A few days ago Lindsay posted about needing more motivation for making blog posts, and boy do I have the answer. It was staring me right in the face the whole time. You don’t need interesting stories, or a good sense of humor, just have a baby! Do it Lindsay, go make a baby, and then the posts will just fly off your fingertips and onto the screen. I pulled off 9 days of consecutive posts because of this little guy. He’s a bloggers dream. Yesterday was Easter, so that’s my excuse for breaking the streak.

The last two nights have been pretty good. We’re on a pretty flexible schedule right now, but he basically woke up twice during the night. His biggest problem is that it takes a long time to feed him. He’ll suck and suck forever and then act like he’s done and asleep, but the minute you put him down he’s awake and crying. Then it’s back to more sucking until he tops off the tank. It’s tiring for mom, so the last two days I’ve watched him in the afternoon while Stacie takes a nap. Last night I watched half of season 2 of The Office with him curled up on my chest. Good times.

Right now he’s upstairs sleeping, I’ve got our baby monitor in front of me, and Stacie is taking a shower. We got one of the fancy ones that detect movement, which I have to admit is pretty cool. Even if there are no sounds, I know he’s breathing and OK. I’ve even had enough time to plunk out a few sentences on the book this morning.

I’ve got some Easter pictures to post and a lot of video to edit, so maybe I’ll get to that this afternoon. To everyone on Spring Break, happy Spring Break to you. To everyone in Mexico without internet and not reading this, I hope you get lots of work done on the houses. To everyone wondering if they want babies, the answer is yes. Unless you’re crazy and psychopaths run in your family, then the answer is no. If you fall somewhere in between “well adjusted” and “crazy” on the sanity spectrum, please talk to my sister about whether or not you should bring a child into this world. Contrary to popular opinion, your baby should not be used as a sounding board for your conspiracy theories regarding radiation tainted trail mix. That’s crazy.

Night 1 = No sleep

Ok, not NO sleep, but very little. There was lots of “is he hungry?” and “does he need to be changed?” Somewhere around 5 am he ate well and slept after that. We’ll see how tonight goes down.

Denise and Paul came over to see and hold him. They were both naturals.

Part of the day Luke and I watched the Dodgers lose to the Angels while mommy slept upstairs. During the game I had fun snapping some photos.

As the days wear on, these posts will probably devolve into a few pictures separated by caveman talk.

This morning when we got to the hospital we were greeted with great news. His bilirubin levels had dropped to just over 8 (the magic number was less than 10) and he had been eating really well. The doctor checked him out and said he was ready to come home! We made a quick stop at Target to buy some bottles of Purell, and came back to the hospital with his carseat. We had to wait for them to do the circumcision, and then we signed some papers, and the great nurses gave us lots of tips for the first few days. After that we were ready to go.

When we got home both grandmothers came over to see him, but for the first two hours he slept! The dog isn’t quite sure what to make of him, but every cry and squeal piques her interest.

Family came over and took their turns holding him. We picked up pizza and enjoyed our first evening with him.

We’re thrilled to have him home, and we’re ready for our first night of sleeplessness. He slept in his basinet for about an hour, but as I type this he decided he was hungry, so Stacie has him in bed to feed him.

After his entire ordeal and everything he’s been through in just his first week in the world, know what’s funny? Today was his due date. He knew that even though he came early, today was the day to come home, and we couldn’t be more thankful for the great doctors and nurses that have been with him and helped him get better. Welcome home Luke.

This morning we went to visit Luke and he is doing really well. His bilirubin levels are down to 11.3, which is much better than the 14.7 he was at the day before. Once he gets to 10 they’ll let him go if they’re fairly confident it won’t rebound. They think he might be able to come home tomorrow if he can keep it up! Tomorrow is his due date, so I think it would be great if he came home on the day he was supposed to be born.

This picture is from this morning, and you can really see how yellow he was before he started phototherapy. He’s got a yellow sunglasses outline.

