Duke's story (sorry, pictures to come)

Duke is asleep and Will is at a friend's, so I'll try to type as quickly as possible and I'll upload pictures later. Duke Lane McAllister was born on Monday, June 7th at 10:36 pm after a very very very easy delivery. He weighed in at 9 lb. 1 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. He came out with lots of fat rolls, a double chin, and massive cheeks. All very cute.

Last week, I had prayed that I could go into labor on my own because being that this could be my last pregnancy, I really wanted to feel how it should feel doing it the "real way" and not being induced. Since we were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, I was running out of time. I started having contractions on Sunday evening and tried to keep them coming, but they stopped when I went to bed. Monday morning I hit the gym and walked for an hour and by the time I went home and showered, I was having contractions again and they didn't stop. So Cortney and I timed them over text messages for an hour or 2 and decided it was time to pack up and go to the hospital. We dropped Will off at Cathie's around 4:30 and got to the hospital at 5. They checked me right away and the nurse said, "What are you? Like a 1?" I was heartbroken. Not only because last week, my midwife said I was at least a 2, but I was afraid they would send me home...my worst fear. They left us in the triage room for over an hour and then she came back and checked me again and said, "Oh, you're almost a 4!" (in a much perkier, I don't think you're faking it anymore tone than the previous checking). They checked me into the delivery room and then it all happened.

Right after I got hooked up to the IV, I had an epidural because my contractions were getting pretty unpleasant. Immediately following that, the midwife came in and broke my water (around 8:30) and as she was breaking it, she said "Wow, you're almost a 7! Let me go grab a Diet Coke and we'll come back and have this baby." And that's pretty much what happened. She had me change positions a few times to help gravity move the baby lower, but then I pushed for 30 minutes and my 9 lb boy was here. Really easy and I didn't really tear at all. The whole experience was so great and we owe a lot of that to the midwife. It was just so much better than my delivery with Will and our OB, and I really can't say anything negative about that experience. But this time around it was just so much better for everyone. The midwife and the delivery nurse were amazing and they both seemed to really love Cortney (which from our experience and other stories, I get the feeling men aren't very welcome in the delivery room) and it felt like we were friends when everything was over and we were only together for 2 hours. But we spent most of the time in between pushing telling funny stories. We had a great team! I even made it through the whole thing without puking, only to throw up in the wheelchair on the way up to our room. Oh well, can't win everything. But in TMI news, the midwife said that the placenta weighed more than Duke, so I'm already back to pre-pregnancy weight! Now I just need to work on those abs.

About Duke's name...

As you might have known, we have called Duke, Duke, since we knew he was a boy. We hadn't every intended on actually naming him Duke and had other names picked out for him, but after he was born I felt like my relationship with him would be starting over if we named him anything else. We had a good 5 months together and it felt like he would be a whole different person if we called him something else now. So we decided to just go with it.

Lane is after Lane Ave, the street we lived on while we were in grad school. Lane Ave is also the street where Cortney's school was, so basically our entire lives revolved around Lane Ave for 2 years. Those are such special years to us and we don't expect anyone to fully understand what those years meant to our family, but we liked the idea of paying tribute to Columbus in Duke's name. I know we were married in UT and started our marriage in UT, but Columbus is where I feel like our family really started. Its where we got down and dirty and persevered and have been the happiest of our entire lives.

Duke is adorable. Boasting lots and lots of dark curly hair (he kind of has a mullet), hairy shoulders and back, long fingers and toes (literally his toes are the longest I've ever seen. His big toe is as long as his thumb), and of course his fat rolls. He's doing great and is an awesome eater, which shouldn't really surprise anyone. I don't think you get to 9 lbs for nothing. I'm doing great. My only complaint is that my inner thighs are very sore from pulling on them while pushing. It feels like I did a million squats, but that's getting better each day. Will is obsessed with his brother. He was another reason why we named him Duke. When Will came to the hospital, he came right in the room and yelled "Duke!", and it felt wrong to change his brother's name on him. Will constantly gives Duke kisses and tries to give him a binky and loves to point out his nose and mouth. No jealousy problems as of yet, but we have noticed Will needs a little more time outdoors lately because he just doesn't like being inside as much as Duke and Mommy need to be. Cortney is, of course, holding everything together as usual. The first night was really rough, but last night was great. Our neighbors brought us a swing and I decided to throw out all the advice and let Duke sleep in it and boy, am I glad I did. I only got up with him once between 1-8:30 am. We all just have to get through the first few weeks any way we can, right? And we are all a happy family when we get sleep:)

We are so thankful to have Duke with us and can't wait to move forward as a family of 4! thank to you everyone for your help and prayers! I love my boys...all 3 of them.