**UPDATE**

Jeff and I headed back to see Miles tonight, and we were told that he was really struggling to breathe. Even though he is on the CPAP, they are having to up the amount of Oxygen as well as pressure that he is on. The doc has decided to go ahead and intubate Miles and give him some medicine which will help his immature lungs. I know that this is what is best for Miles, but it is still hard signing the consents and knowing what he will go through. Please keep us in your prayers. The doc is hoping that Miles will be able to rest while on the vent, seeing as he won't be having to focus on breathing. She is hoping that he might be able to be backed down off of the vent tomorrow at some point, but obviously this will be decided after looking at Miles' labs, breathing patterns, xrays, etc.
Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Miles Thomas

Miles Thomas was born Monday, 12/29/08 @ 1358 EST.

He is 8 weeks early and weighed in at 4 lbs 6 oz. He was 43 cm long (about 17"). Has a head full of red hair and looks just like Graham! He's currently in the NICU.

On Saturday, we headed out for a Walmart run, after I took my meds, and I noticed I was having contractions and knew for sure that it was because I needed to use the restroom. When we got home they didn't seem to be settling down so I laid down, hydrated myself and tried to rest. I found myself becoming more uncomfortable and finally told Jeff we should head to the hospital. I threw an overnight bag together "just in case" and Jeff loaded Graham into the car. Mom met us at the hospital and took Graham (thanks again Mimi!) and we headed up to L&D. The monitors confirmed that I was contracting. They gave me a double dose of Cardene, some Brethine, IV fluids and nothing did the trick. I finally won myself some Mag (YUCK!). I sent Jeff home when we felt like it was safe that nothing was going to happen that night. I tried my best to get some sleep, but even the Mag and Brethine combo wasn't keeping the contractions at bay.

Sunday morning, my MD made rounds and we discussed the option of transferring to a higher risk facility in the event that I were to deliver. I didn't want to be recovering from a C/S at one hospital and have my baby shipped to a hospital over an hour away. Once the ball was rolling for me to be transferred, the ambulance showed up 30 min. later and I was on my way. Jeff was in the middle of church, so mom headed to the hospital in her car.

I got settled into the new hospital, was admitted, and saw more residents than I thought I would see! I was doing alright and the plan was to stop the Mag, start me on some oral meds, and hopefully do a test 24 hours later to see if I was within a 2 week window of delivering. In typical Lauren fashion (knowing that things can't usually go the way they are planned!), I used the restroom and started to bleed. This changed the whole perspective. Contractions were harder but were manageable with meds. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful (good thing b/c I didn't really care for my night nurse!).

On Monday at 4AM I started having an unusual pain in my abdomen. One nurse blew it off, and my day nurse came on and was shocked at how hard my belly was staying. The pain began to intensify and Miles was even moving away from the spot. We were able to get his heartbeat really low on the left side, and he started moving higher onto the right side, making it more difficult to monitor him. The pain became totally unbearable and the docs were in and out. Teaching hospitals are wonderful - but not when you are laying there miserable and you have to wait for the resident to track down his/her boss for any decisions. Finally at 1:15 they decided that the benefits of a 31 weeker delivery outweighed the risks. It was apparent that I was heading for an abruption and they needed to do something about it.
I was prepped and taken to the OR. Miles was born crying immediately, but the docs had to work really hard to get him out. I was told numerous times that they had made the best decision to go ahead and deliver - especially with what everything looked like once I was opened up.

They finished me up and took Miles to the NICU to "tuck him in" (get him admitted to his little tiny isolette).

Miles is on CPAP and doing well. I was able to hold him today skin-to-skin which was amazing!! Jeff also got to hold him today.

It looks like he will be here for a min. of 3-5 weeks. I will be going home on Thursday and then we will have to figure out our new routine. Graham has been a trooper! He's been playing with Pops and Big Nanny. God's timing never ceases to amaze me. My dad's sister & husband just happened to be in town this past week with their daughter and her 3 kids. Graham has jumped in and played with him like he's been surrounded by them his entire life! He's even calling Uncle Frank "Papa" which is what the kids call him! He's also calling the twin boys "Bubba" and he'll occasionally call Samantha Bubba as well!
Please keep us all in your prayers. This is not an easy time for any of us. Who would have ever thought that Miles would be here already???

Keep checking back, as this seems to be the easiest way to keep everyone informed of what is going on!
Thanks again for all of your love & support!!

Jeff, Lauren, Graham and Miles