Our Growing Family: Luke is Here

The last five days have been a whirlwind of activity. After I posted my last blog post my BP's decided to not cooperate, that persistent headache stuck around full force, and my contractions picked back up. The morning of the 15th my OB came in to check on me. She told me we were going to wait and see what my 24 hr test results told us. But that she was sure at this point that I would at the least need to be delivered that week. A few minutes after she left my room, my nurse came back in. She told me she ran into my doctor in the hallway and she had talked to my Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors. She told the nurse to inform me to stop eating and drinking for the rest of the day. So we knew that there was a major possibility that I was going to be delivered that evening. I felt worse and worse as the day went on. When my OB came back that evening she had a talk with us. She told us she was going to leave the decision us to us. That we could deliver that night. Or we could wait another 24-48 hours depending on how badly my health deteriorated. (Not a decision we wanted to be making.) We asked her what her opinion was. She told us if we waited I would just be getting sicker. They would have to slap me on a magnesium drip. And that she didn't think there would be any developmental/growth benefits for Lucas in that short amount of time. She told us she thought we should deliver that evening. So we said okay. She did warn us that there was a good chance that Luke would need some time in the NICU. So I was prepped, said some big prayers, and was wheeled down to the OR.
Lucas David Clarrey made his arrival on August 15, 2012 (8-15) at 8:15 p.m. He was 5 lbs. 15 oz. and 18 inches long. He needed some help breathing right away and the NICU doctor in the OR with us said she thought it would be best for him to come with her to the NICU. So while I was being put back together, Jarod headed with Luke to the NICU. After 2 hours in recover, they wheeled me down to the NICU. I was able to hold my beautiful baby boy. I can't even explain how that made me feel. I didn't get to do anything like that with Melanie. They explained to us that Luke would need C-Pap to help him breath. They put in an IV line in his arm to give him nourishment. That evening I didn't have great hopes for him making it out of the NICU anytime soon.
Throughout the next day, however, Luke started to prove that he didn't need the NICU. By that evening he was completely off any kind of breathing intervention. By late evening I was able to feed him along with the nurses giving him bottles. They told us that they thought he would be discharged up to the newborn nursery the next day. We were in shock, but it was the best news ever. And by noon the next day we were all together in our own room upstairs.
We're now home and things are going great. He is nursing well. We went to the doctor this morning and he is also gaining weight like a champ. He was down to 5 lbs. 11 oz. when we left the hospital yesterday. This morning at the doctor's office he was up to 5 lbs. 14 oz. He loves to eat. Although, I do have to wake him up every time it's time to eat.
He and Melanie had a cute first meeting in the hospital. Her smile was ear to ear when she first saw him. She sat on the bed next to him and pointed at him while jabbering excitedly. Since then, she hasn't had much of an interest in him. We try and show him to her and she doesn't want to look at him and walks away. However, we do catch her at times walking past him and looking at him and laughing or smiling. Although, we have also caught her on too many occasions trying to take his covers off and throw them on the floor. We're trying our best to give her some extra attention. And Jarod is doing a better job than I am. As I am nursing a good portion of the day.
I can't explain the happiness he has brought us. Jarod and I are so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful set of kids. He has the week off from work and we are really enjoying our time together as a family of four. There is so much love in the Clarrey house!
I have about a million pictures to share. And I really should try and split them up between posts. However, I just don't have the time or energy right now. So get ready for picture over load.