Hospital days

I'm finally getting around to some pictures of Samuel's birth and hospital stay...

 Sam entered the world like our other kids. Fast, furious and early.

I had a good nurse who was very calming and soothing.

Normally, I pace like a crazy woman to get through the pain.

But this time, I relied on Michael and my nurse much more.

I finally told her it was time to get the doctor in the room.

He arrived, broke my water, and Sam was in my arms five minutes later.

He was such a beautiful little boy. So tiny and sweet.  We noticed his big, full lips right away.

At first we thought he was a mini Max, but then he started to look more like Kat.

He cried immediately after birth, but it took him a long time to cry later.
We didn't have much time to love on him before they sent him over to the NICU.

And the pediatrician soon noticed the symptoms of RDS and put him on a CPAP.
One thing I noticed right away was how blue his hands and feet were.

When Sam was about 30 hours old, they decided to transport him to the Children's Hospital.

Michael went on the fixed wing plane with him since I was still a patient.

A sweet friend helped me check out of the hospital while my parents drove to our home.

We picked up our kids from Michael's parents, went home and packed,

And then my dad drove all of us to the other hospital a few hours away.  I was so anxious to get there.

Samuel ended up being in the NICU for 18 days.  

Sometimes, it seemed like so much longer.

I did learn to appreciate the "short" stay we had compared to the babies born much, much earlier.

I can't even begin to imagine the four and five month stays of some babies.

We are truly grateful for all the kindness and generosity of family and friends.

We were so blessed to have such wonderful people who picked up where we couldn't.

And for Michael to the have the flexibility with his job to do what he needed to do.

 Thank you again for all the love, support and prayers!