We learned a little more today about what happened exactly with the emergency delivery. Stacie had a placental abruption which is where the placenta comes detached from the uterus wall. Apparently it only happens in 1% of deliveries, but there is a fetal mortality rate of 20-40%. It’s pretty scary to think that if we’d been any later he might not have survived. But we are blessed to have a healthy baby and can’t wait to bring him home.

Luke is still at the hospital fighting off his juandice, and in the meantime I’m getting as many things ready as possible. I got a second base for our travel system so we can take the baby in either car. Today I put those in both cars and secured them super well. Now when he’s ready to come home we’ll be able to transport him safely. These things are big! It fits in the new Jetta just fine, but in Stacie’s car I had to make the driver’s seat back more upright.

Yesterday our furniture came, so now we can get all his clothes/diapers/baby stuff all organized and put away. We bought it from USA Baby in Torrance, and the brand of furniture is by Baby’s Dream. Growing up Stacie used the SAME furniture her whole life. Her parents bought it when she was a baby, and she used it until she moved out. We used a similar philosophy and bought something nice that should last for years and years. We also got a nightstand that matches, and the crib can turn into a toddler bed and then into a full size bed.

I took some breastmilk for Luke this morning, and we’re going over at 5 pm to feed him. His bilirubin levels are still high, but they expect that to improve over the next couple days. Have I mentioned yet how cute he is?

Another day has gone by, and while less eventful than the last few, things are still progressing. Stacie got her first night of good sleep and a shower complete with hair washing. I managed to keep her from rushing off this morning to see the baby, but she was there by this afternoon. Today they were concerned that he still wasn’t eating enough, but they removed the IV this evening, so that’s a good sign. So now he’s off the oxygen, off the IV, and off the antibiotics, but he’s still fighting the jaundice. They’ve moved him up to “triple photo therapy” to bring down his bilirubin levels which are still high. The good news is that the last test showed a decrease in bilirubin, so we’re hoping that trend continues.

Otherwise we’re busy shuttling breast milk to the hospital. Today the furniture came, so that was a good thing. Now when Luke comes home his room will be all ready for him. It will probably be a few more days until they’ll let him come home, but we want to make sure he’s healthy before he does. Thank you for all the prayers, and I’ll make sure to keep you updated.

Stacie came home tonight around 6 pm. I loaded up all her things and her two flower vases and brought her home. During the day I ran out and bought a breast pump and got the car all washed up for her ride home. Her parents came over and brought dinner, and aftewards she did some pumping. She got 30 ml, a new personal record! Tomorrow we’ll take that to the hospital and they can feed it to him when we’re not there. Here she is on her triumphant exit.

Baby Luke is doing well. Right now they’re treating him for jaundice, but it appears the respiratory and stomach problems are mostly over with. His jaundice is fairly severe because he has a different blood type than Stacie. She is A+ and he is B+, so his body is trying to get rid of Stacie’s blood. This made us think, how exactly is blood type determined? It’s actually really interesting. The combination of the parents determines what the possible outcomes are. They’ve got him under the super cool lights, and how much longer he is there depends on how quickly he responds to the treatment. Check out his super cool glasses!

I’m making Stacie stay home in the morning so she can get a good night’s sleep, and then tomorrow afternoon she’s going to visit him. Our furniture is coming tomorrow, so now when the baby comes home he’ll have his room all finished. And with that, goodnight!

Made a short visit to the hospital this morning. Baby and mom are both doing well. Doctors said that Stacie can come home tonight after dinner, so that’s a positive. He gave her the option to stay another day, but they’re moving a new person into her room, and at this point she’d rather sleep at home. Baby Luke is doing well. He’s eating better and they haven’t put a tube down his throat. The last jaundice test came back fairly high, so they’ve got him under the super cool UV lights. I was thinking of running to Frys and buying some UV case lighting to make him feel welcome once he finally comes home (the geeks will get that one). It sounds like the baby will be there for another 2-3 days for them to monitor/improve the jaundice and his feeding. My job today is to go to Babies R Us and get the breast pump that we don’t have yet, and then straighten so mommy can come home to a clean house. Dave came by this morning to see us and pray with us and that was really nice. It’s great knowing there are so many loving people in his life and he’s only two days old.