Only one more sleep til Christmas!
I don't feel organized at all really, it's just been so hectic with everything going on I havnt had time to finish my Christmas shopping!! So now we will be one of those silly people at the mall on Christmas eve frantically buying the last minute bits n pieces.
While I was pregnant with Lucas, I had visions of Christmas day with our little newborn and my sisters baby together. In theory we do have a 7 week old baby but his actual age is nearly 5 months! 21 weeks to be exact, and what a ride we have had in those months.
For anyone who has never been into a neonatal intensive care unit (nicu)there are 6 rooms at Christchurch womens. Room one being the very sick, low birth weight babies round to room 2 which is kind of a less attention needed room, then rooms 3,4,5 are babies born premature that need a couple of weeks of learning to feed and just getting bigger really. These rooms are also where Lucas would have gone on his journey around on his road to home.
The room 6 is the last room where babies are getting ready for discharge.
We never made it to anything past 2 as we transferred to Tauranga to live when Lucas was 35 weeks, but we stayed in room one for 9 weeks. The experience is that of a rollercoaster ride. One day your up, the next down..and I had a few of those down down days. There were days if pure joy too, like the day I gave him his first bath at 3 weeks old, the day he graduated to a cot from the incubator, the day I got my first cuddle and even the milestones which is something parents of full term babies would never experience such as...when our baby boy didn't drop his oxygen levels in the blood for 5 minutes or when he overcame an infection, when he coped off the ventilator and started breathing on his own! Now THAT was a huge one.
Anyway I think you get the point..
So our latest news. Yesterday we took Lucas to get another eye exam. Now these exams are just horrendous! They insert a speculum underneath both lids of the eye to pry it open do the ophthalmologist can have a good look. Each visit Lucas has to receive two lots of eye drops to dilate his pupils. This takes around 40 mins to do. Then the worst part.
Some mothers worry about a wee jab in their loved ones thighs... Piece of cake for us! Lucas has had more blood tests and jabs than the average adult. It never gets any easier though and I still cry every time they squeeze blood out of his heel while hold him screaming in pain. Now that he is getting bigger and more aware it's even worse!!
I'm rambling again...so yesterday he had a horrendous blood test before the eye exam. The nurse took 3 files of blood which seemed to take a life time, while poor Lucas absolutely screamed the place down. So this was traumatic enough and then on top of that his eye test :( I was beside myself. Lucky I have a wonderful supportive husband who is calm and optimistic most of the time.
So we paced the hall while Lucas had his test. I have seen him get this done twice and before anyone judges me for not being in with him, know that it makes absolutely no difference to him as regardless he screams the whole time. It's just too hard to watch and I'm such a wreck at the time. John agrees it's much better for both of us if we leave it to the professionals then we can comfort him as soon as it's done.
The doctor came out and the nurse handed us Lucas who had his eyes closed and breathing very fast. He told us his right eye looked 'lovely' and the retina was still attached Yaaaay!! And the left eye had improved a lot too! The retina had reattached also without surgery, but there was a small bleed behind the retina which will go away on it's own!
Best Christmas present wecoild ask for :):) still have another exam in Auckland again next week and then the week after in Tauranga if all still looking good. Fingers crossed!! I burst into tears of relief...did I tell you I cry at the drop of a hat now?
So now we can relax and enjoy our big family Christmas at mum and dads. Our first one as a family of 3 :) can not wait!!!
So to all my loved ones that follow our story, have a wonderful safe and happy Christmas from the Thomsens. I will post again after Christmas.
Jenna xx
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Introduction...a story of how this came about!
I have decided to see what all the fuss is about with 'blogging' and seeing as I have been getting requests from friends and family to update on Lucas's progress I thought doing a blog would be easier than writing emails to everyone. Please feel free to follow us on our journey!
So here we go :) The story in a nutshell......
2004 I met my wonderful hubby John at a 'dodgy bar' in Christchurch...as ya do! we spent a wonderful 4 years getting to know each other and realised that although we were opposite in some ways, our goals and ambitions were very alike in the way that we both really wanted a family while we were young (25-27). Being head over heels in Love we got Married February 28th 2009. Best day of our lives!!
A year went by. We got ourselves set up and ready (and healthy) and found out we were having our first baby on our first wedding anniversary :):) we were so excited and amazed that we created a little person.
I had a pretty average, normal pregnancy. Typical morning sickness until about 16 weeks and then felt fantastic! continued working and never felt better. At 19 weeks we found out it was a wee boy. It was a huge relief that he was healthy and perfect and so cute!
At 24 weeks I woke up saturated after a week of fluid loss. That day sunday the 18th I went in to Christchurch womens hospital to meet my midwife there so she could check me and see what was going on. I wasnt worried at all. In fact I didnt even pay for parking because I though i would only be a little while. Little did I know I wasnt coming out until I had my baby.
