Luke

We're finally home from the hospital! It's been quite the week. Even though I had Aubrey post the basics, I've been asked for the story... Here ya go:

Tuesday I left work to spend the evening with Ben for his last night off before his birthday. Traffic picked up a bit as we're rounding the corner on 405 into Newcastle, but the cars in our lane slowed quickly back to a stop. The car in front of me had time to stop, I had plenty of time - no one slammed or squealed their brakes... And then I check my rear view just in time to notice the car behind me was not slowing and I had time to tense up right as she hit me - pushing me the 10 feet or so into the rear of the car in front of me. Thankfully the impact was not enough to deploy my airbag, but I did get a pretty good jolt - not to mention that because I saw it coming, and tensed up, my muscles took an even greater hit. Immediately I had a pain in the back of my head and my back was sore, but before I could grab my phone to call WSP the top of my stomach was hurting pretty bad and I was having contractions. Bellevue's Fire Dept was loading me into the back of the ambulance when they asked if I wanted to go to Overlake. I told them my OB was at Valley but assumed I didn't have a choice and whatever worked. At this point, I still really thought that I would get there and things would slow down and I'd get to go home. The driver told me he would take me to Valley to ensure that I was more comfortable with my own doctors - Bless that man! Things got more and more uncomfortable as the drive progressed and when I got into triage my blood pressure was reading at 250/156... Which everyone assumed was an error and they moved me to a room. Ben got there just moments after I did and I quickly moved through x-rays so they could get me to labor and delivery to monitor me. At this point I was told I'd be staying overnight for observation on the monitors but with any luck, I'd be home and in my own bed by the morning. Then they checked my bp again and the British L&D nurse that was so calm and sweet became somewhat rude and very short with me... She was in and out of the room and wasn't interested in listening to my concern of the new, really sharp pains during contractions in my upper abdomen. Within a few minutes I had 2 nurses working to get me 'stable' and we were being told that the sharp pains making me cry were not due to the pewny little contractions I was having, but my liver was swelling and my kidney functions were down, in addition to an erratic and extremely high blood pressure. The doctor came in and told me that they'd hoped to be able to buy me some time to have a normal induction and delivery but it just wasn't an option and they were taking us down for an emergency c-section. About 10 minutes later Ben was holding our little boy and they were checking my liver for damage and bleeding. My near perfect pregnancy, without a bp check out of normal range had apparently taken a turn that week and my (unkown) pre-eclampsia had turned into HELLPs syndrome. Without the accident, I would have just gone home that night and the doctor said that because I hadn't realized anything was wrong by that point, I may not have had any idea things were so bad until I'd stroked. It was all pretty scary. I was glad that they moved so quick, because if we had time to think about it, it probably would've been harder.

On to the good news: Luke is perfect! We were told that at 36 weeks he still might have some problems and may have to spend some time in the NICU - but thank God he was just fine. He stayed in the room with us the entire time and nurses like a champ for me! One by one I got to come off of the awful meds they had me pumped full of and I slowly got to feeling better and was able to enjoy him more and more. Luke was circumcised yesterday morning, which was A LOT harder for me than I thought it would be! After that they took him and his car seat down to the NICU to monitor him for an hour while strapped in to make sure he was able to tolerate it before letting us leave... It's a preemie thing. He passed and they let us take our boy home around 2. We've gotten the hang of nursing but because he dropped down to 5 lbs, 12 ounces the first night, they gave us some formula to add into our feeding routine for the calories. We tried a little bit the next couple feedings and managed to get hit at 6 lbs again before leaving, so they thought that I should do it a couple times this weekend at home to make sure he keeps weight up until his first appointment on Monday. BAD idea! Last night I gave him some and it completely tore his little tummy up. I felt so terrible, poor kid was so sad. It was heartbreaking.

Ben was able to get out of his New Mexico trip. We found out that if they can find a class later to fit him into, he'll be able to go, so he's not too bummed. His 26th birthday was spent in the hospital room, all day! His first "happy birthday" was at 5am from Luke in the form of a poopy diaper. His first diaper to change, and he didn't even complain! When I put Luke down, it usually doesn't take more than a few moments and Ben's right there to scoop him up to snuggle. He's a great Daddy already!

I swore I'd never be 'that mom' that always talks about how cute her baby is, because it's really all in the eyes of the beholder... Until now - my sweet boy is adorable, really... get your eyes checked. :) No, but seriously I am so in love with this kid! He's got the sweetest little face, really dark blue eyes, this tiny little cry that just breaks your heart! I could just look at him and kiss his little face all day long! He's incredibly strong already as well. The nurse put him on his back in the little hosiptal crib on Wednesday and when she turned back to him is face was pressed up to the side. He's got a great kick, and he can lift his head up long enough to adjust his hands so that he can lay on his fists while on my chest (his favorite position so far.)

We are so thankful for this little boy and that he's healthy... God is so good!

Now for the real reason you all read this post, to get to the pictures:

Hearing test

Daddy giving Luke his supplements

My sweet faced little man!

At home in the bouncer, and the huge hospital binky

So tiny!
Luke: 4 days old
Kaelyn: 4 months old