9th Posting: The Biggest Scare Yet

Saturday was the day of my last post.  It wasn't even an hour I had written it when Chris called me very upset.  He had gone to see Luke.  Things did not look good.  Everything that we called stable was not.  His oxygen went from the twenties to the seventies and kept rising steadily.  His CO2 levels were following suite.  Everything that you could imagine was no where near where it was only 24 hours prior.  His color looked bad.  The doctor pulled Chris aside and explained to him this could be the beginning of the end.  Luke's body was possibly growing too quickly for his lungs to keep up.  After Chris explained this to me, the girls and I rushed to the hospital.  I was so confused and scared.  How could a baby doing relatively well fall this fast?

We watched him for a long time that day.  The girls came to speak with him and touched him, thinking this may be the last time they'd see him.  We all prayed around him.  Hours went by.  The girls were being so good.  They'd go spend time in the family room the NICU has set up so Chris and I could keep watch.  Never a complaint out of any of them.  Such good girls we have.

Thankfully, Luke's numbers slowly, slowly, slowly started coming down.  His color began to return.  The family left.  Chris' brother Mark offered to watch the girls for a little while so we could go back up to be with Luke.  That's exactly what we did.  By the time 8:00pm came, things had improved.  It was a big scare for us and another reality check of what we're dealing with here.  We have a preemie, which in itself is a challenge, but on top of that, we've got a preemie with underdeveloped lungs.  Many people have told us stories of babies being born weighing a pound or so and growing up great.  That is definitely an accomplishment.  Every situation is different though.  Being born is a huge milestone.  Dealing with the complications is another.

Still keeping our fingers crossed....