A brother is a friend given by nature

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown

I had read somewhere that when you introduce older child to new child at the hospital it is best to not be

holding the new child so the older child does not see their new sibling as a barrier between you and them. Could be a bunch of mumbo jumbo but I thought it seemed like a good idea.

So when my sister brought Judah to the hospital, the baby was resting in his baby cart. Judah

climbed into the hospital bed with me and said he missed me and he wanted to cover up with

me so he climbed under my covers and we cuddled up. We told him that his baby brother,

Lucas, was here and that he had brought him a present! (another little tip I had read about

and seemed like a good idea) So Lance brought the baby all swaddled over to the bed

along with a gift that was wrapped up (a cute little froggy family).

Judah was excited about the gift and we unwrapped it, lots of squeals of happy! and then he

turned to me and asked if we could unwrap the baby too :) haha. So we "unwrapped" the baby

so Judah could see the babies hands...he was very concerned about seeing if Lucas had hands.

Judah had also made a sign for our hospital door with his auntie. He helped hang it up and we

had a really nice visit before little Lucas was whisked off for another little appointment.

Since we have been home, Judah has been incredibly sweet to his little brother.

He calls him his baby sister and baby brother at different times...he confuses "he" and "she"

when talking about the baby and has called him "baby Noah" more times than baby Lucas.

(Our friend Hannah has a baby Noah and a baby Liam, twins, that Judah spends lots of time

around) but that is all semantics. He has also declared that baby to be

"so sweet mama" and has given him lots of hugs and kisses.

This morning he was holding baby Lucas (with my help) and started shaking his booty

and wanted Lucas to shake his booty too...haha. It was hilarious.

So we all shook our booties and laughed. It was fun.

If Lucas makes any little noises or cries Judah declares that "he needs nursies mama, k?"

and says he wants to keep baby safe.

It is a very special thing to watch. I am overwhelmed as their mother to see them already

learning to love each other. I know they will fight and have their issues like any siblings, but

they will have many many memories of sweet family time too. I know that it will be a special

relationship. Have I mentioned before how glad I was when I found out we were having

another boy? I couldn't have been any happier about it, because I knew that the bond of

brothers is something precious...I am glad they will always have each other.

God is good and life is sweet!

For all those who want the details of Lucas Wylde's birth story, here ya go!

So my due date came and went...talk about frustrating. I was feeling so uncomfortable and tired. I knew he was big. And I knew he was getting bigger by the minute. I was really looking forward to my next doctor appt where we would decide what to do next.

The night before that appointment I started having contractions regularly. Every 8-12 minutes until around 2 in the morning...then they tapered off and I went to bed...the next morning they were like 20 minutes apart and I was losing hope.

We went to the doctor appointment which started with an ultrasound. The ultrasound tech kindly asked me how big my first baby had been, I told her Judah was 9#13oz and she said, "so you've already had a big baby, that's good...this one is measuring at 10#14oz" um. awesome. I had figured as much...I mean, Judah was huge and he was born a day early. I was almost 5 days late with this babe, so of course he was bigger!

Well Dr. Storck brought up c-section which I said no to right away. I knew my body was made to have big babies and wasn't worried. She agreed and then asked when I wanted to induce..."um, how about NOW!" ha. She asked me when I had last eaten and the next possible moment they could induce was at 5:00 pm. So we agreed to the time and off we went!

Judah was with a friend for the morning and my sister, who was just coming into town was going to pick him up...so Lance and I had a last "date day" to pass the time. I got a mani/pedi and then we went and saw the movie "Real Steel" It was a really fun way to pass the time. And during the movie my contractions were back to being around 8-10 minutes apart.

At my doctor appt I was dilated to a 2 and when I was admitted to the hospital I was at a 3...so my body was getting ready which was good.

By 6:00 I was hooked up to my IV (bless the kind nurse who did it where I asked so it wouldn't hurt) and I had my epidural in place...ahhh sweet relief.

Let's talk epidurals...so my epi with Judah was bad, I know that now. I didn't know it then. I had no range of motion and little to no feeling at all during the entire time it was in. My epi with Lucas was ideal...I could move my legs a little bit, I could feel everything, but had no pain. It was awesome. I could hug those anesthesiologists...they were great.

