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