Welcome Carlitos!

Kevin Carlos made his appearance two months early! He was born at 32 weeks and 2 days gestation, on both Good Friday and his Papa's birthday! He weighed in at 3 lbs 12.6 oz  and 17 inches long.

The little preemie hat I made is almost too big! It fits without any stretching at all.  He hasn't worn the little booties yet since he has too many cords and monitors on his tiny little feet.

Last week Kristi was transported by ambulance to Seattle for severe pre-eclampsia. We thought we were going to have a baby that day, but the doctors were finally able to get her blood pressure down to tolerable levels. Devon went down on Tuesday and stayed the night since she doesn't have class on Wednesday and Rod was able to visit on Wednesday. By Wednesday night things were looking better and the doctors were feeling more confident about keeping baby in until 34 weeks.

Then on Friday, baby started having irregular heart patterns and wasn't moving as much as before. Rod and I got a call from Kristi, as she was being wheeled in for a c-section that baby hadn't moved in over half an hour and that his heartbeat was dropping down to 70 and then raising as high as 200. We set up Owen's medications for the other kids to give him and then jumped in the car for the trip to Seattle.

When we got to Seattle, Kristi was in recovery and Carlitos was doing great! He was screaming when he was born and after a bit of suctioning, has been breathing completely on his own.

After a few hours in recovery we all got to wheel Kristi down to the NICU to see baby Carlitos!

Once we got Kristi back up to her room, Rod and I headed home for a few hours sleep. The next day Devon and I headed back to Seattle so Devon could meet baby too! I think Connor is also old enough to go to the NICU, but the other kids will have to wait until the little guy is bigger before they will get to meet him.

He is getting expressed breast milk through a tube, but he's already showing signs of hunger and he's starting to suck a pacifier. Kristi plans to nurse once he's big enough. Now that Kristi's blood pressure is stabilized a bit she's able to visit the NICU and have skin to skin "kangaroo" time with him. Kristi will probably be released on Tuesday, but Carlitos will be in the hospital for about a month.

I am absolutely in love with these tiny little feet!

We are so happy to have him here but he's really tiny and will need a lot of care for a while. We're hoping he gets to come home soon so we can all see him!