Little Lucas!!!

Here is the Lucas story! The last few days of August I started having some pretty regular contractions. I called my Dr. and they said that I should probably go to the hospital if they continued. They continued, so I called Jess from work and off to the hospital we went. We got there and I got all hooked up. My Dr. was out of town and so I had the on call Dr. after 4 hours of contractions and no more dilating ( I was at a 3 when we arrived) she decided to send me home, along with her parting comment of “Don’t have a baby on the side of the road!” I was furious! I couldn’t believe she said that. Well, I guess it wasn’t time for Luke to make his appearance because two weeks later contractions had stopped and he still wasn’t here. I was induced at 38 weeks the morning of the 7^th.I was expecting things to go very quickly because with Hugh it was four hours start to finish. Haha! After getting started and the epidural things were going as planned. I was dilated to a ten by noon and Dr. Hansen came into check me. I was not thinning at all from the time we got there. He said give it another 30 minutes and we should be good. The 30 minutes turned in to about 4 hours. By the end of the 3^rd hour the epidural started wearing off. I didn’t want to be dosed again knowing that surely he would be born soon. I started to get this terrible pain in my left side (that is still there a month later on and off) that wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t contraction pain it was just a terrible stabbing that was taking my breath away. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that before this pain started I started throwing up. I felt like I was just completely out of it. I was just dazed. Back to the pain, so this pain wouldn’t go away. I couldn’t take it any longer I was trying to be tough, but I remember just looking at Jess and I lost it. The nurse ran in and said let me check her. She checked and immediately called the Dr. he came in and I said get down there so I can push! I pushed a few times and Little Luke came. He was so mad! He screamed and screamed! Things went very well after that. Jess went with him to the nursery and my mom stayed with me. The kids came later that night. Hugh was just out of control wanting to hug him and kiss him and run everywhere. Anya was a bit more nervous. She didn’t want to come see me she just stood there and looked. She did warm up later and wanted to hold him. It was a long, hard, tiring day, but it was all worth it!

Things were going really well for the first two weeks Luke was home. My mom kept the kids for a few days and then brought them home for a week. Luke had a little cold but I didn’t think much of it because I had one too. I took him in for his 2 week appointment Dr. Ching became worried when he hadn’t gained any weight. They then took his O2 levels. He was at about 83. I immediately knew what that meant…. she was going to admit him to the hospital. She thought it was pneumonia. I once again lost it! Luckily, I had left the other two kids home with a babysitter. My mom immediately got in the car to come and be with me and Jess took off work to be with the kids. As soon as I got there, I asked if anyone could give him a blessing. There were two very nice men waiting in his room when we got there. They gave him a very nice blessing. Dr. Ching order a bunch of tests. First thing she wanted him on an IV. It took forever to get in and several pokes. They did finally get one in his head. Then off to X-ray. Next she wanted blood work, and lastly a LUMABR PUNCTURE! I was so sad! I didn’t want to do it if we didn’t have to. She came in and explained why she was doing it and the importance of it. She said because he was so little and young the infection spreads very quickly and the wanted to make sure it had reached his brain. There is only a limited amount of time you can get an accurate read for this and our window was almost gone. If we didn’t catch it now the results would be much worse. I then agreed to have it done. They said it could take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. They suggested I leave the room for this. I did and cried on my mom’s shoulder in the hall. Dr. Ching tried to distract me and showed me his X-rays. She said it was pneumonia. What we weren’t expecting to see was a broken right clavical. She said it is pretty common and happens during delivery. Poor guy! No wonder he cries every time he is messed with! Anyway, they came and got me about 20 minutes later and said he did great! All of the results came back and were good. She wanted to keep him on IV antibiotics for 3 days. That meant we were there until Saturday! AH! Jess came the next morning with the kids. It was a long day for everyone. The next day just my mom came and Jess stayed home with the kids. Luke was improving quickly and you could physically see changes in him. I was 3 of the longest days of my life! I was an emotional wreck and completely exhausted! Saturday morning came and we were released! He had to go home on oxygen because his levels were still a bit low. We got him home and for the next few days tried to keep Hugh from smothering him and ripping his oxygen out. On Wednesday we had another appointment. He had gained 6 ounces and was doing much better. She decided his levels were high enough to take him off of his oxygen! YEAH!!! He is a whole new baby now. He is so much better and not in any pain now that his little clavical is better. What a first month of life this little man has had. We love him to pieces (especially Hugh) and are so happy he is home and healthy!