Forever and ever and ever and ever...

Not a total surprise to everyone but we are still in the hospital. Last night Lukas' blood was 15 (down from 17) and this morning it was 13. Still going down while he is under the lights. but that has always been the case. I just feed him and put him back under the lights.

since he is feeling better he is awake more of the time and he really doesn't like the sunglasses that are on his eyes and he keeps trying to pull them off. that part is a little hard for me. i know his eyes are open and he starts freaking out that he can't see. I just stand there and hold his hand and talk to him until he calms down.

the dr will be in this morning and we will reevaluate the game plan. I think I am going to push a sonogram and see if we can get a jump start on the next process.

tomorrow he will have been in the hospital for 1 week.

and the updates keep coming

Early afternoon the dr asked if we could put Lukas on formula for 24 hours, to see if that would help. Of course I said yes. you see we had already put him on 1/2 formula and 1/2 breast milk for the past could days and just 6 hours before his last test we went to straight breast milk.

So Jeff came to the hospital and I went home to shower and change (didn't sleep, but I got to spend some time with the kids). The Dr called me on my cell phone and said she was sorry that they took me off of breast milk. i told her whatever we could try to help him get home sooner. she then said ( I almost threw the phone, but since i would have to buy another one, I choose to keep listening) that if babies with jaundice are given formula for 24 hours, that they go down in numbers by 50% without the billy lights. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I should have listened more to the nurses and pushed the formula on my own. Hind sight I guess.

I had asked her on 2 other occasions if we should go to just formula and she kept telling me to breast feed. Could we have been out of her earlier? I then asked her/told her that we needed to keep Lukas on the lights longer this time. she said she would keep him on the lights until he hit the number 10. THANK HEAVENS. Now we have a game plan that looks promising. So he has been on the lights since 6am and we will keep them the whole night too. then i don't know if they will let us go home or if they will keep him another 10 hours to see if the levels stay down.

The kids are going to visit tomorrow. We haven't told them yet, but I know they will be thrilled.

Today the kids went to vicky's home to play and it was nice for them to get out of the house and play. then they went to Laurels house for dinner and she took them to Faith in God and Cub scouts at the church. I got to go to the hospital earlier than expected and spend some time with Jeff. I haven't seen him except for an hour here and there with the kids for dinner.

Paul came up to the hospital to help Jeff give Lukas a blessing. Brandie and Paul were able to see the baby while they were here.

Thanks for all the prayers.

more updates

So i am going to put all the updates on the blog. our cell phone mins can't keep up because of all the people we have to call. So if you need updates, check here.


they checked his levels today and they are highter than ever. They started out at 15. then they went to 13. Then the next day they were at 16, then went down to 13.4. Now they went to 17. higher than ever!

when the dr comes in today we are going to go over some issues. I am worried that there is something else other than just the jaundice going on. i am worried there are liver issues. the nurse told me not to stress, that they are sure they will go down today. Yeah, i know. they will go down and then they might go up even higher. I am not planning on waiting that long to see if there are any more issues.

Lukas loves the billy lights! he doesn't cry, he just soaks it all up. I just feel bad every time he gets his blood taken. His heals are so scared up. I don't know if there is any more room for any more pokes.

Still keep him in your prayers.

Hopes up again

while Jeff was at the hospital they tested the jaundice again. The levels came down, so they toook him off the lights. They will test him again in the am and see if they are still coming down. if they are, then Lukas can come home. if they arn't, then the lights go back on and I start pulling out my hair!

His blood sugar is great now, they are not testing for it anymore. THANK HEAVENS!

So we are just hanging out and hugging and loving. Jeff is home with the kids. I hope he is doing the couple cleaning projects I asked him to do.

When I came home i started getting major swelling in my feet and leggs. Way more then with pregnancy. So I called my Dr's nurse. she told me that it could be normal or it could be blood clots. Blood clots can kill you and normal cannot. I am glad she helped me out with my problem. she also said to drink lots of water and walk a lot. THANKS!!!

