Happy Birthday Caleb

It has been a year now and Caleb is the Big 1. He has grown so much during this year. I can't believe just a year ago we went through so much when he arrived. He has been a great baby to say the least. For some reason he now thinks that sleeping is not that important. He thinks he needs to visit with mommy whenever she is trying to get things done around the house or trying to sleep. Well it only last for a short period of time in my life so I will get over it. He loves his big brother and he thinks that Cayden is the funniest thing around...of course that makes Cayden have a big ego. We had is birthday party this weekend. He had his own cake but he didn't dig in like I thought that he would. Caleb never turns down food.

He is thinking about it. He is more intrigued by the animals on the cake

All Cayden could talk about all day was eating cake and ice cream. He ate is share all right.

Our little man...Caleb Aaron Hill

On Friday night the 5th I was not feeling just right and I thought that I may be going into labor. I slept through the night but when I got up I knew I needed to call my doctor.

At this point Aaron is still in Baton Rouge and I am completely not expecting to have a baby. I have nothing prepared and I am all about being prepared and have my duckies in a row. Well this is when God reminds me that He is in control and if Caleb is coming then I need to trust Him. I called the nurse on call and she advised me not to even think about coming back to Baton Rouge because they have no electricity. I should stay and get to the nearest hospital if conditions worsened. I knew at this point I had to go to the hospital...ok that was going to take an hour to get to so we better get on the road. I packed a small "just in case bag" and my sister drove me to Monroe to St. Francis Medical. I called Aaron at work and told him that we were headed to the hospital so he needed to not get too involved at work and be ready to get on the road when I needed him.

We arrived to the hospital somewhere around lunch time and the on call Dr. came to check me to see if I was going into labor. Dr. Wilson (the greatest man!!) made me feel so comfortable because he knew I was in a chaotic situation. As soon as he checked me he immediately said you are going no where and we will have a baby today. With me being at 32 weeks he started me on medication that would make me feel terrible but hopefully stop the contractions. I watched to hours tick by and I knew the contractions were getting stronger and Caleb was well on his way out to meet us. All the family came over to wait after they realized we would have a baby that night EXCPET Aaron...yes Aaron! I kept him updated and he took off work at lunch to go home and get packed to head north. 4:00 rolled around and he was still trying to get the house in living condition from the storm. Our electricity has come back on that day and no one had been there for days to get the refrigerator or freezer cleaned up. He wanted to get it all cleaned up before we had to be in the hospital for a long time. He is such a sweet heart but really...I am in labor and he needed to be there.

So I am in full labor pains with no medication to help it. I got all the way to 8cm and Dr. Wilson knew there was still no way of stopping Caleb so I FINALLY got an epidural to rest for a little while. We had been visited by the NICU team to let us know that Caleb would go straight to the NICU and what he would have to encounter for the first 48 hours and what we would expect before seeing him. At this point there was just so much going on that it all seems like a blur. Aaron did get there just in time for delivery.

At 11:29 with one push Caleb Aaron Hill was here. His little cry was so sweet and soft because he was small. He weighed 4 lbs. 5 oz and 17 inches long. I was able to look at him and say hello and then he was off to the NICU. What a precious little gift God gave us on Sept 6, 2008.

Most of the family came into to give their congrats and I was completely exhausted. I had to wait until I could walk on my own to leave the delivery room to get to see Caleb in the NICU and finally get to eat. I had not eaten for over 12 hours and I was hungry by that point now that things had settled down. Around 2:30 a.m. I got to eat some crackers and get to see my precious angel. My mom stayed with me that night while Aaron took Cayden back to my parents' house to spend have some daddy/Cayden time.

To see him for the first time with all the wires and monitors was very overwhelming but I had complete peace all over that it was all ok. That was my baby laying there that I could not touch but he was in good hands. The doctors and nursing staff there at SFMC where so good and very compassionate. This was their job everyday to care for these small babies but they treated every parent like they were their first. We always knew what was going on and at what stage Caleb was at everyday. For the first 2 days were the most critical to get his stomach cleared out of all the medication that I was on that tried to stop the labor. As soon as his stomach was cleared then he was able to start getting a little bit of bottle.

I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and then we were able to move a couple of blocks away to stay in the Ronald McDonald House until Caleb was able to go home. I had only heard about the RMH on t.v. but never knew much about it but now I have all kinds of love for the RMH. We will always support this group. They have touched so many lives and it is completely operated by volunteers. It was no Hilton but we are so thankful that we had somewhere to stay to go back and forth to the hospital for all visitation hours. I wanted every chance to spend with him and love on him. Caleb stayed a full 22 days in the NICU and was finally strong enough to go home. These are some other pictures taken while we were at the hospital and the RMH.

