Movin' On Up

As the title of the blog says, Luke has been moved! He was taken from the PICU and put in the NICU on Monday afternoon. He had been doing well and they needed the bed space in the PICU. So, Luke went from being the little fish in the big pond to the big fish in the little pond. He looks enormous next to all of the micro preemies and preemies in with him.

Luke also had a special visitor on Monday. My aunt Judy from Las Vegas was in town and came by to see him and hang out with our family. It was great to have her there while they moved Luke to his new "room" and he even performed for her with a few of his famous lady killing smiles.

Tuesday we saw even more progress. Luke's last line was removed from his neck and he was taken off of oxygen and is now completely on room air. He now looks like he did when we brought him to Children's. No wires, tubes or lines poking out from him. It feels so incredible to see him looking so healthy!! He has been eating like a CHAMP and the nurses joke that if its been an hour and he makes a noise he must be starving--again.

He is so quick to smile now, too. So of course I spent all day yesterday screwing my face up all crazy trying to get him to smile. Seems the face he likes best so far is when I open my eyes really wide and stick out my tongue in imitation of him. He is outrageously cute and I am loving each new moment with him and his new lease on life.

I am off to the hospital this morning to do all of my discharge training so I will know how to handle his new needs at home. I am so excited yet nervous to bring him home. The kids will be home for Spring Break this upcoming week and it will be so nice to not have to deal with school schedules for the first week Luke is back. I know the kids are looking forward to spending time with their baby brother. They have missed him.

My 2 parting thoughts are these:

1: Luke is a pig. They weighed him 2 nights ago. 11lbs.6oz. They weighed him last night. 11lbs. 11oz. I have a feeling he's gonna be a BIG boy. That's the way I like 'em. Nice and thick.

2: Last night was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. As I left the hospital to go get my car at the parking garage, I decided to take the elevator as I had parked on the 5th floor. As I stepped on the elevator by myself, it gave a weird little jerk. Hmmmm. The doors slid shut and I pressed the button for 5. Up I went until right before the 5th floor the elevator stopped and the lights went out. I pushed the button again but nothing happened. Then the floor dropped beneath my feet. I wont repeat what I said at that moment but I really thought I was going to die. It stopped dropping and I was freaking out. I picked up the little phone in the box ( now I can check that off my list of things I've always wanted to do. I've wondered if they really work.They do.) and the operator picked up the other line. Right then the elevator did a big drop again and I told the lady I didn't want to die, that I had 5 kids and to please send help QUICK!!! I've also often wondered what thoughts would go through my mind if I was about to die or thought I was. Trust me, you don't think about the things you think you will! I literally looked up and said to God, " You have got to be kidding me, right?!?! I am not ready to die yet and I just got a kid through major surgery. Seriously, this sucks."

Not exactly the conversation I thought I would have with God. I'm sure he was amused. All in all I was trapped for 45 minutes and went from calm to freaking out each time the elevator dropped. The only positive I could think of from all the drops it made was, sweet I'll be closer to ground when it drops completely. Also, I did sit on my ample behind hoping it would cushion what I felt was an impending blow. Obviously it ended well. They used a back up generator to restore power to the elevator. I'm alive so I guess it's true that only the good die young. I will admit that the thoughts I did have were very revealing and helped me clarify further what really matters to me in my life.

Well. I'm off to the hospital now. Thanks for reading my long rambling thoughts. I hope that you like reading these posts as much as I like writing them.

And YES, I will be taking the stairs when I get there.