One Year

My son Lucas turned one year old today. I feel kind of bad that this doesn't feel like such a major achievement, especially in light of his first few months. The amazing thing though is that the last several months have been so normal, almost like he had a normal birth. He probably weighs 4 pounds more than his big brother Jake did at his first birthday...the kid is a tank! Developmentally he's still a few months behind normal one year olds, but that's to be expected. Other than that, he's happy 95% of the time and he's an absolute joy to be with.

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers and encouragement over the past year. They have really meant a lot to us and we can't wait till Lucas is older so we can show and tell him about everything that went on.

As for prayer, all we ask for is that Lucas will catch up developmentally and that he will enjoy many more birthdays. Thank you!

Luke's NICU Doctor at the reunion picnic

Luke, his transport nurse, and the travelling isolette...I can't believe he used to fit in that thing!

Luke's amazing binky tricks.

Miracles

A week ago, I read an article about a couple in Kentucky that like me, had a twin molar pregnancy. Abby, the mother, had to deliver her baby at 27 weeks due to preeclampsia. Campbell, her baby girl, weighed in at only 13 oz. (Lucas was 2 lbs. 11 oz.). The doctors declared her dead at birth and passed her over to her father, Nelson to hold. Campbell then began to cry. Her cries grew louder and louder until the doctors took her and placed her in neonatal intensive care. She did well for ten days, and then on Friday, took a turn for the worse. I read today (on her mother's facebook page) that she died early this morning. They are strong in their faith and know that Campbell is now in heaven.

Please pray for Abby, Nelson, and the rest of their family. It is never easy to lose a child, especially one that was a miracle to begin with. All we can do is pray for strength and comfort.

Stories like this remind us of the miracle of Lucas! He continues to thrive. He is now over 10 months old and over 21 lbs.! He is now getting over his first illness (he went 1o whole months without any sickness!) and starting to crawl.

We are blessed by your prayers, support, and love. God is awesome!

Lucas at Six Months...

Lucas just had his sixth month well baby check-up the other day. He is now weighing in at a whopping 16 lbs. 12 oz. and is 25 1/2 in. long. The Dr. said that he actually registers as a sixth month old on the charts and that we can even begin to feed him solid food if we want to. He's made leaps and bounds of progress and is such a joy. Here's the most recent photo of the little cutie!


Thanks again for your prayers and support!

10 pounds!

Luke had his second round of shots for RSV today...so we made the trek to the pediatricians office. When he was getting weighed in, I (Wendy) assumed he was going to be 9 pounds +, but imagine my surprise when he he weighed 10 lbs. 4 oz! What a tank! Obviously, Lucas is thriving and doing great. He now gets to try regular formula because the special preemie formula has too many calories! We're pretty happy about that too, because the Neosure (preemie formula) is more expensive than the others. He also grew to 21 inches. Here's a picture I just took with the web cam -- sorry for the quality...but you can see the little chubby guy for yourself!



Thanks for your continued prayers! We are truly grateful and blessed because of them!

Wendy

Happy Birthday Luke

If Wendy had a normal pregnancy, our son Lucas would have been born sometime around today. Instead, she had a crazy pregnancy and Lucas was born 13 weeks ago.

Today, he's pretty much a normal baby. He weighs around 9 pounds and eats, sleeps, and cries like a normal baby. He even has a screwed up sleep schedule where he likes to stay awake in the middle of the night...I love babies.

Here's a few pictures of the little guy...





Thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement. It's humbling to hear from all of the people that have been keeping track of our little family. Thank you.

Cheers,
Colin

Wendy again... Today Lucas had a follow-up appointment with the Pediatrician to make sure his circumcision was healing well. Everything looks great! The best part is...he gained 10 more ounces! Our little guy is getting chunky! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. today. It's kind of scary to think that he should still be in utero for another 9 days. Just imagine how big he would've been had he been a term baby!

Here's a picture and video of Luke inside his Christmas stocking. Maybe when he's 16 years old, I'll put a copy of the photo inside his stocking on Christmas day!




Thanks for your continued prayers. Lucas is our miracle baby. We thank God everyday for the gift of our son, and we ask blessings on those that lift him up in prayer continually. God is good!

Wendy

Bad day, but progress!

This is Wendy writing... I'm getting a break from Mom duties while Colin feeds Lucas. The poor guy had a rough day today. He got circumcised. It didn't go so well. He bled quite a bit, even at the beginning of the procedure when he received the shot of local anesthetic. The pediatrician said that the amount of bleeding was not normal, but told me not to worry...hard for a mother to do! The Dr. gave Luke a Vitamin K shot after the procedure was over -- I'm assuming it was for the bleeding, or because of the bleeding.

Anyway...please pray for his recovery. He's still bleeding -- not a ton, but I think it should've stopped by now. He's also very irritable, which is exhausting!

Enough of the negative...here's the good stuff!

Lucas weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. today! The kid is amazing! He left the hospital 10 days ago -- weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and has gained 19 oz. since! Almost 2 oz. a day! The Dr. said that we could reduce the calories in his formula and the Nurse Practitioner said that "he's just a regular baby now!"

The cool thing...Jake was 7 lbs 11 oz. at birth. Then he lost weight and took 5 weeks to gain it back. Luke is 8 weeks ahead of what Jake was according to gestational age. That just blows my mind!

God is good!

Thanks for the prayers! Keep them coming!

Wendy (Colin, Jake, & Luke too!)