5 weeks late

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I know I'm 5 weeks late with this post, lol, but I can only fit so much computer time into my day!



Samuel Lewis was born August 23rd and 12:35 pm
7 lbs 2 oz
20 inches

He has the most fabulous long black hair that gets really curly when it's wet. The last few weeks of August were an adventure for our family, we're all glad we survived:)


This is my last pregnant picture, taken 1 week before I was induced. I thought I might escape complications this time, but at 37 weeks all the same symptoms started. After a week and a half on bed rest, my blood pressure kept getting higher and I kept feeling worse we decided to induce again. I'll admit I wanted to try to go natural this time and not need any drugs, but I forgot how completely awful I felt at the end. I had a horrible headache, super puffy, throwing up constantly, dizzy and soo sooo tired. Like I had the energy to do any pushing, lol, I just wanted to lay down. I was already at a 4 when we went in, so it made things nice at easy. We went in around 6, took forever getting hooked up to ivs, finally broke my water and started the pitocin around 8am and had Sammy just after noon. The delivery was so easy this time, no stitches makes a huge difference in recovery. My mom took Blaz to her house to play all day, so it was just Juan and me in delivery. I don't know how people go thru all without somebody holding their hand and giving them water:)


I was really surprised at first how different they look, I was expecting him to look more like Blaz. He has the same lips, but his face is round, pointy defined chin and funny little ears. He's also darker, his tan is sticking around.


After a few hours Blaz and my family came to meet Mr. Sam. Blaz immediately said, "I want to hold him!" when we saw Sammy. In the above picture Blaz said, "Look mommy, he is a roaring lion!"

This is our first family of 4 picture. Love them!


The first day in the hospital was great, I felt great and Sam was doing well. Wednesday Juan decided to go to work for a few hours, and Blaz and my mom stayed at the hospital with us. We all felt so good we were planning to go home early...


They did a bili test on Sam and noticed it was kind of high, so they brought a light bed to our room for him to sit under for 6 or so hours before we left. They tested his bili again and it made a huge jump up, they were concerned that it was so high and still rising, so they admitted my little man to the NICU.
I pretty much hated Wednesday night. Juan took Blaz home to sleep, and I was all alone in that hospital room just missing my baby. Every few hours I would go to the NICU to nurse, it was kind of complicated with all the wires and IV. I just remember feeling really lonely and wanting to snuggle him more. His bili went up again at the next check, so they added another bili blanket under him and started running lots of tests. The pediatrician couldn't figure out why it continued to jump, but was encouraged because he looked so good and vigorous and responsive.


It was annoying being stuck in the hospital when I felt good, but I didn't want to leave w/out my baby. After I maxed-out my insurance, they let me pay $30 a night for my room so I could be near Sammy. On Thursday Juan got a job offer and Blaz got pink eye really bad. We talked on the phone that night about whether or not to accept the offer, I really missed him. It was hard walking out of the NICU and seeing my baby with all the wires and monitors. Juan visited Sam in the NICU one evening just touch him and see him, he came back w/ tears is in eyes, it was really sweet.
His numbers kept rising, but they agreed to let us go home w/ a bili blanket. Hooray!! He was really hard to get dressed, he'd been naked for days and kept balling up his arms and legs, lol.



We moved the crib to the living room and there we stayed for a week. We didn't take him anywhere except to the doctor, since he needed to be plugged in constantly. Blaz took up this perch to watch his "glow worm" baby brother.





Every morning we took him in to do another bili test, that was miserable. It stayed the same or went up a little each time. We took him off the lights and it only went of .4. That was a great day, when we could finally unplug our baby and go places. I took my boys to the park that day, me and Blaz were really sick of being cooped up all day.

Finally at his 2 week appointment Sam had gone down to 16.4, just .4 over the high risk line. Since the doctors found no cause (liver, bladder infection, etc.) they just let us go home and be normal, watching for signs that it was going to his brain.

It was a lot more drama than we were expecting, lol, but we feel very blessed and grateful. Seeing all the other tiny, sick and frail babies in the NICU made me grateful that mine was the big strong boy in the corner. Thanks for all your prayers, we are delighted w/ our new baby:)