Long story short, my midwife discovered I had a hind water leak (ruptured membrane) and was also (the worst part) 2 cm's dilated. I had never been so scared in my life. They told me to call my husband and get him in here asap as they thought I was going to deliver. I was whisked down to maternity ward...poked and prodded with needles, steroid injections and pills every 15 minutes to stop contractions (which i wasnt having anyway) It was awful. My heart was beating so fast.
John arrived and I broke down crying. It was a very uncomfortable, lonley night in the hospital that night...not to mention sleepless with all the women screaming in pain. It was quite disturbing to be honest.
After a few nights down in maternity they determined I wasnt going into labour but would keep me in hospital the remainder of the pregnancy. They also told us it would be sooner rather than later. Bed rest lasted a week before I spontaneously went into labour due to an infection. Poor bubs got the infection too.
I laboured for 15 hours every 4 minutes and eventually went in for a C-section. Lucas Clayton Thomsen entered this world at 10:28 on Monday 26th July 2010 weighing 2 pounds 2 oz.
Lucas got whisked up to Intensive Care while I got stitched up and sorted. Wheeled to recovery and groggy as anything. John got to go up once mum and dad arrived and see Lucas. He was handling it so well. After a few tears and a sleep we got to go up that night and see him. Lying on a warming bed with so many wires and a tube down his throat is an image I will never forget in my life. He looked so helpless and tiny. His bones were visable (no chubby baby fat yet) and his eyes stilled fused together.
When I got wheeled over to him and started talking to him. He raised his little eyebrows as if to open his eyes when he heard my voice. Just so special.
Lucas had a very hard battle the first week. I finally got hold on day 9 (see picture). It was a huge effort to get him out of the incubator with the hundreds of wires. It took about 5 nurses to do it. Was worth the wait in gold.
Lucas had many challenges to face while in hospital for 3 months. He had many infections, blood transfusions, breathing support, blood tests and more. I have never felt so bad in my life that he had to go through all this but we were strong for him and knew in our hearts he would come out the other side and be braver than ever.
When Lucas was 8 weeks old we transferred to Tauranga hospital by plane. My family live here and I used to live here while at High school. We are loving it so far!
After 3 more weeks Lucas was ready to come home. Fedding well and gaining weigh rapidly...he looked just perfect!!
Perfect except for one vital part of the body that we thought was fine....His eyes.
A week after he was home we went back to hospital for his last eye check. It was supposed to be before discharge but the only opthalmologist in Tauranga was overseas...typical!
Thinking everything was ok we went in and Lucas got his test. The doctor came back and said his eyes wern no longer fine and they have now stage 3 ROP (retinopathy of prematurity)
To cut a long story short, His eyes have a disease caused by a number of things including blood transfusions, prematurity, oxygen, medications etc. It is a blinding disease if untreated and some require treatment.
Lucas was one of the very rare cases that despite having laser treatment to stop progression of the disease, it still progressed further to stage 4B (highest stage 5). We were required to travel to Auckland and see a specialist there. She performed a long four hour surgery on both eyes, a vitrectomy in the right eye and laser and avastin injections in left aswell as a bit of cryotherapy.
It has taken Lucas a week to get back to normal after the surgery and at his last check the specialist was pleased with the results. The retina has become patially detatched and was stuck back using a gas bubble behnd the eye. I wont go into too much details but basically we are not out of the woods as it could still detatch again, but we are hopeful that it wont.
Luckily Lucas wont be completely blind and hopefully will still have useful vision although it breaks our hearts that he wont have 20/20 vision and see all the amazing details of life, he will see the world in a different way and will still live a fullfilling life regardles of his vision.
There is a lot of support out there for families with a visually impaired child which makes things a bit easier.
We believe that Lucas is here on this earth for a very special reason. We dont know what it is yet but against all odds (including a 7.1 earthquake in Christchurch) he has survived a whole lot already. More than anyone should experience in a life time!
Today he is 20 weeks old (6 weeks corrected age) and a gorgeous happy lilttle boy. We are truley blessed and so lucky to have such supportive family and friends through this difficult time in our lives. Without you all I would not cope. You lift me up from my darkest days and I know we will get through this better off and happier than ever.
When something like this happens it brings your family closer together. We look at things differently now and have learned never to judge or take for granted anything in life that we have.
So this is the first blog of our journey. There will be more to come :)
Thank ya'll for reading :) xx
Jenna, John and Lucas
So here we go :) The story in a nutshell......
2004 I met my wonderful hubby John at a 'dodgy bar' in Christchurch...as ya do! we spent a wonderful 4 years getting to know each other and realised that although we were opposite in some ways, our goals and ambitions were very alike in the way that we both really wanted a family while we were young (25-27). Being head over heels in Love we got Married February 28th 2009. Best day of our lives!!
A year went by. We got ourselves set up and ready (and healthy) and found out we were having our first baby on our first wedding anniversary :):) we were so excited and amazed that we created a little person.
