Luke's first doctor's appointment!

Luke weighed 8 pounds 5 1/2 ounces today at the doctor, which is great. He is healthy, but the only problem is he can't poop. Everybody that warned me that all I would talk and think about with a new baby is poop and pee, was right. That is all I am thinking about since Luke hasn't pooped in 50 something hours. The doctor says that is normal since I am having to use formula, but he is not sleeping like he usually does, and he keeps making grimacing grunting noises. I know the little man is in pain. Well, enough about that. I am feeling a lot better, and dreading my mom leaving. She has been a great help and I know I will miss her terribly. Drew has been awesome, helping me to get lots of rest. I don't know how he does it with class and work. I think he will take paternity leave next week after my mom is gone. Well enough for now, I am going to take a nap.

Luke's First Bath!!

Luke liked his first bath, that is until we took him out. Then he gave us his furrowed brow and frown until he was nice and warm again. Things are going well around here. Luke has such a sweet temperment and is doing so well sleeping and eating. He can barely stay awake for ten minutes at a time. Special thanks again to Vanessa and Chris (our neighbors) who made the most delicious dinner for us tonight. Chicken and vegetables seasoned like I have never tasted them before. And thank you to Heather for the yummy tomato bisque and encouragement by lending a listening ear. Well, I am trying to recover and rest, and I am feeling better every day. I will post again soon.

Home at Last!!

Well, we made it home yesterday. It was good to get home. The afternoon and evening went well, but then night not so much. Not only does Luke have his nights and days mixed up, we realized that he has been pretty hungry the past 3 days and not getting nearly enought from breastfeeding. It was probably a miracle in disguise that the antibiotics caused me to stop breastfeeding so that we could figure out he wasn't getting nearly enough. My body has just been over-extended with drugs and surgery, and is not working properly. He is a much happier boy today though with a full tummy. He is a different child than he has been for the past three days. My hope was to breastfeed, but it does not look like it is going to happen with another 7 days of complications and still no milk with pumping but I am going to keep trying. I have prayed about it a lot and given that over to the Lord. He knows best and has all things in His control. I am focusing on recoving completely and taking care of our precious son. So other than that I have been trying to get some rest and have been able to in between feedings and my mom and Drew have been a huge help. My sister as always has been the dispenser of wise knowledge and we have started a schedule that Luke loves. So we will see how tonight goes. Well, thank you to my neighbors Chris and Vanessa for the Awesome decorations and to our dear friends Nikki and Brian for dinner last night. Well, I will update again soon. Thanks for your prayers.

On our way home finally!!

Hello Everybody, It is Wednesday and Luke is 6 days old. We are on our way home from the hospital in a couple hours as soon as I finish my last IV of antibiotics. I will be going home with oral antibiotics which will unfortunately lead me to have to pump and dump (so goes the expression) and Luke will be back on formula for 7 days. That was a little hard since I have been battling for the past 3 days to breastfeed after he was used to the bottle and formula, so it will be back to square one. That is o.k. though, the doctors want to keep trying to avoid surgery and clear up the infection for sure. That is better for my health in the long run. Well, I am glad to be leaving this hospital room but a little overwhelmed leaving all the help behind. I still have Drew and my mom. They have been great and at my beck and call. I will be well taken care of. I also have many wonderful neighbors that have already been doing things for me that i have heard from Drew. And of course wonderful church family that has offered so much help. So I am blessed. Well, I will update again soon once we are settle. Thanks agains as always for your prayers.

A Martin Luther King, Jr Day Hello!!!

Hello Everybody! Well the tentative consensus from the doctors is that I have a uteran infection. I might have already posted that. I can't remember. But anyhow, they have treated it agressively hoping it won't turn into an abscess. My fever came and went but hasn't reappeared since late in the night. I will probably be coming home tomorrow or Wednesday depending on whether my fever stays away or not. If it does come back then there will be abscess surgery and hopefully nothing else. So thank you for your prayers so much!!!!! Drew and I feel so blessed and showered with prayers from friends and family. It means the world to us and keeps us going knowing the the Lord takes to heart every prayer He hears. Thank you for the visits also. It is such an ecouragement. I haven't taken pictures of everybody because I forgot. Well, I will post again soon. Thank you again for everything. I feel so loved. I haven't gotten around to returning phone calls yet but am hoping to soon. I have started breastfeeding today finally and things have been going great! I am so excited for that, but I have been feeding him a lot because he was used to so much formula instantly. Well, until next time.

Thank you for continued prayers and your visits!

Hello all! Still writing from the hospital in my hospital bed. I had turned a huge corner yesterday after receiving blood, and had a pretty good day despite the pain that comes from healing. Last night I began to spike a fever which lasted through the night and into today. I was again sent for many tests CT scan and exray to try and locate the infection. It has been tentatively said by the dr.'s that it is in my uterus. I will probably be here at least until Wednesday. They are treating me with a top dog antibiotic. Anyways, thank you for letting us know of your love and prayers it means the world to us. So many of you have sent encouragement. Thank you.
Luke is doing so great. He is growing, eating, and sleeping good. He is such a blessing. He can sleep through anything it seems like. Because there is construction going on above our head on the 3rd floor. Yeah go figure!! Loud hammering, sawing, etc.. and Luke sleeps right through it. He is probably going to need excessive noise now to sleep.
We have loved our visits from friends. Dennis and Cindy, Grace, Nikki, and the Norgauers. Thank you for loving us so much. Well that is all for now, off for a nap and then feeding time for Luke.

