Wireless

So as the title states, we now have a wireless baby! Lucas is off of his G-tube throughout the day. It awesome. He is on bottles and is even nursing some. Its incredible. I feel like a normal mom and that I have a nomal baby. Lucas is tolerating bottles well and we are just amazed how well he is coming along.

Dad flew in on Wednesday and we've been busy since. Lucas had 2 Dr's appts and Joshua hasn't let him have a moment alone all week. Its been great. :o) We had fun with the family on Saturday, playing some games and having dinner. His trip is halfway over and we will be so sad when he leaves.

Ok, so nothing new to post. Things are going well at home. Lucas is still doing good and enjoying his feedings. And Joshua is being a wonderful big brother. He is helping out a lot, and really he has surprised me. I really thought that he would not accept Lucas, but he has and he really enjoys his little brother. I am so thankful for that.

Here are the pictures that I have forgotten about. Hopefully I'll have some more soon.

So things are going really well over here at the Wakefield house. Little Lucas sleeps all night long. Well, at least I don't hear him if he is awake. (whoops) Everytime I check on him at night he is sleeping. Its pretty nice. Beacuse he has the g-tube, he gets constant feeds 24 hours a day, so there is no real hunger. That will soon change though. Today we had our swallow study and he passed with flying colors. They gave him a drink that they can see while they x-ray to make sure he doesn't aspirate any milk. Things looked good and so we get to start a few bottle feeds throughout the day.


Ok, so its been about 6 hours since I last wrote that and well, I have no idea where to pick up. Let me just say this. I love living here. I love that we have the best Dr's around. I love that Mount Rainier is the most magnificent sight, and I get to look at it almost daily. I love that when I drive to Seattle I get to see the most beautiful sky line and a gorgeous view of my mountain in my rear view mirror. That is what I thought about today on my drive.

I will post some more pictures tomorrow. Lucas had his first real bath yesterday. He does not like baths. Plain and simple. The kid also hates, and I mean hates his diaper changed. He has the most pitiful cry. He basically loses all sound and turns red and when he does wail, it makes you laugh. Poor kid. Other than that, he is pretty content. He loves his pacifier, which is really good. It wilk help when we transition to bottles. He is a fighter and we are so happy to have him home with us. And Joshua thinks he pretty neat too. He likes to pet him and hold his hands. He is turning out to be a great big brother.

Ok, so until tomorrow. :)

What a day. We finally brought Lucas home yesterday afternoon. He had put on a few ounces and that was all that they wanted to see from him. So when we got there, they did a few things, some paper work and we were out of there by 4! They drive home was good even in rush hour traffic. I was actually calm! Go figure. It was nothing like the ride home with Joshua the first time. (My mom was driving and before we left the parking lot, she hit a barricade! Imagine.)

We picked up Joshua and headed home. It was a calm evening. The Joshua's went to volleyball and Lucas slept. It was great. And well last night was awesome too. Lucas basically slept the whole night through. As much as I hate the g-tube and constant feeds, it was sure nice! :) We were up for one diaper change and that was it. No fussiness or anything. We all got up around 9 this morning. Who would have thought that?!

So today has been good too. Right now I am feeling a bit blissful. My house is cleaned (ok, picked up) and Lucas and Joshua are just mellow. Its a great moment that I know will only last so long. But it sure is a nice feeling.

Nevermind

So yeah, forget that last post. I got a call from the nurse and she told me that they were keeping Lucas for another day or 2. He is not gaining weight and they want to play with his feeds a bit until he is gaining. Its just a litle funny, I think. We finally get all planned and together and we go back another step, again.
Joshua was going to fly to California for a few days, but there isn't any need at this point. We'll both be around for him and Lucas won't be home to help confuse things. Josh is still out of work too. Before it was fine because we were getting unemployment, but now that isn't coming in anymore. Ahh, life. Thankfully I have had a pregnancy where I was able to really learn a lot. I learned to not stress as much and let go of control (somewhat). So hopefully I can continue that way of thinking.
So I am heading back up to the hospital. Tomorrow I will stay home and clean and get everything ready (again) for Lucas to come home. All that cleaning and planning 6 weeks ago kind of got lost. So its needed again.

