Dear Family and Friends-
We want to introduce everyone to Kai Lucas, born on November 2nd at 8:16 am. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 8.7 oz. and measured 19.75 inches long. Mom delivered naturally (yes, that's with no drugs). You will find a picture attached (don't mind the stickers on his cheeks and the heart monitor!). We realized that we don't have many of the great pictures taken of Kai over the past two weeks, but Auntie Erin has already started Kai's own blog so you can see pictures and get updates on his progress. Go to http://kailucas.blogspot.com/.
Many of you already know about Kai's tumultuous entry into the world, but for those of you who haven't heard I will try to give a brief overview. Sometime before Kai was born he was deprived of oxygen for an undetermined amount of time. He was asphyxiated at birth and needed to be resuscitated. He was in a hyper-alert state for the first 36 hours of his life and was
having a lot of difficulty breathing. On Nov. 3rd Kai got his first ambulance and plane ride down to UCSF Medical Center (where they have a neonatal ICU). The weather was horrible and there was no room for mom and dad on the plane so we had to drive down and meet him in San Fran (it was a VERY long 3.5 hour drive). Once we arrived they were able to stabilize his
breathing, but were concerned about possible neurological damage. Over the next week little Kai received 2 EEG's, an MRI and a spinal tap. The results of all these tests are not exactly what brand new parents would hope for, but each day we become more hopeful. Kai is being treated for mild seizure activity (which makes him very drowsy) and he has been labeled as having "moderate brain injury". Since he is not mild or severe the outcomes for him are unknown- he could be anywhere in between the two. He currently has no gag reflex, so he cannot eat through his mouth- we are waiting for him to have a surgery to put a "g-tube" in his stomach- then finally we can go home.
While we are mourning the loss of the "healthy" child every parent hopes for, we are also celebrating the precious life Kai is bringing to us. Each day he makes progress, becomes more alert and responsive, and wins over all of the nurses in the hospital! We know there is a long road ahead of us with Kai, we are hopeful that he will have the best possible outcome.
We want to thank everyone for the calls, emails, gifts, etc. You realize how many good friends you have in a situation like this- we have been truly overwhelmed. We're sorry if we haven't gotten back to too many of your phone calls or emails, but will catch up as soon as we are home. Most of our time right now is spent holding Kai in the hospital and trying to make him
comfortable. Many of you have asked what you can do to help us, and really there is nothing to be done- just keep us in your thoughts and look forward to meeting Kai.
Love,
Steph and Rob
PS Below is a little poem/story that was given to us by a few people that kind of sums up how we are feeling (although I'd take a trip to Holland any day!).
Welcome to Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and say, "Welcome to Holland".
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland ?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting,k filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things....about Holland.
