First Drive to See Luke

We are finally home.  For the most part it is good to be out of the hospital, but it is definitely hard to be this far away from Luke and it takes a lot more energy to go see him.  Yesterday we ended up going for a late visit.  We arrived around 8:00 which ended up being one of the times when the care takers are doing his everyday check up.  The exciting thing is he was off the light so we could see his gorgeous eyes.  He had them opened the whole time we were visiting with him.  His care taker explained everything to us that she was doing duirng his check up.  The exciting part is they try to get the parents involved as much as they can.  So John and I got to swab his cheeks with some milk.  It was amazing to watch him react to this.  She also let me rub him down with some Aquaphora, so his skin doesn't dry out.  This part was a litttle nerve wrecking because I didn't want to press too hard and hurt him.  Another cool discovery is that Luke is working on his very first poop, which is a very good sign that his digestive system is beginning to work.  He was a trooper through all of his tests and it seems like everytime we go we learn something new.

Today we had another good visit.  When we arrived Luke was wide awake and looking around.  We purposely went around 4:00 because it is another one of the times the care takers give him a check up.  They told us he is off his ventilator and is now on an oscillator which gives him slower deeper breaths.  The part we liked was the tube was off to the side more so we could see more of his mouth and lips.  Today we got to swab him again with milk.  He was so adorable because he would open and close his mouth.  We felt like we were really feeding him.  Again we got to rub him down with Aquaphora, but this time John got the honors of doing it.  We sat and talked with him for awhile and watched as he moved around so much.  He loves to kick his feet out and he was moving his arms all around too.  The nurses there tell us we have a very active boy.  We nicknamed him "the feisty footlong".