Luke Learning Bach

Luke goes to music every Wednesday. He has picked up a few things that he practices at home, and he at least watches the activity. Mostly though he is a free spirit who runs around at will and picks and chooses exactly what he will and won't do. Dancing is always fair game though...music, dancing...at least his dancing is appropriate in this class. Oh, and of course, he is the absolute cutest up and coming musician in class! The last two photos are of a few other recent activities, just before his sister was born. We spent one day a few weeks ago at the park on base (thanks for the heads up Denise, we didn't even know it was there!). It is great! He loves the swinging bridge and practicing for the driver's test the most. Then the last picture is of his first pony ride at Fiesta farms. It is basically a farm with a petting zoo and lots of other animals to look at. He enjoyed it and as you can tell he's also a natural on a horse. So many options, will he be a gymnast, a musician, a rancher, or a used car salesman (because he isn't allowed to be a race car driver)...only time will tell.

Sam Update

We were expecting to bring Sam home this past Monday. But...Sunday night she had an apnea episode, which is basically just when you forget to breath. Little babies like her have underdeveloped brains and thus they simply can't remember everything they have to do. Age fixes the problem, as with each additional day the brain gets stronger and more capable. Anyway, anytime they have such an episode it adds 5-7 days to the stay for observation, make sure they are mature enough to handle the home scene with no monitors, etc. She had another episode on Monday evening, so we are looking at at least the weekend so far. Like we told everyone there who felt sorry for us though, we really are not disappointed. Although we certainly want to bring our baby home, we don't want to do it a second earlier than she is ready to come home. Neither of us think we'll be able to get over worrying about her breathing all the time as is, we don't want there to be any medical rush that would add to the uncertainty. Bottom line is, she still needs your prayers. We pray she'll develop more, get older, get bigger, and be completely ready to come home when she is discharged. BTW - She weighed in at 3 lbs and 15.9 ounces today...I say we can round that to a full 4 lbs. She is looking down right chunky, don't you think?

Her very first real outfit with matching hat! It is a preemie size and it is huge on her! She looks super cute in it though.

Some Favorites

These are some of my favorites so far -- two will be on the announcements coming your way soon.

Sam Update

Sam is doing great. She is quite a trooper! She has no feeding tube now. Day before yesterday she pulled it out so the doctors went ahead and wrote for her to take all her feedings with the bottle. She hasn't missed a beat. She also had an IV that came out and they decided no need in replacing it, so no IV. And last, but not least, she was being monitored for temperature. They kept her in an isolete that was like 98 degrees, as when they are little they can't maintain their temps on their own. In fact that is the primary deciding factor as to when they can come home is their ability to maintain their own temperature, which putting on weight helps with. Well, yesterday they took her off the heat. She is still enclosed and swaddled most of the day, but with no heat applied and she has been doing great - her temperatures have all been wonderful. She was running some high blood pressure today, but they weren't worried about it at all. The doc said that when you increase feedings as much as she has (she can eat whatever she wants, whenever she wants now) that it just takes a while for your body to adjust, so this is not unusual; she'll even out in a few days. The biggest news is that she is moving to Level II tonight. She has been in the Level III NICU which is where the babies who need meds are or who are having more problems, etc. Level II is for "feeder, growers", which means the babies who are basically just eating and growing until they are big enough to come home. We thought for sure she had done something contrary to get herself kicked out like that, but they swear it is normal procedure for babies doing so well. So, overall, Miss Sam is doing wonderfully. The NICU staff have been great, but as much as we like them, we are ready to rid ourselves of that place...and we are getting there. For all of you who have been praying, a huge thanks from our family to you. It is working, please keep it up!

Samantha Anderson

All...We made it! Laura came home yesterday! Saturday morning the steroid treatments kicked in and her numbers turned the corner. Although she is still pretty weak and VERY swollen, we are out of the woods. It's a very long, story, but to sum it up she is lucky to be alive. I didn't know what this was called before last week, but she had pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome, both of which are cured by delivering a baby. The problems should go away with delivery, but Laura's did not. Her blood platelets and liver function continued to drop after delivery despite the proper medications being given. So, it was just touch and go as we waited and tried something different after the first round didn't work. God is good though, he must have something else for her to do on this earth! So..for now that is working on getting Sam home. She is in the NICU at Wilford Hall and is expected to be there another 4 weeks. She is doing great though. She doesn't even have an IV, no help needed breathing nothing. We refer to her as wonder woman already. Laura will go each morning and feed her, then do kangaroo care for a few hours. I'll visit in the afternoon to see if any changes have occurred, and then we are home at night as if it is just another day for Luke. So, basically it is just our job to get her eating and home, then we can go from there. You really can't go play with her much. They just want you to have a little contact like we are doing, but the rest of the day she is to sleep, eat and be left alone. They don't want any of her energy going to anything other than growing and keeping her weight on. So, please pray that she'll do just that, rest, eat, grow, and be healthy. The pictures below are the best we have so far. We weren't really prepared for picture taking, didn't even have a hospital bag ready, so bear with us. There will of course, be more to come.

Samantha Anderson Hurst was born 10 Jul at 0534, weighed 2.15 lbs and is 16 inches long. There is no other way to describe her but tiny and miraculous. Her head is smaller than a credit card, and there is just no way to convey that in pictures, but her cuteness is obvious!