The car bed

Most people don't even know there is such a thing as a car bed.....not us!! We had to bring both our babies home in a car bed because they were too small for a real car seat. The first picture is Luke in his car bed and the second picture is Lauren in her car bed.

Hi everybody!!!

I love this picture because he looks like he is waving. Today is Thursday and I thought we would be going home and we are still here so I am a little upset. He lost an ounce and that is why they are not letting him go home. So now I am feeding him like crazy.

Lauren meets her brother

Tuesday night was the first time Lauren got to come into the hospital to meet Luke. Craig didn't tell her he was in the room with me. The last several times she has come in we go at peek at him in the nursery so she was very surprised when she came into my room and saw me holding Lukie. She said "what are you doing mommy". I said asked her if she knew who this was and she said "it's Lukie". When I asked if she wanted to hold him she immediately put her arms out. She was very gentle. When he started to cry she put her hand on his face and said "don't cry Lukie". They make a pretty cute little pair.

Learning to eat

Luke started out getting 5ml in a feeding tube every 3 hours and an IV. Each day he increased his amount and started doing feedings with a bottle. It is day 5 and he is up to 23 ml and is getting a bottle for every feeding. He can leave the hospital once he is at 30 ml. The first time he ate from the bottle he did pretty good. Each bottle after that he got better and better. With preemies it is hard for them to get the concept of suck, swallow, and breathe. Luke is really good at suck and swallow but he does like to hold his breath a little. That is getting much better though. It cracks me up because he basically takes one big gulp and it's gone. He doesn't mess around, he likes his food. He's a chugger not a sipper....just like his mommy!!

The hospital stay

The cone head is going down but it's still there. Luke reminds me a lot of Lauren. He is very squirmy and gets angry very easily because he doesn't like all the cords. He kept taking his mask off when he was under the lights. He has ripped his IV out. He gives the nurses a hard time. We have had very good care. It has been hard for me being here because when we brought Lauren home she was so much smaller and earlier so I am just ready for him to be home and they are much more cautious about sending him home. He has gained all his weight back and he is doing awesome with his feedings. The nursing staff is great. They have been so kind and caring.

The day he was under these lights was not a good day for Lukie. He was not happy about this mask and he fused most of the day. He moves his legs and arms so much that it makes all his machines beep a lot.

The hardest part about being in the hospital is that I don't get to hold him as much as I would like and all the cords and such make it very hard to handle him when I do get to hold him. It is very difficult to change his diaper because of the cords and it doesn't help that he moves so much. He is doing everything he is suppose to be doing....gaining weight, maintaining his temp, and eating his bottles. He should be home by the end of the week.

Our family is complete

We get to hold him just about whenever we want but he does need to stay in his isolate a lot so he doesn't burn too many calories maintaining his body temperature. And we don't get to hold him when he needs to be under the billi lights.

He is so tiny but he is a good little cuddler.

Daddy has been trying to get the hospital to have some Lukie time as much as he can but he is in charge of Lauren so he hasn't had as much Lukie time as he would like.

This is Lauren meeting Lukie for the first time. She couldn't go into the nursery so she just had to look at him through the window. There was another baby in there next to him and she said she wanted that one instead of Lukie. Lauren has been into the hospital quite a few times but I don't know if she really understands that we have a new baby in our family because she can only see him from a distance. The first day she came to see me she was very interested in my bag of pee. So now everyday she comes in she asks where my pee is. I tell her that I get to use the potty now. She has made good friends with the nurses. Especially my nurse Amanda. She wouldn't leave the other day without telling her good bye. When Amanda asked her if she was mommy's nurse she said "No I'm the Doctor!!". When we stand outside the window of the nursery and look at Luke she tries to ask each nurse that goes by if they could let us in there. She says "Hey can you let us in there please". She will be a great big sister. We can't wait to get him home so we can be a family.

We joke around that our two preemie babies don't even add up to the size of a full term baby. I may not be able to take my babies home with me right away and my babies might be hooked up to all kinds of cords but I still feel very lucky that both my babies were healthy and strong especially for as early as they were. They are my sweet little miracle babies. Soon Luke will be home and our family will be complete. We are so blessed!!

February 9, 2011 Luke Edward Stille enters the world

Wednesday afternoon I called the doctor at about 1pm. I was not feeling quite right. I wasn't contracting but I felt my stitches pulling and I felt some pressure. He said to come in to the hospital. He had checked my cervix the day before and I was doing ok so I thought it was just from him checking me. When Dr. Cardwell got there he checked me and said my cervix was paper thin and I was just hanging on by a string.....literally the fishing wire that has been holding this baby in this entire pregnancy. He looked at me and said 4:00 c-section. I said ok and then began to get very excited about meeting my little Lukie but also was a little nervous about being cut open!! We had to wait until 4:30 because they wanted a pediatrician in the room to access his needs when he came out. Dr. Cardwell had a very hard time getting him out because his head was wedged all the way down the birth canal......who knows how long his poor little head was stuck down there. He pulled and tugged and out he came at 4:52 screaming and crying. I was so happy that he was breathing on his own. That was my main concern with him coming so early. He weighted 4 lbs 10 ounces and was 16 inches long. He had the biggest cone head I had ever seen and he was horribly bruised from being stuck. But had a nice head of dark hair. His apgar score was, I think, an 8 or 9. The doctor said he looked really good. When I was in recovery my body temperature was really low so they had to put heat blankets on me. I did not physically feel cold I was actually really hot and sweating really bad. I started to get feeling back in my legs pretty quickly but still felt really icky and sweaty. I ended up throwing up a lot. I didn't sleep a wink for at least 24 hours after he was born. The pain was manageable at first. I felt more discomfort from my tubes being tied than I did from the incision. I was very emotional afterward too but that passed and I felt much better the next day. I was able to get up and move around pretty good the next day. By day 4 I was hoping to feel a lot better but was still having a lot of pain. Well I, officially, am no good at carrying my babies to term but we do make nice, strong, healthy babies. They may be tiny but they are mighty. Welcome to the world little Lukie.

biggest cone head EVER

His poor little forehead was sooo bruised

Craig and I before surgery.

Luke's Nursery

We have the same nursery for Luke that we had for Lauren just a new name on the wall. I can't wait to get him home so he can enjoy his room and his comfy crib.