Quick Update

Lucas is still holding his own. He is slowly starting to gain weight and is nursing and eating very well. The current plan is to continue to monitor him over the weekend and repeat an echo on Monday morning. If everything stays the same, we will likely follow up with Dr. Wright on Tuesday in Sacramento. Please keep praying for our little man, he is a fighter and such a blessing. Here are some more pictures.

Pictures

Here are some pictures!!

Our Miracle

First of all, thank you so much for all of your thoughts, prayers, and comments we truly feel supported and loved.

I wanted to try to update on all that has happened since last thursday. Last thursday when Lucas decided he wanted to join us in the world, our lives forever changed in an instant. After he was born, the Stanford team was in route to Sutter Roseville. Lucas was transferred to the NICU at SRMC for stabilization. Like we said before he came out crying and with FULL head of hair :). In the NICU they decided to intubate him to prepare for his flight and also because he was having some grunting and resp distress. They thought it might be from being early and also from the c-section he did not have time to clear the amniotic fluid from his lungs as in a regular delivery. Lucas was fighting the tube in his mouth and decided to self extubate himself. The stanford team arrived and they wheeled me into the NICU on a gurney to see him and to say goodbye to him before he took flight. They had re-intubated him but he decided he didn't like it and extubated himself again. He is so fiesty and such a fighter. They intubated him a third time and prepared for lift off. As I had to stay behind, barely being able to move my legs yet, we watched our miracle leave without us. Watching Lucas leave with a flight team in a little incubator was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to endure.

Lucas arrived here at about 9:45. In the NICU at Stanford they began to evaluate him and his heart. I called that night to find out again that he had pulled out his ET tube. Thank goodness, they decided he didn't need it. Everyone kept telling me how handsome he was and that he was doing well. He was still in some resp distress so they decided to put him on CPAP. He remained on CPAP intermittently for the next day. When Peter arrived the next morning Lucas calmed down a little bit and was easily consoled by his daddy.

When my mom and I arrived on Friday evening after being discharged, Lucas was still on CPAP. The prongs up his little nose looked so uncomfortable. The nurses have been so wonderful, when I got there they let me hold my baby for the first time. Even though he had an umbilical line and was on CPAP, they let us be with our son.

Sat morning they decided to stop the CPAP, they decided that since he was fighting it so much, it was actually causing him to be more upset. When we got there on Sat morning, he was much more content. Sat afternoon we got some amazing news. They redid the echo and found that the VSD is restricting blood flow to the lungs just right. This means we may (please keep praying) be able to skip the first surgery. When we heard this news, we were overcome with inexpressible emotion. Our little boy is truly a miracle. Lucas is breathing on his own. No more prostaglandin. At this point all he was on was a TPN and IV fluids.

Sunday morning they decided to try him on some feeds, as he was doing so well. They took out his umbilical line so we could hold him whenever we wanted. Sunday evening Lucas was able to nurse for the first time. He did a really great job, I was so proud of him. I have been pretty much nursing him now whenever we are there, and pumping like crazy when we are not. Lucas had yet another echo yesterday (mon) to determine that his PDA is indeed closed!! His sats are still really great, 95ish. They just want to continue to watch his sats for another few days and we'll see how that goes. They also want him to gain weight, he is down to 5lbs 11oz, probably from not eating the first few days of life. Hopefully we will start moving in the right direction after we have started feeding him.

Peter and I feel so humbled and so forever grateful for our little guy. He is truly amazing and such a blessing. We knew he would bring joy into the world, but we could have never imagined how much. Please keep praying for us, we need all the prayers we can get. I apologize if this blog is confusing, I tried to condense four days into one blog. Again, thank you for all of your prayers. Lucas is truly lucky to have such a wonderful support group.

(The pictures closest to the bottom are the ones from the first night)

4-23-09 4:12 PM Welcome Lucas Peter!

We are extremely happy and a little surprised to announce the early arrival of Lucas Peter, born on April 23, 2009 at 4:12 PM at Sutter Roseville.

Michelle went in on Thursday for a routine non-stress test, which turned out to be much more stressful than we could have ever imagined. While I was studying away for the PE test on Friday, Michelle called me to let me know that during the test, Lucas had a drop in heart rate and that she would have to be there a bit longer for the doctors to run tests and make sure everything was okay. A few hours and an ultrasound later, we found out that Lucas’ amniotic acrobatics resulted in the cord wrapped around his neck, and that this was the likely cause of the heart decelerations. She was admitted for monitoring in the early afternoon while her OB and the Stanford doctors consulted.

I came to the hospital about 2:30 pm to check in and see what was going on with Michelle and Lucas. I was in for a shock when her OB came in to tell us that we would be doing an emergency C-section in the evening that day. The evening very soon turned into afternoon when the doctors all agreed that getting Lucas out, stable and off to Stanford would be the best thing for him. Dr. Sweeney came in to tell us that Stanford was flying a team to Sutter Roseville for Lucas and that we needed to go to the OR as soon as possible because he was having continued decelerations in heart rate . The new surgery time was set for 3:30, things moved very fast. We were about to have our son at 35 weeks.