Around 11 o'clock I started really feeling the contractions...it wasn't painful but it was uncomfortable and I knew my body was ready...I was also obsessing over the fact that I was STARVING hungry...you all know that I have suffered Hyperemesis this whole pregnancy, eating has been a challenge but a necessity in order to keep the nausea/puking at bay. I reached a point of hunger that I knew I was going to throw up...and I did. So that was awesome. But the nurses took it as a sign that maybe I was ready to start pushing, so they set my room up and we got going.

Lance went over the game plan for counting and pushing with the nurse so we were all on the same page, and we were ready...both Lance and I thought it would take a while...I pushed for 2 hours with Judah...and this baby was supposed to be big. We really thought it would take some time.

However, 14 minutes later it was all over! It would have been over sooner, but the doctor wasn't in the room so they made me stop pushing (ha, as if that's possible) and kept hollering for the doctor to "HURRY!" lol. Next thing I knew, Lucas was crying and they laid him across my body while they cleaned him up and took care of me.

We had asked to do delayed cord cutting for the benefits of the remaining pulsing blood that passes into the baby when you wait (lowers anemia risks among other benefits) and the doctors were more than happy to comply as it is part of their standard practices now (have I mentioned I love my doctor?) Lance cut the cord and they took Lucas and did all the things they needed to, including weighing him.

We were all super curious what his weight would be, we even ventured guesses in the lower 10# range...we were all surprised when the baby nurse showed the scale as 11#1oz...what a big boy! and what a cutie. totally chubby and sweet :)

I only had 2nd degree tears (compared to the 4th degree ones with Judah that took me forever to recover from) and I really felt good all things considering.

My recovery has been 100% better than my other recovery. I was up and walking with in a couple hours. I guess Judah blazed a trail for this one ;) that's what the nurses kept saying. ha :)

We were able to get out on Thanksgiving and head home for turkey and pie with our "Nashville Family".

Such a blessing and so so so much to be thankful for.

I was treated like a hero at the hospital by all the doctors/nurses/other moms because I gave birth to an eleven pound baby (and 1 ounce people! don't forget that extra ounce! ha!) which I found to be slightly entertaining. I guess because it happened to me, and it wasn't that bad, it doesn't seem like a big deal...although, when I think about it, it does. Hard to explain...lol.

I am really really enjoying Lucas. I will post pictures and tell the story of Judah and Lucas first meeting later on :) It was sweet.

We are nursing and it's going really good. I was a little sore the first day, but we have already worked out the latch and it's going great.

I am just so happy to be done with pregnancy and to have my little family all under one roof. The next month will be so fun, with the holidays and family visits and lovely memories. God is good and life is sweet!

Future Lottery Winner

Introducing my little turkey!

Just in time for Thanksgiving...

Lucas Wylde Lockhart

11 pounds 1 ounce and 22 inches long!

Born 11-22-11 at 11:34 pm

(I think his lucky numbers are 11 & 22, what do you think?)

I'll come back later and tell the birth story and all the fun baby details, but for now I'll leave you with a couple sweet photos of my precious family.

My new little one!

Home sweet home!

overdue

yup. I'm overdue. My due date has come and gone...sigh...I am not a fan of overdue.

My boys...

He's still in there...sigh...I am HUGE!

Lots of braxton hicks but nothing else going on...8 days till my due date. Good times.

hide and seek

These boys get a huge kick out of hiding from each other,

jumping out behind things and yelling "boo!"

It's pretty funny to watch them.

Jbyrd

I love my little Jbyrd. He is a joy.

Mostly. Ha.

He's in a terrible 2 phase where things like running away from mom and dad

and doing the exact opposite of what we tell him is his idea of a good time.

Pray for us. Or more importantly, pray for him...haha, he gets in trouble a lot.

New baby is going to be here soon and I imagine it's only gonna get worse before it gets better.

It's just part of the fun of being a parent and I wouldn't trade it...but I could use a day off.

I think overall I've gotten off pretty easy with this child, so I'm not complaining.

Just sharing our current reality.

On a good note, he's been napping this week. Glory.

This preggo mommy needs the naps too so it's been good!