So I think that I will just wait to post again until I really have him here with me.

Tomorrow!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow is the big day! We are bringing our baby home. He is off of the IV and just on the feeding tube. We are so excited and I wanted to thank everyone for their support. I will be sure to post pictures and write about our day.

Exciting...and oh, so scary.

Well, we might be bringing home a baby. Yes, it's true. Lucas is doing great this week. He is tolerating his feeds and is up to 15cc/hour. I think that is like .5 ounces. Its not much. He needs to be taking 21cc's and hour and doing well before he can come home, but so far so good. The nurse practitioner that we spoke with today said we might be taking him home as early as Monday or Tuesday of next week! YIKES!!!

We got a lot of information from her today as well. All about follow up appointments. The cardiologist, pulmonologist, surgery, and a few others that have slipped my mind. We also made our appointment with the geneticist in Tacoma today and our new pediatrician. We are going to be pretty busy these next few weeks/months. But carrying a baby around finally will be so amazing!

I'm not super chatty (type-y) so that is it for now. But today was a great day. Joshua got to hold his brother and he did great. He spent the most time there seeing him too. Its usually 3 minutes but he was in the room for about an hour!

Great aunt Susi came to see Lucas yesterday too. It was great to see her and hang out for a little while. She came in when everyone else did too. So she got to watch. A few docs, a lab tech and the therapist. It was pretty busy.

Aunt Maggie and uncle Matt also came up this week. They got to see and hold Lucas too. Its great that he gets all this love. (I'm jealous)

Oh and just for fun, Monday we got together with the family to play some games. Thats grandma and Maggie arm wrestling! It was so funny!!

I just wanted to write a little update but I am making it quick. Its late and I am tired!!

On Saturday we tried binky training and it didn't go well. Lucas' breathing got really heavy and never seemed to slow down. It would get slightly normal and then shoot back up high. So they slowed down his milk increases and stopped the binky training.
Sunday his rates were still high and they were concerned. Monday, the same. So this morning, they came in and talked with me a little. They ordered another chest x-ray to make sure things looked ok. They also ordered another echo cardiogram to see what his heart was looking like. They wanted to see if the holes were starting to close up. And the surgeon came in and said he was ordering another upper GI, but this time they wanted to give him something to drink and so they could watch what happened when he swallows.
The chest x-ray looked good. And even today his respiratory rates were much better. So we are hoping that things just get better and we can start feeds back again.

That's about it right now. I have some new pictures, but I left my camera cord at the hospital. I think that I am going to try and go up to Children's in the mornings and come back in the evenings. Josh is still home this week taking care of Joshua, but next week we'll have to see what happens.


I did want to write something. Not really for anyone to read, but kind of for myself. Maybe for when I get discouraged or tired.
---Yesterday I was sitting holding my little boy. Looking into his little eyes, I realized how much I love him. I have loved him from day 1, but with everything that has happened and knowing that there is going to be a long difficult road ahead, its been a struggle daily. But I suddenly realized that no matter what life brings us, I will love him more than anything. I know that he is going to be an amazing part of this family. I know that he is going to change the way that I look at life. I know that he is going to change the way so many people look at life. I am excited about his future. I am scared, but my excitement is stronger! I can not wait to see what this little guy can do!

I also know that somewhere and somehow I want to help other people with this. I don't know what that means yet, but I already desire to know more and help others know more. I want to be a part of something....whatever that means. :)

Its late and this whole post is probably a little scatter brained. But you all know me.....that is totally normal!

Oh and I was looking at the local hospital's website tonight. They have a children's therapy unit and it looks pretty awesome. They work with infants, so I assume that is where we will be taking our 'classes'. Here is a video, if you want something to watch.

http://www.multicare.org/files/library/0c6d3425f9f2626d.swf