Happy Birthday Levi~

It's so hard to believe that my Little Bug is 12 years old today. I have so many memories of the day he was born.

To start the day off, I had been to the doctors to have my monthly check up. Everything was fine. Apparently my blood pressure was a little high, but nothing to be worried about. Although I didn't find that out until after I had Levi.

On my way home I stopped off at Target to register for my Baby Shower. I went home, fixed dinner and waited for Quinn to get home from school and work. We had dinner and watched a little TV. My stomach was a little achy and itchy, so Quinn rubbed some Cocoa Butter Cream on it. Then Quinn needed a haircut and as I was cutting his hair, I kept feeling a wetness between my legs. Being 7 months pregnant I was thinking that the baby was pushing on my bladder. Gross I know, but those who have been pregnant, know the feeling. Anyway, I continued to cut his hair. When I was done, I went in to use the bathroom. That's when I discovered blood everywhere! I put in a call to my Doctor. After some questioning, I was told to head into the hospital. They hooked me up to monitors and kept coming in and out. Suddenly the nurse panicked and started running around and saying.... "We have to get this baby out NOW!" Within minutes I was being poked for an IV. My father-in-law and Quinn gave me a blessing and they whisked me off to surgery. Quinn was not able to go in because they thought we were both going to die. They put me completely out and went to work on getting Levi out. He was born at 32 weeks on August 26th, 1997. He weighed 3 pounds 3 oz and was 14 and 3/4 inches long.

They took me back to recovery while Levi was being prepared to be flown over to St. Joe's in Phoenix while I stayed at Chandler. They woke me up to let me tell him bye. I reached in and touched his tiny foot and then they whisked him off. I was still not stable at this point and my blood pressure was through the roof. Poor Quinn was torn.... stay with me or go with Levi? He chose to stay with me until my Mom got there. Then he went to be with Levi. Once my Mom got there my blood pressure went down. I stayed only 2 days in the hospital and then I was released so that I could go see Levi. They told us NOT to expect him home before his due date. Which would mean 2 months in the hospital. He was such a fighter and stayed in NICU for 2 weeks, then he was transported back to Chandler for 2 more weeks. I spent MANY long days there. I was there twice a day. He had to overcome many obstacles before he was able to come home...... He had to maintain his own body temperature, be eating on his own, and be 4 pounds. On the evening of September 25th we got a phone call from the hospital telling us that we could bring him home the next day. We were so excited that I don't think we hardly slept. We got up at the crack of dawn and went over to the hospital to pick him up. I think the nurses were a little annoyed with us but oh well! They were on a shift change so we had to wait a little and then we were able to bring him home. He was attached to an Apnea Monitor but were just happy to have him home..... Exactly ONE month after he was born! He wore the monitor for 2 months. He has made many leaps and bounds. He is a fighter that's for sure. It is a little sad to me to see him growing up so fast. But he has become a wonderful young man!

Here are some pictures............

Just hours after he was born..........

This was the day we brought him home... The preemie clothes are drowning him!.......

This was this morning.... LOVES his new iPod!.........

12 facts about Levi.........

1. He LOVES to sing.

2. He whistles all the time.

3. He loves to give hugs.

4. He loves to help others out.

5. He loves video games.

6. His favorite soda is Dr. Pepper.

7. He loves steak.

8. He likes to go fishing.

9. He loves to shoot his BB Gun.... He is quite good and even shot a butterfly in the air once.

10. He doesn't like loud noises.

11. He is a hard worker when he wants to be.

12. He likes to watch sports.