The whole birth story!

Well, I have not been feeling great lately, but I finally have enough energy to relay Luke's birth story. It was quite traumatic for me as a first time mom, but I feel blessed that things turned out the way they did because it could have been much worse. Well Wednesday night, Drew and my mom and I headed to the hospital to get induced. We arrived at around 7:30. After admitting and getting paperwork done, they gave me cervadil at around 8:45. At around 10:45 the nurse noticed that Luke was not responding well to either the Cervadil or the Ambien they had given me earlier. The doctor was called. As soon as she arrived, the decision was made to remove the Cervadil immediately. Then the Dr. broke my water. I immediately began having harder contractions (I had arrived having contractions and was in early labor without the induction being started) So the contractions were coming on strong. I dealt with those for about 3 hours, and was checked and was between 3 and 4 cm already. I asked for the epidural, and received it about 45 minutes later. By 5am I was 7 cm dillated. Things had moved pretty quickly up until that point. My body had not responded well to the epidural and basically would work for a while and then not work at all. Later the anesthesiolgist said he could not figure it out and had never dealt with a case like this. I continued laboring until about 12pm and was still around 8 cm. They started Pitocin to go the last bit and contractions were very painful and the epidural kept wearing off. They kept giving me a dose shot to help with the pain. By 2pm I was finally at 10 cm. I immediately was in extreme pain and felt like I needed to push. The dr. had already arrived and we began pushing. I pushed for about an hour when things for Luke got bad. He was in distress and from the looks of things was posterier (face up) and had an arm up by his head. He wasn't coming out. So the decsion was made to do an emergency c-section. I was pretty exhausted by this point after 16 hours of labor, and the epidural had not been working for the past hour. My oxygen levels were not good at all, so I had an oxygen mask on with my glasses fogging up and began feeling a little panicked. Everything happened so fast at this point, but they had to give me so many drugs because I could still feel the knife after I shouldn't have felt it. Finally I was numbed completely besides feeling everything going on without the pain. I overheard the dr. talking when trying to get Luke out and it wasn't making sense but I knew things were not going well. They finally got him out and he had swallowed meconium and was still in distress. His apgar was 3 and then 8--not the most ideal. However, the nurses and dr.'s were great and got him feeling better about 20 minutes later. I could still overhear my dr. talking and things were not looking good for me either. Se called in help because I had a hemorrage and was bleeding uncontrollably. When she had gone to get Luke out I had a really long tear in my cervix that caused the hemorrage and put him in distress. Needless to say I was in surgery for the next hour and a half. She said she almost had to do a hysterctomy and was trying at all cost to avoid that. Well, afterwards we got the explanation that my cervix may be irreparable and will definitely be incompetent. I am biding my time in the hosptial trying to avoid infection and seeing if things are operating as they should. I got a cat-scan yesterday to see about internal bleeding and will get another Monday to ensure that things are flowing properly. The dr. said there is still a chance for a hysterectomy if things do not go well. So far things are going better. I did need two blood transfusions because I had lost so much blood and my body was shutting down on me. However, I feel like I have turned a corner today. Luke is doing great. He has improved everyday and is gaining weight already. He is precious and our little miracle. Please keep us in your prayers as I continue to recover and hopefully avoid the worst. It is in God's hands and we are trusing in Him completely. The dr. says we should still be able to have more children but nothing is for certain it all depends on the healing to come. We love you all and can't wait for you to meet Luke.

Luke Isaiah

Luke finally made it...!

On our way to the hospital!!!

Well, my mom and I went to see Enchanted today to pass the time away. I straightened my hair and my mom painted my toes. I was soaking up this day of rest before we spend a night awake I am sure. Drew has been playing a lot of guitar and of course working out to get rid of his anxiety. He is excited as ever as am I. We can't wait to meet Luke and finally bring him home. We will update with the news of Luke's arrival as soon as we can. Thank you for all the phone calls and prayers. It means so much to Drew and I to have such a wonderful network of friends and family that love us so much. We feel so blessed with our church as well and the family that we have made here will our Cornerstone family. We will see you soon as 3 instead of 2. Thanks again for your love and prayers.

One more day until we meet Luke!

Well, many of you already know, but Luke has not arrived yet. I am almost a week overdue. I went to another appointment yesterday and still no change. I am 1 cm diallated and 70% effaced. The dr. says he is going to be big so I am going in tomorrow night for an induction. He will be here no matter what by Thursday whether he likes it or not. I know it is comfortable in there Luke but we want to meet you now. Drew and I spent a restless weekend entertaining ourselves and praying for labor to start to no avail. We now are getting more and more excited knowing we don't have long to wait. The pain has been in the back of my mind, but I am sure not for long. My mom arrives today at 8pm. So that is exciting and will give me something to do tonight. The house has been cleaned until it shines and everything is ready in Luke's room. The bags are packed, the carseat is in the car, and we are twiddling our thumbs. I am excited to have this blog and share with everyone the updates on our family. We love you all. Thanks for you prayers.

Take a Look at Our Maternity Pix

Maternity Pix

For those of you who haven't seen these yet, here are the pictures we took last week. Our neighbor Vanessa who is very talented snapped away. I am glad we will have these memories even though I put it off for so long.