Welcome, Leo Mark!

Monday, November 8, 2010, we welcomed the newest member of our family, Leo Mark Deaver to the world. Here's how it came about...

Thursday, November 4th, we had a regular appointment with the OBs here in North Platte. We'd been doctoring here in North Platte, but have had the intention of delivering in Lincoln so we could do a VBAC (Vaginal delivery after c-section). I was not crazy about having to recover from major surgery and take care of four littles at home. We found a great doctor in Lincoln who does VBACs. He was very confident that I was a good candidate, based on the fact that I had already had one natural delivery (Dominic). Anyways, on Thursday, the Doctor said it looked like I was favorable for an induction. After talking with Dr. K's nurse in Lincoln, we decided to schedule an induction for Monday morning at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

We spent the next few days preparing for our little one's birth. Sunday, we dropped off the kiddos at Luke's parents. I usually do ok leaving our littles, but Sunday I cried, knowing that their world would be completely different next time I saw them.

Luke and I went to dinner that night and tried to enjoy our night away. The next morning, we checked in at 7:30. This picture was right before Dr. K. broke my water at about 8:00. I was put on pitocin soon after.

Labor went beautifully. I got an epidural at about 10:30--which turned out to be a GREAT blessing. I hadn't gotten one with Dominic, but now I doubt I'll ever deliver another baby without! :)

By 11:30, I was 6 cm. and by 12:10 I was ready to push. We had to wait for Dr. K for about 30 minutes while he finished up a C-section a few doors down.

Three contractions and about 8 pushes later, Baby boy Deaver arrived.

Here he is just minutes after his birth.

Luke and I had narrowed down his name to two choices, but it took us about two hours to decide. Eventually, we settled on Leo Mark. Leo, because we loved the name and Mark after our dear friend, Fr. Mark Tasler, who passed away in a car accident last April.

Leo was 6 lb 10 oz at birth and 20 inches. Everything looked great from the start!

Our experience at St. E's was amazing. The nurses and doctors were wonderful. The service was terrific and most importantly, I just felt very comfortable with the care Leo and I received there. If we are blessed with more children, I hope we can have every baby just the way we had Leo.

They even had queen size beds, so Luke could sleep with me at night.



We were anxious to get home to see the other kiddos, so we packed it up shortly after Leo was 24 hours old. Here's Leo in his going home outfit. Husker fan through and through.

Little Leo has been such a blessing to us! He is sleeping and eating well (he gained four ounces between his 3rd and 5th day of life) and his brothers love him. Dominic was especially excited to meet Leo. He has been a very big help and loves holding our precious baby. Patrick's initial reaction was to cry and yell "No" when Leo arrived, but since then, he has been mostly ambivalent to the fact that there is even another person in the house. Jackson loves Leo, also, kissing him on the forehead.

We have been so blessed! We love you baby Leo!