He had to wear shades to protect his eyes from the light for the jaundice. He was such a good sleeper...so good he would rather do that than eat. I was able to feed him for the first time with my milk in the bottle. It took a lot of energy for him to suck from a bottle.

Cayden was a great Big Brother and he didn't even know it. He knew something was going on but not sure what. He never was able to see Caleb until we went home. We made time in the day to take Cayden out to a local park and play to give him some mommy/daddy time. He loved every minute of it.

He was finally able to hold his baby brother at his house.

One year ago...

Some of you may have not heard our story of the hurricane and some of you have but I would like to share it again. This week I have thought about Gustav more than I would like to.

It was Mon., Sept. 1,2008, and a big storm by the name of Gustav was making his way to the gulf coast. It was Labor Day and at 10:30 that morning I was watching the Wiggles with Cayden for the last time in a few days and he had no idea what was about to take place...nobody did! The electricity went off and the storm was approaching with force. We got our handy little radio out to listen to updates and Cayden thought that was the coolest thing...a box where you heard people talking from. Throughout the next 2 hours we had up to 90 m/h winds. We watched the entry to our living room fill up with water within a blink of an eye, our fence that Aaron had built fall to the ground, and trash (our trash) flying through the air. A house behind us had its garage door ripped off into pieces, we heard a tree crash into a lady's yard across the road, and all we or anyone could do was watch it happen. We lived on the west side of Baton Rouge and the storm was passing completely over us headed down I-10 to Lafayette. We were getting calls (from the cell phones) from our family and Dow but the phones lines were so overloaded you couldn't get through. As soon as it was clear Aaron got out and started helping others pick up pieces of siding to all the houses and making sure we had all of ours accounted for to put them back up. It was a true experience to say the least what we saw and went through. We drove around later and looked at all the devastation our little town went through. The weather broadcasters did not expect Gustav to take a turn and hit Baton Rouge like it did. Oh yeah, let me mention I am 32 weeks pregnant through all of this.

Minutes turned into hours and we could see there was no way we were getting electricity for at least a week and most likely longer. Aaron got called out to go to work to get problems worked out at the plant but he didn't want to leave me pregnant and a small child at home with no electricity. That night wasn't so bad because the house was still cool from the storm and the sun never came out that afternoon to heat things up. Now by no means was it comfortable. I slept in the room with Cayden on the air mattress and he didn't sleep well but who could blame him. He cried and I cried with him. The next day it started to heat up and we were starting to sweat. It was so humid! Cayden was the best little trooper through it all...I was so proud of him! Aaron had to go back to work and I took Cayden in the car for some a/c and he took a little nap. I couldn't go too far because I knew I needed to save the gas we had for the unexpected. Aaron's boss at work offered him a small--VERY SMALL generator but we took what he had. It was able to get us a fan running and keep our deep freezer running for a while. This generator had to be filled with gas ever 1.5 hours...that let's you know how small it was. We somehow made it through the day and I was dreading for it to turn dark because that meant we had to try and sleep in this condition. We had the doors open both front and back to let somewhat of a breeze come through. We had 2 air mattresses in the living room floor where we all slept that night. All you could hear was the humming of generators throughout the neighborhood and mosquitoes in your ear. I got up throughout the night to fill up the generator because I didn't want the fans to stop working. All I could think about was my sweet Cayden getting hot and trying to keep the mosquitoes away from him.

Wed. morning came and it was so unbelievably miserable. Aaron headed off to work and Cayden and I were again stuck at home with each other to look at. Cayden was covered in so many mosquito bites that I broke...I had somewhat of an idea what people went through with Katrina. We were only 2 days past the storm and I was feeling like I was trapped in a box with no way out. Again...32 weeks pregnant!

Aaron's sweet boss told him to call me and send me and Cayden on the road to north LA for electricity. The conditions were not good for us to be in and Aaron needed to be at work. I packed everything that I could possibly get into my explorer and I started out for my parents' house. For the next few days Aaron worked, ate, and slept at Dow. As Cayden and I drove north we got to Natchez and there were signs of life. I filled the car up with gas and we ate at Sonic...the best food I had eaten in days. For the next several days I was enjoying the a/c and hot water and Aaron was working at Dow until...the unexpected happened...stay tuned:)