On Monday, June 19th at 8:15 am, Michael Luke Kirby finally arrived (he was only 2 days late, but we were past ready for him to get here). Kim went into labor on Sunday night around 7:50, but did not go to the hospital until after 1 am because she did not feel as if her contractions were strong enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Judging from her demeanor once at the hospital, the nurses determined that she couldn't actually be in labor yet because she was far too calm and walking much too easily. They took her back into a room just to be sure, where the nurse was astonished to find that she was at 5.5 cm dilation, so they promptly moved her to a better room. Evidently they did not want to mess up one of the 'good' delivery rooms for someone they felt they would just turn around and send home. The new room was much nicer, with its own private bathroom (the other shared with another room) with a jacuzzi bathtub and more space. The tub was a wonderful thing during her transitional labor.
Her labor went very smoothly and she seemed relatively comfortable until about 4 am, when her labor got very intense. She was amazing though, and managed to deliver Luke with no pain medication whatsoever. Especially impressive considering his size - 9 lb. 6 oz. 20.5 in. Our nurse, Carry and our midwife Judy were amazing. He's completely healthy and absolutely beautiful. I know, I'm his dad and I'm biased, but everyone else seems to think so too. Other than the swelling on his head from labor, he hasn't looked much like a newborn. He looks more like a 2 week old already. His skin is not mottled at all, and he has very plump little legs and arms. (He also has enormous feet)
A little over 24 hours after the delivery we were able to bring him home, and he has been a very easy going little guy so far. He tends to get very fussy around 2:30 to 4:30 am, but I discovered last night that the sound of the TV puts him to sleep, so here's to hoping that trick continues to work. I watched some of the bonus features of the LOST Season 1 dvd Kim and I had been watching. It could just be that Luke found the characters voices comforting though because he had heard them so much in the weeks leading up to his birth. His parents had been somewhat addicted.
He also has had lots of hands around to hold him. He has already met all four of his grandparents, his Great Grandmother Travis, and his Uncle Mike. He seems to like them all, and they certainly like him. They have all headed back home except for Grandma Bev. She is staying around to help, which has been greatly appreciated. I'm expecting she'll probably go back home around the time Luke turns 18. For those of you who have not met her, she is very excited to have a grandbaby.
Our Nurse Carry and Midwife Judy
If you'd like to see some more pictures of Luke (and trust me you do, because he's maybe the cutest baby ever) then you can go to my
photosite page.
Incidently, his miracle swaddling blanket has been terrific - thank you Ken and Victoria):
