• 1 taken on Mon. 02/07/2011

I never did get a chance to post any kind of an update on Sunday after he was born, but things did go downhill for a while for both Anna and Lucas. A few hours after Lucas was born, Anna lost a significant amount of blood. It wound up not being enough to require a transfusion, but it was significant, sudden, unexpected and quite scary. One nurse said she lost the equivalent of 3 IV bags worth of blood in about 30 minutes. I'm sure IV bags come in different sizes, so I apologize for the lack of specificity there; deal with it. I do remember that her blood pressure was down to 90 over 50 at one point. They were able to get it all stopped and had her blood pressure back up to something like 125 over 90 a few hours later. She'll be fine, but it spooked us both. The nursing staff even seemed pretty concerned.

When all of that started, I was holding Lucas. The amount of blood combined with the lack of color in Anna's face, the way she looked and the lack of sleep combined to overwhelm me for a bit. I was feeling a bit faint, so I put Lucas down in his bed in the room and sat down for a minute. I then took him back to the nursery. As of now, some 36 hours later, that's the last time either Anna or I has touched him, let alone held him.

Shortly after they got Anna's hemorrhaging under control, while we were still pretty much in shock in fact, they let us know that he had gone up to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit); up to that point, it was mentioned only as a possibility. The guy that notified us of this briefly mentioned the possibility of a hole in Lucas' heart. The first thought that Anna and I had was, "Oh my God; I'm going to be burying a son, probably in the next couple of weeks." That and her hemorrhaging was really too much to take in such a short period of time.

After going up and visiting our adorable newborn, we met with a cardiologist that explained what was going on with Luke quite a bit more thoroughly. Honestly, as fatigued and overwhelmed as Anna and I were at that point, not a whole lot of information "stuck," but, in essence, he has a valve that is not completely closing due to some inflammation. With rest, fluids, a lack of stimulation, and medication, they're hoping that this inflammation will subside and hopefully result in a functioning valve. It's not minor, but it's not super serious, either. He wouldn't be dying from it, which made us feel a LOT better.

Lucas being in the NICU has changed things up a bit for us compared to previous deliveries:

• He obviously hasn't been in our room much. He was about 3 hours old when I wheeled him out of our room and down to the nursery when Anna started hemorrhaging and hasn't been back since.
• Anna and I have barely been able to touch him, let alone hold him. Since they moved him up to the NICU, we aren't allowed to touch him. Anna and I each got to hold him a bit during those first couple of hours after he was born, but not once since.
• Lucas' and his siblings have not met. Due to the cold and flu season, Jacob (9), Andrew (7) and Katelyn (2) aren't allowed in the NICU.

Mom and baby did improve on day two (mom: a lot; baby: a bit). I get the feeling that the road ahead will be smoother than what we've already gone through, but it'll be a bit bumpier and a longer road than we had originally expected.

I came home tonight with Jacob, Andrew and Katelyn, so they got to sleep in their own beds. Tomorrow, Jacob and Andrew will go back to school and Katelyn will go to the sitters. For the most part, it will be a fairly normal day for them, except Mommy isn't home. It sounds like we'll at least be able to set that right tomorrow (later today, actually). At this point, we have no idea how soon Lucas might be able to come home, so Anna and I will likely be heading home without him tomorrow. That's going to be quite difficult.