cms naturally. She was a bit fearful, but the process was basically painless, and made the next 4 hours so nice, for husband and especially wife.



After the epidural it was as simple as a nice waiting game. I went to the cafeteria and had lunch, Johanna napped, and her body did all of the work on its own, without even letting her know. She quickly dilated all the way, and then it was time to push. Luke did his part in lining up properly, nice and low, and we were done in about 45 minutes! I got to help with the pushing, and I even cut the cord when Luke came out, (only took me 2 trys! Doc says that I was impressive!) No but seriously, Johanna was very impressive.



Before delivery the Dr. called in the Intensive Care team, because they new Luke would need Merconium (fancy word for baby poop) vacuumed out of his lungs, not a big deal, it all happened right in the room, everyone was calm, and it went fine. Luke looked like he had been rolling around in Cheetos dust.



After the short drama, he got weighed, and measured. 7 pounds 1 ounce. 21.5 inches. He is on the skinny side for a nine month gestation, but Johanna and her body are OK with that so long as he starts to fatten up now,



After measurement, they brought him over to his Mommy for some skin to skin contact. This was my favorite picture and one of my favorite moments when I caught the emotion of the moment on Johanna's face.



We moved upstairs, took a few visitors, and love our new baby. He's pretty fun, I got to hold him by the window, and look up at the snowy mountains and tell him a story about bears. I'm not sure if that was appropriate or not, better I don't think its ever too early to caution babies about the dangers of bears, especially when they will have to deal with such confusing influences like Teddy Bears. These are a few pics of grandparents with Luke. See what you think, but I think he has Johanna's mouth, nose, and chin. Unless his head changes shape, like babies heads often do, I think he has the same head shape that I do.






After all was said and done, Johanna went about 2 and a half days without sleep, and she was due for some needed rest. She is right next to me sleeping peacefully. For those of you who know about my baby experiments, you better believe they are about to get better, and yes, I've got Luke and Johanna both pacified with binkis.



Thanks for your support, To all a good night. Talk to you soon.