April 23, 2006

I have a million pictures of him that I could post but I decided to just go with one from each year on his birthday.  I don't know if I've got my youngest birth story anywhere so if you've already heard it just leave a comment on how CUTE he is......

When I was 29 weeks along I was put on strict bedrest, I was only allowed to get food and take a shower otherwise I was supposed to be laying down.  So after 7 weeks on bedrest my blood pressure and preclampsia wasn't getting any better and it was decided that he needed to be delivered, as soon as my doctor said that I knew it wasn't good.  I was given the shots that are supposed to help their lungs develop quicker and I had an ultrasound to see how big he was, from the ultrasound they said that he was around 6 lbs. and that he looked good, so I was okay with having him early, but I was still very nervous about it. I was told he would be born on Tuesday April 25th, then the office called and said they couldn't get me in that day and that I was going to have him on Sunday, which was only 3 days after my doctors appt.  We had to be at the hospital at 6 am so when we got up and got ready to go, I was SO anxious about having him and I couldn't figure out why, I had done this before I knew what it took to have a C-Section, I knew we had taken steps to help him be okay, but the feeling didn't go away.  We got to the hospital and had to wait for my doctor, finally after what felt like 2 hours I was prepped for surgery, and my pulse kept getting higher and higher and higher, I remember either a nurse or my doctor telling me that I needed to calm down or I was going to have a heart attack or stroke.  After that things are a bit blurry.... I remember Andy bringing him to me and I kissed him on the head and the pediatrician took him to the nursery.  He weighed 5 lbs 9 oz. and was 18 inches long, he was born at 10:12 am.  My grandma had brought my oldest to the hospital and when I was taken into recovery they were there waiting for me, I was SO happy to see him, he looked so cute, grandma had gotten him a cute Thomas the Tank outfit to meet his baby brother in.  He kept asking where the baby was and I told him that he was getting cleaned up.  Then they moved me to my room, about an hour later the pediatrician came in and said that his oxygen levels were not staying in the normal range and that he needed to be transported to another hospital, because the hospital we were at didn't have a newborn ICU.  I remember looking out the window and seeing the ambulance and knowing that it was for my baby.  Remember I had only kissed him on the head and hadn't seen him since, the next time I saw him the EMT's brought him ready to be transported, I tried to lean up and touch him but I was still in pain.... The saddest part of it was my oldest started crying and said "don't take our baby away!!"  - as they wheeled him away.   So it was decided that Andy would go with the baby and my grandma would stay with me and I think my aunt took my oldest?  I can't remember.  I had just had surgery so I had to stay where I was, then things get really confused in my head.  I know I didn't get to see him until the next afternoon, where he was in the NICU and on a ventilator and about a million different wires were connected to him.  I didn't have a baby to hold and all I had were pictures to look at as I tried to get my milk going rather than a sweet baby, my neighbor helped by bringing her 3 week old daughter in so I could hold and cuddle her.  I didn't get to hold him until he was a week old, he spent 3 weeks in the NICU, he came home the day after Mother's Day and one week before his due date, he had a heart murmur and a lung infection.  He came home on oxygen and kept it for 10 days after he got home.

He is behind, he is about at the same level of a 3 year old, but is making small steps at progressing, just like in the NICU everything in HIS time and nobody else's!  He is now also very healthy and active, he never just sits down, he has to be playing with something..... He is stubborn, he is hard to understand, he doesn't like to eat anything, but he is sweet and loves to laugh, and boy does he love his mama!!! I hope he will be a good big brother and won't have too hard of a time adjusting to no longer being the baby!