Hello World!

Iron Mike

Take a look at this little guy.  15 days ago, I was laying on a bed at St. Francis Hospital listening to the doctor pretty much tell me that we were going to lose him.  My water had broken at 23 weeks and 5 days and almost all of my amniotic fluid was gone.  For the moment, my contractions had slowed down and my cervix had not started to dilate.  Thankfully, the doctor on call (not my doctor) made the decision to send me to University Hospital for observation.  I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time- no, they did not turn the lights on :(  As soon as we got to University Hospital, everything changed.  The doctors and nurses were so optimistic and positive that everything would work out and that they would do everything in their power to make sure that the baby and I were safe and would have the best care possible.  We met with lots of doctors the following day and I was told that I would be living at the hospital until Michael decided to make his grand entrance into the world.  I was told that it could be 2 days, 2 week, 2 months, etc. 

Well.......my little guy had other plans.  Big plans.  He did not like the idea of hanging out in my belly and not being able to swim around and do his somersaults and gymnastics.  About 24 hours after being admitted to University Hospital, I started having contractions.  Hard contractions.  Really close together contractions- like not even a minute apart.  And they hurt!  I almost threw up from the pain and all I could do was writhe around on my bed in pain.  I seriously went from .5 centimeter dilated to the baby crowning in about an hour.  The doctors came in and got everything ready, I pushed three times and he was out!  I did not have an epidural and even though he was tiny, it still hurt- not as bad as my contractions, but not comfy.  I cannot even imagine pushing out a term baby with no drugs!  The doctors took him away immediately and I didn't get to see him for about 30 minutes.  I still have not held him.

Michael was born weighing only 1 lb, 5 oz.  He is currently residing in the NICU at Riley Hospital and will be there for the next few months.  He is super teeny tiny and completely adorable.  He is doing very well, but we have a long road ahead of us.

His weight got down to 1 lb, 1 oz, but he is now sitting pretty at 1 lb, 10 oz and has grown a half an inch since birth!  Michael has had a lot of really great days and a couple of sort of rocky days.  He was on breast milk feedings for about a week, but then developed an infection, so he is off that for now.  The antibiotics are working hard to clear things up and hopefully we will start feedings again in a couple days.

Michael has been super active recently!  He loves to grab onto whatever he can get his little hands on- usually his breathing or feeding tube.  He actually holds onto his feeding tube so much that they have to reset and tape it about every other day.  Michael loves to squirm and wiggle around.  He hates laying on his side.  Lately, I have noticed that he makes lots of sucking motions with his mouth and likes to stick his tongue out and has lately been trying to suck his thumb!  It amazes me that even at this early stage, he does things like this.  He is such an amazing little guy!

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!  We love Michael so much and are so excited to see what each day brings :)