My Baby is 6 Months Old!

It doesn't really seem like 6 months already... but my baby is getting older and bigger. It makes me a little teary-eyed to think- this is it! He's my last baby. This will my last baby that will be learning to roll over, or cutting his first tooth... Oh, shucks... don't even get me started!

As many of you know, Koen's birth was the most awesome out of my 4, for me (1 word- EPIDURAL!) But he came so fast, he swallowed some amniotic fluid... they whisked him away after we only got to see him for about 2 minutes. The took him to the NICU, saying they'd probably bring him back in an hour, then an hour became a couple, hours, then, sometime tonight, and then became we aren't sure when... It was heart breaking. Except for those 2 minutes after delivery, then 1 more minute after I got to my regular room, I didn't get to see him until the next day. I delivered him at 3:30 PM. I was heart-broken. People came to see the baby, and all they could see was me. We took pictures to share with them, but how fun is THAT?

I couldn't hold him for the first 2 days in the NICU either. He had too many wires, and well, I'm just not sure why I couldn't hold him. But I would cry whenever I saw his tiny body with all of those wires and tubes. He had a feeding tube through his nose, oxygen in this nostrils, he had wires stuck to his chest for monitoring vitals, and he has a painful looking little IV in his tiny little arm... All I could think is what HE must have been thinking... He was all nice and comfy in my belly, then the birth I sure was no treat for him. The sucking out his mouth, more sucking.... more sucking, poking... Then all of these tubes, and IV...

Finally on Friday night, they told me I could hold him and try to feed him. Well, the attempt failed. I was sad, thinking maybe he wouldn't ever nurse. But I wasn't about to give up. The nurse told me I could try to feed him with a bottle, maybe he would catch on, and we could try nursing after he got a hang of that. Well, he didn't want the bottle at first. But I wasn't about to let that happen! The nurse told me, maybe we could try again tomorrow! But I kept trying until at last he did start sucking on the bottle! (YEAH!) The next morning, I got up and he nursed for the first time. PRAISE GOD! At that time, the hospital thought they were going to have to keep him a week to 10 days. And they said I could stay in the room with him. The "bed" in there was some cushions on a wooden platform. Not really even comfortable to sit on for long, let alone if you just gave birth.

His room was on the 3rd floor, mine was on the 2nd. They weren't convenient. I had to take about a 4-5 minute walk to get there. I could have tried to wheel myself up in a wheelchair, but I opted to walk, and prayed (sorry men) that I wouldn't, um need to use the bathroom, or I'd have a long walk ahead of me. The Lord is gracious though, and helped me through all of that! Deven stayed the night with me, but he needed sleep too. So after the first several times I just hoofed it myself. After I started nursing, they would call me in the middle of the night to come up and nurse him every 3 hours. A few times I had enough milk pumped that I could sleep a little longer. But each time I would have to take the 4 minute trek up to his room. But that precious baby was worth every step.

Each day the hospital would run tests, seeing cloudiness in his lungs, and pumping in more antibiotics. On Sunday, they said maybe if he gets better, he can go home tomorrow. We prayed. Slowly that day, they took out his feeding tube, late that night they took out his IV.

I went home that night, because my stay at the hospital was up (I had even got to stay one night longer than I was supposed to.). That was horrible, but we got up early, and went in. Of course, like ALL other hospital stays, they were soooo ssssllllloooooooowwww!!! It took forever. It was Deklyn's Birthday, and I didn't want his day to be ruined, having to sit and wait too. So, I tried to hurry the nurses along, by telling it was his birthday and we wanted to go!

And Monday morning, what a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and there was no cloudiness outside OR in my baby's lungs. Thank you God!!!

Well, now that you got the story here's some pics to go with it:

Now here is my happy, healthy baby boy today:

Here he is, all 17.5 lbs worth ...And a very good boy...

Thank you God for loving us so much, and entrusting one of your precious angels to us!
Also, thank you again, to everyone who prayed for us those days in the hospital. We treasure every prayer...