Our Christmas Gift- Welcome Lucas Jude!

Early in the wee morning on December 26, around 1 am I woke up with some sharp contractions. I got up from bed and walked around our bedroom, checking to see if they were at all consistent. They seemed to be, so I finished packing my bag, and tried to wait the suggested 1 hour before waking Steve up. 45 minutes into the contractions, I woke up Steve and told him, "I think we are going to have a baby!" When going into labor with Christian I didn't ever have false labor, or any prior-indicator that he was coming, and I thought that maybe this was true labor in this case too (although in the back of my mind I was a little worried that we would get to the hospital late in the night and my contractions would stop.) We arrived at the hospital a little after 2 am and I was already 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. By 3 am I was 8-9 cm. By this point I felt like I just couldn't finish the labor naturally, so they gave me a little relief. The spinal block slowed down my labor and made that last cm take awhile longer, but by 5:13 am we welcomed our sweet, healthy baby boy! Lucas Jude was 7 lbs. 11 oz, and 20 1/4 inches long. My labor couldn't have been easier and I am so thankful for such a short delivery, and a full term baby! Praise God!!It was also a huge blessing that Steve's parents arrived the night before on Christmas Day. What perfect timing! Funny though, we didn't tell Steve's parents that we were going to the hospital because Steve didn't want to wake them late in the night. Unaware to us, they both had their cell phones charging in our kitchen and didn't receive our texts or phone calls in the night. So by 8 am we were becoming a little concerned that no one was answering- Steve returned to the house, Christian was happily playing in the family room and Grandpa and Grandma were sleeping in after a long day of traveling. :o) But it still all worked out. I wasn't released from the hospital until Wednesday and Christian, Daddy, Grandpa, and Grandma came to visit Lucas and I a couple times a day (so nice to be 15 minutes away from the hospital this time!) Although I don't feel like I have been able to spend much quality time with my in laws this visit, I am so thankful for the attention they have given Christian and help that they have provided this week. So glad that they could be here to share in this exciting time with the arrival of our sweet new arrival!