After they allowed me a few minutes with Eli, the nurses took him to clean him off and take his apgar score. Clayton followed them over there and watched as I tried getting the best view of him I could from my bed. There were still several nurses in the room and people were talking back and forth as I tried picking up on as much as I could. They said his apgar score was between an 8 and 9. Then the nurse turned to me and said, very calmly, that she would like to send him to the nursery to have professional eyes on him for an hour because his coloring and breathing wasn't consistent. That really didn't worry me and I thought he would be back before I knew it. Well, he didn't come back to our room for another 48 hours.
Everyone that kept coming in to talk to us did a very good job at making us feel at ease and answer any questions we had. They sent him to NICU from the newborn nursery. Once I was in my postpartum room and was able to move around, they wheeled me down to NICU. This just isn't anything I had every imagined having to do! I thought NICU was for small, premature babies, not full term, almost 10lb babies! It was so sad to see him hooked up to so many wires, tape all over his body and a feeding tube down his throat! They immediately put him on oxygen, a feeding tube and IV. They started him on antibiotics in case something showed up on his blood cultures as an infection. We didn't take many pictures of him in the NICU because it was just sad seeing him that way.
He was very content in there and didn't seem to be in any pain. It was hard to not be able to pick him up anytime we wanted, nurse him, show him off to our friends and family that came by and not be able to inspect every inch of his body!
Each time we went in to see him, they had lowered his oxygen levels and had positive things to tell us. At midnight the first night, I woke up pretty upset about the whole situation and Clayton called down to check on him to put me at ease. At that point his oxygen level was 30 (21 is normal). By the next morning, they were able to take off his oxygen and feeding tube (Eli actually pulled the feeding tube out when they were bathing him). I was able to begin nursing him the next day at noon and he did great! From that point on, I was going down there every 3 hours to nurse.
The doctors finally came to the conclustion that he had pulmonary hypertension. That means that his body had a hard time transitioning from blood flow and oxygen going through the placenta, to blood flow and oxygen going through his lungs automatically when he was born. Once they put him on oxygen and helped him out for a while, his body got the hang of it and it doing great now! Thank you, Lord!
I was discharged on Thursday and we moved down to the Rooming In Room right next to NICU. They brought him to our room so we could stay one night with him before going home. The NICU nurses still came in to run vitals on him through the night and he still had his IV in his right hand because we were still waiting on results from the last blood culture.
Doesn't he look like a little football player in this picture? Daddy will be so proud!
We survived the first night together with little sleep! All of a sudden, he didn't like sleeping in his bed! Everytime I walked in to feed him in the NICU, he was sound asleep in his bed, but not when he was in the same room with him! We are still working on this one!
All of his blood cultures came back negative so they took out the IV and was discharged on Friday. We were so happy to be going home as a family of 4!
We always have a great big sister helper!
Like mother, like daughter! Camille is paying attention to EVERY little detail! She is taking very good care of her babies as well!
Just a cutie! He is pretty laid back so far...which is what we have prayed for! He only gets mad when he is hungry or sleepy! He definitely enjoys his paci when it's sleepy time! 
Nap time on the couch! She looks so big and he actually looks small compared to her!
An officialy 1 month photo. In every attempt to get this picture, he either looks scared to death or mad at the world. I chose the picture where you can see his name on his shirt. Happy 1 Month Birthday, Eli!
I LOVE this picture! This was the first time she held Eli and she was SO excited! She did see him a few times in the NICU, but didn't get to hold him until he was in our room.
She LOVES giving him the paci! We can't leave paci's laying around the house, because if she sees it, her hands are all over it and then in Eli's mouth! This does come in handy sometimes though because she can sit there and hold it in while I am doing something else. She is a great helper!
Before Eli was born, Camille picked out this puppy dog that sings the ABC's. She is giving it to him in this picture and she is so proud!
He gave her a boy baby doll. She loved it and it even came with it's own paci, too!
Here they are just before we were leaving the hospital. She loves holding him and he handles it pretty well. 
Camille loves her baby brother! He is the first person she asks about when she wakes up in the morning, she is quick to introduce him to anyone around and she runs to his rescue anytime he begins to cry!
He was very content in there and didn't seem to be in any pain. It was hard to not be able to pick him up anytime we wanted, nurse him, show him off to our friends and family that came by and not be able to inspect every inch of his body! 
Each time we went in to see him, they had lowered his oxygen levels and had positive things to tell us. At midnight the first night, I woke up pretty upset about the whole situation and Clayton called down to check on him to put me at ease. At that point his oxygen level was 30 (21 is normal). By the next morning, they were able to take off his oxygen and feeding tube (Eli actually pulled the feeding tube out when they were bathing him). I was able to begin nursing him the next day at noon and he did great! From that point on, I was going down there every 3 hours to nurse.
We survived the first night together with little sleep! All of a sudden, he didn't like sleeping in his bed! Everytime I walked in to feed him in the NICU, he was sound asleep in his bed, but not when he was in the same room with him! We are still working on this one! 
