The Most Photographed Child Ever

I know I take a lot of pictures but who wouldn't with this adorable little subject! I have to take at least 10 of the same shot to get one that I am satisfied with. Tonight's photo shoot was done in the bathtub and Luke was workin' it. He's going to really dislike my photography in about 12 years when we break out the numerous naked baby photos.

I totally missed my calling. Forget corporate HR, I really should have been a photographer. Now, I'm not saying I take the best pictures or anything, but I clearly have a passion for the camera. If I could just talk a certain someone into buying me a ridiculously expensivc camera...hmm, I'll put that on my list!

Snapshot in Time

So that Luke will know what Matt and I looked like at this point in time, I'm including a picture taken the day after my 29th birthday. Uncle Nick was kind enough to come and babysit while we headed out to dinner and a movie (Slumdog Millionaire).

Where We Are Today

So Luke is currently 20 months old! I think he weights about 26 pounds now and loves to be carried. I've been visiting a chiropractor.

Things Luke loves to do:
making messes, harassing our two cats, throwing food on the floor, flopping about on the couch, climbing, reading books, dancing to music, riding in his wagon, riding his bike, playing with playdoh

Things Luke hates:

wearing clothes,going to bed, having his nose wiped, getting his hair cut, taking naps, sitting in his high chair, sharing toys

Favorite Toys:

cell phones (must be activated with a monthly calling plan of more than 200 minutes)!!, anything electronic, toy vacuum, the dustbuster (real one), keys, cleaning supplies, his piano, Thomas the train, our laptop, his laptop

Favorite Words:

ice,bath, trash, star (sta), kitty, book (Buh), boots (boos), eyes, socks (sos), pants, purse (murse), duck, dog, dada, keys, banana (ba), cookie (cook), milk, yes (yesh), boo boo (boo)...more that I can't think of right now.

A Quick History

Because I am starting this blog and Luke is already 20 months old, I need to fill in a little bit of history that I want captured in the blog. This will be a long post so if you know the story, you might want to skip this one!

I found out that I was pregnant on September 16, 2006 (which now feels like forever ago) and had my first doctor's appt. at 8 weeks on November 9, 2006. It was determined that my due date would be June 21, 2007. Matt and I decided to do the genetic testing and by the time we had the results back, we were headed home to NY for Christmas. We decided to tell everyone the big news on Christmas morning with little ultrasound pictures wrapped up in gold boxes. These days, we are often asked when we are producing more gold boxes!

I had a pretty uneventful pregnancy for the first 2 trimesters. My only complaint was the horrible morning sickness that I had from 6-13 weeks. During this time, my favorite foods were McDonald's french fries, cheese, Fruity Pebbles cereal and orange juice. Quite the mix! I couldn't stand most odors so walking into grocery stores, especially Whole Foods (which smells like dead fish) was my least favorite activity. Matt and I almost got divorced over the smell of a pork tenderloin he cooked for himself.

The Birth

As I said, the pregnancy was uneventful for the first two trimesters but then we were in for a big surprise in trimester 3. Luke decided to come early with no warning at 33 weeks. 7 weeks early. Almost 2 months early. My water broke as I was getting out of bed on Friday, May 4, 2007. I knew right away that I wouldn't be going to work that day but I didn't think I'd have a baby 6 hours or so later. I decided to take a shower, do my hair, put on my makeup, even pluck my eyebrows - in the event that this was truly a false alarm. When I finished getting ready, I called the answering service for my doctor's office and spoke to Dr. Herman. She instructed me to go to the hospital and she told me that she would call ahead for me. Thinking that I wasn't truly in labor, I didn't bring anything with me (not that I had my hospital bag packed at that point anyway).

Matt and I headed off to Prentice Women's Hospital at about 8:00am and as soon as we got onto Lake Shore Drive, we were stunned by two things: 1-the terribly backed up traffic and 2-I started having real contractions exactly 5 mins. apart. Laboring in rush hour traffic isn't so fun.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 - got checked in, hooked up to an IV and the doctor came around 9:00 or so. Dr. Katz said "You aren't supposed to be here for another few weeks!" Duh. Anyway, she wanted to check me to make sure my water had actually broken and that I wasn't mistaking the fluid for something else. Yep, sure enough, I was right, my water had broken (they tell you in Labor and Delivery class that you'll think your water has broken but it probably hasn't). She told me I was already 3 cm dialed and then announce, "You're going to have this baby today!" Today? Really? Wow.

I think at this point I instructed Matt to call all of the parental units as well as all of the my girlfriends from college who were on their way to Chicago for my first baby shower. All of the girls decided to continue on their way - I'm pretty sure that they were extra motivated to come since I was in labor! My mom was in the middle of washing all of the curtains in her house and Matt's parents were both working.

Back to the story, I received the lovely epidural around 10:45. They kicked Matt out of the room for this one -apparently this is an event that causes husbands to faint. Matt continued with phone calls while I was being saved from labor pains.

When they finished giving me the epidural, Matt came back in and we just kind of hung out for the next 1.5 hours. Also during this time, we talked to the NICU team and all that. At about 12:00 noon, I had some pain and thought my epidural had worn off. Matt called for the doctor so they could come and give me more epi meds. Dr. Katz came in and said she just wanted to check me before she called for more meds. To her surprise and ours, I was fully dilated and ready to push. 7 cm in 1.5 hours is really fast.

I started pushing at 12:30 and Luke was born at 12:46 PM. He weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz and was 17 inches longs. He even received 8's and 9's on his apgar scores. The doctors told us that he was pretty big for a preemie and that his very thick umbilical cord meant that he was well nourished in the womb. Matt got to see Luke being weighed and took his first picture and I got to see Luke when he was wheeled by my bed on his way to the NICU. Luke spent 12 days in the NICU and came home on May 16, 2007 at 5 lbs.