I got to put on my “dad scrubs” while Michelle was prepped for the birth. 30 minutes later Lucas was born, kicking and crying from the get-go, 6 lbs-2 ounces and 18.5 inches long, Apgars of 8 and 8; very healthy considering he was 5 weeks early. His amniotic acrobatics not only left him with the cord around his neck but also around his foot, so every time he kicked he was pulling on the cord. After the delivery he was cleaned up and taken to the NICU to be prepped for transport. Lucas got his first helicopter ride and arrived at Stanford around 9:45 pm on Thursday evening. We were still in Roseville while Lucas was off to the bay area.

Michelle stayed in the hospital Thursday night and Friday mid-day to recover from the surgery. After gaining reassurance that Lucas was stable, I got things together around the house, slept for a few hours, and took off to Stanford on early Friday morning. My parents came up to Roseville and followed me to Stanford. Michelle was discharged less than 24 hours after the c-section so she could head to Stanford.

…and that is how our little Lucas made his entry into the world. He is such a fighter and already has such a presence about him. We love our little guy more than we could have imagined. Please keep us in your prayers. We feel at peace knowing that we are in such good hands, and we could not ask for better family and friends.

35th week update

I realized it has been a while since I posted, so I thought I should give a quick update of the current events. I have been continuing on with all of my testing. Lucas has been continually doing very well and the tests have been pretty uneventful (knock on wood), which is how we want them to stay. The plan is still that I am going to move to Palo Alto on May 4. Although, I spoke with the people from the Ronald McDonald house and they cannot really tell me if I will be able to have a room at that time. It sounds like they are really full and they won't be able to tell me until the day gets closer whether or not I have a room. So, I may be hanging here at home for a bit longer. We shall see how that all works out.

My braxton hicks contractions have been getting a lot more frequent (not regular though) and it makes it uncomfortable to do most anything when they are happening. This is also making sleeping harder and harder. I am now starting to realize what people mean when they say..."just wait until you get near the end..." Because, I can no longer see my feet, my ankles are a thing of the past, my rings strangle me, and I can barely breathe. I think because of the recent heat, my body has kicked into swelling mode.

Although there are some major discomforts and challenges to being larger than life, I have to say I am going to miss being pregnant in some ways. I have had an amazing pregnancy thus far. Peter and I have really enjoyed 'watching' our baby grow. It has been an amazing experience to be able to feel the life that is growing inside of you and to love someone so much that you haven't even met yet. I am very nervous and apprehensive about the next few weeks, but I want to enjoy the last few weeks of Lucas growing and developing (not sure where he is going to fit, but I guess he'll squeeze). This pregnancy has been one of unfathomable and paradoxical emotion. One of happiness and devastation, joy and fear, excitement and anxiety. We have learned more from this experience already than we could have imagined and we know the next few months will be a trial, but we are really looking forward to meeting our little guy.

Appointments

This week was the beginning of appointment central. From here on out I have many appointments each week until I move to Palo Alto, then the appointments continue from there. On Monday I had my first NST. My doctor had told me if the baby is sleeping it could take a while, so she advised drinking a little something prior to the test in order to 'wake him up a bit'....so, I made some hot chocolate before I went to the appointment. Apparently Lucas takes after his mom, because he loved the hot chocolate immensely. Sleeping was the least of our concerns, he was moving around so much that they couldn't get a baseline heart rate. His heart rate had great variability, but he was so active it took over an hour and a half to get a baseline heart rate. Apparently a chocolate lover.

On Wednesday we had another ultra sound growth scan, my mom got to come with us this time which was nice. Things are getting more difficult to see because his bones are getting harder so there are a lot more shadows on the screen. He did show us and grandma his very cute (chubby) face a few times though. On Wednesday he was estimated to be about 4lb 13 oz, which we were all very excited about because we want a good healthy sized baby.

Thursday I had another NST (no chocolate this time), but this one brought a new set of issues. I have been having more frequent, uncomfortable, contractions over the past few days, especially when my mom and I are walking the dog. Well, unbeknown to me I had almost a five minute long contraction while I was there, and Lucas' heart rate dropped with the contraction. The nurse didn't like this, so she had to page the on call doctor. The doctor then suggested I get a stat bio physical profile test (essentially an ultrasound to check things like amniotic fluid, fetal movement, heart rate, etc). I was frustrated because I had just had an ultra sound yesterday saying everything was ok, and he is definitely moving a ton. So... I got to see Lucas again today, which I never mind that part, and of course his test came back wonderful, but I am being put through more tests then I could have imagined. The nurse essentially said that being squeezed for five minutes would make anyone's heart rate drop a bit, but they just wanted to be sure he was ok. Today Lucas was estimated to be about 5lb 2 oz, so given yesterday's measurements we are definitely in the ballpark of 5 lbs. Yay.

I know all of the testing is for Lucas' well being, but I feel like we are at a point where we are digging now. I feel like I am going through a spin cycle in order for everyone to feel at ease sending me home after each test. All I want is a peaceful few weeks before I leave. I am enjoying my time off, but get discouraged when there is always, 'one more thing to check or monitor.' I know we will get through this, but I am getting discouraged. I am excited to have a few appointment free days until we are back at it again next week.