I did have a lot of fun today. I went on Jeff's face book account and signed him up to be a fan of some really entertaining things. He is now a fan of hannah montana, Tampoons, Dr. Phil, Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Breast feeding and the list goes on and on.

The only bumer is that he changed his password before I could add more. The real bummer is that he got to my facebook account before i could change my password and now I am a fan of FARTING! I forgot I married a 5 year old.

Speaking of 5 year olds... Jakob tasted my breast milk today! I finished pumping and storing the milk. He asked me what is tasted like. I said he could try it. I expected him to jump away and laugh, but no...He dived right in. he said it tasted good. I told him that he was NOT allowed to drink it. Let's see what happens.

this is getting old

So they took Lukas off the billy light last night. they wanted 12 hours to see if his kidneys would continue to make him better. This morning the count was 1 higher than he started with. The Dr on call said to put him back on the billy light and then check again in the morning 9tuesday morning).

I am waiting for the Dr. that i like to come in this morning to talk to her about keeping him on the lights longer and only giving him the 6 hours to check the kidneys. i heard that was possible and I would rather not waste more time with him not on the lights.

I am taking a great stride in my life. i talked to jeff this morning and he is coming at 11am to take over until 6:30pm. he can stay with Lukas and feed him formula while I go home with the kids and take a shower 9I havn't had one since friday morning at 6:30am). and get some clothes on. I am tired of wearing PJ's and slippers. I might even get a nap in. i can't wait to see my kids and spend some time with them. I know jeff will take good care Lukas and it will give me a little brake.

Please still keep him in your prayers. this is going on way too long and it is getting pretty old.

Info on Lukas

So Lukas was taken to the NICU on thurs night for a high respitory rate. That turned into low temp and blood sugar.

As of Sunday afternoon we are still here. His blood sugar is still a little low, nothing major. They are hoping it goes up with more feedings. Of course he has choosen not to breast feed as of the past couple of feedings and will only take formula from a bottle. I am breast pumping right now and we keep trying to breast feed, but we will see. formula is better for blood sugar from what i am understanding anyway. I just hope when we get home he will breast feed again. I am sure it will be a pain,, but I really don't want to do formula right now.

Also, because I am RH neg all my children have had jaundice. lukas came down with it on saturday afternoon right before they were going to dicharge him. So we choose to keep him here under the billy lights until he gets better. He already when down in numbers but not enough. they are going to check his blood again tonight.

The Dr is still trying to discharge him for the mornig, but it all depends on if we can keep his sugar levels good and get his jaundicce numbers down. please keep him in your prayers. He is tired of being here and so am I.

The nurses and his doctor have been amazing. We are so blessed to be here where they care the way they do. he has been well taken care of.

I was discharged last night. They kept me here one more day, just so I could stay with the baby easier. But last night they made me up a bed (from a chair) so I could sleep between feedings and changings.

Jeff and the kids came down this afternoon. on sundays they let the siblings come in for 1 hour to see the baby. they couldn't hold him, but they could hold his hands, legs and give him kisses. they also brought me lunch and frozen dinners for latter. the nurse wants me to eat more calories. I have no problem with that. I can eat anything right now, it feels GREAT!!!

please keep Lukas in your prayers. We want him to be discharged soon. but he need him healthy to do so. Also, i cannot answer my cell phone in here, so I cannot return calls, i am sorry. Jeff is home tonight, but he plans on watching the Bills game with the kids, so I am sure he will not answer calls. Sorry.

thanks for you well wishes. We will be home soon and then we will have more baby pics.

Lukas David Giras

Lukas David Giras, Born 8/6/09 @ 4:57pm...6lbs 7oz, 19 inches. Lukas had some fluid on his lungs and spent the night in the ICU for observations and tests, his x-rays were clear this morning and are expecting him to be able to come home tommorrow or early Sunday after another 24 hours for precautionary observation...