Life's Greatest Blessings: Welcome Samuel!!

We officially welcomed Samuel Reid Lueckemeyer into our family on November 21, 2012 at 1:23 P.M. He weighed in at 9 lb. 2 oz. and was 21.25" long. He has long, dark hair and the cutest chubby cheeks!

Since Aliceson was 5 cm. dilated at her appointment on November 15, we made the decision to consider induction so he could be born when Aliceson's doctor was on call and we could have family in town already to take care of Caleb. Aliceson's doctor was sure she would go into labor on her own before the induction date since all signs pointed to labor starting at any time but no such luck! We went in at 7:00 the morning of November 21, Dr. Westmoreland broke her water, they started a very slow Pitocin drip around 8:00, inserted the epidural when Aliceson was about 7 cm., and she was fully dilated by around noon. We let Samuel labor down (come down farther in the birth canal on his own) for a while and Aliceson began pushing at around 1:00. He was born at 1:23, much faster than brother came!! As soon as he was born they placed him on Aliceson's chest, skin to skin, and although he was crying when he came out, he settled right away. Within an hour he was nursing and then they got him cleaned up, weighed, bathed, clothed, etc. The first night he was pretty fussy and wanting to nurse constantly but settled in the second night and has been doing well; eating every 3 hours or so and sleeping in between. He has a tongue tie that will be clipped in the near future which should make nursing him a lot easier on Aliceson, thank goodness!

We were going to come home on Thanksgiving Day but big brother Caleb had a fever and cough so we decided to stay at the hospital one more day to give him time to get rid of the bug he was fighting. We came home in the early afternoon of Friday, November 23 to a very excited Caleb waiting. He has been SO loving to Samuel so far (I know this will change once the newness wears off!). Caleb constantly wants to check on Samuel, kiss his forehead, gently pat his head, rub his hair, and comments that "he's just soooo cute"! It's the sweetest thing! He insisted on sleeping our room the entire night the first night Samuel was home and even got up to check on him once to make sure he was still there. :)

Overall, we are doing great. So glad to have him home, Aliceson is thankful to not be pregnant anymore, sleep deprived but loving life! We are so blessed to have had family willing to stay here and take great care of Caleb while we were gone as well. Here are some pictures of our newest addition. Hope you all can come meet him soon!!