I had a pretty average, normal pregnancy. Typical morning sickness until about 16 weeks and then felt fantastic! continued working and never felt better. At 19 weeks we found out it was a wee boy. It was a huge relief that he was healthy and perfect and so cute!
At 24 weeks I woke up saturated after a week of fluid loss. That day sunday the 18th I went in to Christchurch womens hospital to meet my midwife there so she could check me and see what was going on. I wasnt worried at all. In fact I didnt even pay for parking because I though i would only be a little while. Little did I know I wasnt coming out until I had my baby.
Long story short, my midwife discovered I had a hind water leak (ruptured membrane) and was also (the worst part) 2 cm's dilated. I had never been so scared in my life. They told me to call my husband and get him in here asap as they thought I was going to deliver. I was whisked down to maternity ward...poked and prodded with needles, steroid injections and pills every 15 minutes to stop contractions (which i wasnt having anyway) It was awful. My heart was beating so fast.
John arrived and I broke down crying. It was a very uncomfortable, lonley night in the hospital that night...not to mention sleepless with all the women screaming in pain. It was quite disturbing to be honest.
After a few nights down in maternity they determined I wasnt going into labour but would keep me in hospital the remainder of the pregnancy. They also told us it would be sooner rather than later. Bed rest lasted a week before I spontaneously went into labour due to an infection. Poor bubs got the infection too.
I laboured for 15 hours every 4 minutes and eventually went in for a C-section. Lucas Clayton Thomsen entered this world at 10:28 on Monday 26th July 2010 weighing 2 pounds 2 oz.
Lucas got whisked up to Intensive Care while I got stitched up and sorted. Wheeled to recovery and groggy as anything. John got to go up once mum and dad arrived and see Lucas. He was handling it so well. After a few tears and a sleep we got to go up that night and see him. Lying on a warming bed with so many wires and a tube down his throat is an image I will never forget in my life. He looked so helpless and tiny. His bones were visable (no chubby baby fat yet) and his eyes stilled fused together.
When I got wheeled over to him and started talking to him. He raised his little eyebrows as if to open his eyes when he heard my voice. Just so special.
Lucas had a very hard battle the first week. I finally got hold on day 9 (see picture). It was a huge effort to get him out of the incubator with the hundreds of wires. It took about 5 nurses to do it. Was worth the wait in gold.
Lucas had many challenges to face while in hospital for 3 months. He had many infections, blood transfusions, breathing support, blood tests and more. I have never felt so bad in my life that he had to go through all this but we were strong for him and knew in our hearts he would come out the other side and be braver than ever.
When Lucas was 8 weeks old we transferred to Tauranga hospital by plane. My family live here and I used to live here while at High school. We are loving it so far!
After 3 more weeks Lucas was ready to come home. Fedding well and gaining weigh rapidly...he looked just perfect!!
Perfect except for one vital part of the body that we thought was fine....His eyes.
A week after he was home we went back to hospital for his last eye check. It was supposed to be before discharge but the only opthalmologist in Tauranga was overseas...typical!
Thinking everything was ok we went in and Lucas got his test. The doctor came back and said his eyes wern no longer fine and they have now stage 3 ROP (retinopathy of prematurity)
To cut a long story short, His eyes have a disease caused by a number of things including blood transfusions, prematurity, oxygen, medications etc. It is a blinding disease if untreated and some require treatment.
Lucas was one of the very rare cases that despite having laser treatment to stop progression of the disease, it still progressed further to stage 4B (highest stage 5). We were required to travel to Auckland and see a specialist there. She performed a long four hour surgery on both eyes, a vitrectomy in the right eye and laser and avastin injections in left aswell as a bit of cryotherapy.
It has taken Lucas a week to get back to normal after the surgery and at his last check the specialist was pleased with the results. The retina has become patially detatched and was stuck back using a gas bubble behnd the eye. I wont go into too much details but basically we are not out of the woods as it could still detatch again, but we are hopeful that it wont.
Luckily Lucas wont be completely blind and hopefully will still have useful vision although it breaks our hearts that he wont have 20/20 vision and see all the amazing details of life, he will see the world in a different way and will still live a fullfilling life regardles of his vision.
There is a lot of support out there for families with a visually impaired child which makes things a bit easier.
We believe that Lucas is here on this earth for a very special reason. We dont know what it is yet but against all odds (including a 7.1 earthquake in Christchurch) he has survived a whole lot already. More than anyone should experience in a life time!
Today he is 20 weeks old (6 weeks corrected age) and a gorgeous happy lilttle boy. We are truley blessed and so lucky to have such supportive family and friends through this difficult time in our lives. Without you all I would not cope. You lift me up from my darkest days and I know we will get through this better off and happier than ever.
When something like this happens it brings your family closer together. We look at things differently now and have learned never to judge or take for granted anything in life that we have.
So this is the first blog of our journey. There will be more to come :)
Thank ya'll for reading :) xx
Jenna, John and Lucas
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